Question
What's your stack to record and edit video courses?
I'm about to start experimenting with recording some screencasts (short tips, "today I learned" about UX and frontend dev, UX/design reviews, Tool tips ).
I don't have a lot of experience with screen recording and don't plan it to be perfect from the get-go. I just want to get started, get things "good-enough" and figure out along the way whether it even is something that's worth pursuing further.
I do already use Loom in private to explain things to friends/family or explain problems or solutions to coworkers. As this is something I enjoy doing I now want to bring it a step further an start a Youtube channel.
And while I like Loom lot for its simplicity it feels already too limited to produce things that are a bit more polished to release to the general public.
It seems like many people in this space swear by Screen Flow, and indeed it looks nice and capable to me. What annoys me is their licensing model. After reading a lot about it it seems I have to either:
- Buy on the App Store and pay the full price for every new major release, but be able to use this on all the Macs I'm working on
- Buy the license directly and profit from their upgrade pricing, but this means I'll need to unregister one device before using it on the other. It seems like not much trouble but it's so user unfriendly it really bugs me
- Buy two license to be able to use it on desktop and laptop. Still cheaper than App Store with full-priced upgrades, but it feels just wrong to pay twice for something that's only used by myself.
I also tried Capto (as it's part of my Setapp subscription), but it didn't really look too impressive.
Are there any other recommendable tools I'm missing? I really dig the simplicity of Loom, but it's just a bit too limited. Mainly I need recordings to be on disk before uploading, be able to edit camera and screen as separate tracks.
I've also often read that people use Screen Flow for recording only and do all their editing in Final Cut. In this setup would you even need Screen Flow or is there a simpler solution for just recording that I haven't come across yet?
I'm willing to spend some money but buying both Screen Flow and Final Cut (alongside a mic + interface +stand) for something i'm really just trying out feels too much at this time.
grateful for your tips and recommendations,
Daniel
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You don't need to shell out for expensive video editing software like Final Cut, especially when there are so many good free options for making a screencast.
Screencastify is a great, easy option as a chrome add-on. While sharing your desktop or browser, you can also enable your webcam to create a picture in picture screencast.
If you'd like more flexibility in editing, you can also do this with the combination of Quicktime and iMovie. Quicktime will let you create a recording using both your desktop and webcam. Then, you can take these into imovie any layer them together using the picture in picture mode (found in video overlay settings).
How about a combo of QuickTime + iMovie? If you're on Mac, that's free for you, probably already installed, and it's much capable at producing video tutorials.
Execution tip: don't overthink it. Focus on the content rather than the form. Better have uploaded a bunch of YouTube videos and started getting subscribers than spending days/weeks pondering about which app is going to be the best for you.
Loom + VSDC works the best. Free but has all the features you may need.
If you are a Windows 10 user, I'd say Xbox Game Bar, simply press Win+G to start recording. And use Adobe Premiere Pro for post-production.
For a cheap option, macOS' built-in QuickTime Player has a screen recording tool that can record full video of your screen. Open QuickTime, then click File -> New Screen Recording, then run through what you want to show on your computer.
Another free option for more advanced video recording tools would be OBS Studio, which can record your screen and your camera together. Works for livestreaming, too.
Screencastify is another simple and free option that records from Chrome.
Just remembered to add, this discussion about the best software to edit video has a ton of great tools you might find helpful.
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By the way, I personally use ScreenFlow. Use the full license mode (not App Store). I didn't upgrade to v9, v8 works perfectly for me and I can use it on two Macs.