Docs › Video Studio › Setup

Setup

Build your rig once. Choose which cameras record and what they're called, pick the sound from your audio interface, and decide where takes are saved. Video Studio remembers it all, so next time you go straight to recording.

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

The Video Studio Setup screen with camera cards, sound settings and recording settings — Setup: cameras at the top, then sound and recording settings.

Video Studio opens in Setup the first time, and whenever it can't record yet. From Monitor, click Setup to come back (not during a take). Every change is saved immediately — there's no Save or Cancel.

Cameras

Every camera the Mac detects gets a card with a live preview. Connect a camera and its card appears automatically. On each card you can:

Turn it on or off with the Record switch. Only cameras that are on are recorded; the others show Off.
Give it a name, such as Kick, Overhead or Vocal booth. The name labels the camera in Monitor and in the player, and becomes the file name of its movie — Vocal booth.mov. Press Return or click elsewhere to keep it.
Choose a format — resolution and frame rate, for example 1920×1080 · 30 fps, or Automatic.
Move it earlier or later to set the order. The order is the order of the tiles in Monitor's grid and of the number keys 1–9.

More than 4 cameras Setup shows a warning when more than 4 cameras are on. Many cameras can drop frames or fail, depending on your Mac and on USB bandwidth — cameras on the same USB hub may not run together at 1080p. Spread cameras over several ports, and test the rig before an important session.

Use your iPhone as a camera An iPhone near your Mac shows up as a camera of its own (Continuity Camera) — handy as a close-up on the singer or a top-down shot of the keys. It works like any other camera in Video Studio.

Sound

Every camera file gets the same sound: the input you choose here. Record your mix bus, the room mics or a talkback mic, and the video sounds like your studio instead of a webcam.

Audio input — System default, or a specific audio interface. If the chosen interface isn't connected, the system default is used.
Record — which inputs of the interface to record: a stereo pair such as Inputs 1–2, or a single mono input — for example a talkback mic on Input 21.
Level — a meter shows the input you record, so you can check the level before the take.
Inputs — on interfaces with more than two inputs, a row shows activity on every input. Clap or talk into a mic and see which input lights up.

To record video without sound, turn off Record sound.

The Sound section with the audio interface, the recorded input, a level meter and an activity row for every input — Pick the input to record. The activity row shows where the sound is.

Recording settings

Setting	What it does
Output folder	Where takes are saved. Choose… picks a folder; Show in Finder opens it. An external drive works — Video Studio tells you when it isn't connected.
Automatically record when the DAW records	Auto-record: the cameras start and stop together with recording in Logic Pro or Pro Tools. See Recording with your DAW.
Name takes after the Pro Tools session	On by default. While a Pro Tools session is open, takes are named after it — `My Song – Take 3`. Without an open session, takes are named by date. See Take names.
Codec	H.264 plays almost everywhere. HEVC makes smaller files at the same quality.
Save takes as	StudioTools take (.stvideo) — one item in Finder per take — or Plain folder, a normal folder with the same files. See Takes & player.

Why does it ask for a folder? StudioTools runs in the macOS App Sandbox. It can only write to folders you have chosen yourself, and it remembers that permission for your output folder.

Continue to Monitor

When the rig is ready, click Continue to Monitor. It needs:

at least one camera turned on, and
an output folder that Video Studio can reach.

If something is missing, the bottom bar says what — and offers Choose Folder… when the folder is the problem. If your DAW starts recording while Setup is open and auto-record is on, Video Studio switches to Monitor by itself.