quality MP3 recordings from home

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olb998

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Hello everyone,

I am what you would call a complete novice in every respect, so I was hoping for some advice from experts regarding home recording.

I am a hypnotherapist and I want to record hypnosis relaxation MP3 recordings which have ambient music in the background. These would be for commercial sale.

Is it possible to product a good quality recording from home?

If so, exactly what tools do I need?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hi Ollie
Welcome to the forum.
To get a qaulity recording you are going to need to get a qaulity microphone. For your need i would suggest a Shure SM7B or an EV RE20 or the like.
Very reasonably priced mid budget broadcast qaulity mic.
A good computer ,a DAW and an Audio interface.
The interface will convert your mic signal (Analogue) to a digital signal that the computer can use and understand.
Theres a sticky on this in one of the sections its long but worth the read.
The reason i advocate using an interface is because most people when they want to get into recording think they can go the cheap route and still get a qaulity recording.
The cheap route usually involves a mixer and a computer onboard sound card.
Avoid this option and spend your money wisely. I talk from bitter experience.
Those onboard sound cards are made from cheap few parts as possible and are intended to make bleeps to tell you when you went wrong. not for professional grade recordings.
I suggest you do some more reading before spending anything.
Look into it a bit more.
Look up the yellow pages and go visit a local studio guy.
You'd be surprised how friendly we all are.
your probably going to want some room treatment too but even this isnt too scary, price wise or otherwise.
I do hope this helps.


Rich
 
I'd +1 everything kip4 says. I'd probably recommend different mics but that's down to personal preference and certainly a lot of people use the ones he suggests. If you do go the SM7B or RE20 route it will affect your choice of interface because the put out a very low level of sound and need a fair bit of amplification before being fed into your computer. Don't worry. There are lots who can recommend suitable boxes.

As couple of other points:

First, the big difference between most professional recordings and home ones is the acoustic of the room. This is particularly important on voice recording because the echoey quality can't hide behind 24 tracks of instruments. However, I've had good results using one of THESE for voice recording in untreated rooms. There are cheaper versions of the same which are probably about 80% as good for half the price--don't be tempted by the super cheap ones on eBay--they don't have anything like the same amount of engineering in them.

Second, you many have thought of this but, if not, don't forget that the ambient music will certainly be covered by copyright (unless you compose and record them yourself). As this is a commercial enterprise you'll have to sort out buying the rights to use the music.

Anyhow, good luck!
 
You will need a very sound proof room for this voice work, you will usually be talking softly and any outside noise will creep in.

Alan.
 
I was going to answer your post, but then I got velly velly sleepy........
 
Assuming this is speech over pre-made backing, this is very easy and there's no reason you can't do it at home.

I'd urge you to listen to examples though and to know exactly how you want your voice to sound.

The two extremes would be tuning into something like radio 2 in the UK (well treated room; Dead, close voice), or listening to a camcorder capture of a powerpoint presentation, which will be distant and echoey.

In my opinion that echoey sound is the mark of a beginner and not very professional sounding.
Room treatment, or a few mobile acoustic panels will make the difference between the two.
 
WOW!

Thank you all so much for your replies.

I am, of course, completely bamboozled by your responses but I'll try to ask some questions that might help me narrow down my choices a bit.


Now, my room us untreated - it is just my office and I have no idea how I would soundproof it. It that absolutely necessary?

Assuming it isn't, and assuming I just have a regular room, can anybody recommend specific brands of DAW and audio interface?

Bobbsy, yes I'm aware of the Ambient music copyright thing. I believe there are some websites that sell these. If not can you recommend some places I could go to for this?

Steenamaroo - what is pre-backing? And I don't want my voice to be distant and echoey

These are the things I want to do:

1) record the script;
2) correct any mistakes I have made;
3) remove or minimalise any background noise;
4) add backing music
 
In my experience, a normal room in a residential setting is generally quiet enough for voice recording where you're working close to the mic anyway. However, if you live next to a freeway or under an airport flight path then disregard this. However, I've recorded lots of news commentaries in hotel rooms and acoustics are a bigger issue than sound proofing (unless a bunch of cruise missiles are flying by like in Baghdad in the early 90s). It's down to where you are.

Room acoustics are a bigger deal because, if you get that hollow, boomy sound you have in most rooms there's no processing to remove it. That's why I suggested that Reflexion filter--they really are incredibly effective for the sort of voice recording you do. Other things that help (in lieu of reall acoustic treatment) are heavy curtains directly behind you when recording and uneven surfaces (like bookshelves) rather than hard, flat plaster walls. However, you'll likely be good if you invest in the reflexion filter.

For the DAW, the usual recommendation around here is Reaper and it very good and inexpensive (free to try and only $60 when you decide to buy it). However, if you're willing to spend more you might look at Adobe Audition which is purpose built for the sort of thing you want to do--it doesn't have things like MIDI capability that music creators want but it is really fast for editing voice and mixing with music tracks etc. Audition is used in hundreds (or thousands) of radio stations for the sort of thing you want--the BBC alone has thousands of licences in all their production centres. That said, Reaper would do it for you for less money. Hmmm...just occurs that Adobe are pushing a new deal called Creative Cloud where you rent the software with a per month payment rather than buying it outright--dunno if this would work for you but might be worth looking into. FYI, I'm an Audition user but have no connection with the company!

As for sources of music, a Google search suggests a number of places offering free ambient music--I don't have personal experience of them so can't recommend any of them. In the broadcast market, one of the main suppliers is DE WOLFE MUSIC. There stuff ranges from pretty good to pretty naff and their prices aren't cheap (at least for broadcast--your application may be cheaper). It might be worth visiting their site and talking to them though. There are others--I'll try to think of the names after more caffeine.
 
Hey Bobbsy,

Thanks for taking the time to explain all this to me.

Yes I saw a DIY version of the Reflexion filter on youtube - I figured there must be commercial versions out there. My house does back onto a train line; trains go by every 20 minutes or so, but I presume if a train goes past while I'm recording a specific line I can just re-record it and then edit the damaged one out? Apart from that it's pretty quiet. What about the computer humming, that kind of thing? Does the filter take care of those little noises?

I don't need MIDI capability at all. All I'll be doing is straight voice recording. Remembering that I'm a complete novice (with a good analytical mind), which DAW is the most user-friendly?

Also, given my situation, what is you recommendation for brand audio interface and mic?

Is there anything else I'll need other than those 4 elements (mic, filter, DAW and audio interface)?
 
olb998 said:
Hey Bobbsy,

Thanks for taking the time to explain all this to me.

Yes I saw a DIY version of the Reflexion filter on youtube - I figured there must be commercial versions out there. My house does back onto a train line; trains go by every 20 minutes or so, but I presume if a train goes past while I'm recording a specific line I can just re-record it and then edit the damaged one out? Apart from that it's pretty quiet. What about the computer humming, that kind of thing? Does the filter take care of those little noises?

I've yet to see a home made imitation of the Reflexion filter that did the same job--but maybe I'll be surprised some day! Yes the Reflexion filter will help with sounds coming from behind it but not so much if the sound source is behind the speaker, i.e in the direction the mic is pointing. However, you are entirely right that you can just take a swig of coffee and continue after the train, editing later. Frankly, I've know few people who can speak continuously for 20 minutes without a sip of water or something anyway (excluding my wife--she could talk for Wales).

As for other noises, I'm going to have to get slightly technical here. There are two things that will affect how much you pickup of room noises like computer fans and disks: distance and the mic pattern/pointing:

1. Distance. Sound follows what is know as the "inverse square law". This means that each time you double the distance from a sound source to a microphone, you quarter the amount of sound arriving at the mic. If you normally speak 1 foot from the mic and move to 2 feet, the amount of sound getting to the mic is a quarter what it used to be. You can obviously use this to help your noise issues...if you're 1 foot from the mic and the computer tower is 2 feet, the pickup from the computer noise is a quarter what it would be close up. If you can get the mic 4 feet from the computer, this changes to an eighth and so on. This means that the farther you can get from the computer, the less of an issue the noise will be. A filter around the mic and heavy curtains or something behind you will help even more--I often recommend building a simple frame out of PVC pipe and hanging duvets or movers blankets on it to position behind the speaker--then be packed away under a bed when you're done.

2. Mic pattern and placement: All the mics you should consider (and by far the most common mics anyway) have what is known as a "cardioid pattern". This means that the pickup directly behind the mic is greatly reduced over the pickup in front of it. You can use this trait by planning how you lay things out--if you can get your humming computer directly behind the mic, this (in conjunction with distance and soft stuff behind you to kill reflections) will pretty much eliminate computer noise.

If worst comes to worst, invest in a KVM cable and remote the computer tower well away from the keyboard and monitor where you sit.

I don't need MIDI capability at all. All I'll be doing is straight voice recording. Remembering that I'm a complete novice (with a good analytical mind), which DAW is the most user-friendly?
Click to expand...

Beware anyone who states with great assurance that DAW xxxx is the easiest to use. It really comes down to personal preferences and how you get on with the user interface. A boring anecdote would be that, at work, I used to use a DAW called Protools all day, every day. Despite formal training and all the practice, even years on I never felt completely at home with PT. However, when I tried Audition, it was like "coming home" and everything fell into place rapidly. However, there are others who feel exactly the opposite--it's down to the individual.

Since most DAWS offer a free trial, I suggest you download a couple and just play while you're thinking about it. Both Reaper and Audition mentioned above will let you try for free and many others will as well and, until you have a mic and interface you can just play with some pre recorded music or voice files--an audio book for example. However, with either them do expect a steep learning curve if you've never recorded and mixed before.

Also, given my situation, what is you recommendation for brand audio interface and mic?
Click to expand...

If 20 people reply to the question you'll get 40 answers! Personally, I'd suggest an sE Electronics 2200A Cardioid (there's a more expensive one with switchable patterns that you don't need) for the mic and maybe a Tascam US 122 for the interface. Or you could look at the M Audio M Track--it's new and I haven't tried it but I've had good results with the previous version. However, prepare to be confused as others reply!

Is there anything else I'll need other than those 4 elements (mic, filter, DAW and audio interface)?
Click to expand...

Yes, monitoring. You need to be able to hear what you're recording and mixing. Ideally you'd have good headphones to use while recording and decent monitor speakers for the editing and mixing. In your case, you might be able to get away with doing everything on headphones but you'll need to take time to "learn' your sound. Do a few minutes, burn it to CD then play the results back on lots of different systems to see how it sounds in the real world. You'll gradually learn how things need to sound on the headphones to sound good everywhere else. With monitor speakers, you still need to learn them but the process tends to be easier and faster.

Now that I've totally confused you, I'm making a pot of tea!
Click to expand...
 
I agree with Bobbs, there is no simple DAW. Having a logical and sytematic brain does not seem to help much either! (I have a theory that to be a programmer you have to be a bit nuts!)

Again I am with him about downloading trials. You usually get 30days so you could get thru 2013 and never buy ***T! We, son and I like Samplitude and you can trial both the biggies, ProX and Sam Producer but you might find Samplitude Silver is all you need and it is totally free. We also have Audition 1.5 and son is using that in France because he finds the compressor very good.

MIDI. Do not rule it out. You said you need to escape computer noise? Well one way is to put it in another room and use a "Frontier Tranzport". A wireless MIDI controller that can at least run Play, Record, Track select...Everything in fact that you need to run a remote recording.

Background music: As one that is registered deaf (I now have two digital aids) I find MOST music on MOST telly programmes competes with dialogue (and subtitles are an insulting joke!). Please, if you have any friends with less than 20-20 lugs, try your stuff on them as well?

Dave.
 
You need to be able to hear what you're recording and mixing. Ideally you'd have good headphones to use while recording and decent monitor speakers for the editing and mixing.
Click to expand...

Bobbsy, thanks for all your great advice. I could give your wife a run for her money in the talking department.

Do you have any suggestions on the brand of monitor speakers (I presume these can be plugged into the computer????) and headphones (ditto??)

Dave, thanks for your advice too - I am actually an ex-programmer:)
 
Headphones and monitor speakers would be plugged into your audio interface, not the computer directly.

For headphones, I'd suggest something like the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro--a decent compromise between quality and price. If you have tons of money to spare, then the Sennheiser HD 25 headphones are great and comfortable (at least on my ears) to wear over long periods.

Monitor speakers are more difficult because there are models ranging from not much over $100 up to many thousand dollars. Do you have any thoughts on your budget so I don't waste your time with something too expensive or too cheap? Also, you have a choice of Active monitors (with a built in amp) or Passive (which need a separate amp). If you have a suitable hifi amp lying around, this could save you some money.

As a starting point, have a Google for Tannoy Reveal monitors which I find good on speech recording. This'll give you an idea of what's out there in a mid range--there are others cheaper and many much more expensive.
 
olb998 said:
Steenamaroo - what is pre-backing? And I don't want my voice to be distant and echoey
Click to expand...

Hey,
I just meant pre-made backing music, rather than creating music from scratch.

Soundproofing isn't necessary at all, but some kind of dampening almost certainly will be to avoid echoey recording.

If you have a smart phone, pull it out and do a quick voice recording in the room.
Now stick your head in a cupboard or go into a small closet full of crap and do the same thing.
You should hear an obvious difference.

Either a reflection filter or a few 4" diy panels should make a massive improvement to speech in any room.

I have a presonus firestudio mobile, sm58 (and/or sm7b) and about £20 worth of 4" rockwool.
Does the job beautifully.

I'd +1 dynamic microphones because you can get very close to them without issues.
That means any background noises are comparatively quieter than if you were a foot from the mic.

Think of talking to someone a few meters away in a sports hall, then talking close up into their ear in the same hall.
They hear you both times, but which one echoes?
 
Monitor speakers are more difficult because there are models ranging from not much over $100 up to many thousand dollars. Do you have any thoughts on your budget so I don't waste your time with something too expensive or too cheap? Also, you have a choice of Active monitors (with a built in amp) or Passive (which need a separate amp). If you have a suitable hifi amp lying around, this could save you some money.
Click to expand...

Hey Bobbsy, thanks for the recommendations. I don't have thousands to spend. I want something that's not so cheap as to ruin the quality but good enough to do the job. I don't have an amp so an active monitor would be best. Any specific suggestions? I'm really flying blind here:)

Stenamaroo, thanks for qualifying. Yes I'm going to invest in a reflection filter.

Thanks for all your help, you guys are the best!
 
olb998 said:
Hey Bobbsy, thanks for the recommendations. I don't have thousands to spend. I want something that's not so cheap as to ruin the quality but good enough to do the job. I don't have an amp so an active monitor would be best. Any specific suggestions? I'm really flying blind here:)

Stenamaroo, thanks for qualifying. Yes I'm going to invest in a reflection filter.

Thanks for all your help, you guys are the best!
Click to expand...
It might help you if I described the process by which I chose my monitors some years ago?
I found a magazine "shootout" style review of many monitors at about 3 broad price ranges. The reviewers listened blind and at least all the speakers were in the same room being tested with the same music. One monitor consistantly came above its price band, the Tannoy Reveal 5a* One final; factor swayed me. Tannoy have been making speakers for as long as I have been alive and world class monitors for at least 50years. They also DO NOT make every other eelectronik gimcrack that could turn a penny!

Adam have also just released a "budget" range and that firm has always had a good rep'.

*I note from this: Tannoy Reveal 5A Active Monitors (Pair) at Gear4Music.com That the speakers are now class2 insulation and therefore do not need an earthed mains lead. Many Old Soldiers here will know of the ubiquitous laptop/monitor groundloop issue so about bloody time!

Dave.
 
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