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A Stupid But Simple Camtasia Tip

by Steven Wagenheim
19 replies
A lot of marketers are now getting into making videos, especially ones of
them talking over some Powerpoint presentation or whatever.

Well, a lot of folks, me included, sometimes get lost in the middle of speaking
and stop talking, causing a long silence before they start up again. This
obviously isn't professional.

Now, you could go through the trouble of editing the audio afterwards, but
why not just do this?

As soon as you see you're going to stop talking or are about to lose your
train of thought...hit the freaking pause button. I think it's F10.

Problem solved.

You don't have to whip through your presentation in one shot. You're not
a professional actor. And even professional actors have to do multiple
takes.

Nobody is going to know you hit the pause button because you had to
figure out what you were going to say next.

The only thing that matters is the finished product. So what if you had to
hit that thing every 30 seconds?

Who's gonna know?

F10...it's a life saver with Camtasia
#camtasia #simple #stupid #tips
  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    I suppose I may jump the bandwagon sometime if its required but so far thank God, video hasnt been necessary.

    My grandfather used to jokingly say "You have the face for radio,and the voice for TV..." Maybe it stuck.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marty S
    This is fine Steve, but you still need a boat-load of speaking fluidity to pull this off. Most people, including myself (this after 300+ videos) have trouble sounding fluid, even with time to think about it!

    I have seen too many videos where the fluidity of the vocals is just not there. You still have flubbed words, phrases, uhhhs, ahhh, and duuuhs to deal with. These videos can be just painful to watch, because the audio has been a secondary element in the production process. It should not be. Your audio dictates the tempo and quality of the entire video!!!

    If you can pull it off, do what Steve says. All the power to you. If you cannot, then try this:

    1- Go through your entire screencast without editing or pausing. Just record it all.

    2- Once inside your Camtasia project area, open up a text pad along side it and go through your project section by section rewriting what you said into a usable script for a do-over. Here you can eliminate (in written word) all of your errors and disorganization.

    3- Once your new script is written, record it all over again using audacity. Edit it there as well to sound natural, fluid, and honest.

    4- Import your new audio file into your Camtasia project and delete the original audio file. Now go ahead and sync-up your visuals to match the new (presumably shorter) audio timing.

    You will now have a much faster moving, more interesting video, with excellent clarity. The sequence of instructions will all be in line as well because you knew what you were doing visually in the first recording. You are just editing out dead air and speeding things up.

    This extra step will improve the quality of your videos at least 100 percent.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Marty, truth is...not everybody should even be attempting to do a video.

      Painful is an understatement.
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      • Profile picture of the author Marty S
        Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

        Marty, truth is...not everybody should even be attempting to do a video.

        Painful is an understatement.
        LoL! Quite right!
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        How to add a custom thumbnail image to your Youtube video
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        • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
          Steve and Marty both, thanks for the reminder that the finished product doesn't have to come from the first try.

          A 30 second TV ad can take all day, even with pre-planning and professional actors.

          A 30 minute sitcom takes 5 or 6 long days to come up with 22 minutes of content, and that's with dozens of people working on the project.

          A 90 minute movie can take months to plan, shoot and produce, with dozens of specialists doing their thing.

          I have to remind myself of that fact sometimes when I get frustrated over not getting it right in a single take.

          Thanks for the tips and the reminder...
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          • Profile picture of the author John Durham
            Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

            Steve and Marty both, thanks for the reminder that the finished product doesn't have to come from the first try.

            A 30 second TV ad can take all day, even with pre-planning and professional actors.

            A 30 minute sitcom takes 5 or 6 long days to come up with 22 minutes of content, and that's with dozens of people working on the project.

            A 90 minute movie can take months to plan, shoot and produce, with dozens of specialists doing their thing.

            I have to remind myself of that fact sometimes when I get frustrated over not getting it right in a single take.

            Thanks for the tips and the reminder...
            Having experience in the studio I have to tell you... you wouldnt believe how long it takes many vocalists... even the ones on the radio, to punch in 60 seconds worth of vocals on a song... for some it takes many hours... yet you hear it on the radio 90 days later selling like hot cakes...

            Alot of times they will do 6 vocal tracks and cut and paste the best sounding phrases together... giving it that "out of phase kind of sound..." you can hear if you know what to listen for... anyway, there is a reason those producers sell millions of records... it's because they understand the importance of every little nuance...
            If you want to compete you have to be more than a typical garage band... I would imagine the same applies to video products...
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            • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
              Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

              Having experience in the studio I have to tell you... you wouldnt believe how long it takes many vocalists... even the ones on the radio, to punch in 60 seconds worth of vocals on a song... for some it takes many hours... yet you hear it on the radio 90 days later selling like hot cakes...

              Alot of times they will do 6 vocal tracks and cut and paste the best sounding phrases together... giving it that "out of phase kind of sounf..." you can hear if you know what to listen for... antway, there is a reason those producers sell millions of records... it's because they understand the importance of every little nuance...
              If you want to compete you have to be more than a typical garage band... I would imagine the same applies to video products...
              As somebody in the music biz and who does his own vocal tracks, you
              are dead on the money. I sometimes do so many punch ins into a song
              that I'm recording that it's a wonder the digital info doesn't get all fubar.

              And yes, if you know what to listen for, it's very obvious where the breaks
              are. A lot of it has to do with how people breathe when they sing. It's
              why, when I do have to redo a phrase, I try to redo a whole section so
              it doesn't sound so cut up.

              And with an amateur studio, it's even harder.
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              • Profile picture of the author John Durham
                Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

                ....when I do have to redo a phrase, I try to redo a whole section so
                it doesn't sound so cut up...
                Good Idea.
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    • Profile picture of the author mrmanpower
      Originally Posted by Marty S View Post

      This is fine Steve, but you still need a boat-load of speaking fluidity to pull this off. Most people, including myself (this after 300+ videos) have trouble sounding fluid, even with time to think about it!

      I have seen too many videos where the fluidity of the vocals is just not there. You still have flubbed words, phrases, uhhhs, ahhh, and duuuhs to deal with. These videos can be just painful to watch, because the audio has been a secondary element in the production process. It should not be. Your audio dictates the tempo and quality of the entire video!!!

      If you can pull it off, do what Steve says. All the power to you. If you cannot, then try this:

      1- Go through your entire screencast without editing or pausing. Just record it all.

      2- Once inside your Camtasia project area, open up a text pad along side it and go through your project section by section rewriting what you said into a usable script for a do-over. Here you can eliminate (in written word) all of your errors and disorganization.

      3- Once your new script is written, record it all over again using audacity. Edit it there as well to sound natural, fluid, and honest.

      4- Import your new audio file into your Camtasia project and delete the original audio file. Now go ahead and sync-up your visuals to match the new (presumably shorter) audio timing.

      You will now have a much faster moving, more interesting video, with excellent clarity. The sequence of instructions will all be in line as well because you knew what you were doing visually in the first recording. You are just editing out dead air and speeding things up.

      This extra step will improve the quality of your videos at least 100 percent.
      I totally agree. completely on this one. it takes skill to do it. also my question is, how do you sync it with your video properly? what's the rule of thumb? Ie in terms of timing the words to the actions taken. do you just pace your speech to match the video?
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael William
    Actually this very good advice. Thanks Steven! I knew there was a pause button but it was ackward to click when you are in the middle of a narration. Having your finger over F10 is much easier since I am usually using the mouse for other purposes.
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  • Profile picture of the author thebitbotdotcom
    Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

    A lot of marketers are now getting into making videos, especially ones of
    them talking over some Powerpoint presentation or whatever.

    Well, a lot of folks, me included, sometimes get lost in the middle of speaking
    and stop talking, causing a long silence before they start up again. This
    obviously isn't professional.

    Now, you could go through the trouble of editing the audio afterwards, but
    why not just do this?

    As soon as you see you're going to stop talking or are about to lose your
    train of thought...hit the freaking pause button. I think it's F10.

    Problem solved.

    You don't have to whip through your presentation in one shot. You're not
    a professional actor. And even professional actors have to do multiple
    takes.

    Nobody is going to know you hit the pause button because you had to
    figure out what you were going to say next.

    The only thing that matters is the finished product. So what if you had to
    hit that thing every 30 seconds?

    Who's gonna know?

    F10...it's a life saver with Camtasia
    Hilarious! Thanks for the tip Steve. Your posts are always great. I once made a video when I was sick. When I went back and watched it, I instantly and painfully realized that I coughed through the whole thing. Pretty stupid, I know...
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    • Profile picture of the author Bill Farnham
      Fwiw, you want to hit F9 to pause the recording, hitting F10 will end the recording.

      Carry on...

      ~Bill
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
        Originally Posted by Bill Farnham View Post

        Fwiw, you want to hit F9 to pause the recording, hitting F10 will end the recording.

        Carry on...

        ~Bill
        Thanks...I knew it was F something.

        Guess I get an "F" for today's lesson.
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    • Profile picture of the author bretski
      Great tip! I have tried doing a few videos lately and the results were painful. Is there a button to remove the ahhh's and ummmm's? And maybe another one that keeps me from looking like I'm asleep...or worse?
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    There are similar functions in Camstudio, too:
    F8 - pause (and hit the red Recording button to restart)
    F9 - stop recording
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    • Profile picture of the author ActionToCash
      Thanks for the tip on F10. Yeah - I've gotten over 6 hours of recorded Camtasia videos and nothing is more frusturating when you need to clear your throat or go blank in the middle of the recording and have to start over again...

      It also takes took me an unimaginable amount of time to record the screen first and then go back and narrate after the capture is completed.

      I'll have to try it sometime so I don't have to start over from scratch!

      Thanks

      Randall
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  • Profile picture of the author TimGross
    A follow-up tip on using Pause with Camtasia:

    I've gotten in the habit of hitting pause just as I hit the "Submit" button on form pages, because sometimes the next page is something I wasn't expecting (like it reveals my password which I'll have to edit out later, or an error because the script timed out, or a problem with the form, etc).

    As soon as the next page loads correctly and I can see there's no problem, I un-pause the video.

    It also avoids awkward spots where something takes 15 seconds to load instead of 2, etc.

    It's not like videos need to be perfect, but it's so easy to pause/unpause at certain moments (like if you need to cough, or think of what you're about to say), that there's no reason not to get used to doing it.

    PS - Second tip: If you're wearing a headset mic, put the mic below or above your mouth so you don't pop the "P" sound (caused by the air hitting the mic). Again, it's so easy to do, there's no reason not to.
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  • Profile picture of the author Derwin
    Yes you are right that sometimes people get lost in the middle of speaking
    and stop talking, causing a long silence before they start up again. This
    obviously isn't professional.Nice article and it helped me a lot to overcome my problems. Thank You.
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