Want To Record Voiceovers And External Sounds

[kipper]

Hi - i want to add Voiceovers with sound/music - using Audacity/Mac or Audition/PC to add to my AVs.

I need a good recorder to record my voice and other external sounds and then I want to input the sound in to my computer to work on a soundtrack.

I am complicated in that I use a Mac - I have to make my images and soundtracks on my mac and then can export them to my MacBook on which I an run windows XP. i cant do the whole thing on my laptop because the screen is small and it gives me eye strain. It is fine though for any finishing off and completing the presentation using Pictures to Exe. Using Mac makes it more difficult to get a recorder ie a mic. You cant plug in any old microphone it seems.They dont seem to work - - - - :ph34r:

Does anyone know about recorders? There is one I can see called iMic and with a set of earphones it will cost quite a lot. Trouble with that is that you cant use it to record external sounds when you go out somewhere. The ideal would be to have a great recorder to carry around at all times and to be able to edit the sound. It is important though that the sound is clear and pure

Thankyou in anticipation

kipper

[fh1805]

Hi kipper,

I use a Zoom H4 digital recorder to do just what you describe. It's battery or mains powered, records as WAV or MP3 onto an SD card and connects via USB cable to a PC (I don't know about Mac connectivity. Do Macs use USB ports?) It doesn't come cheap - GBP250 - but it is excellent.

I'll upload a sample outdoor recording for you to download and hear for yourself. Watch this space!

[fh1805]

Hi kipper,

I've uploaded a sound file (MP3) to Mediafire. Use the following link to download it: http://www.mediafire.com/?4gdwi2bdn1l

The original recordings were made in April of this year by just hand-holding the unit and pointing it at the various birds singing and at the light aircraft flying overhead. The only "post-processing" was to transfer the files onto my PC, load them into Audacity, select the best bits and mix them into this final, composite recording.

[kipper]

Hi Peter!

That is so good of you - and wow that is a super recording! I can see that I am having to spend some money here

- the other recorder I just found on the internet is Roland Edirol R-09 Digital Recorder which is also expensive but it is on eBay cheaper - £205. At least now i have a great recommendation from you and a sample of its quality! I will try and see how cheap I can find it - and check its Mac compatible. (Yes! Macs do have USB2! )

Thank you for your time and all your help

Appreciated !

kind regards

Kipper

[jfa]

I use a Zoom H4 digital recorder to do just what you describe......<snip>....

Thanks for posting the info Peter.

I've had a look at the H4, very impressive. The H2 would appear to have similar features for recording sound for use in AVs and is much cheaper. Is there any reason you went for the H4 over the H2? Any problems with the H2 you are aware off?

Kipper, both the H2 and H4 appear to be fully Mac compatible according to the Zoom site.

[fh1805]

John,

Could it be the H2 is a newer product? I never came across any references to the H2 when I was surfing for info.

The Zoom H4 is not cheap. But neither are the Nikon lenses that I buy for the cameras: nor are the desktop and laptop computers that I own. What I want are products that are capable of delivering more quality than I currently know how to handle. I can then learn how to get the best out of them knowing that I will not be having to make or accept compromises.

Unlike images (which can be improved using Photoshop), a poor sound recording will always be a poor sound recording. If it has underlying hiss, other noise, or distortion due to over-recording it will always have them.

Anyone venturing into voice-over and actuality sound recording is going to have to learn a whole new, and very demanding, skill set. But the new possibilities for your AV sequences will open up whole new horizons of experience.

[kipper]

Thanks John - I will have a look at both the h@ and h4. also been recommended the Roland Edirol R-09. I am not going to rush in to this - I have to be sure im buying the right product! i spend enough on my mac, camera and lenses etc and read a lot of reviews first!

I tried an interesting experiment last night and I used my camcorder to record voice using its external mic. It worked but the downside was that I had to import the whole lot in to iMovie and extract the sound files from the movie clips. Then convert them from iaff to mp3 in iTunes. It is a way I won't be going!!

Thank you for all this help - - this forum is a good place to find out things ! There is a lot to learn re sound tracks but i will get there in the end.

Peter I have been reading your profile page and find your comments interesting - thanks!

[kipper]

Does anyone have any preferences re the

Roland Edirol R 09 or the Zoom H2?

The most important thing for me is to be able to use it like a mic - in to my mac/Pc and be able to speak live in to it (rather than to save on SD card and import into computer as a file. )

I dont know the jargon when Im reading the descriptions so Id be really grateful for anyone to tell me if both recorders will let me use as a live mic.

http://www.tech.co.uk/gadgets/portable-aud...llSpecification

http://www.samsontech.com/products/product...cfm?prodID=1916

Thats it now - I will have to make a decision so wil be glad of anyone giving me the encouragement I need to go ahead!!!!!

Thanks

kipper

[denwell]

Kipper, John

I too have been investigating a method of recording direct to PC via USB and the Zoom H2 does have the capability to record direct or use SD card for some 6 hrs recording time.

It's also cheaper than the older H4 (around 150GBP if you shop around)

Check out : http://www.samsontech.com/products/product...cfm?prodID=1916

Currently I use a Sony Minidisc to record and input to PC for post production/editing. This works OK but the facility to record directly to laptop - digitally - is what I am heading for.

I'll watch this thread develop.

DEN (NE UK) just a couple of miles down the road from you Peter!

[fh1805]

Kipper/John/Den

The problem with trying to record open mic via the input ports of your PCs is one of noise - electronic noise and lots of it. The innards of a PC (or Mac) are full of components that give off varying amounts of electro-magnetic frequencies. It's a hostile environment for sound signals. Also, the signal strength from a mic, fed in directly via an input port, is very, very low. This signal will need to be amplified by your soundcard on playback. If any unwanted noise has been captured with the mic signal then this noise will also be amplified.

I cannot speak for the H2 but the attraction of the H4 for me was as follows:

- it will run off batteries - i.e no mains hum

- it records to SD card - i.e. solid-state so no moving parts to generate mechanical noise

- it records in WAV format - i.e. no compression/decompression routines to mess up the signal

In other words, all I have to control are the room acoustics if indoors or the wind noise if outdoors.

I don't understand why hooking up to the computer after recording and then transfering the sound files off the SD card to the hard-drive is such a big issue. It's what you do with the image files from your camera isn't it?

P.S. for Den, I might be putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5 but... are you an ex-member of Saltburn Photographic Society? Are you coming along to give us an evening's entertainment in the New Year?

[fh1805]

You might find this site of interest in your researches: http://www.digital-av.co.uk/sound.htm

[Conflow]

Kipper,

To help Mac Users I have posted a New Thread on the Forum:-

"MAC and iPOD Users"

if you open this thread go to the 'Audio/Video Solutions' section

and look up "iMIC" ~ you will find solutions to your USB enquiry

and a possible solution to your Sound-Recorder enquiry.

Site Link:-

http://www.griffintechnology.com/

See instructions in my New Thread.

Brian.Conflow.

[kipper]

THanks for great replies! all very useful and interesting!

Den thats a great link for the H2 thanks! Its looking good.

(The H4 Iim not considering because its more expensive and it has been superseded by the H2. also don't like the look of it!)

My alternative was the Roland Edirol R 09. also looks very good. Cool.

Peter - you ask why why hooking up to the computer after recording and then transfering the sound files off the SD card to the hard-drive is such a big issue.

The reason is - when using Audacity or Audition software you can import a music track - and be playing it at the same time as you are recording voice in so they fit correctly. Just makes it faster than importing it as a file and then having to make that fit afterwards.

The links that we now have on the post are excellent reading. Thanks for those.

A Mac user friend of mine uses an iMic and a Headphone with a built in microphone. Its a good system and works well. but it cost quite a lot to set up - as much as the H2 and Roland Edirol recorders which both have the added advantage of portability.

You know, the more I'm reading the more confused I am becoming - - -!

[denwell]

Peter

Yes the introduction of noise when inputting direct to PC is an issue I have been concerned about, and you're right it's no hardship to dl from an SD card - at least it doesn't need to be done in real time as with my minidisc setup.

I can appreciate Kipper's point about synchronisation in Audacity (and Audition too). It would be useful to be able to visually check the waveform directly as it records, but if noise is a problem then the SD route looks the better way.

I have tried using an iMic input device which alters input levels to allow mic input to a laptop but - you're right Peter - noise was unacceptable.

PS You guessed it correctly -see you in the New Year.

DEN (NE UK)

[ContaxMan]

With the help of a low-noise preamplifier (produced by Howard Gregory of the Wimslow Guild - search for Wimslow Guild to find contact details), and a decent microphone (Howard's cds offer great advice on this), I find I can record excellent quality voice-over directly to my laptop (the desktop fan makes too much noise!).

[Spafford]

A couple of other comments. We just finished creating a very elaborate slide-show for my mother's 70th brithday. We did voice-over w/music, using about 90+ audio sound bites. Many of the audio clips were recorded with the Roland Edirol R-09 Digital Recorder; which we borrowed from a friend. He uses it semi-professionally, if you will, to record off-site recordings for our church (e.g. Bible Studies). These are then posted on the churche's website for many to access. The quality is very good. We were quite pleased with the results.

Also, in terms of the voice-overs you may want to consider Goldwave with a "voice-over" pplug-in. We had planned to use Audacity, until we were introduced to Goldwave. The voice-over plug-in worked very well. I cannot imagine trying to do the voice-overs manually, if you will, on over 90 audio clips. See the following:

http://www.goldwave.com/plugins.php

Kelly ...

[kipper]

:) kelly that is just what I wanted to hear! The Roland Edirol being praised! I think im about to buy it!!

The link you give for goldwave is also very interesting! Sadly it wont work on Mac but i might download it on my Mac/pc Laptop and try it. it looks better than Audacity but that I can use on a Mac!

Many thanks for your comments! Kelly!

Kipper

[jfa]

An update to this thread.

In mid December I took the plunge and purchased a Zoom H2 Personal Recorder, (US$175), and have been testing and using it extensively over the last month. I am extremely happy with the quality of the results and the functions that the H2 offers for making recordings to be used in AV shows.

The quality of the sound this little unit produces continues to amaze me. I have used it to record steam trains working, street sounds in a busy city, aircraft at an air show along with crowd noise, a blues band in a noisey pub, bird song and sounds around the farm. All with stunning results. Having the tracks on a SD card in WAV format makes it very easy to download to my PC and work on the file in a sound editor.

Checkout the Zoom H2 here:

http://www.samsontech.com/products/product...6&brandID=4

For making an AV with a mix of background music and sounds I arrange the images with the backing track in PTE, then I preview the show while watching the screen from an adjacent room where I record the commentary on the H2, thus eliminating all PC noise. This voice track is then downloaded and mixed with the background track in my sound editor, checked, and final timing adjustments made and sound effects added. Some back and forth between PTE and my sound editor is needed to get timing perfect, but this should be eliminated soon when we get the basic sound editing functions in the upcoming version of PTE.

To anyone wondering if they should use one of these, or similar, recorders I would wholeheartedly recommend it. It may not be very cheap but it is true value for money.