Here is an article about finding the right level for your computer sound card. The article uses Windows and its mixer control to teach the point. It shows you how to use Audacity (the free recording software) to play a sample sound at full-scale (the sound blob/wave form is normalized so the loudest point is at the maximum level of 0dB). Then you use the Windows Mixer volume control to turn it up until you start to hear the sound distort (that buzzing awful clipping noise). then you turn the volume control on the Windows mixer down to just below that.
The same concept applies to other operating systems as well. Here is the article with pictures and step-by-step instruction:
http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/finding_the_optimum_playback_level_of_your_sound_card/
Recording Tips and Techniques
Getting Tracks Ready For Final Mixdown
Here is great video – another one from WinkSound – about organizing all your tracks in preparation for mixdown. Remember, mixing down your tracks is one of three major steps/jobs in a recording project. Recording/tracking is the first step, then comes mixing, and finally there is mastering. See our post here: Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer and Mastering Engineer – Oh My for a reminder of that.
Anyway, when you have a lot of tracks to mix down, usually in a music project (not so much with a voice-over project usually), you need to organize things a bit before you dive into the mixing job. In this video, Michael White shows you how to do just that. This works for any multi-track recording software, Reaper included.
Fix It In The Mix? That's The Road To Hell
If you ever hear yourself uttering these words – Meh, I’ll just fix it in the mix – as you record something, I want you to stop what you’re doing and ask someone to kick you in the butt. I know, I know – everyone does it. And there are some things that simply cannot be made “right” until they are playing with the other tracks. But what you’re really saying is I know I messed up just now. I can fix it later.
This reminds me of a metaphor from when I used to teach and consult in the quality management field. American quality toast was to burn the toast, and then scrape off the black stuff. This was in comparison to Japanese quality toast, which was to fix the toaster to prevent the problem occurring in the first place. In almost every quality-cost situation, it is better (in terms of less time and money spent) to catch a problem and fix it as soon as humanly possible in the feedback look – with the ideal being to prevent errors and waste altogether. Audio recording is no different. Try to get all your tones recorded and sounding as good as possible BEFORE you start to mix your project.
Here is a little post calling this “the secret weapon of mixing,” written by Joe Gilder. Heed this advice and you shall be happier in your home recording studio.
Read Joe’s post here: http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/in_the_studio_a_secret_weapon_for_full_mixes/
Amateur Audio On Excellent Video
Here is yet another example of a really entertaining and otherwise excellent video made to appear amateur-ish by the audio quality. I have written repeatedly about why this seems to be so common while simultaneously being pretty easy to fix. See these articles, for example:
Audio For Videos: Do Not Let Bad Sound Ruin Great Video
Pro Audio For Your Video – Review of the BeachTek DXA-2T Camcorder Adapter
So my wife was on Facebook and showed me a very funny video with terrific acting and awesome content. But as I watched, I couldn’t stop wondering why they didn’t try a little harder to mic the actors. Their voices were all echo-y and reverb-y, like the sound you’d get if you just shot the video with a camcorder (or even an iPhone) and the actors 6-20 feet away. To quote a military friend of mine – “that dog won’t hunt.”
In order to get good sound quality on dialogue in a video is the get a mic close to the mouths of the actors. This is done either by using hypercardioid (very directional while rejecting off-axis noise) on a long pole just out of frame, or by using lapel mics.
Sure, wireless lapel mics are a couple hundred bucks, but putting even a cardioid mic (you can get a Shure SM58 for under a hundred bucks) on the end of a pole (you can rig up a DIY version with a telescoping aluminum brush/broom pole at the hardware store, or use PVC pipe if you have to). The solution does not have to be expensive and it can make such a HUGE difference in the level of professionalism.
OK, stepping off the soap-box now. Here’s the video I was referring to. I think these guys are great:
Using Multi-Band Compression
We have a few articles about the use of an effect called compression in audio recording. See our first one here: Should You Use Compression In Audio Recording? Well usually the compression settings (like threshold and ratio) are applied to the entire frequency spectrum of an audio item. But sometimes it might be useful to apply different settings to different frequencies. For example, you might want to really squash the low frequencies (say, a “band” of frequencies between 60 and 200 Hz), but have a faster release on them, while at the same time, applying subtle compression to the middle group (band) of frequencies. That is called multi-band compression.
Our article on multi-band (or more often, multiband) compression explains in more detail. But we like to offer different points of view and perspectives.
Here is an article from Audio Geek Zine that shows you how to use multi-band compression, along with audio examples of drums and guitar recordings. check it out here: http://audiogeekzine.com/2012/09/how-to-use-multiband-compression/