Filming / recording in cafe's - tips?

Hoping to start a “cafe challenge” series when traveling through Europe later this year…

Some of you guys put up amazing videos, so of this sounds like you (or not), please read on.

The idea is basically setup a cam, drink a latte and create a jam w/ a short time limit (10 minutes???) In various fun locations, including a little panning of where I’m at in the world… Oh and let’s not forget a croissant.

I want to put each challenge up, regardless of how much I like each creation… Maybe put up the “finished” idea on SoundCloud, and link to it in YouTube description if the video gets boring and you wanna see what I ended up with. My aim is to encourage personal growth with my op-1, and hooefully help others to learn from my mistakes (and hopefully my successes)

Don’t really wanna do post editing, mainly because I can see myself being demotivated by it, and not putting anything up.

1 thing I’m not sure about:

I would love to be able to voice over the process, but do it live. I will have a camera w/ mics as well as a line in for the op-1, but the cafe will usually be loud…

So, as far as doing this live goes, the o my idea that springs to mind is to use the level control on the mic input, and just ride it up / down when I want to make a comment… Baring this in mind, I’ll need a camera which is capable of this. I know I could alternately use a lil mixer, or iOS hardware… So maybe that’s a batter idea, but I had the Sony hdr mv-1 in mind to buy. Currently ahead of the curve afaics, from pouring over comparison charts vs zoom q4/q4n/q8, that is: for my needs. The Sony seems to have way better picture quality, and it’s built in mics seem on par with/ the zooms. I want to go the dedicated camera option rather than an iOS dongle thing, cause I like the idea of all in one, and the “nice picture / mics in a dedicated unit” form factor suits other needs well too. Ie. Filming acoustic videos in exotic locations w/ wifey… But I am open to completely changing this approach if someone can talk some sense into me… After writing this, unless there is a better idea, I feel like I really need that dedicated mic level control for live voice overs.

Any pointers would be rad! And if you’re in a coastal town in Europe and up for an OP jam, maybe we could cut a vid together w/ 2 op-1s or something :wink: I have the Kenton usb midi thing.

This sounds amazing @ludicrouSpeed. I’ve been thinking about a mobile video/audio recording setup too. Some quick ideas: @darenager’s passive mini mixers might be useful for this. Also, a quality headset (sennheiser?) with separate mic output might be one way to do the voiceovers (eliminates ambient noise reasonably well), but that needs a mic preamp. I wonder if somebody sells portable battery-powered mic preamps? (Smaller than your typical DI box.)


Also, I know just the cafe to jam in Helsinki, so let me know if you’re coming here! =)

Something like @darenager mixers with a headset and a smartphone line-in jack and you can do all this just with your phone.
You could record it to your phone as a video OR you could even stream the jams live via Facebook.

This sounds amazing @ludicrouSpeed. I've been thinking about a mobile video/audio recording setup too. Some quick ideas: @darenager's passive mini mixers might be useful for this. Also, a quality headset (sennheiser?) with separate mic output might be one way to do the voiceovers (eliminates ambient noise reasonably well), but that needs a mic preamp. I wonder if somebody sells portable battery-powered mic preamps? (Smaller than your typical DI box.)

Also, I know just the cafe to jam in Helsinki, so let me know if you're coming here! =)

That would be so rad! With the headset mic! Haha, I would be a super cool chopper-pilot-looking guy xD If anyone asks what I’m doing, I’ll tell them I’m flying a drone, and then load the chopper game on the OP-1 as “evidence” x’D


I WILL actually be in Helsinki for ONE DAY only June 26 (just looked it up). I’ll be in port from 7am - 4pm, which means I will likely be off the ship between 9am & 2pm (give or take)… I am kinda selling my soul and performing on a cruise ship for 6 months (did it last year also)… Has pros and cons… Anyways I am especially looking forward to Helsinki, as I hear that Finland has a super rad, progressive education system among other great things, so I have a lot of respect and admiration for a country with seemingly very different values to most people of my home country. What’s the cafe!?
Something like @darenager mixers with a headset and a smartphone line-in jack and you can do all this just with your phone.
You could record it to your phone as a video OR you could even stream the jams live via Facebook.

That actually sounds great, anyone got a link? <a href=“https://operator-1.com/index.php?p=/profile/darenager” style=“margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-family: “lucida grande”, “Lucida Sans Unicode”, tahoma, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(1, 115, 198); background-color: rgb(252, 252, 255);”>@darenager?

Here is my ebay page, although Operator forum member prices are a bit lower, so if interested PM me :slight_smile:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/micro.tech/m.html?item=302231225677&hash=item465e62854d%3Ag%3AKgYAAOSwqYBWn6Q7&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

Looks like fun things. I’ll PM you :slight_smile:

This sounds amazing @ludicrouSpeed. I've been thinking about a mobile video/audio recording setup too. Some quick ideas: @darenager's passive mini mixers might be useful for this. Also, a quality headset (sennheiser?) with separate mic output might be one way to do the voiceovers (eliminates ambient noise reasonably well), but that needs a mic preamp. I wonder if somebody sells portable battery-powered mic preamps? (Smaller than your typical DI box.)

Also, I know just the cafe to jam in Helsinki, so let me know if you're coming here! =)

I wonder if I could get a lil battery powered mic… Actually, I just realised while typing that have this in my microcassette recorder… But it’s pretty crunchy, so would need to test it…

Best bet is a cheap field recorder - anything made in the last few years, something like a Zoom H2N or whatever, you can get them pretty cheap, use it to capture ambience to sample into OP-1, use it as a mic with line output, or use it as a recorder/preamp - super handy!

Towards the end of this vid, there’s a trick explained how you can mix external microphone or line input and the internal mics of Zoom H2N when doing a recording. I didn’t actually know that before. But my headset mic doesn’t work with it, even when using the “plug-in” power setting. I suppose it needs a beefier preamp. Actually it works great, I just had it on mute. =)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC5_2LYVoPc

Hmm, June 26th, I should be on holiday then, but I might have a family thing… let’s get back to this, would be great to stage a café jam!

I was thinking this one, which is close to my office: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Good+Life+Coffee+Oy/@60.1829697,24.9459091,17z/

But there’s some nice ones near the cruise ship terminals too. We can get back to this. =)

If you happen to end up in Liverpool - make sure we hook up. I’d love that . I’ll do some folktronica portablism with you.

@darenager thanks heaps, I’m thinking I’m going to keep it simple initially, and try to use the OP-1 mic… Kinda foolishly hadn’t realised that it’s a viable option… love the look of your mixers, though and I’ll be sure to be in contact if i have the need :slight_smile:

@vehka that cafe looks amazing! No dramas if you’re busy, but if not, a jam would be amaze. I guess we would need some clever split & sum cables or a lil mixer.

@Spheric_El I will! June 14, 8am to 7pm. I think it’s a Wednesday. What’s good!? I spent some time in London last year, but never made it to Liverpool.

Awesome idea dude. I’m interested.


Maybe a push-to-talk style mic into a zoom would be perfect!
Awesome idea dude. I'm interested.

Maybe a push-to-talk style mic into a zoom would be perfect!

Thanks mate. I’ve decided to try to simply use the op-1 mic. The op-1 conveniently has the mic button, and if the location is particularly noisy, I’m sure I won’t be heard too well, plus I won’t be able to “narrate” when using ear, or sampling, etc. But I can see it working well. At least for a start. If it’s way too noisy, I can write notes on a pad, or something, haha. I might test it out next week while I’m still at home.

Wow excellent. I don’t think I’m on holiday at that time. Hoping nothing turns up. An afternoon jam would be amazing. Pair of OP-1s, plus maybe a bit more.
I have a DarenAger mixer and can highly recommend . I will bring it along if all goes well.

I think you got yourself a Helsinki jam session @ludicrouSpeed! =)

@vehka @Spheric_El man, this is so exciting!

Looooovely thread!!!

I wish you all the best on your cafe jamming, sight seeing, explorative endeavours!
you made me reminisce when I went to Eastern Europe and beyond. Traveling is soooooo much fun. I love your videos on instagram mate, I hope the Op-1’s mic will suffice but I urge you to consider optimization. This seems like a once in a lifetime thing so optimization is primary. Capture every detail the way you want it and give yourself less headaches. Just my my two pence, whatever makes you happy - that is the main thing!

Looking forward to following you! Good luck x

Hi guys, I do a lot of recording and filming in bars. UAC202 + female USB lightning cable + iphone6 + OP-1 = https://instagram.com/p/BSAl0tHDd0j/

All battery powered.
That setup was recommended to me on this forum by the way. Best gear forum hands down.

Hi guys, I do a lot of recording and filming in bars. UAC202 + female USB lightning cable + iphone6 + OP-1 = https://instagram.com/p/BSAl0tHDd0j/

All battery powered.
That setup was recommended to me on this forum by the way. Best gear forum hands down.

Wooooow wooooow wooow, I’m standing in the mall bouncing my head off! Awesome I love it!

UAC202 is quite good in combination with iPhone, but my volume control was broken after one month. So I am waiting for a new one… which app do you use for recording? Audioshare? AUM is pretty awesome, too!

Thanks @kurbelinduktor i use onboard camera app