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Recording

Monitor is where you record. Watch every camera at once or one up close, start a take with a click or let your DAW do it, and see at a glance if a camera, the sound or the disk needs attention.

Requires StudioTools 2.4.0 or later. Coming soon to the Mac App Store — beta testers have it now.

The Monitor screen

The cameras fill the window. The control strip at the bottom has the layout buttons, the record button, the state (READY · 3 cameras, RECORDING, Saving…), the sound level and these buttons:

Under the state, a short line reminds you how a take starts: with auto-record on, Records automatically when your DAW records — or press ● to start now. You don't need to press the record button when your DAW is set up.

Setup — back to cameras, sound and output folder (not during a take).
Play Last Take — plays the last take you recorded in this window in the Takes player.
Open Folder — shows the output folder in Finder, with the last take selected.

While a Pro Tools session is open, the control strip also shows its name next to the state — Pro Tools: My Song — and your takes are named after it: My Song – Take 3. See Take names. In a narrow window the name is shortened or hidden.

Layouts

Three layouts, for three jobs:

Grid: All cameras side by side. The overview while you record.
Focus: One camera large, the others in a strip — on the right in a wide window, at the bottom in a tall one. Check the singer's framing while keeping an eye on the room.
Single: One camera fills the window. Good for checking focus and light on one shot.

Video Studio Monitor in Focus layout: one camera large, the others in a strip on the right — Focus: one camera large, the rest in a strip.

Switch with the layout buttons in the control strip, or with the keyboard:

Keys	Action
`1`–`9`	Pick a camera, in the order set in Setup. From Grid, this switches to Focus.
`←` `→`	Previous / next camera in Focus and Single.
`G`	Back to Grid.
Double-click a camera	Focus on that camera.

Changing the layout never interrupts a recording. A single click on a camera does nothing, so a stray click during a take can't change the view. The layout you're in when a take starts is saved with the take, and the Takes player opens in it.

Start and stop a take

Click the record button to start; click it again to stop. All cameras start on the same frame and stop together. REC appears once every camera is rolling.

Recording with your DAW

With Automatically record when the DAW records turned on in Setup, Video Studio follows your DAW: record in Logic Pro or Pro Tools and the cameras start; stop, and the take is saved. Every take in your session gets its video, without reaching for the mouse.

StudioTools needs to know when your DAW records — see Connect your DAW.
Auto-record works while the Video Studio window is open. Keep it open (it can sit on a second screen) during the session.
If the DAW starts recording while Setup is open, Video Studio switches to Monitor by itself.

The REC frame

While recording, a red frame and a ● REC banner with the running time cover the window. They scale with the window, so you can read them from behind the drum kit or through the booth glass. The controls fade out after a few seconds without mouse movement — move the mouse to bring them back.

Make the window the recording light Put Video Studio on a screen the performers can see. The red frame tells everyone the cameras are rolling — together with your studio lights, if you use them.

Camera status

Each camera shows problems on its own tile:

Dropping frames: The camera can't keep up — often USB bandwidth or too many cameras on one hub. Try a lower format in Setup, or another port.
No signal: The camera delivers no picture. Check the cable and that the camera is switched on.
Reconnecting…: Video Studio is restarting the camera. It goes away when the camera works again.
Lost at m:ss · saved up to there: The camera was lost during the take — unplugged, failed, or without a picture for more than a few seconds. Its file is saved up to that moment, and the other cameras keep recording. The REC banner counts lost cameras (⚠ 1 CAM). If every camera is lost, the take stops.

A camera tile showing Lost at 0:42 · saved up to there while the other cameras keep recording — A lost camera: its file is saved up to that point, and the others keep recording.

Sound

The control strip shows the level of the input you record. Instead of the meter you may see:

No sound — StudioTools has no microphone access. Click Open Privacy Settings and turn on StudioTools under Privacy & Security › Microphone.
Sound off — recording sound is turned off in Setup.
No sound in this take — the current take is recorded without sound. Check the sound settings in Setup after the take.

Disk space and output folder

Video takes up space fast, especially with several cameras. Video Studio keeps an eye on it for you:

Low disk space · … GB free — less than 10 GB free on the output drive.
Disk almost full · ~N min left — during a take, when there are less than 10 minutes (or 5 GB) left.
A take needs at least 2 GB free to start.
Below 1 GB free, the take stops automatically and is saved, so its files stay playable. An alert tells you what happened.
Output folder not available — the folder can't be reached, for example because its external drive is unplugged. Click it to go to Setup and connect the drive or choose another folder.

Closing during a take

If you close the window or quit StudioTools while recording, Video Studio asks first. Stopping finishes the files properly, so the take stays playable.

Avoid force quitting during a take A crash or force quit while recording leaves files that can't be played. Stop the take — or let the DAW stop it — before you shut down.