Recorder help · article 4 of 9

Recording with video

The Video switch sits on the right of the Record bar, at the bottom of every tab. It shows a camera with On or Off, and one click turns video on or off for your next takes.

Turn on Video

Click the Video switch so it says On. Your live picture appears at the top of the Record tab, marked Live, so you can frame yourself before a take. The rotate button on the picture switches between landscape and portrait. If you have more than one camera, the arrow beside the Video switch lists them.

Portrait crops the middle of the picture. An iPhone used as the Mac’s camera, or a 4K webcam, gives a sharp portrait video; a Mac’s own camera gives a softer one.

Outside a take, the camera runs only while your picture is on screen. On another tab, or with the window closed, the camera pauses and its light goes out, but Video stays on. Back on the Record tab, or in the mini view, your picture is live again. During a take, the camera keeps running even when you hide the recorder. While the camera is on, the menu bar shows Video beside the icon.

Video is off each time Afinar opens, so the camera never comes on by itself.

If you didn’t allow the camera, the line under the Record bar says Switch Afinar on in System Settings, under Camera. Press Open System Settings, or go to System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Camera. With no camera connected, it says No camera found. Connect one, or use your iPhone as the Mac’s camera.

While you record

With Video on, Record turns the window into your live picture, with Stop, the timer, and the levels along its bottom. The take starts once the camera shows its first picture, and until then the picture says Opening camera. If the camera doesn’t open within a few seconds, no take starts, and the Record bar says The camera didn’t open in time. Press Record again, or turn Video off to record sound only. The mini view during a take says how to move, resize, and hide it.

The camera and the shape stay as they are until the take is saved. If the camera goes away during a take, the picture says Camera lost and Audio continues, and your sound keeps recording. The × hides the recorder and never turns the camera off. Only the Video switch does.

After Stop, the full window comes back with your live picture still showing, and the next Record films again.

Takes with video

A take with video plays its video when you open it on the Takes tab. Trim cuts the video and the sound together. When you share a video, it carries only your part, unless you choose your part with the song.