Simple video recording and editing with ffmpeg on Linux

[00:00] so FFM Peg is very simple and very

[00:03] powerful and it's actually a lot more

[00:04] straightforward than you might realize I

[00:07] use it exclusively for my screen

[00:09] recording and mic recording and then I

[00:10] also use it for the postprocessing of

[00:12] taking this phone video here and

[00:14] slapping it into the corner of the

[00:16] screen and drawing a little gray box

[00:17] around that that's done entirely with

[00:19] FFM Peg bass scripts and I've got my

[00:22] recording script here and then I have an

[00:23] additional script that's just going to

[00:25] take everything and slap it all together

[00:26] and give me that final video that's

[00:28] going to get uploaded so I I'm going to

[00:30] go over today how these scripts work how

[00:32] I use ffmpeg and also the basics of

[00:34] recording and some of the filter options

[00:36] with it as well um I want to start by

[00:38] going over why I'm not using OBS because

[00:41] OBS is kind of the standard for

[00:42] recording and I've gotten you know

[00:44] questions asking if I'm using OBS I'm

[00:46] not using OBS it's a huge program and

[00:48] I'm not saying it's bad but it is just

[00:51] too much for what I need all I need to

[00:52] do is record my screen and record my mic

[00:54] and that's it and OBS is this big tool

[00:57] meant for recording and live streaming

[00:58] and all of this other stuff and I just

[01:00] don't need something that resource

[01:02] intensive and not to mention if I try to

[01:04] run it on my ThinkPad it just lags out

[01:05] it is that resource intensive whereas

[01:07] FFM Peg can instead just run exactly

[01:10] what I need which is just the singular

[01:12] recording command that I need it to be

[01:13] running so um if you don't already know

[01:16] FFM Peg is essentially just a bunch of

[01:18] tools for audio and video manipulation

[01:21] um everything from recording and

[01:22] streaming to converting between formats

[01:25] to applying filters onto audio and video

[01:28] so for example I have a D noise filter

[01:30] on my mic that is getting applied live

[01:32] as I'm recording and writing to that

[01:34] file so that's pretty cool and there's a

[01:36] whole bunch of stuff you can do with FFM

[01:38] Peg and it it really shines when you

[01:40] want to be running a bunch of things

[01:42] many times over and you don't want to be

[01:44] you know having to open up like editing

[01:46] software or you know Ken live or

[01:48] whatever to actually apply those edits

[01:51] since I'm running the same things every

[01:53] single video I make you know I always

[01:54] have to take this phone and put it in

[01:56] the corner of the screen and draw a

[01:57] little box around it so why would I do

[02:00] that manually in an editing program when

[02:02] I can just have a shell script to do it

[02:03] right anyways so to record with FFM Peg

[02:07] I know the commands with FFM Peg can

[02:09] kind of appear intimidating at first if

[02:11] you've never done anything with them but

[02:13] you can break them down always into

[02:15] input and output it's always going to be

[02:17] an input file and an output file so if I

[02:20] want to record my screen here this

[02:22] screen is going to be the input and the

[02:24] video file that I'm writing to is going

[02:25] to be the output so I would start by

[02:28] adding this- f for format X11 grab since

[02:31] I'm on X and I will put the Wayland

[02:33] equivalent in the description um so-

[02:36] fx11 grab and then I want my input to

[02:38] actually just be the second monitor here

[02:40] so I'm going to start with 0 0 since

[02:42] that's the top coordinate of the first

[02:45] Monitor and then I'm going to add on

[02:46] 1920 since my first monitor is 1920 x

[02:49] 1080 I'm just going to add on 1920 and

[02:51] then uh comma zero and then I'm just

[02:53] going to give it an output file which is

[02:55] uh I don't know test. MKV um and the

[02:58] only other thing I want to do is just

[02:59] give give a video resolution um just as

[03:02] a good practice it's um better to just

[03:04] give it a resolution so that way you can

[03:06] just ensure you're getting the right

[03:07] resolution if I go ahead and press enter

[03:09] we are now recording my screen and uh it

[03:12] is actually that simple the only other

[03:13] thing worth mentioning if you don't know

[03:15] your screen dimensions just check with X

[03:17] randar and um it actually goes ahead and

[03:18] tells me uh plus 1920 that is um where

[03:22] I'm going to shift over that's where the

[03:23] display port display actually starts

[03:26] anyway so I could just cue to quit out

[03:28] of this recording and then I could check

[03:30] on it with you know MPV or whatever you

[03:31] normally use and um yeah we've got a

[03:34] screen recording perfect so if I wanted

[03:37] to have audio on that recording as well

[03:40] um I could go ahead and instead run this

[03:42] with an extra input as um a Alon device

[03:45] so I could do F uh oops falsa and- I

[03:49] default and that's just going to run

[03:51] with the default input device which is

[03:52] my mic if you have multiple inputs then

[03:55] just check and make sure you're

[03:56] selecting the right one but I only have

[03:57] one so I can just go with default there

[03:59] and that is now recording my screen with

[04:01] my mic and that is the most simple way

[04:04] to record with FFM Peg um that is as

[04:08] simple as just recording with one

[04:09] command but of course it would be a lot

[04:10] simpler to have it just run with a

[04:12] hotkey which is what I normally do hence

[04:14] why this recording script here so this

[04:16] recording script allows me to just call

[04:18] it with the hotkey and then run it to

[04:20] record it toggles on and off recording

[04:22] and then it also adds this little thing

[04:24] in dwm Block so I can actually see if

[04:26] I'm recording or not um and I just have

[04:28] this bound as a hotkey so I I literally

[04:31] I'm just calling this shell script with

[04:32] the hotkey so um the main thing going on

[04:35] here is this record function the first

[04:37] thing I want to do is toggle on my

[04:39] microphone since I normally leave it off

[04:41] so I first toggle it on um and then I

[04:43] have my two different FFM Peg commands

[04:45] and I have it in two commands just

[04:47] because I do want a separate audio file

[04:49] for backup purposes essentially just in

[04:52] case I ever did need an exclusive audio

[04:54] file um so my screen recording command

[04:57] is what I pretty much just explained

[04:59] with the only additions of I'm setting

[05:01] the frame rate to be 30 frames per

[05:02] second and I'm setting the codec to be

[05:05] h264 so CV is just for video Codec um

[05:08] and- qp0 is for lossless quality um the

[05:12] codec is actually going to it's going to

[05:14] be in this MPV uh MPV MKV container

[05:18] format here um MKV and MP4 and a couple

[05:21] other formats are all Container formats

[05:23] so if you set the codec they all support

[05:25] different codecs so if you want to

[05:26] actually set the codec you can do that

[05:28] it's not like the codec is be determined

[05:30] by the file extension so anyways I'm

[05:32] setting the codec and then I just have

[05:34] the file that it's going to get written

[05:35] to here um and the date command is just

[05:37] ensuring that every file name is going

[05:39] to be unique so I'm not you know

[05:40] overwriting old recordings or anything

[05:43] um and then with the audio recording

[05:45] part it's just getting written to a wave

[05:47] file but the only thing of Interest here

[05:48] is the uh audio filter which is this is

[05:51] what the noise filtering um as I'm

[05:53] recording is so it's just using FFM

[05:56] Peg's audio filter of AFF TDN which I

[05:59] have noidea idea what that stands for

[06:00] but it allows for a bunch of different

[06:02] noise filtering options and I'm using

[06:04] noise floor of -75 but obviously that's

[06:07] the kind of thing where you would want

[06:08] to adjust it to your particular

[06:09] microphone um mine has like kind of a

[06:12] lot of white noise in it so this just

[06:13] gets rid of that and it's a lot clearer

[06:16] with that so um anyways that gets

[06:17] written to a wave file and what I'm

[06:19] doing with both of these recordings is

[06:21] it's actually getting uh the P IDs sent

[06:23] to temporary files so that way I

[06:25] actually can check whether I am

[06:27] recording or not at the end here um by

[06:30] seeing if the file exists so if that

[06:32] recording file exists then when the

[06:34] script is called it's going to end the

[06:36] recording and exit the script or if that

[06:38] file doesn't exist it's going to start

[06:40] recording which allows me to have just

[06:42] one hotkey and always toggle on and off

[06:45] the recording state with that hotkey and

[06:47] obviously every time it records it's

[06:49] just going to start you know a new file

[06:51] uh for that particular recording and the

[06:53] last thing happening in this script is

[06:55] just the dwm blocks icon up here and um

[06:58] credit to Luke Smith as usual for the

[07:00] idea of the kill signals with dwm blocks

[07:03] I don't know if it was his idea in the

[07:04] first place or if he got it from

[07:05] somebody else but that is where I got

[07:07] the idea from so credit where it's due

[07:10] um anyways I'm using just custom kill

[07:12] signals to kill the recording icon block

[07:14] up here um and replace it as needed and

[07:17] I've gone over that a million times so

[07:18] I'll just link to another video in the

[07:20] description where I go over the dwm

[07:21] block stuff but um I don't know the last

[07:24] thing I'm doing is just sending

[07:25] notifications um when I start or end

[07:27] recording and this is my recording

[07:29] script so it leaves me with a-wave file

[07:31] and a MKV file and from there what I

[07:34] have to do is take this phone video pull

[07:36] it off of the phone and then combine

[07:38] everything together so I have a script

[07:40] to do that um and essentially I just go

[07:43] to the directory that has my video files

[07:45] in it I I make a new directory for the

[07:47] singular video that I'm working on SLAP

[07:49] everything in the directory and then

[07:50] just run this script and um actually

[07:52] before I go over the script I wanted to

[07:54] mention this page here uh FF improviser

[07:57] I guess would be how you would say it um

[07:59] and this is a really really good

[08:00] resource I will put it in the

[08:02] description um it's got a bunch of just

[08:04] like cheat sheet stuff for how to do

[08:06] stuff with FFM Peg I've relied on this

[08:08] site a ton for figuring out how to do

[08:10] stuff because if you don't want to read

[08:12] through the super thick FFM Peg man page

[08:15] um this is way easier you can just skip

[08:17] to what you need and it explains

[08:18] commands um really really helpful site

[08:21] so I will put this in the description

[08:23] but anyways on to my script here and

[08:25] this is where I'm going to start talking

[08:26] about filters in FFM Peg a little bit

[08:28] since um that is what I'm doing the

[08:30] entire process is just applying

[08:31] different filters so that it can then

[08:34] you know take this uh screen recording

[08:36] uh crop it uh flip it out remove audio

[08:39] apply it onto the screencast so anyways

[08:42] the first thing I'm doing is taking this

[08:44] screen recording this uh sorry not

[08:46] screen recording this phone recording as

[08:47] an input file um and applying a video

[08:49] filter I'm applying first a crop and

[08:52] then a horizontal flip and you can apply

[08:54] multiple videos uh video filters at once

[08:57] with FFM Peg so crop comma horizontal

[09:00] flip the crop dimensions are just crop

[09:03] Dimensions um and the last thing I'm

[09:04] doing is just removing audio since I

[09:06] don't need audio from the phone video

[09:08] and that outputs to this cam. mov the

[09:10] next thing I need to do is map my audio

[09:13] from my wave file onto my screen

[09:15] recording my MKV so I'm just taking

[09:17] those both as input files I'm mapping

[09:19] them together and oh this is this is

[09:21] pretty important this codec here is just

[09:23] set to copy uh so that way I don't

[09:25] re-encode the video because it is best

[09:27] to avoid re-encoding a video if you

[09:29] don't have to um a to save time and B

[09:31] the more you re-encode the more chance

[09:33] for errors Etc you're getting so um

[09:36] avoid re-encoding when possible um and

[09:38] then I just end up with this applied.

[09:40] MKV I'm then going to draw the gray box

[09:43] in the corner and that's just a video

[09:44] filter for draw box um I'm just giving

[09:47] it coordinates and a color and it's

[09:49] going to fill up the box and then I get

[09:51] this box.

[09:52] MKV um then I'm going to Overlay this uh

[09:55] cam. mov that got you know cropped and

[09:58] flipped Etc um that's going to get

[10:00] overlaid onto the screen video and I'm

[10:02] using complex filtering here so that

[10:04] first of all I need to actually make

[10:06] sure they are in the same color space um

[10:08] which is pretty important because by

[10:10] default my phone video here is in a

[10:12] different color space than my screen

[10:13] recording so I need to make sure they're

[10:15] actually converted to the same color

[10:17] space um so I'm doing that here and then

[10:20] after that I overlay the uh phone

[10:22] recording onto the screen recording and

[10:24] then that just gets exported to this

[10:26] final. MKV which is what gets uploaded

[10:28] to YouTube and then I just remove the

[10:31] extra stuff um from the process and I

[10:33] send myself a notification and this is

[10:36] how I edit my videos with FFM Peg um

[10:39] it's a lot easier to be able to just go

[10:41] into a directory and run a script as

[10:43] opposed to having to you know open up a

[10:44] program like Kaden live and then import

[10:46] all the files and you know rearrange

[10:48] everything and then render it out it's a

[10:50] lot easier just to run a script so this

[10:52] is where FFM Peg really shines if you

[10:55] have any sort of repetitive acction

[10:57] actions that you're doing over and over

[10:58] in editing you may well be able to just

[11:01] replace it with FFM Peg scripts but

[11:03] anyways I hope you enjoyed this video

[11:04] and I'll see you next time peace