Just about anyone can record a video of their screen and upload it to YouTube. But creating a compelling, high-quality screencast that people will not only learn from, but actually enjoy watching… well that’s a bit more challenging.
As you pay closer attention to the details, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with new questions. What screen recording software should I use? Which microphone is best? How do I soundproof my recording area inexpensively?
Over the past eight years, I’ve created hundreds of screencast videos for my own WordPress tutorial site, as well as many other clients. Along the way, I’ve continually streamlined and improved my process and workflow.
As a result of my fanatical attention to detail, I’ve earned a reputation for creating some of the highest-quality tutorial videos and screencasts for clients like GoDaddy, Media Temple, WooThemes, Yoast, and many other companies.
Every day, I learn new ways to improve my craft and create even more effective learning videos. In this post, I’ll share some of the tools and techniques I’ve picked up along the way, so that you can create even better-quality screencasts and learning videos.
Who is this for?
This is not a “Screencasting 101” or, “How to create your first screencast” tutorial. (That’s coming soon!) Rather, this article assumes you already have some experience creating screencasts — whether brief, introductory/promo videos for your product or service, or full-length tutorial videos — and are simply looking for ways to improve the overall quality of your videos for better results.
If you’re looking for a basic tutorial on how to create screencasts, I highly recommend Jeffrey Way’s tutorial series called, “Pro Screencasting for the Rest of Us.” It costs just $9, and covers everything you’ll need to create your first screencast.
But, if you’ve already got some experience creating screencasts, and are looking for tips to help you improve, this article is for you! Ready to dive in?
Before you begin…
You’ll need a few tools of the trade in order to create professional-quality screencasts:
1. Screen Recording Software
2. A Professional-Quality Microphone
3. A (Somewhat) Soundproof Recording Area
Screen Recording Software
At a minimum, you’ll need software to record your on-screen actions and accompanying narration, then export and share that video with others.
If you use a Mac, you’ll find that you can create decent screen recordings using the free QuickTime Player application. Just launch the app, then choose File > New Screen Recording and click the red button to begin recording your screen actions. You can record either your full screen, or just a portion of your screen.
When you’re finished recording, simply save your video to your computer, or share it via email, YouTube, Vimeo, or any of the other built-in destinations.
While this method is fine for creating very simple screencasts, you’ll soon discover that the editing tools are quite rudimentary, if not downright frustrating. So, when you’re ready to begin creating more professional screencasts, you’ll want to invest in a proper screen recording program like Camtasia or my personal favorite, ScreenFlow.
Camtasia and ScreenFlow cost roughly the same, offer similar features, and function in pretty much the same way. But each application has a slightly different user interface and editing tools. You may find that you simply prefer one over the other. Personally, I prefer the overall experience of ScreenFlow, including the editing interface and the powerful export tools.
My favorite feature in ScreenFlow is the ability to publish directly to YouTube or Vimeo with just a single click. This eliminates the time-consuming process of exporting, then converting the final video into a suitable format, and guessing at a suitable data rate, final size, or frame rate. Best of all, the final video is of noticeably higher quality when exported directly to the video hosting service.
Q: What screen recording software do you use and recommend?
A: Hands-down, ScreenFlow.
Professional-Quality Microphone
One of the first things people will notice about your screencast video is the audio quality. If you record your narration using the built-in microphone in your laptop or desktop computer, the audio will likely be muffled or unclear, filled with distracting background noises, echo from the surrounding room, or worse… the clatter and thud of your fingers on the keyboard.
So after the screen recording software itself, the next most important piece of equipment is a high-quality microphone.
USB Microphones
Most podcast and screencast producers these days opt for a USB microphone, which strike a great balance of both price and quality. One of the biggest advantages of using a USB microphone is that they require no additional hardware; just plug the USB cable directly into your computer, and you’re ready to begin recording!
I recently purchased and tested six of the top USB microphones on the market, and you can listen to the results of that experiment here:
In this test, the Yeti by Blue Microphones was, and continues to be, one of the best-sounding USB mics on the market, tied only with the AT2020USB+ by Audio Technica.
Still, most podcasters I know prefer the highly-popular Rode Podcaster. This is largely a matter of personal preference, and it’s a good idea to test several mics to see which one sounds the best with your voice.
Dynamic Studio-Quality Mics
But when you’re ready to step up your game, you’ll want to move beyond USB microphones and purchase a professional-quality studio microphone. Why? Simply put, because USB isn’t capable of powering a large-diaphragm microphone.
Why does the size of a microphone’s diaphragm matter?
The diaphragm in a microphone is a thin piece of material that vibrates when it is struck by sound waves. These vibrations are converted into an electrical current which becomes the audio signal. A small diaphragm, like those used in USB microphones, is easily overpowered, resulting in distortion and ‘plosives’ — those annoying ‘pops’ when you say the letter ‘p’, for example.
Unlike USB microphones, professional studio microphones have large diaphragms, which means they can capture and reproduce your voice more accurately, without the distortion of a USB mic. But, larger diaphragm mics also require amplification, typically from a preamp.
Plus, they require a standard XLR microphone cable, instead of a USB cable, which means you can’t plug the microphone directly into your computer. Instead, you’ll plugin the microphone into a preamp, which in turn, is plugged into an audio converter, which is plugged into your computer via a USB cable.
Some audio interfaces include a built-in preamp, which can eliminate the need for a separate preamp and simplify your setup.
For example, the Apogee Duet, is an award-winning audio interface that does two things at once: 1) it amplifies your microphone, AND 2) it converts the audio into a digital signal for your computer and recording software.
As a bonus, you’ll notice a dramatic improvement in the overall quality of audio played back from your computer when it’s routed through the Duet instead of the built-in headphone jack. The difference when listening to music is night and day, and even if you’re not an audiophile, you’ll enjoy the improvement!
As for the microphone itself, I use the excellent RØDE Procaster microphone (shown on right), which has earned a reputation for being one of the best vocal mics on the market.
The RØDE Procaster is a professional broadcast quality dynamic microphone, specifically designed to offer no-compromise performance for voice applications in the broadcast environment. The Procaster features an internal pop filter, designed to minimise plosives sounds that can overload the microphone capsule and distort the audio output.
Q: What microphone do you use and recommend?
A: If you’re just getting started, try the Yeti by Blue Microphones. It served me well for years. But when you’re ready to step up your game, you’ll want a pro mic like the RØDE Procaster, powered by an audio interface like the Apogee Duet. You might also check out the Apogee ONE audio interface.
How to Soundproof for Better Recordings
Unless you have access to a professional recording studio, you’re likely creating your recordings in your office or perhaps a quiet room in your house. But, as you’ve probably already noticed, your microphone still picks up distracting background noises and echo from the room itself. Hey, nobody wants to hear your phone ringing or your dog barking in the background of your video.
Professional voiceover artists record in purpose-built vocal booths, which are insulated to be completely soundproof. But you don’t have to spend a fortune to create a reasonably soundproof environment for recording your own voiceovers.
A well-known hack among beginning voiceover artists is to simply record in a clothes closet. The hanging clothes in the tiny space dampen and absorb the sound of your voice, rather than reflecting it back into the microphone, virtually eliminating echo and creating that intimate, “up close” sound.
But I prefer to record at my desk, so I use two of the inexpensive DeskMAX panels by Auralex, positioned on either side of my computer and microphone. These do an excellent job of eliminating room echo, and may be the only additional soundproofing you require.
Recently, I’ve gone one step further and also covered the wall behind my workstation with Auralex acoustic panels (as seen in the top photo), further reducing reflections and echo.
And, I position two larger MAX-Wall panels directly behind me while recording. With these panels in place, I have an almost completely soundproof vocal booth. Best of all, these panels are temporary and can be easily stored away when not in use.
Again, you don’t need to go this far. Just grab two of the DeskMAX panels and see what a difference they make.
Q: What’s the easiest way to cut down on room echo and background noise while recording?
A: Purchase two DeskMAX panels, and position one on either side of your computer and or microphone. To go one step further, purchase two MAX-Wall panels and position them directly behind you as well for an excellent temporary vocal recording booth.
Let’s Get to Recording!
There are two methods for recording screencasts. Most amateur screencasters simply hit “Record” in their screencasting software and then record their screen actions while narrating at the same time. This often results in awkward pauses — “uhs” and “ums” — because it’s quite difficult to concentrate equally on both the on-screen actions and also your narration.
I prefer to create a detailed, word-for-word script first, during a “dry-run.” Then, I record the voiceover/narration in GarageBand, carefully inserting deliberate pauses where needed.
Next, I import the audio file into ScreenFlow and then record my on-screen actions while simultaneously playing back the narration audio. This ensures that the narration is as clear and succinct as possible, and that the on-screen actions are perfectly synced to the onscreen instruction being presented.
Here’s what my process looks like…
- Set up a local demonstration environment.
- Write a detailed, word-for-word script during a dry-run. Notate where longer pauses might be needed.
- Record the narration/voiceover in an audio recording program. I use GarageBand, with a handful of plugins. Do not simply read the script! Rather, strive for a conversational tone, as if you’re talking with your best friend.
- Export the final audio file, then import it into ScreenFlow.
- Record the on-screen actions while simultaneously playing back the audio.
- Add animated intro/outro graphics to beginning/end of the video.
- Add appropriate background music, reducing the volume of the music (called, “ducking”) so it doesn’t drown out the spoken word.
- Export the final screencast directly to the video host (Vimeo, YouTube, etc).
- Share with the world!
5 Pro Tips for Better Screencasts:
You’ve probably seen countless videos where the author simply recorded their entire desktop, including all the folders on their desktop, menubar, and even windows from other applications in the background. Nobody wants to see all that! Temporarily hide all those files and folders scattered around your desktop, or better yet…
2. Use Full-Screen mode.
If your application supports Full-Screen mode, enter that mode before recording. This will completely hide all those folders and files cluttering your desktop, as well as your menubar.
I use Google Chrome for nearly all my screencasts, so I also hide the address bar, tabs, toolbars, and bookmarks bar — basically everything other than the main browser window, ensuring the entire recording area is available for my content. No distractions.
3. Change your screen resolution.
Newer laptops and monitors support very high screen resolutions up to 5120×2880 or even higher. The problem is, your audience will likely not view your video at that same, gorgeous, full-screen resolution. Consider that many people may watch your video on a mobile device. And when your video is viewed at smaller sizes, text and other items in your video may become too tiny to be legible.
One easy way to handle this is to simply change your screen resolution to 1280×720 before recording your screen actions. This is still HD video resolution, but will ensure legibility when your video is viewed on smaller screens (like mobile devices).
I prefer to record at 2560×1440, but then zoom the web browser to 200% to mimic a smaller monitor. This ensures everything on screen is easily legible, even on a mobile device. And, it has the added benefit of allowing you to zoom in ScreenFlow without losing image quality.
4. Increase the size of your cursor.
Even if you record at 1280×720, your mouse cursor can still appear very tiny, which makes it difficult for your viewers to follow your onscreen motions. If you use a Mac, go to: System Preferences > Accessibility and increase the Cursor Size to “Large” before recording. This will make it easier for your viewers to follow your onscreen actions as you move your mouse around the screen.
5. Install the SmoothScroll extension for Chrome.
It’s disorienting to watch a screencast in which the presenter instantly jumps up and down the screen. This makes it nearly impossible to follow onscreen actions. The SmoothScroll extension for Chrome slows down your scrolling actions, easing your screen up and down smoothly when you scroll with the mouse wheel or the keyboard. This enables your viewers to more easily follow your onscreen actions, plus it adds a degree of professional polish to your final video.
Animated Intros and Outros
You don’t need to invest in an expensive piece of software to create gorgeous animations for the intro and outro of your videos.
Both ScreenFlow and Camtasia include handy editing tools that enable you to create simple animation effects like fades and zooms. Sometimes, that’s all that’s needed, and simple is always best.
But, you can create more interesting animations including transitions and effects in Apple’s Keynote (or PowerPoint, though it doesn’t contain the same quality transitions and effects).
Then, you can simply export the animation/presentation as a video file, and import that file into your screencast project. Or, for even better results, play the presentation in full-screen mode, while recording the screen in your screencast program.
I used this method to create the animated logo that appears in the introduction of the Sensei promotional video for WooThemes. Watch the video:
Export Settings
As I mentioned before, one of the coolest features in ScreenFlow is the ability to publish to YouTube or Vimeo directly from the app itself. This eliminates the time-consuming process of exporting and converting the final video into a suitable format, and guessing at a suitable data rate, final size, or frame rate. Best of all, the final video is of noticeably higher quality when exported directly to the video hosting service.
But for years, I exported a Lossless video file at full resolution, then used HandBrake to convert that video file into a more web-friendly format and size.
When manually exporting video files for use on the web, here are the settings I use: H.264 .mp4 file format at 720p (1280×720) @ 30 fps (5,000 kb datarate)
A quick note about video hosting…
A while back, I wrote a detailed article outlining “10 Reasons Why You Should Never Host Your Own Videos.”
Without repeating all those reasons again here, let me just simply share my recommendation for hosting video…
Once you’ve created your screencast video, the best way to publish and distribute your video is to simply upload it to a video hosting service like YouTube, Wistia, or my personal favorite, Vimeo PRO.
Then, you can easily embed your video into a post or page on your own website and invite folks to watch your video there.
You won’t have to fuss with slow web servers or bandwidth issues. No need to create multiple file formats for every type of mobile device. Just upload once, and then share your latest professional-quality screencast!
So stop hosting your own video! Get Vimeo PRO instead.
Did you find this helpful? If so, why not share it with someone?
I’m one of your customers…and just have to say how much I like this post…so helpful. What you said is great, but even *more* great is the demo of those microphones. Comparing them “side by side” like this really makes it possible for me to make a real judgment. Thank you.
Glad to hear you found it helpful, Christian!
Super-nice write-up! I have no interest in podcasting, but I do like audio toys and have cobbled together a little studio for my “guitar playing.”
Why do you like Vimeo Pro over Wistia? I used Wistia and totally loved it.
Thanks for the feedback, Michael!
Wistia’s great, which is why I listed it. But it’s also quite a bit more expensive than Vimeo PRO, and to be honest, I prefer Vimeo’s player UI over Wistia’s.
Still, if you need deep analytics like viewer engagement and history tracking, Wistia’s a solid choice.
Gotcha. I like Wistia’s UI, but if you don’t there’s def. no reason to be paying quite a premium when there are options.
How did you position the mics in the 6 way shootout? I have an Apogee Mic, but am not getting anywhere near the quality of your recording.
All the pics were positioned in the same way: suspended from a RØDE PSA1 boom arm and placed about a hand-width from my mouth. I used the aforementioned DeskMAX acoustic panels by Auralex on either side of the mic(s) while recording. Hope this helps!
I’ve been trying to add decent quality screencasts to my plugin support site and just haven’t been able to come up with something decent. So THIS is the post I have been needing!! Thanks!
Happy you found it helpful, Chad. Thanks for dropping by!
Great stuff Shawn! Especially the Export settings. The manual settings are perfect, just what I needed as I’m using Handbrake. Thanks
so you record complete audio first before video?
That’s right. During the dry run-through, I script any pauses that might be necessary. And, if needed, you can always edit the audio when it’s matched to the screen actions to add more silence here and there.
Awesome write-up Shawn… really helpful as I prepare my first screencast / talk recording for the upcoming Genesis Camp!
Glad you found it helpful and timely, Dave. Thanks for dropping by, and best of luck with your upcoming screencast/talk!
I wanted to add another helpful tip , maybe adding a seperate user on your computer might eliminate all of the junk for instance if you had to browser your computer for files you don’t want people to see your folder hierachy, or like you said the 1001 icons that you might have on your computer. I have a few users, one for me, one for my son and one for training.
Hi, I was convinced to use ScreenFlow but it is for Mac only? Is that possible? Thanks.
That’s right, Jackie. But Camtasia—the other software we recommended above— offers versions for both PC and Mac.
Hope this helps!
Excellent article. Thank you. I have a question. I’d like to do some screencasts that show IOS apps in action, but I want to show two inputs on the resulting video: the app screen capture itself and also a video of the IOS device being used in my hand (simultaneously). For an idea of what I am describing please take a look at this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSpy2Jya6aI
Can I do this with Screenflow? Or would a competitor like Camtasia be better suited? I’ve used neither yet.
Both ScreenFlow and Camtasia will capture video from an attached iOS device. And both apps make it easy to import other footage… like the live footage of your hand holding the device, for example.
BUT, neither of these apps include the ability to split the screen with your screen capture on one half and the live footage on the other. For that, you may need to step up to a more full-featured video editor like Final Cut Pro or something similar.
If the purpose of the live footage is merely to show gestures, you may find that the “touch callouts” accomplish the same purpose. These are basically on-screen indicators that mimic finger gestures, so that your viewers can see what your fingers are doing. These touch callouts can indicate touches, double-taps, swiping, and more.
Hope this helps!
I really appreciate that you have put down your whole process step by step.
Is there a more detailed blog post on that?
Great post Shawn! Thanks for taking the time to share these tips.
I’m following your advice and my project is turning out great thanks to your advice.
Great article – there aren’t many out there on this topic that aren’t “beginner tutorials”. Learned lots.
Thanks,
Kyle
Hey Shawn,
Great article. It’s one of the few out there and so I hope it moves up on Google’s organic searches!!!
Quick question. Maybe not an easy, but basically, it’s this. I’ve got a decent audio interface (Focusrite) and it’s recording my speech in left channel, which is fine. However, when I steer Camtasia to record from my audio interface, the sound quality is not only terrible, but bounces from mono (left) to stereo (both).
How do others take full advantage of the audio interface? The solutions I’ve found so far are absurdly disappointing. Based on what I’ve found, others, INCLUDING Camtasia’s OWN trainers, record the screen and audio separately. They record the audio in audacity, do their editing, and import it over. I and many other don’t have time for that clunky workflow.
At this point, I don’t see another option other than to get a decent USB mic and give up on the audio interface.
Please share with me your thoughts on this. Many thanks in adv.
cheers, dk
Thanks for the feedback, dk.
Man, I wish I could help with the issue you’re describing, but I have no experience with the Focusrite audio interface and Camtasia. I assume you’ve already done so, but I would recommend contacting their support team to see if this is a known issue. I’ve never encountered similar issues with my hardware setup.
FWIW, I also record my audio separately, then import it into ScreenFlow before recording my screen actions. It’s a much more professional workflow that will yield a higher quality finished product. In addition to the reasons I outlined above, recording your audio separately enables you to properly mix and master the audio, which you can’t do within Camtasia (or ScreenFlow).
Wish I could be more help!
Hi dk,
Like Shawn, I record separately. I find that by writing a script, recording screen (NOT audio) while reading from the script, and then doing the voiceover, I can get my best results, fastest.
I then record the voiceover, edit gaffes and gaps in Audition (or Audacity) and drop the audio into Screenflow.
By quickly splitting the video (pressing the t key) Screenflow lets me quickly adjust the speed of the clip to match the voiceover.
Hi Matt, don’t know if you still follow this thread. But if I get you right, this is your process
1. Write script, note down pauses (while waiting for things to happen on screen)
2. Record screen without audio, but reading the script, to get the sync approximately correct
3. Record voice over, remember the pauses noted in the script (why in audacity, and not directly on screen flow, btw?)
4. Bring video and audio in perfect sync by editing
Thanks for the quick reply, Shawn. It’s not just Focusrite, I’d borrowed another audio interface and had similar results. In brief, Camtasia Recorder has really poor audio recording capabilities. So for busy people who want to pull together a quick and dirty, but quality, screencast, we are stuck w/ USB mics.
BTW, I totally agree that recording, mixing, and editing audio outside of Camtasia provides the most polished and professional audio. No disagreement there. I’ve done it and lived it. For those who think audio not important, they are wrong. A smooth and rich sounding audio track are significantly more well received; people enjoy a professional production.
Before I leave, I just want to leave it open to anyone who’s successfully used audio interface directly into Camtasia, please let me know how.
Many thanks, and I look forward to more of your posts.
cheers, dk
Hi Shawn, just wanted to say thanks! I have just started out with my own screencasts. I had been testing lots of styles and workflow management techniques, but your article really did the trick.
Hi there
Which plug ins do you use with Garage band?
Cheers
russ
Hi Russ,
I use PSP Vintage Warmer 2 to add some warmth, FabFilter’s excellent Pro-L limiter, and then the built-in DeEsser, Noise Gate, and Channel EQ plugins.
Hope this helps!
I loved this post. The idea of scripting out and recording the audio separately has saved me an _incredible_ amount of time. Your system for screencasts works really well for me.
The one challenge I’m running into is how to easily sync my audio with my video. I haven’t found a way to start recording my video while simultaneously playing back my audio. Because of that, I always start one after the other which involves me having to manually sync the audio/video.
Any suggestions or how do you workaround that?
Thanks for dropping by, Alex. I’m thrilled to hear you found this post helpful.
When I record in ScreenFlow, I use the countdown feature before recording the screen actions. As it’s counting down from 5, I’m getting ready to start recording, ensuring that the main ScreenFlow window is still active and the audio is cued for playback.
As soon as the countdown hits zero, I hit the spacebar, which begins playing the audio from ScreenFlow. Then, I quickly switch (Command-Tab) to the web browser in which I am recording. Now I’m able to record my onscreen actions in sync with the voiceover.
When I finish recording the screen actions, I drag the new screen recording into the ScreenFlow project, placing it roughly in line with the audio track. Now, I usually find that it’s helpful for the onscreen actions to occur just slightly ahead of the voiceover. So I’ll nudge it to the left just a tad. For me, it’s usually just one or two left-arrows.
Finally, play back the project, and adjust again if necessary.
Does that help?
ahh, yes. it does help to know that’s the technique you use. i’ll try that on this next screencast.
after i posted this comment, i did come up with another strategy that ended up working out really well.
here’s what i did.
1. leave five seconds on the screenflow timeline on the pre-recorded audio track (audio A).
2. tell screenflow to record audio _and_video. once it starts recording, hit play on audio A.
3. record the screen actions as you follow along with audio A.
4. drag the new audio/video track onto the screenflow timeline.
because you told screenflow to record both audio and video, it captured audio A a second time (audio B) along with the video.
5. line up the start of audio A with the start of audio B.
6. play both audio A and B tracks at the same time. use the [ and ] keys to nudge the audio B track until it’s synced with audio A (i.e. when there’s no echo).
7. once you get that position, you can delete the audio B track.
hopefully both our techniques will help future readers.
thanks for sharing!
Very useful.
Thanks Shawn 😉
Great post, Shawn.
What suggestions do you have on background music?
Thanks for dropping by, Valera. Excellent question.
I think the addition of background music can help to differentiate your video, give it a more professional polish, and add credibility — all while setting the tone for your content.
The key is finding just the right piece of music… one that doesn’t overpower the voiceover, but sets just the right tone for the subject matter. I’ll often spend an hour or two listening to dozens of samples before deciding on the right piece of background music. It doesn’t help that so much royalty free music is “cheesy” or overly-corporate sounding.
I like the selection of royalty-free music at PremiumBeat.com, but there are dozens of similar sites.
When you add a piece of music to your video project, it’s a good idea to utilize “ducking” — lowering the volume of the music when the primary narration starts, and then lifting the volume again whenever the narration pauses or is finished. You can hear this effect in my own videos, like this one.
Hope this helps, but if you have further questions, feel free to follow up any time!
Shawn, have you had a chance to try the relatively new Capto for Mac? I stumbled upon it when looking to update my version of their Voila screen capture software. It’s pretty inexpensive at $30 but I wonder how it compares feature and interface-wise to ScreenFlow.
Cheers,
Darran.
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the Capto/Voila folks
Great article, Shawn! I had one pretty specific question: I have a condenser mic that’s mono going through an M-Audio Fast Track sound card into my Mac. The problem is, when I’ve tried to record on several screencasting apps (ScreenFlow, Screenflick, even Quicktime), all I get is mono sound in the left channel. How do I make it stereo? Is that even a possibility, or do I have to buy a stereo mic?
Great question, Anna!
First off… most high-end mics are monaural. My mic is mono. But I usually record to GarageBand first, and then export in mono — but using BOTH channels. If you’re recording narration directly into ScreenFlow (and one would presume other similar apps), you should have the ability to pan the mono recording to the center, which should play it back evenly in both speakers. See this screenshot: https://cl.ly/jgA4
This forum thread goes into a little more detail: https://feedback.techsmith.com/techsmith/topics/m_audio_fast_track_only_recording_left_side
Hope this helps!
Hi Shawn
What app did you take that screenshot from?
Best
Russ
Hey, Russ. The screenshot was taken from the Audio tab in ScreenFlow. There’s an Audio Mix section where you can find the pan controls.
Schaweet! Thank you.
Awesome, thanks so much!
Shawn,
Thanks so much for this fantastic tutorial screencasts. I need to start creating screencasts for my business, but I was “stuck”. This took my step-by-step through exactly what I need for my set-up. And now I’m excited to start recording my own screencasts. Thanks sooooo much!
Great article Shawn thanks. I tweeted you last week but wanted some clarification on the process of recording audio BEFORE recording on screen behaviour.
I.e. how do you listen whilst recording? Use a 2nd app?
Also, do you use anything to indicate what’s coming next so you’re not just reacting to what you hear? Do you have a 2nd monitor with the script or at maybe bullet points?
Thanks again!
Hi Ant,
Actually, the featured image at the top of this article is my recording setup. I record my narration in GarageBand, edit it, then import it into ScreenFlow.
Then, I play back the audio from ScreenFlow, which usually lives on my primary monitor on the left, while simultaneously recording my screen actions on the right-hand monitor. ScreenFlow allows you to play back the audio while also recording the onscreen actions.
I do often have the script pulled up as well, for reference during the recording. But since I shoot for videos that are only 5 minutes in length, it’s usually easy enough for me to remember what screen actions to perform during the recording.
Hope this helps!
So you can record the screen with ScreenFlow whilst listening to audio on ScreenFlow?
I use Camtasia which does not allow this – maybe that’s the key difference.
Shawn, your article here is the single thing that has helped me wrap my head around all the nitty gritty of making screencasts the most. Everything ‘clicked’ after reading it.
One question: you say to set your monitor resolution to 1280×720. That does result in the best output, by far.
But… if I zoom in at any point (using Screenflow) the screen (especially text) looks blurred. I guess this is because Screenflow is trying to add pixels that weren’t actually recorded.
I’ve tried leaving my monitor at its default 1920×1200 resolution, and instead setting my browser size to 1635×920. It’s still 16:9 and works well. But:
1. I have to shrink it down to Screenflow’s 1280×720 document size;
2. It doesn’t look as crisp as recording at 720p natively.
3. It’s not as easy to read text in the browser.
However, zoomed text doesn’t look as blurry.
I can’t seem to find a good trade-off. Do you have any ideas on this?
Thank you for your time.
Re. my last comment: I think I’ve figured this out.
I simply can’t zoom in and still have crisp text if I record at 1280×720. So I definitely need to record at a higher resolution to be able to do that. I also need to make sure I choose an ‘exact’ 16:9 resolution (integers). 1920×1080 for example.
So I’ve tested recording full screen at 1920×1080, but also zooming the browser to 125%, to make ‘default size’ text a bit more readable. And then when I zoom in to an area of the screen, using a Screenflow video action, I zoom to 100%, so text is super crisp (cos it’s at the resolution it was recorded at). And scaling down to 720p still leaves everything looking pretty good at the ‘default’ size.
This also works better for me too because the app I mainly demo in my screencasts needs a bit more screen real-estate than 1280×720 affords. It’s a good trade-off, for me anyway!
Only posting this here in case anyone else finds it useful.
Hi Dave,
You’re absolutely right. If you record at a monitor resolution of 1280×720, you cannot zoom in ScreenFlow without the text becoming blurry or pixelated. Actually, since I wrote this article, I’ve changed how I record my monitor.
First, I have two 27-inch monitors. I run ScreenFlow on one, and record my browser on the other. Both monitors are set to 2560×1140.
When I record, I still use Chrome in fullscreen mode. Then I zoom the browser to 200%. This mimics the same experience as viewing on a 1280×720 monitor, but essentially doubles the resolution.
Now, my secondary monitor is just an Apple Thunderbolt Display, whereas my primary monitor is a 27″ Retina iMac. If I were to record on my iMac, I would have four times the resolution, due to the high-res Retina display. Then I’d have to zoom my browser to 800%, but that would also create very large video files… unnecessarily so.
So, you’ve arrived at the best strategy. Record in higher resolution, then scale down in ScreenFlow. This gives you plenty of resolution to zoom in ScreenFlow as you like, without getting blurry text.
Rock on!
Brilliant Shawn. Thank you!
Hi, I loved the article! May I ask why did you not mention many of the current video maker software, including iMovie, which comes pre-installed on the Mac and is very easy to use?
Hi Inga,
Thanks for your feedback and your question. While I love and use iMovie for editing short family movies, it does not support screen recording. You can’t record your screen in iMovie, which is what screencasting is all about.
Now, I suppose you could use QuickTime Player to record your screen (File > New Screen Recording), then export the resulting screen recording, and finally import that file into iMovie. But that would result in a lot of extra work and unnecessary steps.
And, you still won’t benefit from the features that purpose-built screencasting software includes for this purpose, including the ability to override your cursor, create callouts, pans and zooms, and export directly to video hosting services like Vimeo.
In short, I’d recommend using the right for the job. iMovie is great for editing movies, and you might even start out using it for screencasting. But in short order, you’ll likely want to upgrade to a “proper” screencasting tool like ScreenFlow or Camtasia.
Hope this helps!