Archives for July 2010

How to Record Yourself As a One-Person Band on a $5 Budget

July 30, 2010 by Ken 1 Comment

Do you play several instruments? Can you sing harmony? Would you like to record yourself doing all those things at the same time? Are you broke?
If you answered yes to all the above, there may be some very good news for you. I know a way you can record yourself doing one thing, then record yourself doing something else along with that first thing. This used to be called “sound-on-sound” recording. More often these days, it is called “over-dubbing.” All you need to over-dub several tracks of audio is a computer with a sound card, and a microphone to plug into the computer. Even one of those cheapo $5.00 plastic PC mics will get you started. Would you not agree that a LOT of folks have that stuff already? Or they could have it after a quick trip to the local office-supply store (for the mic). Once you have all that stuff, all you need to do is download an open-source audio program called Audacity from the internet, and install it on your computer. You now have a home recording studio!
So how do you do the one-person-band thing? Let’s imagine you play guitar and sing. First, you would plug the mic into the pink jack of the sound card. Then open Audacity. Click the button in the tool bar that looks like a big red dot, which means “record.” Your studio will now be recording. Play the guitar part to a song you know…JUST the guitar part; no singing just yet.
Once you finish the guitar part, you’ll need to stop recording (click the “stop” button, which looks like a big square in the toolbar), and make one change to your studio set-up. Turn the speakers off and make sure you plug some headphones/earphones into the sound card’s green jack. Did I mention you’d also need some sort of earphones? Do you have an mp3 player…or do you know someone who does? Just use the ear-buds or headphones you use for those.
Next, “rewind” Audacity back to the beginning by clicking the button that has two backwards purple arrow-triangles on it. Then click the record button again and sing along with the guitar. You now have a vocal track and a guitar track. If you want to add harmonies, you just repeat the above step as many times as you have harmonies in the song. You could also add percussion, other instruments, etc. and voila! You have a recording of yourself as an entire band.
You’ll want to use Audacity’s editing tools now to make sure the tracks are synchronized, which you can do by zooming in and dragging the tracks left or right until they sound right. You will probably also want to mix the volumes and pan some tracks left and right, all of which you can do with the tools that come with Audacity. Export a stereo file from Audacity, and you have just recorded a song on a $5.00 budget.
The audio won’t be super high-end, but it CAN be surprisingly good. If you want to hear an example of something like this, check out the Home Brew Audio website for a demo video and several tutorials on how to get the most out of the lowest budget.

What is Multitrack Recording Software?

July 27, 2010 by Ken 4 Comments

Multitrack recording is one of the coolest things EVER. In the 80s when I first started recording music (okay, you can stop counting now…;)), multi track recording was not something a 15-year-old could afford to do without a major record deal or a family member who owned a studio. But in 2010, anyone can do it, and as long as you have a computer with an internet connection, it doesn’t have to cost you anything at all. Man, I love this century.
So what is it? We’re in the 2^nd paragraph and you haven’t defined it yet? Okay, I know. But as cool as it is, it requires a bit of care in explanation. First let’s define what a “track” is. The reason why “regular people” didn’t have easy access to multitrack recording back in the day was that we used tape to record. Try to picture a 1-foot length of that brown tape from inside those cassettes we used to listen to music on. If you could see tracks, you’d see two parallel stripes on the tape. When the tape was pulled over the consumer player head, each track would be played separately by the a sensor on the head. One played on the left speaker and one played on the right (the head had two of these, in case that wasn’t clear;)). Still with me? OK, moving on.
Consumer tape recorders/players had enough tape for those two tracks, so we could have stereo (another article on its own). For 4 tracks, or 8 tracks, or 16 tracks, the tape had to be wider and wider and wider. The standard 24-track pro studio tape reels were 2 inches thick, a huge pancake of magnetic ribbon. So the tape recorders required to play and record these monsters were very specialized, very large, and very expensive. But If you COULD get one you could do amazing things, like record something, and record along with it, then record a third along with those two tracks, and so on, and so on.
For example, you could play a song on guitar on one track. Then while you were listening to that play back, you could sing along and record your voice on another track. So now you have only guitar on track 1, and only your voice on track 2. Then you can add bass guitar, a piano part, more vocal parts to sing harmonies, etc. Then you can rewind to the start, hit “play,” and ALL of those tracks play at the same time! How cool is that?
Next you would mix the volumes of all those tracks individually on a mixing board so all the parts can be heard and play together like a real band would.
When I was just starting to record as a teenager, the only way I could make “multitrack” type recordings was to get two tape recorders and two tapes. I’d sing onto one tape and rewind it. Then I play that back and sing along with it while recording on the second tape recorder. Then I would play THAT back (2 versions of my voice) and record a 3^rd part onto fresh tape back on the first recorder. The hiss was horrendous and I couldn’t mix the volumes after I was done. But it was still cool.
All a teenager (or any –“ager”) in 2010 has to do is have a computer and download free multitrack recording software and they can do REAL multitrack recording, right now. I recommend a program called Audacity, which is open source software you don’t have to pay for. Then go to the web and watch any of the numerous tutorials on how to use Audacity to do multitrack recording. Home Brew Audio is one such site where you can find articles and video tutorials on all things audio recording. See you there!

5 Tips For the Best Quality Voiceover Recording – No Matter What Microphone You Use

July 22, 2010 by Ken 17 Comments

When creating a voiceover recording (or voice over, or voice-over…nobody seems to know for sure;)), the final product is usually nothing but the voice…all by itself…with nothing else to hide flaws. Yes, sometimes voice overs are accompanied by background music, such as when narrating short videos, or in podcast intros and “outros.” But for the most part a voiceover recording is just that, the voice.
That being the case, the better the sound quality the more professional the end-result will be. In a perfect world we’d all be rich and everyone could afford large diaphragm condenser mics and excellent analog-to-digital converters for our pc recording studios. But as we know, this is not a perfect world. Most of us will only be able to afford relatively inexpensive gear.
That’s OK. The techniques I mention in this article will enable you to get the best possible quality out of whatever mic you’re using. If you’re budget is not great (like most of us!), I highly recommend trying a usb mic like the Samson Q2U for only $59. These have the analog-to-digital converters built right in.
So what makes a professional voice recording? Clearly there is some subjectivity to the matter, but in general the voice should be clear, up-front, easy to understand, have level volume (you can hear the loud parts and the soft parts without pain or straining, respectively), and is as noise-free as possible. What follows are some key voice over recording tips. Let’s start at the beginning of the session.

1. Get Close to the Mic

Make sure your mouth is 4-12 inches away from your mic. Experiment with the distance, but what you’re going for here is to make sure the voice is recorded as loud as possible without overloading the mic or causing unpleasant sounds like p-pops. Since we’re using a pc recording studio for this, it’s fairly easy to see if your voice recorded loud enough or too loud. The voice will show up in recording software as wave forms (or “squiggly blobs” as I like to call them) in what looks like a swim lane on your screen. You want the blob to take up as much of the swim lane as possible without ever touching the sides. Experiment with distance from the mic until you achieve this.

2. Record In a Quiet Room

It’s almost impossible, especially with a pc recording studio, to have a completely noise-free environment in which to record. But the lower the noisiness, the better. Control what you can. For example, close the door to the room where you record to keep out the household noises. Try to put the mic far enough away from your computer that the fan and drive noise isn’t too loud. Sometimes using blankets or mattresses strategically can really help here. Just don’t block the computer vents or it could overheat. You might also want to choose a time of day when the neighbors aren’t mowing lawns, or construction isn’t going on nearby.

3. Reduce The Noise After It’s Recorded

Most recording software (including the open-source Audacity) comes with basic sound editing tools such as noise gates and noise reduction. Since there likely WILL be some noise, however little, in the recording (you can’t prevent it all), you’ll want to employ one or both of the above editing tools. I recommend trying the noise gate first. That will shut out all noise during the silent bits when the voice is not speaking, while allowing all audio (noise included) to pass through when the voice is speaking. If you only have a little hiss or fan noise, this works very well. Just be careful that things don’t sound too strange when the gate opens and closes. You can play with the settings to make this sound more natural. Also, if the ambient noise is too loud, it can sound unnatural in the silent bits between speech when it suddenly sounds too quiet in comparison with when the voice was speaking. One of the best editing programs out there, with some of the best noise reduction tools included, is Adobe Audition.
If noise gating isn’t enough, try a noise reduction tool. But be warned, this can make the audio sound strange if overused. Noise reduction artifacts sound like the voice is under water…kind of “swirly,” for lack of a better term. Noise reduction treats all the audio, the speaking AND non-speaking parts. For it to work right, you tell the computer what just noise sounds like by selecting an area (where there is no speech) that is ONLY noise. That way the tool knows what to get rid of. If the noise was not too loud, this works well. But the more noise in the recording, the more “under-water” it will sound after noise reduction. Experiment with this tool’s settings to get the best result.

4. Use EQ To Get Rid Of Mouth Noises

Even if you record with a pop filter in front of your mic, SOME p-pops (plosives) will still get recorded unless you’re unusually good recording your “P” and “B” sounds. But it’s actually pretty easy to fix those in the recording using EQ (equalization).
Another common mouth noise is a sort of saliva clicks. To fix these, again it’s EQ to the rescue. For a good review of what EQ is and what it does, see out post What is Equalization, Usually Called EQ? And for how to get rid of saliva clicks, see How To Use An Audio Editor To Remove Saliva Noises From Voice Recordings. For getting rid of p-pops, see How to Fix a “P-Pop” in Your Audio With A Sound Editor.

5. Normalize

The last thing I usually do is apply one more audio editing tool called normalization. All this means is to increase the audio volume right up to the point before the very loudest bit would distort. For example, if there was a yelling

Before and After Compressing and Normalizing

bit in the voice over, that part will show up as the “tallest” bit of wave form in the swim lane. so normalizing finds that tallest (loudest) bit and turns everything up until just before the tall part touches the side. This ensures the audio is as loud as possible without distorting.
If you do those 5 things, you should end up with the best voiceover recording possible with any given microphone. The best part is that it won’t cost you anything to employ these 5 home recording tips. Give it a try and see if your audio doesn’t sound much better afterward. For more home recording tips, visit the Home Brew Audio website. Check out our video tutorials, articles, free downloads, and more.
That’s really all there is to it! Yeah, it involves a bit of effort. But what thing worth doing doesn’t?

How to Use Your PC Recording Studio For Better Audio…For Better Videos

July 19, 2010 by Ken 3 Comments

Audio for video…The oft ignored piece of a puzzle. Did you know you could use your computer as pc recording studio to vastly improve the professionalism of your videos? Odds are you used your video recorder to capture both the audio and video for your latest internet video. How did it sound? I’m betting many of you will answer, “It sounded OK…pretty much like most of the internet videos out there. It got my point across. I’m just using the sound that got recorded on the camera, so you can’t expect too much in the way of quality.”
I’ve heard answers like that a lot. And it’s almost accurate. Yes, lots and lots of internet videos out there have audio quality on vocal narration that sounds very much the same. That’s because so many people are doing it the same way. They have some sort of video camera sitting 2 or more feet away, recording both the video and audio. When it comes time to edit and finalize the video in the computer, they simply use the audio track that was recorded on the camera along with the video.
Does this describe you? If so, I just may have some good news for you! Remember when I said that common answer to my question about audio quality on videos was almost accurate? What I meant was the statement: “I’m just using the sound that got recorded on the camera, so you can’t expect too much in the way of quality.” Video cameras these days, even the affordable hi-def ones, frequently don’t have an input for an external mic. And even if they do, people think it’s too complicated to deal with. And besides, the mic on the camera works just fine, right? Umm, no. It’s fine if you’re recording your child’s birthday party or capturing family fun on vacation. But if you’re using your videos for any kind of business, the audio you get from the built-in video camera mic is actually pretty bad.
So if you really want your videos to stand out from the rest, you need to have better sounding audio on your videos. But you won’t have to spend much, if any money on this solution! The main reason why most camera mics yield such crappy audio is less to do with the mic itself, and more to do with the distance between the subject and the mic. If the speaker is more than about 2 feet away from the camera and mic, what gets recorded is mostly room sound (if recorded indoors), or wind and traffic (if recorded outside).
There’s an intimate relationship between time, distance and sound. Oooo, that sounds profound, huh? Meh, all it means is that the further away from the mic you are, the LESS of your actual voice gets into the microphone, and the more other, usually undesirable stuff, gets into it instead. If you’re inside, the mic will pic up a bunch of copies of your voice…cheap imitations…along with your real voice. If you’re outside, it won’t be reflected cheap imitations of your voice so much as it will be “the sound of the great outdoors,” usually wind, traffic, critters, other people, wind, rustling leaves, wind, and oh yeah…wind.
Alright already, so how do you solve it? You decrease the distance between your voice and the mic. Try to get it around 12 inches from your mouth. That way, the voice has time to “win the race” to the mic before those cheap imitations have time to even develop. See? Easy, right? Ahhh, but how do I do that without the video camera being right up my nose? You don’t use the camera’s mic for the final product, that’s what. Get another microphone, any microphone (for good quality at a low price, try the CAD U1 Handheld USB Recording Microphone), and attach it to your computer a la the instructions you’ll find in my article, “Home Recording For Non-Engineers – It’s Not Hard Or Expensive here on the Home Brew Audio website. Put that mic close to your mouth. When you start shooting video, you should also start recording audio on pc recording studio you just set up.
When you transfer the video to your computer and open it in your video editing program, make sure you also import the extra (pc-recorded) audio you just recorded. Place the extra audio right underneath the video camera audio on the time line. You may have to move the pc-recorded audio left or right a little to sync it up with the audio from the camera. Once that’s done, simply delete the audio from the camera. Presto!
You should be left with an audio track that sounds much better than it would have had you used the sound from the camera, mainly because the pc-recorded sound was much closer to your face. Better audio for no extra money! Sounds good to me.
By the way, if you are one of the lucky people who have an external microphone hook-up on your video camera, this will be much easier. Plug your mic into the camera instead of the computer, and you won’t have to do all that syncing and deleting in the computer.
Either way, you will have much better audio on your videos, which should crank up the professionalism a notch or two. Come visit Home Brew Audio for video tutorials and more articles on getting the most from your home recording studio. Now go play!

What Software Should I Use to Start My PC Recording Studio?

July 16, 2010 by Ken 1 Comment

Home recording software (we’re talking audio recording here;)) is widely available these days, and ranges in price from $0.00 up to thousands of bucks. There is always the question of what you want your home recording software to do for you. Capability and features are numerous, so it’s best to know what your recording needs are. If you aren’t sure what you’re needs are yet, but you know you want to start recording audio from home, the answer is simple. Get the free kind! One such program, called Audacity, comes immediately to mind.
Audacity is open-source software and will cost you no money! The crazy thing is that it’s a pretty amazing and capable program. For example, folks usually need two different kinds of audio program (at least!); a multi-track recording program whose main function is to record, import, and mix many audio sources; and an audio editor, which works on one audio file at a time, but allows you to make lots of changes to the audio and make them permanent. Audacity can do both! You can learn the basics or audio recording, mixing and editing with Audacity.
Another good reason for choosing it over other free recording software is that so many people have done tutorials on line that you can learn a lot very quickly about Audacity. By the way, I have no affiliation with them at all;). I just think they have a killer product.
Eventually though, you’ll want a bit more capability than Audacity has, such as midi and more audio features. Do you have to jump from free to hundreds of dollars to make this upgrade? Nope. For $39 you can have yourself a very capable midi and audio program that I used for years for all my midi needs. It’s called PG Music Power Tracks Pro, which you can snatch up from Guitar Center here: PG Music PowerTracks Pro Audio 2010 Software Standard. But for the most amazing deal of all, you should get thee to the internet and download a program called Reaper, by Cockos (again, no affiliation;)).
Not only can this program do just about anything and everything and audio editor like Audacity can’t (features list is too long to go into in one article!), but their “honest business model” and “fair pricing” schemes are unheard of. Their 30-day trial is fully functional and never expires. You are required to purchase a license after 30 days of trying it out, but if you need more time for any reason, Reaper will keep on working, just with a reminder when it starts that it isn’t “free,” and that you need to buy a license. They actually rely on the honesty of their customers!
Their fair pricing model offers two separate prices for the exact same product, depending on whether you use Reaper for mainly personal reasons ($60), or for commercial purposes ($225). And get this, YOU get to decide which category you’re in. They even help you out by defining commercial use as “using Reaper for commercial use, and the yearly gross revenue exceeds $20,000.” So basically, until you make 20-grand in a year with audio you produced with Reaper, you can use it legally for $60.
There are obviously many other choices for a starter studio. I tried to focus on not breaking the bank for this post. I’ll write more posts in the coming days on a wide range of other home recording software choices. This ought to do ya until then. Learn more about how to get the best from your PC recording studio at Home Brew Audio. Ciao!