Q: Set up for CD-quality spoken voice onto laptop

[Lingo]

Today, I’m the newbie-ist of newbies. I’ve been “lurking like a sponge” here for the last few days, and I’m truly impressed by the generosity I see with people sharing their advice and experience here.

Well, here’s my question – and if I need to provide more details to make it a good question – just let me know… (And if I’ve provided too many details, I’ll accept all flames with humility and grace!)

{If the “masters” here think I should post this on a different board, please let me know.}

I want to produce a commercial-quality set of foreign language-learning CDs and cassette tapes, using my laptop if possible.

· There will be 3 speakers in the lessons. Two men and one woman. They will have good voices, deep to mid range as opposed to high range. There will be no singing, instrumental music, or midi tracks at all.
· I hope in the end that the speakers’ enunciation will come through very clearly so students can learn the pronunciation, but that their voices will sound warm, and be easy-on-the-ears because students will listen to the same people for many hours.
· I will probably end up recording in a home office, a hotel room, or a carpeted classroom. A place with pretty poor accoustics, though we can hang drapes/blankets or some sound-absorbing material etc. if that would help.
· The recording can be mono and still be OK, at least as far as I know.
· Recording a maximum of 2 voice tracks at a time is probably adequate – the men can share a mic, or perhaps even all three speakers can.
· The recording needs to be clear and noise-free, but certainly not anywhere near audiophile standards. It needs to sound “professional” to average listeners on mostly low-cost CD or tape players, such as car stereos, walkman devices, boom boxes, and at best on a few-hundred-dollar consumer stereo system. Like the sound quality of well-produced “books on tape” or “books on CD.”
· I have a Shure SM58 mic, but if one or more other mics will make a difference, I can sell the SM58 and get something else.
· I’d like if possible to set up the recording well enough that I can minimize the time I spend afterwards adjusting the sound quality via computer or a mixer board. I don’t mind spending time up-front experimenting and adjusting sound quality.
· I plan to use each recording of a phrase over and over again throughout the several hours of lessons I am producing. At this point I envision using a (low-cost?) user friendly software package to copy, paste, and move snippets around. (I’ve read up on a few of them, but would appreciate any suggestions.)
· At this point, I envision mastering the whole shebang on the laptop, and then burning it to a master CD on the computer.
· My laptop is a Pentium 3, I think about 1.3 ghz and 256k ram, and running Windows 2000.
· I’d like to spend less than $1,000 on equipment, if I can get away with that. That would include $100 or less for a firewire, USB, or PCMCIA-based hookup.
· In the end, can the sound I’m hearing as I edit be produced by the external card/interface I use to record, since the soundcard on my laptop probably isn’t good enough?
· I’ve read up on many options for sound cards, USB interfaces, ART DPS Tube Preamp System, mixer boards, monitors, etc. I plead guilty to overwhelm and confusion at this point. This is where I’m in most need of advice.
· If need be, I’ll break down and buy a desktop computer for the project, and even lug it around if I have to.
· Should I even consider getting by with “monitor headphones” like the Audio Technica's ATHM40fs, and forego regular monitors? (Or actually, a single monitor, if I’m only using mono.)

My thanks in advance for your thoughts and considerations.

- Lingo

 

[Stealthtech]

For your project I dont think its critical to get a lot of high dollar gear. The shure mic should do very well for spoken vocals. You can more than likely share the mic without the need to get multiples. A Mono signal should do just fine and take up less space and quicker with edits. In addition no need for phantom power, a simple DI preamp should do. I think something like the M-Audio audiophile USB setup would work well on your laptop and make it very easy to transport. The most important is getting a silent enviroment to record in. I would use a popscreen with the mic. Find a quite location where you wont be disturbed or hear outside noise, people in halls, construction, dogs, etc... As far as software, you could probably get away with PT free or some other demo without buying any software at all....maybe...

 

[Lingo]

something only a rank newbie could ask?

Thanks for your several thoughts, Stealthtech – and money-saving ones at that. Yea!

Sorry to ask what must be a truly newbie question, but what does the “DI” in “DI preamp” mean? My guess is, “direct interface?” I tried to look it up through some web searching without getting enlightened. Also, could you give an example of a brand or model of a DI preamp?

Would there be any disadvantage to getting an audio USB interface that had a preamp built in? For example, M-Audio’s Duo claims to have, “A stereo pair of M-Audio's critically acclaimed mic preamps.” Or would a “DI preamp” produce a cleaner sound?

Thank you Stealthtech, (and anyone else who’d like to weigh in as well).

Also, any opinions on getting by with something like the Audio Technica's ATHM40fs cans, instead of a real monitor?

Thx...

 

[Hawking]

Stealthtechs got it right, and so do you. The DI (aka direct box) is usually used for getting a signal (guitar etc...) into a mixing board or computer soundcard. The Madudio preamps are good. Definately up to par for your project. If you have a sound card (USB or otherwise) that has XLR inputs and a microphone that doesn't require phantom power (like the Sure SM57), then you don't need the DI or a preamp. Simply plug the microphone into the soundcard and hit record. Pro Tools Free is a good choice in software. There's also N-Track, which for a couple of bucks, isn't bad either. Cubase and it's kin and cousins are probably too expensive and include too many bells and whistles for what you need to do. As far as monitors go, While you are tracking (actually recording the audio tracks) you aren't really listening anyway. More importantly is watching the level meters in whatever software you are using to make sure you are getting a nice strong signal without clipping (pushing the inputs past their maximum limit). I think you will only need a bit of EQ (available in whatever software you are using) at the most while you are mixing to adjust for any quirks. As usual for recording, try a few different setups (mic placements and the such) before you record a few hours of audio. It's always best to get it right without having to use too much EQ or other effects.

Something else to think about when recording spoken voice. If you have never done this sort of thing before, be sure to look out for the following...

Paper noise. If your subject is reading from a script, make sure the paper noise doesn't get picked up by the microphone. Either adjust the mic position or the position of the script. If your subject has to turn pages while they are reading, ask them to pause speaking while they are turning the page. That way, you can edit out any paper noise without affecting the recorded voice.

Proximity effect. A professional vocalist is very good at keeping the distance between him/herself and the microphone constant. If you are working with someone who doesn't have a lot of experience in this area, I suggest using a pop filter or other barrier to keep the person from getting to close to the microphone. I've seen many people lean in when they start talking and gradually move back. You want to avoid the over-emphasized bass response inherent with speaking very close to a dynamic cardioid microphone (like the SM57).

Stay away from effects all together with the exception of the EQ. It has no place in your application. Even when using the EQ, use it sparingly.

Record a few minutes of each person nad listen to them on as many different stereos/speakers as you can. You might pick up something that can easily be taken care of while tracking that would really be a pain in the butt to try to fix after the fact.

You can avoid buying monitors if this is your only project as long as you demo the mix on something you are familiar with (like your home or car stereo) Headphones might work in your case since there is no issue regarding stereo seperation. The trick with headphones, however, is frequency response. Use them while tracking as they will usually pick up sounds you would normally miss (like paper rustling). While you are making your final mix though, you'll need to make sure it translates well on different systems. From a boom box, to those car stereos with 82 inch woofers in the back seat. You're really just making sure that there isn't anything in the audio signal (maybe something subaudiable) that will become a problem on a particular type or style of playback equipment.

I'm sure there's a few others here that will have some valuable informaton as well.

 

[Lingo]

Thanks + 2 follow-on questions

Thank you Hawking. You've given me many very specific tips to use, and you expanded beyond my questions to anticipate pitfalls I'll face, with advice on how to avoid them.

In the meantime, I think I've answered one of my own questions, which was...
"In the end, can the sound I’m hearing as I edit be produced by the external card/interface I use to record, since the soundcard on my laptop probably isn’t good enough?"

From what I can gather, that depends on the card/interface I use. For example, M-Audio's Duo can be used to process the signal for playback from the computer, but not while recording. Your comment on not needing to monitor by ear at the exact moment of tracking means the Duo would be adequate for me in this respect. Thanks again for your insights.

Here's a follow-on question that has occured to me after reading some of the threads where some members caution against using USB sound devices, because their low bandwidth and "low priority" can lead to pops, gaps, problems with recording to the computer's hard disk. Here's the question: Since I'm only going to use at most 2 voice tracks, is this unlikely to be a problem -- especially if I follow some of the directions available on how to optimize the computer's settings for recording?

A related question is this: Should I even bother to record at 24/96, since it's only spoken voice? Would it be better to simply record at 24/48, or 24/44.1? If so, why?

 

[Stealthtech]

Re: Thanks + 2 follow-on questions

Thank you Hawking. You've given me many very specific tips to use, and you expanded beyond my questions to anticipate pitfalls I'll face, with advice on how to avoid them.

In the meantime, I think I've answered one of my own questions, which was...
"In the end, can the sound I’m hearing as I edit be produced by the external card/interface I use to record, since the soundcard on my laptop probably isn’t good enough?"

From what I can gather, that depends on the card/interface I use. For example, M-Audio's Duo can be used to process the signal for playback from the computer, but not while recording. Your comment on not needing to monitor by ear at the exact moment of tracking means the Duo would be adequate for me in this respect. Thanks again for your insights.

Here's a follow-on question that has occured to me after reading some of the threads where some members caution against using USB sound devices, because their low bandwidth and "low priority" can lead to pops, gaps, problems with recording to the computer's hard disk. Here's the question: Since I'm only going to use at most 2 voice tracks, is this unlikely to be a problem -- especially if I follow some of the directions available on how to optimize the computer's settings for recording?

A related question is this: Should I even bother to record at 24/96, since it's only spoken voice? Would it be better to simply record at 24/48, or 24/44.1? If so, why?

Sorry I didn't give you quite the details on my first post as the next fellow which was very good tips indeed. As far as your concerns, I dont think any of that will be an issue with your project since you are not multitracking with instruments and such. You should have no problems with that setup. I would record at 24/44 for that project since its only voice. You dont need the additional headroom for editing plus it will save space on your HD. Just keep in mind you will need to dither to 16bit before you burn to CD.

 

[Lingo]

Thanks again, Stealthtech. It was very late last night when you became the first person to answer my question, and though your text was compact, you gave me several important insights.

Thanks also for your answers to my follow-on questions.

The upshot of all this so far is that I will buy an M-Audio Duo, download some software, plug in my SM58, and begin my "hands-on education" in home recording. You and Hawking have got me started (though of course I'm ready to hear further suggestions from you or other members).

Much obliged...

- Lingo