By far the biggest technical shortcoming of many videos is the audio quality. Although the most important part of filming a recital or a performer's audition is the audio quality, many performers are not aware that even the most expensive video cameras cannot record high-quality audio. When recording audio through the camera's microphones, the operator will place the camera at the best position to capture video, but this probably won't be the best position for capturing audio.

When filming the performance with the camera's microphones that are far away from the sound source, the recording may pick up camera and audience noise and will produce shallow audio.

There are two main effective techniques to improve the audio quality of your video recordings:

Click on the two video clips to listen to their high-quality audio tracks. I filmed the first clip with two cameras; the audio was recorded by the venue's audio producer, as well as my recording equipment. I filmed the second clip with two cameras at Princeton University, with audio recorded by Princeton University's' audio producer.

Joseph Patrych, a well-known audio producer based in New York, explains that "a very important component of a good video is good audio. The camera microphones only provides basic compressed audio; it is not a professional quality audio. This is why an audio producer well versed in video and also recording is an important asset to a successful video production."

Generally, recording studios bill their customers for video editing and mastering on an hourly rate because video editing is time consuming and many customers make endless changes until they are happy with the final results. However, if a customer has a fixed budget for the whole video project, he would like to receive a fixed-price cost for the whole project. He does not want to be surprised by additional unexpected editing costs beyond his or her original estimates and budget. To address these concerns I revised my editing pricing to accommodate fixed-price projects without breaking the bank. Now my editing services are priced as follows:

The five steps outlined below will help you produce a professional DVD or Blu-ray disc at an affordable price. Jerome Rose, a distinguished pianist, used this methodology to produce eight DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Mr. Rose's recent exceptional Blu-ray disc was released on September 24, 2013. Click on the image below to view additional information about this Blu-ray disc on Amazon. Mr. Rose's eighth video release followed another amazing milestone this year: the 15th anniversary of the International Keyboard Festival (IKIF), which Mr. Rose founded and has directed since 1999.

The selected place must have a relaxed and pleasant environment, excellent acoustics, and should be visually appealing. If you are a pianist, confirm that you will have access to first class pianos with an on-site technician and tuner. Make sure that your preferred place allows you to bring your own audio engineer with his recording equipment. Your audio engineer and the equipment that he uses will have a significant impact on the recorded audio quality and cost of your recording.

Video and audio production, which involves filming with multiple cameras and professional audio equipment, are the key to achieving the audio and video quality that you desire. Because the production step is billed on an hourly rate, it is important that you decide ahead of time how much time you want to spend on correcting mistakes. I highly recommend the perfectionists to set up in advance a time limit for their production phase because otherwise, they may exceed their budget very quickly.

Because editing and mastering are billed on an hourly rate, it is important to choose (if possible) an editor with a musical background. An editor who understands the music can choose for you the best takes, combine them into a single performance, and create for you the recording master. Minimizing your interaction with the editor saves you many hours of editing time and reduces the cost of editing. The edited master is encoded either to the DVD-Video or Blu-ray Disc format, which becomes your final disc master. The disc can contain multiple menus, allowing the viewer to select certain portions (chapters) of your performance, as well as bonus features, such as an interview featuring yourself or other information you'd like to add on the disc.

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