Recording a radio show direct to computer

[soulboydodge]

Hi

I've just found the forum today, and looking through the forums I can see that you guys seriously know your stuff, so I hope you can help a comparative newbie from the UK with something I'm doing.

I've been asked to DJ on a forthcoming internet radio station but can not get to the studio to record my show 'live' so what I'm going to have to do is to record a three hour show and either send it on CD, or more likely upload it to an ftp server. I primarily use an Apple Mac but my son has a PC on which I know the absolute basics, so it's feasible I can use that.

My question is, what would be the best way to record a three hour show, direct to disc, using a conventional DJ/mixing set up comprising 2 x CD players, two-channel mixer, amp and microphone? Would I simply connect the 'record out' channel of my amplifier to the computer soundcard and use appropriate software to record it or is it more complex than that?

Also what is the best software to use? Either Mac or PC.

Any help with this would be very gratefully received.

Thanks
Roger

 

[manning1]

if you record the whole kit n kaboodle to one audio track using the soundcard,,,then you wont have the ability to tweak on the pc.
as everything is on the one track music plus your voice. for example talking while some music is fading in ?. if you use a multiple input pc sound card then you might consider the added flexibilty. eg a delta sound card.
this way you could record music to their own tracks and your own voice to its own track. a free program on the pc you could try is audacity.
but ive never run it for 3 hours. bear in mind you will need gigs of disc space. another program i love is powertracks - 29 bucks. this will let you record to different tracks and do lots of fancy footwork like maybe using a comp/lim after recording on your voice track. a demo is at pgmusic.com.
it even includes cd facilities tho' ive never used them.
one thing to consider is after having done the 3 hours recording you could create an mp3 for distribution over the internet.
one other thing to note - a product like powertracks will let you do neato
fade ins and outs say a piece of music more carefully than your own fader riding might and you can repeat steps ad infinitum.
hope this helps.

 

[soulboydodge]

Thanks very much for the advice. I never actually considered recording the music and voice on different channels. I'll look into that.

 

[manning1]

no prob. also some other ideas to consider....
if the music and voice are on different tracks you could experiment with some of the mastering capabilities and eq and effects built into powertracks.
when you try the demo look up in the menus and you will see a slew of effects listed. just as a basic example you could add a bit of vintage echo or reverb around your voice.....and do other tweaks to make it sound fuller if needed. one trick on the voice to try is in powertracks menu duplicate the voice track on another blank track then offset the duplicate from zero by
just a few milliseconds. on thinner voices this can sometimes lend a fullness or richness and compensate for a cheaper microphone being used.
peace.