Help with Sound

[stinkee]

I really enjoy doing my podcast, but I can tell my audio quality is low. I bought a usb microphone, and on regular speech it is fine. I read that you shouldn't talk over bumper music and stuff, but my podcast depends on talking over the music.

I use Sony Soundforge, because we have it at work, and a laptop to record my mp3. Is there a good way to layout the speakers and the microphone in order to have both at the same time?

Is there any audio software that allows for two inputs? One from the machine and one from the mic or something?

Replies appreciated!

[GreenDragonUK]

For my show I use Audacity, it's free from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. I record my voice part and then import the backing track music, you can adjust the levels to suit, the software then does a quick mix and you can export the whole thing as a single mp3. It's nice and simple to use, with many effects available either as stadard plugins or as extras.

Hope it helps you. Keep Podding On.

Green Dragon

www.greendragononline.co.uk

[Craig]

First, if you're going to mix music and voice use headphones, not speakers. The mic will pick up the sound from the speakers and you'll end up with a terrible echo.

Second, Green Dragon is right...you'll have much more control over your show if you record your voice and then mix in the music later. It gives you better control over levels and timing and makes it much easier to correct mistakes if necessary. If you need to hear the music while you're talking, burn it onto a CD and play it through headphones while you're recording (it's less taxing on your PC's processor this way). Use open headphones so you can still hear yourself talking naturally with low volume on the music so the mic doesn't pick it up.

As for recording a live mix of voice and music, someone else is going to have to help you there...I can tell you how to do it on the Mac but Windows is a whole different story.

Craig

[stinkee]

As for recording a live mix of voice and music, someone else is going to have to help you there...I can tell you how to do it on the Mac but Windows is a whole different story.

Craig

Craig,

I would be very interested in hearing how to do it on a Mac as well. I have an iBook G4 that i would love to use for recording. However, the software that came with the machine crashes with the logitech USB mic I was trying to use. Can you tell me the set up and software you would recommend?

Also, if you listen to my podcast, I analyze a song with a lot of stop and start as I comment on the music and the lyrics. I would probably be best served with some type of a mixer or 2-4 track something.

Thanks so much for the replies!

David Johnson
'what they sang to me'

[Craig]

OK, I listened to one of your podcasts (after hunting it down on Google...it helps if you provide a link!) and if I was trying to do it on a Mac I'd use GarageBand...part of the iLife package which you should have anyway if you don't already. (Assuming your G4 is fast enough.)

Create a new basic track in GarageBand and drag your MP3 into it. Create another track for your voice. Plug in your headphones and your mic and use GarageBand's preferences to make sure your input and output and coming from/going to the right places. Make sure the voice track is selected and click on record. You should hear the song in the headphones. Go ahead and talk over it until you need to pause it. At that point you can split the music track by positioning the play head (the arrow above the first track) wherever you want to create the pause, selecting the music track, and typing Cmd-T (Apple-T). Mute the song track (the speaker icon below the track name...on is mute for some reason), make sure the playhead is positioned at the split, select the voice track, and record your comment. (If you forget to select the right track Cmd-Z undoes pretty much anything.) Now click on the section of the song after the split, drag it to the right to the end of your comment, move the playhead to the end of your comment, select the voice track again, unmute the music track, and start recording again. Repeat this process until you're done.

It sounds complicated but once you get the hang of it you'll find it's really easy. You can even split the music track with more precision by zooming in using the slider at the bottom of the "Tracks" columns. Try it...you'll love it. Export the song to iTunes when you're done and then use a utility like LameBrain to encode to MP3. (A shortcoming of GarageBand is that you can't save to MP3.)

I hope this helps.

Craig

[stinkee]

I did the drop in and used the mic that is built in because I left the USB at work. I was able to split it just like you said!

I am getting closer to much better sound! Thank you thank you THANK YOU!

Next is bringing the mic home and getting it all together!

[Craig]

Cool! Glad to be able to help.

Craig