Need help finding right audio equipment
- ultimateX021
- Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:27 pm
- Status: More than a conqueror
- Location: Beyond Belief
Need help finding right audio equipment
I'm thinking about using sound effects, audio mixed from outside sources, and mixing audio tracks into one song. I've seen different microphones, but I don't know which one is best suited for this condition. What equipment would I need for getting sound from outside sources and effects especially narration, and what programs can allow me to mix tracks?
One who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. One who doesn't ask a question is a fool FOREVER....... ~Chinese Proverb~
- post-it
- Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2002 5:21 am
- Status: Hunting Tanks
- Location: Chilliwack - Fishing
. . a little vague but .. Best At Mixing Sounds is Wave-8 Eight Channel Mixer Pro.
. . Best Mic' System can totally be found at Recording Studio's only dude! They like live for that sorta stuff -- if you know what I mean
. . sound effects .. not much party friendly software out there man .. suffer~age!
( used to be a company called "Cool Edit" and they were the best .. haven't heard from them in years; probably got bought-out by some lame~o no-name yahoo franchise )
. . Best Mic' System can totally be found at Recording Studio's only dude! They like live for that sorta stuff -- if you know what I mean
. . sound effects .. not much party friendly software out there man .. suffer~age!
( used to be a company called "Cool Edit" and they were the best .. haven't heard from them in years; probably got bought-out by some lame~o no-name yahoo franchise )
- Scintilla
- (for EXTREME)
- Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 8:47 pm
- Status: Quo
- Location: New Jersey
- Contact:
Though you really don't need a recording studio for this kind of thing, he has a point: "Best suited" doesn't mean a thing if you can't afford it, and most of us can't ($3200 for a Neumann U87, anyone?). So give us a budget range: how much are you willing to spend on a mike?post-it wrote:. . Best Mic' System can totally be found at Recording Studio's only dude! They like live for that sorta stuff -- if you know what I mean
Please tell me that was sarcasm.post-it wrote:. . sound effects .. not much party friendly software out there man .. suffer~age!
( used to be a company called "Cool Edit" and they were the best .. haven't heard from them in years; probably got bought-out by <b>some lame~o no-name yahoo franchise</b> )
For completeness's sake: The company was called Syntrillium, the PRODUCT was Cool Edit Pro; and they were bought by Adobe (you MAY have heard of them) and the product was renamed Adobe Audition (now apparently split into Audition and Soundbooth) at least five years ago.
Personally, I have the original version of Adobe Audition and I still use it for all my audio editing needs. And it does have multitrack editing capabilities (that's how I do my bootlegs). It's a great program, but pricey.
If you're looking for something that doesn't cost quite so much, you might want to try <a href="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/">Audacity</a>, the Free and Open Source alternative. Many people here swear by it.
how I've missed this... NOT!
- ultimateX021
- Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:27 pm
- Status: More than a conqueror
- Location: Beyond Belief
Audacity, huh! Alright, I'll check that link out and see what it does. Also, that Adobe Audition, how much is that system and if the price is fairly high in all stores and online?Scintilla wrote:Though you really don't need a recording studio for this kind of thing, he has a point: "Best suited" doesn't mean a thing if you can't afford it, and most of us can't ($3200 for a Neumann U87, anyone?). So give us a budget range: how much are you willing to spend on a mike?post-it wrote:. . Best Mic' System can totally be found at Recording Studio's only dude! They like live for that sorta stuff -- if you know what I mean
Please tell me that was sarcasm.post-it wrote:. . sound effects .. not much party friendly software out there man .. suffer~age!
( used to be a company called "Cool Edit" and they were the best .. haven't heard from them in years; probably got bought-out by <b>some lame~o no-name yahoo franchise</b> )
For completeness's sake: The company was called Syntrillium, the PRODUCT was Cool Edit Pro; and they were bought by Adobe (you MAY have heard of them) and the product was renamed Adobe Audition (now apparently split into Audition and Soundbooth) at least five years ago.
Personally, I have the original version of Adobe Audition and I still use it for all my audio editing needs. And it does have multitrack editing capabilities (that's how I do my bootlegs). It's a great program, but pricey.
If you're looking for something that doesn't cost quite so much, you might want to try <a href="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/">Audacity</a>, the Free and Open Source alternative. Many people here swear by it.
how I've missed this... NOT!
Now, about the mic. I'm talking about a simple mic that just records your voice onto the computer. I happen to have two programs, Digital Media Creator 10 and Windows Movie Maker 2.0 that accepts audio from a mic. I don't know if it has a different name for it, but it's a mic where someone can just speak into it for "Narration" or something that puts your voice into the computer. Hope it's not the kind that is too pricey.
Does this help?
One who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. One who doesn't ask a question is a fool FOREVER....... ~Chinese Proverb~
- Scintilla
- (for EXTREME)
- Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 8:47 pm
- Status: Quo
- Location: New Jersey
- Contact:
Adobe's price for Audition is $350; they also sell Soundbooth, which looks like a somewhat less pro-grade app that does some of the same things, for $200.ultimateX021 wrote:Audacity, huh! Alright, I'll check that link out and see what it does. Also, that Adobe Audition, how much is that system and if the price is fairly high in all stores and online?
Naturally, I'd suggest trying the free trials of <a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/tryaudition">Audition</a> and <a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/trysoundbooth">Soundbooth</a> before committing to one of them, to see which one suits you better.
Okay, looks like you're going primarily for ease of use. In that case, your local electronics store or Radio Shack should have completely passable mikes that you can just plug into your sound card's mike input (look for a 1/8" plug; or, a 1/4" plug can be made to fit with an adapter, easily found at, say, Radio Shack), with no outboard preamps or power supplies needed.ultimateX021 wrote:Now, about the mic. I'm talking about a simple mic that just records your voice onto the computer. I happen to have two programs, Digital Media Creator 10 and Windows Movie Maker 2.0 that accepts audio from a mic. I don't know if it has a different name for it, but it's a mic where someone can just speak into it for "Narration" or something that puts your voice into the computer. Hope it's not the kind that is too pricey.
If your sound card doesn't *have* a mike input, then you can get a USB microphone instead: <a href="http://www.zzounds.com/prodsearch?q=USB ... ch">here's 17 such mikes on sale at Zzounds</a>, many of which can be had for less than $100. (These are still probably more expensive than what you could get at an electronics store -- in particular, if you have Rock Band, the microphone that comes with it is actually a plug-and-play USB microphone -- but I wanted to give you some other options that will probably sound better than that.)
- ultimateX021
- Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:27 pm
- Status: More than a conqueror
- Location: Beyond Belief
Okay, good thing you told me all this because I happen to have a mike input in my sound card, so I'm covered. I'll still check out the USB mikes just in case, but other than that, I'll try those two free trials of Audition and Soundbooth to determine which is better.Scintilla wrote:Adobe's price for Audition is $350; they also sell Soundbooth, which looks like a somewhat less pro-grade app that does some of the same things, for $200.ultimateX021 wrote:Audacity, huh! Alright, I'll check that link out and see what it does. Also, that Adobe Audition, how much is that system and if the price is fairly high in all stores and online?
Naturally, I'd suggest trying the free trials of <a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/tryaudition">Audition</a> and <a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/trysoundbooth">Soundbooth</a> before committing to one of them, to see which one suits you better.
Okay, looks like you're going primarily for ease of use. In that case, your local electronics store or Radio Shack should have completely passable mikes that you can just plug into your sound card's mike input (look for a 1/8" plug; or, a 1/4" plug can be made to fit with an adapter, easily found at, say, Radio Shack), with no outboard preamps or power supplies needed.ultimateX021 wrote:Now, about the mic. I'm talking about a simple mic that just records your voice onto the computer. I happen to have two programs, Digital Media Creator 10 and Windows Movie Maker 2.0 that accepts audio from a mic. I don't know if it has a different name for it, but it's a mic where someone can just speak into it for "Narration" or something that puts your voice into the computer. Hope it's not the kind that is too pricey.
If your sound card doesn't *have* a mike input, then you can get a USB microphone instead: <a href="http://www.zzounds.com/prodsearch?q=USB ... ch">here's 17 such mikes on sale at Zzounds</a>, many of which can be had for less than $100. (These are still probably more expensive than what you could get at an electronics store -- in particular, if you have Rock Band, the microphone that comes with it is actually a plug-and-play USB microphone -- but I wanted to give you some other options that will probably sound better than that.)
I'm planning on getting Rock Band in the near future, but for now the usual mike to sound card input will do, so thanks for suggesting this.
I appreciate the helpful information.
One who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. One who doesn't ask a question is a fool FOREVER....... ~Chinese Proverb~
- ultimateX021
- Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:27 pm
- Status: More than a conqueror
- Location: Beyond Belief
Whoops!ultimateX021 wrote:Okay, good thing you told me all this because I happen to have a mike input in my sound card, so I'm covered. I'll still check out the USB mikes just in case, but other than that, I'll try those two free trials of Audition and Soundbooth to determine which is better.Scintilla wrote:Adobe's price for Audition is $350; they also sell Soundbooth, which looks like a somewhat less pro-grade app that does some of the same things, for $200.ultimateX021 wrote:Audacity, huh! Alright, I'll check that link out and see what it does. Also, that Adobe Audition, how much is that system and if the price is fairly high in all stores and online?
Naturally, I'd suggest trying the free trials of <a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/tryaudition">Audition</a> and <a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/trysoundbooth">Soundbooth</a> before committing to one of them, to see which one suits you better.
Okay, looks like you're going primarily for ease of use. In that case, your local electronics store or Radio Shack should have completely passable mikes that you can just plug into your sound card's mike input (look for a 1/8" plug; or, a 1/4" plug can be made to fit with an adapter, easily found at, say, Radio Shack), with no outboard preamps or power supplies needed.ultimateX021 wrote:Now, about the mic. I'm talking about a simple mic that just records your voice onto the computer. I happen to have two programs, Digital Media Creator 10 and Windows Movie Maker 2.0 that accepts audio from a mic. I don't know if it has a different name for it, but it's a mic where someone can just speak into it for "Narration" or something that puts your voice into the computer. Hope it's not the kind that is too pricey.
If your sound card doesn't *have* a mike input, then you can get a USB microphone instead: <a href="http://www.zzounds.com/prodsearch?q=USB ... ch">here's 17 such mikes on sale at Zzounds</a>, many of which can be had for less than $100. (These are still probably more expensive than what you could get at an electronics store -- in particular, if you have Rock Band, the microphone that comes with it is actually a plug-and-play USB microphone -- but I wanted to give you some other options that will probably sound better than that.)
I'm planning on getting Rock Band in the near future, but for now the usual mike to sound card input will do, so thanks for suggesting this.
I appreciate the helpful information.
One more favor. I forgot to ask you if it's possible that there are certain mikes (or if it is the programs themselves) that allow you to change the tone and sound of your voice. Making it deep, loud, low, and crazy sounding.
One who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. One who doesn't ask a question is a fool FOREVER....... ~Chinese Proverb~
- Scintilla
- (for EXTREME)
- Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 8:47 pm
- Status: Quo
- Location: New Jersey
- Contact:
I've never seen any microphones that made changes that significant to the sound being recorded. It's true that each mike imparts its own sonic signature on the sound (some will be darker, some brighter, some will smear transients, etc.), but it's nowhere near as drastic as what you're going for.ultimateX021 wrote:One more favor. I forgot to ask you if it's possible that there are certain mikes (or if it is the programs themselves) that allow you to change the tone and sound of your voice. Making it deep, loud, low, and crazy sounding.
Usually, you'll want to record dry and then apply effects afterwards, in your audio editing program -- and the ones I mentioned (even Audacity) have all sorts of cool effects capabilities: equalization, compression and expansion, flanging, echo, delay, reverb, phasing, vocoding, pitch shifting...
- ultimateX021
- Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:27 pm
- Status: More than a conqueror
- Location: Beyond Belief
Thanks a lot for the info. I'll definately bump my music up with this software and definately mess around with the voiceover. I appreciate the help on this topic because I was like "dude, how do they change their voices like that." At least now I know a nice simple way of doing it. That audacity definitely sounds like a major "PLUS" for me. Look forward to checking it out.Scintilla wrote:I've never seen any microphones that made changes that significant to the sound being recorded. It's true that each mike imparts its own sonic signature on the sound (some will be darker, some brighter, some will smear transients, etc.), but it's nowhere near as drastic as what you're going for.ultimateX021 wrote:One more favor. I forgot to ask you if it's possible that there are certain mikes (or if it is the programs themselves) that allow you to change the tone and sound of your voice. Making it deep, loud, low, and crazy sounding.
Usually, you'll want to record dry and then apply effects afterwards, in your audio editing program -- and the ones I mentioned (even Audacity) have all sorts of cool effects capabilities: equalization, compression and expansion, flanging, echo, delay, reverb, phasing, vocoding, pitch shifting...
One who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. One who doesn't ask a question is a fool FOREVER....... ~Chinese Proverb~