The iPad is a great tool for recording and editing videos, and combined with the Detail iOS app, you have a professional video studio in your pocket.

In this guide, we share:

1. Our recommended gear for levelling up the audio and video

2. How to set up your gear + iPad to record using the Detail app

3. Some simple recording & editing tricks that will save you hours

Our recommended gear list

1. Your iPad

2. Camera – a simple video camera will work, we recommend something like the Sony A6500.

3. Tripod – to place your camera on, a small tripod like the SIRUI AM-223 Carbon Fiber Mini Travel Tripod is great because it can also be placed on a table.

4. Audio recorder – the Tascam Portacapture X8 is excellent, compact, and can easily plug into your iPad and camera via USB-C. Alternatives are the Zoom H4n Essential or the Podtrack P4. You could even connect a Røde caster, but then you'll need wall power as the others are all battery powered.

5. iPad USB-C adapter - you'll use this to plug the USB-C Hub into your iPad so both the camera and audio recorder will be detected.

6. 2 x USB-C cables - these will be used to plug your camera and audio recorder into the USB-C Hub.

7. The Detail iOS app – video creation app optimized for iPad and enables you to connect gear to record with.

Bonus extras:

• Apple Pen – this is useful for annotating on your video (which is possible in Detail)

• The Apple iPad magic keyboard – great for fast text and title typing, as well as using keyboard shortcuts for editing.

  
  

The Setup

1. Start by setting up your iPad on a table or surface with the screen facing you. If you don't have a Magic Keyboard, a simple iPad stand will work.

2. Set up your camera and tripod and plug these into the USB-C Hub

3. Plug the USB-C Hub into the iPad using the USB-C iPad adapter and a USB-C cable.

4. Open the Detail iOS app and start a new project – if you move your external camera around you should see the feed in the iPad

5. Turn on your Audio Recorder and plug this into the USB-C Hub - the audio in Detail will now pick up this as the microphone.

6. Run a quick test by tapping the record button in Detail, then stopping and listening back to see if you're happy with the outcome

5 Tips for saving time with Detail iOS

1. Generate a script in Detail: if you have a rough idea of what you want to say, simply open the in-app teleprompter, type out a few sentences and tap the magic wand to turn it into a full written script.

2. Refer to a script while recording: if you already have a script, add it to the built-in teleprompter so that it's visible on the iPad screen to refer back to while you're recording

3. Edit using the transcript: if your video is long, it's much easier to scroll through the transcript text to take out sentences or skip to parts of the video you want to annotate, add text, or change layouts.

4. Remove silences in a tap: in the transcript editor view in Detail, there is a silence removal button that takes out all pauses in one go.

5. Get auto-generated short clips: if you want to cut this video into smaller clips for social media, open the transcript editor view and scroll through the Quick Cut options generated for you.