Recording for iMovie with a Web Camera and Different Microphone
This is one of the most popular posts on Martech Zone as businesses and individuals are deploying video content strategies to build authority online and drive leads to their business. While iMovie may be one of the most popular platforms for editing videos because of its ease of use, it’s not one of the most robust video editing platforms.
And, we all know that recording audio from a laptop camera or webcam is an awful practice as it picks up all kinds of unnecessary background noise. Having a fantastic microphone will make all of the difference in your videos. In my office, I utilize an Audio-Technica AT2020 Cardioid Condenser Studio XLR Microphone connected to a Behringer XLR to USB Pre-amp. It produces rich audio and any background noise sounds like it’s miles away.
For my video, I have the Logitech BRIO Ultra HD Webcam. Not only does it record in 4k, it has a ton of adjustments that can be made to the video to fine-tune it to your environment.
iMovie Doesn’t Support A Separate Webcam and Audio Source!
iMovie is quite limited – only allowing you to record from FaceTime with your built-in device camera. Even worse, you can’t record from a different audio device… which is absolutely awful.
Or can you?
Ecamm Live Virtual Camera Does!
Using some incredible software called Ecamm Live, it’s absolutely possible. Ecamm Live enables you to turn on a virtual camera in OSX which you can then use within iMovie as a source.
Fire up Ecamm Live and you can modify all of your video settings, add overlays, and also map your audio device… in this case, I’m pointing it to my Behringer XLR to USB preamp which my Audio Technica microphone is connected to.
As soon as you have your video and audio the way you want it, click the Import Video from Camera (down arrow) button in iMovie:
And that’s it… now you can record your video directly into your iMovie project by selecting the Ecamm Live Virtual Camera as the source!
If you want to get serious with your video and audio, Ecamm Live is a must! About the only downside is that I’ve noticed some apps, like Microsoft Teams, don’t identify it as a camera… but I believe that’s a Microsoft issue and not an Ecamm Live issue.
Disclosure: I’m using my affiliate links for the hardware and Ecamm Live software throughout this article.