Editing 101

Victor Harris · Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007, 17:24 (GMT) Post subject:

Heath,

Just lke Colin said XLR cable is what you need. Costs around $10-12. Go ahead and spend the $6-10 for a pop screen...lol. Hell, I'll pay for it...lol....just kidding! Wink

So here is your supply list:

XLR cable
Interface to USB port with XLR plug-in for mic
Shure SM58
Pop Screen

We'll make you sound good wheather you like it or not! Laughing

Colin Campbell · Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007, 18:26 (GMT) Post subject:

You'll need a mic stand too. Here's a very inexpensive pop filter...

http://astore.amazon.com/savvyvoices-20/detail/B0002E3FCO/104-9287570-9096743

Colin Campbell · Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007, 18:32 (GMT) Post subject:

Or you could just use an over the mic filter...

http://astore.amazon.com/savvyvoices-20/detail/B0006NMUJA/104-9287570-9096743

...and here's an SM58 that comes with an XLR cable...

http://astore.amazon.com/savvyvoices-20/detail/B00015H0X4/104-9287570-9096743

Colin Campbell · Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007, 18:44 (GMT) Post subject:

The fastrack can be had for less than $100...

http://astore.amazon.com/savvyvoices-20/detail/B00061ZM2Y/104-9287570-9096743

Nikki Saco · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Aug 2006 Posts: 465

I love what Victor said about the Shure handling female VO better. Not a lot of guys acknowledge that the Shure may be a better option for women. I use the Shure SM7b. It's fantastic, very clean. The SM58 is highly regarded for both VO and singing and seems to be popular with roadies because it survives rough handling.

As for separate preamps, Colin loves the equipment, but for now you'll get results that fit your budget by just investing in the M-Audio Fast Track and $99 is about the going rate. I'm not sure you want to buy it used, unless someone you trust is selling it. On the plus side, the M-Audio bypasses your sound card for recordings, so you don't have to worry about what Dell dropped into your PC. The PC sound card will only handle playback.

Your goal is simply to boost your mic'd in voice with as little line noise as possible. That's really what you want to focus on. I've only recently played with compression, which literally compresses the waveform. The effect is that it tends to pull your voice forward a little better; it can increase the volume of the voice without clipping or bottoming out speakers. Scott posted a couple clips of Tom's with and without compression which really show what you can do with compression. There was a good discussion about it on another thread. Here's the link to that thread. Very helpful if you want to learn more about compression. But really, I've only used compression for a couple auditions; clients don't always want compression. Some want raw clips. They have engineers who can optimize the VO clip -- which is why you really want to work on laying the cleanest track possible up front.

Scott and I manage OK with decent mics, Behringer mixers (with built-in preamps), and Adobe Audition (formerly Cool Edit). We're both selling our VO work. I'm not sure if Scott fiddles with the mixer which adds EQ before the sound gets onto the computer hard drive. I pull the base down a little to make up for the space I'm recording in. But that's it. Anything else I do to the clip happens through the software, Audition, Soundforge, Protools, whatever you use.

A preamp is exactly that: a pre-amplifier. It amplifies the sound from your mic into the computer. I think the preamp is all you need for now to boost a hopefully clean signal into your PC. Both the Behringer and M-Audio say they are very low noise, which means they're supposedly well-shielded to minimize line noise. However, the conversion to digital generally results in some noise.

By the way, an interface in broad terms is whatever handles a conversion. For VO, the conversion we're looking for is analog to digital: analog being the "continuous" electrical impulse of our mic'd voice and "digital" being the discrete values of our unique sound encoded into binaries (0, 1) for the computer.

The M-Audio Fast Track handles that conversion and channels the digital (encoded) signal through your USB into the computer. That's why it's also called an "interface." For me and Scott, the mixers don't do the conversion. Our computer sound cards do the conversion, so they are the "interfaces" for us. So when I say the M-Audio bypasses your sound card, all I mean is that it handles the conversion to digital.

Incidentally, all the mic does is convert sound into a continuous electrical signal. (Somebody's invented a digital microphone which simply has a digital converter built into the mic, but that's a discussion for another time I think.)

So here's your home studio once you get the M-Audio: mic > M-Audio (preamp & interface) > USB > hard drive.

For me and Scott, our home studio is: mic > mixer & preamp > sound card (interface) > hard drive.

Bottom line: the M-Audio will both boost your signal (preamp) and convert your analog to digital (interface) and will, I'm willing to bet, improve the sound quality of your talented demos.

Colin Campbell · Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007, 04:08 (GMT) Post subject:

A microphone is inherently (and cannot be otherwise) ANALOG. Analog as in it is an "analogy" of the soiund presented to it. Much like a phono cartridge and needle in the days of old... or like a loudspeaker. A sound at the beginning and end of it's life has to be analog since the human ear is an analog device. It's what happens in between the source and destination that is "interesting."

When you feed an interface a signal, you want to feed it the cleanest and loudest (without clipping) signal you can so that the interface (the analog to digital converter) has the best material possible to work with. In effect, the interface "mangles" the audio into bits and bytes (1's and 0's) and creates a digital representation of the analog source material. As in digital photography, that digital image of the analog sound can never be perfect, it will always (no matter how good) have an inherent "resolution" to it, meaning it is a finite representation, not infinite as in the case of analog. Have you ever compared a film photograph with a digital one? If you did and really studied it... you would notice that the digital photo appears "flat" and two-dimensional while the film photo seems "fluid" and three-dimiensional. That is because the film version has an infinite amount of color and brightness variation while the digital picture can only "represent" that with numbers.

Imagine trying to describe a beautiful flower by writing down 1's and 0's on a notepad. That is what your interface is trying to do when it converts your voice to digital. It's a tough job and you need to have the best possible converter you can to minimize the damage.

Why is digital so heralded? Simply because after it becomes digital, noise (hiss, hum) is no longer at issue. As long as the numbers are not altered, the sound (for better or worse) is not altered either.

GIVE IT GOOD ANALOG BEFORE YOU SCOPE IT DOWN TO BITS AND BYTES.

Heather Cooper · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 472

Oh my goodness you guys!! Thank you for ALL of your help!!

The shopping list, the links and breaking down things down so I can grasp the concepts!! You guys (general mid-west term for men & women) have been more than amazing. niedermayr anbeten

This forum is the best thing I have run across. Applause

I am overwhelmed and delighted at how willing everyone is to share their knowledge. This is a awesome on line community to be a part of. Very Happy

I was getting so frustrated trying learn and get my sound quality better. I am glad to know it wasn't all about 'knowing' how to edit. Wink

I am off to exchange/return and purchase. I will let everyone know when I am ready to roll.

The now, audio enlightened,

Victor Harris · Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007, 16:59 (GMT) Post subject:

Nikki, Thanks for the compliment. Yes, the Shure is a great mic for females. They have awesome middle to upper range and a good bottom. So unless a female is taking steroids and needs to sound like a guy...lol...there is no reason for a mic with really low bottom end. Plus like I said, the Shure have that de-esser technology built right in. You sound great on your mic. Wink

Nikki Saco · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Aug 2006 Posts: 465

Thanks, Victor. I appreciate the compliment.

Kathleen Keesling · **Voice Talent** Joined: 15 Jul 2006 Posts: 746

Nikki Saco · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Aug 2006 Posts: 465

or a good thought process ... depends on your point of view Wink

Tom Greenlee · **Voice Talent** Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 945

Kathleen....no comment Wink

Nikki......I agree Wink

Heather Cooper · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 472

Ok, I may or may not have hit a jack pot. Long story short, friends, friend, estate of a musician. I have two potential Mic's..., one great mic stand, foam thingy and mic cord.

Would either of these mics be good for my needs?

Shire Dynamic Carioid 8800A
AKG recording mic D2100

They also have a XR-800F Peavey 9 channel condenser....is that something I can use?

Heather Cooper · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 472

That should be Shure... Embarassed

Victor Harris · Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007, 20:21 (GMT) Post subject:

I still recommend the Shure SM7b or SM58. Wink