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Vegas – Audio Editing/Microphone Question
I’m a web developer and I’ve been assigned with the task of creating an interactive CD for my company featuring our products. I have used Vegas in the past for personal video editing projects, but I have not used it to record and manipulate audio. We are going to attempt to produce the CD in house and have a limited budget, so studio time doesn’t look like it will be in the picture. Is it possible to get good quality audio using Vegas, a microphone, a PC and a quiet room? Do you happen to have any microphone recommendations that would provide good quality sound and plug directly into a PC. The sound I’m looking to record will be the narration of presentations. The end product will be a CD produced using Flash. Please let know if you think this is a reasonable work process or if I need higher end equipment. Any comments, suggestions or recommendations are greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your input.
Andy
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10 Replies
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The biggest factor will be the quality of the sound card you are using. Most built-in ones are very noisy.
Gary Kleiner
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You might try relatively inexpensive noise reduction software like BIAS SoundSoap 2 (about $70)which has a preserve narration feature. Don’t know if they have a trial version you can play with.
https://www.bias-inc.com/products/soundsoap/
Went to the above site and they are asking $99 for it, but I paid around $70 at a Compuserve Store. So I’d shop around. Anyways, good luck!
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Andy
As a computer person I’m sure you know that Computers are like life and sewers…what you get out of them depends on what you put into them. Almost all generic OEM sound cards are quite capable of recording and reproducing satisfactory voice tracks. The human voice does not occupy a great deal of the audio spectrum.
If you have a quite area and a good connection there is no need for noise reduction. Simply record you tracks without overmodulating. use the Vegas effects and compress your track with about a 6 or 8 to 1 ratio and normalize to 90%…. you will have a great sounding voice over. Now the important part…use a good microphone and work it close. I have done voice over work all over the world for 30 years and price does not always equal quality. I suggest you check out http://www.heilsound.com and look at their PR30 or better yet PR40 microphone. For $200 you can get a mic that will blow away a Sennheiser MD421 or ElectroVoice RE20!
Good luck and let me know if I can help you with anything else
Kevin McCarthy -
My experience is that soundcards are incredibly important, just as the microphone used. There is a interesting competition going on in the audio bizz, and I just saw that Samson has come up with a very interesting micrphone which can make the difference between a amateur and pro recording:
C01U – USB Condenser Microphone
https://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1810&brandID=2
It’s a USB microphone, so you won’t be needing a expensive AD converter, for it’s build in the mic. You also have a large membrane mic. All this for $79! No, I don’t work for Samson, but I have a couple of Samson Rev65A monitoring speakers – a very good quality for the money. I also have used the C01. Again, good quality for the price.
Good luck,
Barend
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I’d like to thank you guys for your suggestions. Your input should put me on the right track. If any of you have additional advice, please let me know.
Thanks,
Andy -
You may also want to look at the Audio Technica 2020 side address condenser mic. It is showing up for $99.
Better then oter even more expensive mics for voice-over, and all around studio work.
TV without Picture is Radio… TV without Sound is Technical Difficulties…
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Another option that someone told me is to get a cheap standard microphone and run it through a preamp like the M-Audio’s Mobilepre USB and then into my computer. According to the individual, the preamp will compensate for having an average sound card and help keep the sound clear. Does this seem like a logical option to you?
-Andy
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Yes, the MobilePre is an excellent value and incredibly clean. Also, you can move it from laptop to desktop to Mac as your needs change. I had occasion to benchmark one against my Sony VAIO laptop’s sound card, there was no comparison, the MobilePre was near silent and the VAIO’s sound card was all hashed up.
What the MobilePre and similar devices do is:
Replaces the function of the sound card.
Provide two microphone preamps. Instrument or line level inputs may also be used.
Provide a headphone amp for monitoring.
Provide line output for pro monitors.
Provide phantom power, which most condensor mics need.All in all a very handy little box, for the pro as well. It has many competitors in both USB and FW, but it stands up well.
For a great narration mic for cheap, check out the MXL-990 for $70 at musiciansfriend.com. With good monitoring you’d have all you need.
Note that you can also bring in narrative via your video camera. Just record your narrative to tape and capture as usual, put it on the timeline, unlock the picture and delete it.
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Andy, my experience with audio recordings is that it is best to make your recordings with computers off (and use an audio recorder) or go in another room with a long mic cable since the fan noise is always picked up by our mics. A good/cheep investment would be to use a Sony Minidisk recorder with a good mic. (Sony is what we use). This lets you record at any location and overcome any sound card/computer noise.
Charlie
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I’ve used the Mobile Pre for several months. It will turn any computer with a USB port into a good recording machine as long as you have a decent mic. There are a lot of good ones like the ones listed above. But on the subject of mics, I bought an Audio Technica 897 – a short boom mic for my new camera — and I can’t believe how good it is. Of course it is more ($247) but a great mic for all uses.
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