Brand New at this stuff

  • Thread starter Thread starter VONewbie
  • Start date Start date
V

VONewbie

New member
Hi.

I'm brand new to this Cool Edit Pro stuff. I recently installed the program and I'm having difficulty with it.

I'm attempting to establish a bit of a side career in voice over work. Keep in mind I'm pushing 50. I'm pretty good with these 'puter boxes, but when I started out in radio back in the mid-70's all production was done in a studio with a mixer that had volume controls we called, Pots and a 24 track tape deck. Yes, I used to edit with a razor blade and a small magnet. While I know more about computers than some folks, ya might have to walk me slowly through some of the terms.

First-I cut a demo at local radio station. Had the session burned to CD and emailed to me. When I try to run or record the session on CEP at home, the playback stammers.... Never in the same place. Each playback, it stammers in a different place on the wave. What up with that?

Two-Does anyone know where I can find a printed manual that takes a newbie like me from the start? You know...Cool Edit Pro For Dummies and Home Recording for dummies something like that.

Three: I'd like to set up a home studio. I'd like to get a mixer and a mic. I have very nice speaker monitors. For a mic I'm thinking about an ElectroVoice RE27ME. Mixer? Who the heck knows. I'm working with a used IBM PC with the standard sound card WIN 98, and 9GB of disk space. I'm practicing on a cheapo Karoke mic I picked up at Target. Do I need to update my sound card? Ditch the computer? Give up the whole idea and accept the fact I'm 47 years old and should grow up?

Any help would be appreciated. :confused:

Thanks.

Drew, the VONewbie
 
Last edited:
HAHAHahahahahaha. DON'T GIVE UP, MAN!!! :D

Ok, as far as the stuttering of the file goes, if it happens in different places, it's usually a CPU issue. I didn't see you list any specifics about your box, but you may need more computer. If you have some 5 katrillion byte Mhz machine and were just being modest, let us know and we'll start trouble shooting.

2 - As for the CEP for dummies...I don't know of such a document. I've seen a lot of people ask, so I'm thinking there's maybe not a shortcut to just experimenting, reading the help files in CEP, and posting here lots. Lord knows I did for a long time. Once you get a few of the basics down, the program is pretty intuitive in my opinion.

Next - Yeah, I'd get a new soundcard probably. You don't have to spend $500 on one, but you're gonna' want something better than your typical SOUNDBLASTER card if you're even halfway serious about fidelity. Check the computer recording section on this site...many threads about soundcards. Actually, I'm not sure WHAT forum it's in, but if you just do a search on this BBS for "soundcard," you'll get PLENTY of information. Same goes for the mic. There are as many opinions about mics as there are mics. Personally, I think knowing how to use a crappy condensor mic is worth owning a box full of Neumanns.

Lastly...don't dare give up. :D Post lots here.

Best of luck, and welcome.
Chris
 
Here's a link to the CEP manual ver 2.0. There is a book out call Audio Editing With Cool Edit Pro by Robert Riley that is intermittently available that has some clear explanations.
http://www.alfors.com/Ruzne/cep2man.pdf
Don't give up. I've had my CEP/Adobe Audition setup for 4 years and I just turned 62. It's a lot of fun.
 
Thanks

I'm not the giving up type. I appreciate the advice. Just hope I don't have to go get a "bigger box". I taught myself how to be an expert furniture maker. I can do this too.
 
How far you get into it will dictate what you need to get. There's no magic involved, just patience and the motivation to get good results. The only thing I have left of my initial $2500 investment 4 years ago is the computer case, a headphone amp and a couple of mics. Along the way I've added more mics (ever more expensive), a digital mixer, better sound card, constantly upgraded software & hardware, and derned if I can't record purty good now. 47, eh? In 5 years you'll be ready to buy a pedal steel guitar to learn like I did.
 
Steel Geetar?

Not lookin' to learn myself any musical instrauments at this time fellow Texan. Just tryin' to get back in the voice over game for under a thousand bucks.

We use the CEP-2 in a couple of our computers here at the TV station I work at to send weather and news briefs to the radio station we partner with. It's a basic PC computer with an EV 635A mic plugged into the computer. The fidelity is good enough for that use. I'm figuring if I invest in a decent four channel mixer, upgrade my sound card and buy a good studio quality mic, It will get me started.

But the fear is, after talking to an engineer at work, my home computer may not have the speed to support CEP-2. Gonna try and defrag and debug my box and re-install the CEP-2 to see if we can't resolve the stammer on playback. Ya can't burn a CD when the recording stammers, ya know?

Thanks for the link to the manual. Of course my office computer is a klunker, and it doesn't have enough disk space to support Adobe to read a PDF. So, I'll download at home.
 
If you have a printer it may be worth it to print it off, even though it's 300+ pages. I finally got a copy of Adobe Audition's manual after 2 upgrades so I relied on my printed copy, and the Riley book I mentioned.
 
VONewbie said:
But the fear is, after talking to an engineer at work, my home computer may not have the speed to support CEP-2.
Click to expand...
See, I'm a genius :D
 
Just all Texans ain't we?

Crossin' my fingers it's an install error, Chris. And yes, Ipdeluxe, 379 pages to be exact. My HP printer is a POS. Will most likely put it to a disk and have it printed at Kinko's or something.

Thanks fellas.
 
The stuttering playback isn't what will get recorded to CD - you'll first do a mixdown to 44.1kHz/16bits, then burn that. When processing the mixdown, your PC won't have to attempt to replay it in realtime, so the stutter will not be present on the mixdown file. At least, it shouldn't be! Give that a try maybe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top