Needing mentor or just some direction!

[tpot]

Hey guys, for the past year I've been running a YouTube channel based on my favourite hobbie, beatboxing!
One Love, One Language, Beatbox International. & www.youtube.com/beatboxinternational
I've recently taken on a few events in the UK, recording live performances on my 1080p DSLR with a top mounted mic, all decent quality and picks everything up well.

I've used Audacity to play around with a few videos but in all honesty, I have no idea where to start with editing my audio to sound punchier, crisper & tighter.. especially when it's almost all live and amplified performances.

My question(s) are:

Is there a free source in which I can perhaps study audio editing in some depth? (eg courses with audacity, equalization etc? I'm also UK based)

What do you use for an output when audio editing? I have USB headphones, 3.5' aux headphones and a cinema surround sound system - I try to use all 3 of these to listen to my final product but it's still hard to know when it's right (or even getting there!) with no experience!

Are there certain tips/tricks you use for live music/loud environments? e.g decreasing crowd or white noise without decreasing quality/crispness of performer

How can I really know if my audio is of a good enough quality to be released or if it's being over-edited?

When it comes to looking for help/courses etc online, what kind of things should I be searching for? I want to learn how to finalise my raw audio into something amazing, audio engineering/sound engineering? Mastering? What keywords should I be using?

Thanks in advance, sorry for the multiple questions - trying to get my head around all of this as it's something i'm very interested in learning!

 

[Jessica_X]

Well I've only been doing this for a couple of years, and am an amateur too, but here goes...

I got this book from the library and loved it...I spent a long time going through it and doing the different practice exercises...
Mixing Audio 2e: Roey Izhaki: 9780240522227: Amazon.com: Books

I also read the book about Logic Pro 9 by David Nahmani and that was great too. There must be something similar for audacity.

After that I've just searched youtube for whatever specific issue I was trying to figure out. (But the books are super helpful because they give a broad overview.)

Then of course this forum is great too. Lots of very generous people on here trying to help out.

As for your other questions, I really don't know, but I'd say do the best you can at your current ability level and you'll get better with time.

 

[Pinky]

My question(s) are:

Is there a free source in which I can perhaps study audio editing in some depth? (eg courses with audacity, equalization etc? I'm also UK based)

What do you use for an output when audio editing? I have USB headphones, 3.5' aux headphones and a cinema surround sound system - I try to use all 3 of these to listen to my final product but it's still hard to know when it's right (or even getting there!) with no experience!

Are there certain tips/tricks you use for live music/loud environments? e.g decreasing crowd or white noise without decreasing quality/crispness of performer

How can I really know if my audio is of a good enough quality to be released or if it's being over-edited?

When it comes to looking for help/courses etc online, what kind of things should I be searching for? I want to learn how to finalise my raw audio into something amazing, audio engineering/sound engineering? Mastering? What keywords should I be using?

Thanks in advance, sorry for the multiple questions - trying to get my head around all of this as it's something i'm very interested in learning!

Youtube is crawling with DAW specific tutorials. You just need to know what you want to learn. Some DAW manufacturer sites also have tutorials.

Having dedicated monitors helps take the guess work out of mixing. It's still beneficial to listen to the mix on numerous playback sources, but there's no good substitute for making those final decisions on good monitors. There's been a bunch of monitor recommendation threads on this forum, so just search for monitors. Looking at minimum $250+ for a starter pair.

You could use a noise reduction plugin/filter to help knock down background noises, etc. Using a gate could work too. Ideally, you would want to use a dedicated mic into a decent sound interface attached by USB to the computer, and record the audio in Audacity/whatever DAW. Then just sync up the audio to the video later.

The mp3 clinic sub forum on this site is perfect for posting mixes and getting feedback.

I would search for mastering, but if your mix is poor no mastering in the world can fix it. There's a few layers to getting quality recordings. Input, mixing, mastering.