Recording advice please

[sfhole2stretch]

I want to start recording. I'm going to give myself a headset with mic for Christmas. Noise canceling is best obviously. Any recommendations?

I would also appreciate any info on how to create a quiet environment living in a busy city. Thanks.

[sarnoga]

I want to start recording. I'm going to give myself a headset with mic for Christmas. Noise canceling is best obviously. Any recommendations?

I would also appreciate any info on how to create a quiet environment living in a busy city. Thanks.

Hello,

I am sure there are plenty of people here who can give you advise on recording. I have been doing it for awhile myself. When I started out I was using a very expensive, very good recording set up. It recorded directly onto a CD in the same format as a commercial CD. The stereo microphones would pick up everything. If I scratched my ass while recording it would be there in the file for all to hear. Anything I could hear, no matter how faint would get picked up along with some things I couldn't even hear. It even recorded the hum from the florescent lights. It created a nightmare for editing, even when I took the whole thing into a closet in the middle of a building with all the doors closed in a small town in BFE and recorded in the middle of the night. It would pick up the sound of a train coming when it was still miles away. It would pick up every car that passed within a quarter mile or more. If I recorded off a written script that was written on paper it would record every time i moved the paper and I would have to pause to turn the page so I could more easily edit it out later.

After that, I went to a cheap headset for recording purposes and did away with the fancy recorder. I used the cheap headset to record directly onto my computer using Audacity. It was great. It recorded my voice just fine in mono and was not sensitive enough to pick up most of the noises that I used to have to spend a bunch of time and trouble trying edit out with only limited success. I made a great many good recordings that way. Then I would use Audacity to split it into two channels to get the effect of stereo and for further manipulation.

Finally, probably because the headset only cost about $20 it eventually broke, I had to get a replacement. I wanted to get one exactly like it, but alas, it was no longer available. All they had was stuff that was "better." So I bought a new headset for about $30 or $40. It is not as bad as my first set up but not as good as my cheaper one.

Now I again often pick up things I do not want. One of these days I may go out looking for a cheaper headset. The problem is, I wont know if what I am buying will give me better or worse results until I buy it and try it.

What I am saying, is that if you already have a decent computer, the only other piece of equipment you probably need is a relatively cheap headset. You are welcome to listen to my files to see what you think of the quality of the sound. From my experience, cheaper is sometimes better.

Go out and get a headset with a fancy expensive noise canceling microphone if you want to. I will stick with a cheapy. Besides, many noise canceling headsets may only be referring to the noise canceling in the ear pieces. If you want a noise canceling microphone make sure it has that too before you buy.

I have had the opportunity to use noise canceling headphones in the past, and they can be terrific for listening. But if it is only the speakers it won't help you with the recording. Besides, good noise canceling headphones can be expensive. Bose used to make a very good set, but it was hundreds of dollars. Once, to test out a set of Bose noise canceling headphones, I took them outside and used them for earmuffs while shooting. Damn they worked great. But that set was about $800 or $900.

As for a quiet recording environment in a noisy city, I can't help you. If you only have a noisy place to record you might think about moving.

Best of luck,

Sarnoga.

[Calimore]

I also bought a nice microphone which happened to be incompatible with my my computer's sound system, along with a nice set of Sony headphones (which I still use). I opted to use CoolEditPro, which is the software Sony bought and turned into Audiology or whatever.

So, I spent too much on my mic, use a piece of abandonware for editing, and adore my Sony headphones. Oh, be sure to have lots of room on your hard drive (because quality audio eats up 100's of MBs) and try to have the mic slightly off to the side to help avoid "p pops" and the like. Lastly, if you make a mistake or external noise, just reread it from well before the mishap and keep on rolling. Editing is a tedious but magical process that, used right, will allow you to record your whole file in one take if you don't get flustered but go back, reread and just keep rolling.

And Good Luck!

[sfhole2stretch]

Thanks very much Sarnoga and Calimore. You both make enjoyable files. I very much appreciate the insights.

[DKaiser]

If I recorded off a written script that was written on paper it would record every time i moved the paper and I would have to pause to turn the page so I could more easily edit it out later.

Hmm... what sort of mic did you get? Preferably for voice recording, you want something with a cardioid pattern, so that it'll only record you and not everything else. It does take a little practice staying on mic, but you get the nice quality without odd ass-scratching noises. It's rather amusing to hear someone's dog going berserk outside, but the mic never picking it up, because it's off to the side of the mic.

[bandler]

I have been recording Hypnotherapy CDs for a few years now, and the advice above is excellent. I started with a cheap mic, then moved up to the $40 mic, which was better, and now I have an $80 mic - Samson C01U USB studio condenser mic. It is MUCH better than the others, and because it is USB, it works with my PC so I can adjust the sensitivity - volume so that ass scratching is not recorded.
I use the noise cancellation feature of Audacity, and I find that it works best when I record at medium volume, then run noise cancellation, followed by amplification to a higher volume level. The result is a louder voice with no 'clipping' from the noise cancellation.

[tech53]

recording with a headset mic won't get you the quality you want. You need to spend a few hundred dollars and get a GOOD dynamic microphone. Don't worry about a condenser, that is more than you need and a lot of trouble anyhow. They are expensive (far beyond a few hundred) and break easily. Get something with a coverage pattern like you'll need, something like a shotgun mic might work if you have noise behind you. Get a pop filter for the mic, or make one with pantyhose and hangar wire...look online for instructions. Check the mic to see if it boosts or cuts any frequency ranges...if you get one that does make sure it does so for voice, and is meant for speaking or singing, not music. You will want to do one thing thought that is probably the most important of all and is free. Cover as much as you can as far as walls and floors and ceilings with blankets, sheets, whatever is soft and will absorb sound. It makes a world of difference when you dampen that sound. Now. I figure that's enough to prove I have the knowledge i claim.

[tech53]

noise cancelling is a bad idea if you are talking headphones. It creates sound inside the headphones to cancel out that which is outside, but this can create other problems, and will. You want headphones that are, maybe not high quality studio ones but invest between 50 and 80 bucks for a pair of dj headphones. They will last forever and sound great. Plus they cancel noise PASSIVELY (with padding) like no other. DJs have to hear their headphones during shows where it is LOUD...nehoo.