Audacity 3 Voice Recording Setup For Beginners

Рет қаралды 17,697

Күн бұрын

A couple of important things to help beginners exploring voice recording with Audacity 3.3.
Keep out of trouble and get some great recordings with Audacity, a perfectly good single or two track recording software. All these tips come directly from real live voice actor confusion, suffering, and panic situations. I made a previous and a bit less aesthetically cleaned up version of this for some people getting into voice acting work, and this is an attempt tp clean that up and make some things easier to get used to and understand.
• A Casual Stroll Throug...
Here is the old video.
There are seven things covered in this new video that keep coming up in conversations and trouble shooting. This complete presentation is about a half hour, which is a lot of time to be talking, but it seems easier to use and keep track of on KZfaq, so feel free to skip around.
00:00 Intro and overview
01:41 Project Rate
03:52 The Meter Range
07:19 Clip Indicator
09:33 Recording Levels
13:17 Stereo to Mono
16:40 Compression
25:48 Normalization
Project Rate
Recording at the wrong sample rate is not a good thing, and once you start recording, it's hard to go back. A lot of things can go wrong reprocessing the audio into the bit rate needed. Worth making sure everything is correct at the start.
The Meter Range
Audacity has the ability to change the range of the meters so you can see way better than the way it is set up stock. Worth trying out.
Clip Indicator
A very useful tool to see if you really messed up when you shouted a minute ago.
Recording Levels
Quick talk about what a normal recording level is and why.
Stereo to Mono
This briefly discusses the glitch when recording mono using some hardware Audacity return the wrong audio levels 6dB further than would compensate for two incoming channels plugging into one input for mono recording, and what to do about it. This only happens with some audio hosts and some hardware.
Compression
A brief discussion on the function of compression, followed by an overview of the controls and usable default settings that avoid disasters.
Normalization
This including the two normalizers available in Audacity and which one is very much the wrong idea for our voice recording use.
Hope these help and that you get some excellent recordings.
#edwardthesoundguy #audiorecording #audacity3.0 #voiceactor #audacitytutorial

Пікірлер: 77

@Gabe-wl4si 20 күн бұрын

The clearest and most concise explanation I have found anywhere. Thank you.

@emmapeel38 10 ай бұрын

I've been buried in learning about how to use Audacity, how to record properly, what mic to buy, etc, and the more I study/practice, the more "batting coaches" there are telling me how to change my swing. There's WAY too much horrible information (KZfaq, Reddit, Quora, forums, paid tutorials, etc). I REALLY appreciate your pace, and how you break things down. You're an excellent teacher. I've watched (too) MANY videos, and I feel a lot less hopeless after watching two of your videos. Too many audio engineers have no idea about "Genius is making complex ideas simple, not making simple ideas complex." -- Einstein You're the first person who explained - and helped conceptualize - what compression/ratio is, and how it works. Literally everyone else, jumps past it like it's nothing.

@cpgenerasisport9753 2 ай бұрын

OMG this is the first time i finally understand how to use compressor thanks you

@remone289 Ай бұрын

Excellent video. Thank you for sharing your video and making it all so clear and with some great ideas and techniques. Peace and Blessings 🙏🏿

@sharingmyfun8804 11 ай бұрын

Finally! A video for those of us who are true beginners. Well done! And thank you for including some keyboard shortcuts. 30:22

@edwardthesoundguy 11 ай бұрын

Glad this is of use. There seem to be a lot of good tutorials for people that already use Audacity, and not many that just lay out what you would want to know from the top. It is weird. Thanks for watching, and let me know if I an improve anything or cover anything that is causing you trouble.

@farouqstray1411 11 ай бұрын

I couldn't find an expert that actually explains things until this video, Please more software tutorials 👍

@edwardthesoundguy 11 ай бұрын

Thanks! Let me know if you need anything covered in particular and I'll see if I can cover it.

@farouqstray1411 11 ай бұрын

Thank you for the replay, I want to learn about Audacity plugins and effects that can help me to get the best of my voice recording. I'm at the beginning. Also liked the Intro of this video so much, and your cool way of teaching,,@@edwardthesoundguy

@senpos 6 ай бұрын

That robot animation is so cute, I love it!

@StephenCarterStressExpert Жыл бұрын

This is an excellent guide with tips I haven't seen in any other Audacity tutorial, and I've watched scores of Audacity videos. Nicely done. Thanks for sharing your expertise.

@edwardthesoundguy Жыл бұрын

Hey, I really appreciate the kind words.

@Ruminades 8 ай бұрын

First time someone explained clearly what are the most important settings for recording voice. THANK YOU. Can you make a video about the way to "enrich" voices, to make them more in a radio style?

@edwardthesoundguy 6 ай бұрын

I can try. It can be quite a challenge because voices can be very different and respond to processing in different ways. Thanks for the idea. I'll see if there is a way to do this. Thank you for mentioning the idea.

@ultramonde 6 ай бұрын

At least, there should be a « recipe » or similar process or steps to do it?

@rounderone8437 Жыл бұрын

Thank you for this terrific explanation of these basic settings.

@edwardthesoundguy Жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

@dm-derniermot 3 ай бұрын

Verry verrrrry useful 👌 thank u

@andrewfrost8866 3 ай бұрын

How absolutely incredible lay useful is this video? Think I’ll subscribe, this is quality information, really clearly and professionally presented.

@vanderavortdebije 8 ай бұрын

Very well explained! Thank you so much.

@ivorjohn3016 11 ай бұрын

Thank you. this is exactly what i have been looking for. i am new at Audio recording and frankly dont have much of a clue. and you have explained what i need to know in language that i understand and can use. thank you

@edwardthesoundguy 11 ай бұрын

Glad this helps. You will likely find Audacity second nature pretty quickly. I know this stuff can be bewildering and weird at first, and the more people know, the harder it is for them to explain how things work for you. If I can improve anything or anything is confusing, let me know.

@johnmoir1270 9 ай бұрын

Great job Edward. You are a fantastic teacher and your voice is very easy to listen to.

@computeraidedyami 9 ай бұрын

I believe he used to be an alpha male in his younger years, his nickname was the black stallion and not because he was black

@DJKeithAlan 10 ай бұрын

Very helpful, thank you. Just found your channel and very glad I did. I host an on-line radio 2 hour show from my home studio. Have been using Audacity for about 6 months and your tips are extremely helpful.

@edwardthesoundguy 10 ай бұрын

Hey, thanks! I really appreciate the kind words. Let me know if I forgot to include anything.

@banditman142536 11 ай бұрын

Man you are GOOD. Best video on Audacity and compression on the net. Off to look at some more of your videos. Thank you very much Sir for your time and effort.

@edwardthesoundguy 11 ай бұрын

Awesome, thank you! I only have a few other videos, but working on it. Let me know anything specific you are looking for and I'll try to make it happen.

@blakecamp5848 Жыл бұрын

Quality to the pont videos, thats why I subscribed 5 stars !!!!!

@edwardthesoundguy Жыл бұрын

Thank you sir! I'll try to keep the quality going! Let me know if there is anything I can improve, and again, thank you!

@High-Value-Joe 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for this great explanation. Definitely learned a lot and finally understand what the normaliser and compressor are supposed to do.

@edwardthesoundguy 4 ай бұрын

That is really great to hear!

@Djwestcarr-gl2tg 3 ай бұрын

You are an excellent teacher. I'm subscribing to your channel.

@dilaradere5876 11 ай бұрын

thanks, you are doing great. My problem has solved.

@JRaze Жыл бұрын

Great video! I learned a ton, and everything was easy to understand.

@edwardthesoundguy Жыл бұрын

Hey thanks! Let me know if you can think of anything to improve.

@PsychRad Жыл бұрын

Another great tutorial, Edward. Since starting my new KZfaq channel (PsychRad) a couple of months ago, I've been watching videos like yours to get the best voice-over sound from Audacity. I've watched several different audacity tutorials, but yours seem to be the best; Clear, concise, easy to follow, and very up-to-date. Thank you for providing these informative videos. They have been immensely helpful.

@edwardthesoundguy Жыл бұрын

Hey thanks! Glad it's helping!

@user-hx4je4eo7w 11 ай бұрын

1:34 ❤ 1:46 1:48 😊 1:51

@user-hx4je4eo7w 11 ай бұрын

😊

@AAAndrew 4 ай бұрын

Very helpful and great explanations. Nicely done.

@edwardthesoundguy 4 ай бұрын

Many thanks! Let me know if there is anything I can improve.

@revisiontc 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for this, it was so useful as I'm just beginning to use Audacity

@edwardthesoundguy 4 ай бұрын

Should become comfortable to use in no time. Glad this has been helpful.

@TommyFresh521 Жыл бұрын

Good information. I liked the analogy to VOR navigation. I am a flight instructor and A&P.

@edwardthesoundguy Жыл бұрын

Just now realizing that the VOR thing might be a little obscure to the general public, but I am glad you found it entertaining!

@TommyFresh521 Жыл бұрын

@@edwardthesoundguy I also wondered how many people would catch on to that one.

@bersarikata1548 10 ай бұрын

Terima kasih untuk video yang sangat berguna!

@WeaponsRemorse Жыл бұрын

Finally someone using audacity, not liking premiere pro or some shit

@edwardthesoundguy Жыл бұрын

Audacity works very well for a lot of things. People do seem to forget that all the time and yes, it's unfortunate.

@ChKhuram1 11 ай бұрын

Thank you! :D you really helped me.

@edwardthesoundguy 11 ай бұрын

Glad I could help!

@Trancical 10 күн бұрын

I wish I would have found this video hundreds of hours ago. Your detailed explanation was outstanding. I am interested in creating recordings that contain subliminal messages that play simultaneously with music. I have had to simply guess at volume levels. Can you suggest levels for music and audio where the audio would be at the lowest possible level so it could be exported to MP3 and minimally audible?

@edwardthesoundguy 10 күн бұрын

Unfortunately I have little knowledge regarding subliminal anything, but there are a few technical based wild guesses (possibly quite unuseful.) The lower level signal would have to be at least 10dB lower than the higher level signal. This is the loudest that non-special effects reverb is placed when you want it to integrate with the "dry" signal in the noggin. Unfortunately there are variables here too, like integration time. The more different (or delayed) the second signal is, the lower you have to go for the same integration threshold. But this all just a rough live music starting point. There is also a variable when the two signals are stereo or mono, and centered or not, so with a centered main signal, an off axis secondary signal (like panned to the side) is audible to a much, much lower level. Sometimes as low as 30dB lower than the main signal. Whether you even want "audible" is unfortunately beyond my understanding. There are a lot of variables here too, like the nature of the signals and temporal stuff, dynamics, and listening volume I imagine would play a role somehow. Like anything audio, once you start mixing instruments and vocals or anything, it becomes a handful, and the subliminal thing, I am sorry not to know much about the requirements. Hope you can find what you are looking for, and I apologize for not having knowledge in this area.

@sideve5526 4 ай бұрын

Hello and congratulations on your video! I wanted to ask you for some info: if I have an mp3 audio file and I import it into Audacity to modify it when I export it, I always export it in mp3 or to have better quality(?) I export it in wav for example with a setting like: freq.44100 and a 32bit encoding? Or doesn't it make anything better? Thank you!

@SonorDesignerDrummer 6 ай бұрын

One point of confusion, what if there are two mics (two people) and stereo. Can you adjust each separately? Oh, and BTW, fantastic video, thank you.

@edwardthesoundguy 6 ай бұрын

If you are recording two microphones simultaneously, yes you can adjust them as separate tracks no problem. Once you record, there will be one "stereo" track with one mic on each side. This is just how Audacity does it. At 13:17 here I mention splitting the stereo track into two centered mono tracks. This is the point where you make two tracks you can fix up however you need. Once the stereo track is split, in this case you do not throw away the empty track since it has the other audio on it. From there you can process each one however you want by selecting the audio and applying any process you need. Hoping this makes sense. Let me know. Thanks for the kind words too. I am trying to find a moment to add a few more videos (more of a sound technician than a decent KZfaqr) so it really helps to hear.

@Equinox051256 15 күн бұрын

I'm attempting to do a voice over recording of an mp3 track but the recording level from my mic is barely audible. I've adjusted all of the settings in both Windows and Audacity. What else can I try?

@PsychRad Жыл бұрын

Edward, when I'm done recording and I'm editing my voice over tracks, I usually start with sound reduction, and then I compress and normalize. Do you think it is better to do noise reduction before or after compressing and normalizing, or does it matter?

@edwardthesoundguy Жыл бұрын

That's interesting stuff. Often, people want noise reduction before compression. This way the noise floor is not "moving," and the dynamic range has not been reduced. Both of these help with noise reduction. So, yes. The order you are doing it gives the highest possible performance.

@djvail322 10 ай бұрын

Hi there - am ancient as well . . . and trying to learn to podcast. I love your video and wanted to know if you had an e-mail address so that I could contact you. I want to find someone to take my audacity podcast recording, listen to it, tell me all of the settings I should use - or realtime effects - and then I can have those for going forward. Thougths?

@monttek 23 күн бұрын

need help how can i tap you and send my problem

@dreamtimerelaxation8761 Жыл бұрын

Edward are you available to hire to make a custom EQ for me to use on my voiceovers in audacity ?

@edwardthesoundguy Жыл бұрын

Hey, I am not able to do a lot of that kind of work right now, but can listen to some test audio as soon as there is a minute and make an EQ suggestion or two. Sure no problem. Let me know.

@dreamtimerelaxation8761 Жыл бұрын

@@edwardthesoundguy How do I contact you to send the audio?

@edwardthesoundguy Жыл бұрын

@@dreamtimerelaxation8761 If you go to the contact form at ED-EQ.COM, just drop a message in there and let me know. If you link to somewhere with at least a minute of speech I can take a look as soon as there is a minute and see how things are going.

@thekarmafarmer608 27 күн бұрын

My clipping tool does not show any clipping. I`m shouting into the mic and coughing etc. No red lines but on playback it is clearly distorted. Any ideas please?

@edwardthesoundguy 27 күн бұрын

In some cases, recording mono causes this problem. If you are recording in what Audacity considers stereo, for instance on the left side, and still get clipping before 0dB than that is pretty interesting. The two other places I would look are first the audio hardware settings on your system (hopefully it,) and if there is nothing there, your interface or USB microphone hardware (hopefully not it.) Both of these are vague possibilities. If you hit the "Audio Setup" button at the top and switch the "Host" to something else, this might be it. There are no options on macs, but a couple like MME on Windows that could be related. If you are using a USB mic, see where the level control is compared to where the clipping occurs. If it is always at -6dB and you have the level turned down 6dB this could be a limitation about how the microphone preamp works in your interface or microphone. Speaking of preamp/interfaces, if you can possibly find someone with a different interface or USB microphone, this could be plugged in to make sure that is not where the problem is. If I can think of anything else I'll let you know. Hope we can figure it out!

@thekarmafarmer608 27 күн бұрын

@@edwardthesoundguy Wow, that`s got to be the most thorough reply I`ve ever received. Thank you so much. I`ll go through these systematically. Although I have set recording to mono, I will go through the audio settings, as you`ve suggested. Not sure how to switch the host to something else, but I`ll look at this. The distortion is pronounced on playback when I cough and shout etc, but no red lines direct me. I have a new Volt interface connected with new Mogami cables. I`m using a new sm7db. Only the PC runs through usb-C. All is XLR. thank you again for this great video. I`m going to check out some of your other ones today. Kind regards buddy.

@edwardthesoundguy 26 күн бұрын

@@thekarmafarmer608 Hey, let me know how it goes. Trying to think of anything else just in case. The Volt is a fine interface and should not behave unusually. It does use a driver, so this could have an effect. I believe it is class compliant, so you could use it without the driver, but then there could be some weird offset somehow when using it without a driver. Unlikely, but worth checking. The only other thing I can think of to try is to make sure the boost is turned off on the SM7dB, and see if that does anything. The signal might be so gigantic during shouting that it could overload some interfaces. You would think that the input volume could just be turned down to solve this, but in most interfaces there are two actual stages, one transistor sort of "stacked" on the other one, and the level control is often in between them. This helps with things like potentiometer noise, but then the first stage is always turned all the way up all the time regardless of the control. Then if the incoming signal is incredibly large, you see where this goes. It would be weird, but this could also be the issue.

@thekarmafarmer608 26 күн бұрын

@@edwardthesoundguy Hi again. Well, I have no problem in distorting the signal. The problem is in getting the red bars to show that. Clearly, your instructions are correct. I have spent some time checking my settings. I can`t figure what is wrong. Oh well! It`s not the biggest problem I have anyway. I appreciate your time and expertise. If it comes up suddenly what the problem is, I`ll let you know buddy. It may be useful if it comes up again. 👍