USB connected mic to Audacity for MAC

[kozikowski]

I had to shoot a voice track for an animation movie and one of the performers was a very shy Asian woman with a terrific voice that never got much above a whisper even when she was trying really hard. That was a difficult shoot.

Koz

[kozikowski]

As a note, this is where not having a conventional sound setup may be a problem.

This is my small sound mixer.



There are three different places to boost the volume if I have a quiet presenter. I have never actually run out. That's not what those settings are intended to be used for, but they do boost the sound if that's the only way I can get through a recording.

Koz

[kozikowski]

If I haven't been enough of a ray of sunshine, once we do get the volumes settled, you will then have to deal with other "normal" sound problems. Yes, we can hear the refrigerator on the first floor, the MetroBus going by outside, and if you were on a Windows machine, the laptop cooling fan. I could hear "something" in the background of your yelling clip that's not you.

The AudioBook people have volume, overload and noise specifications that are remarkably difficult to pass even though they're normal. You can't always easily get to normal with a home system.

Koz

[kozikowski]

I have the instruction book.

Do you have the little green light on the microphone? That's the assurance your USB is OK.

There are no presentation volume controls on the microphone. The only control is headphone volume.

There is a volume control in Mac System Preferences Setup. Can you make that Input Level volume meter dance?

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That doesn't normally come with adjustments... I hope that's working OK.

By the way, this little setup dance is much worse with a Windows machine.

Koz

[BonnieO]

You're being so incredibly gracious.

Ok, uploading .wav file. I redid two versions of an audition I just recorded and sent off with noise reduction and amplify. No pop filter. Second 16 seconds with head angled. Doesn't sound different to me.

Popping Plosive P's aren't my problem. Saliva sounds are. And I use every tip in the world - green apples, special gum, lots of water of course, sprays, you name it. Being that close to the mic doesn't help. I guess raising the volume does and I'll have to learn how to do that. This is a recent development.
But you shouldn't have to deal with that issue. I'm working on it.

The issue that brought me to you is the volume and lack thereof. The only solution, it looks like, is speaking more loudly. And using "amplify"
(and normalize if I can figure out what that does) . And then cleaning it up.

Other answers to your questions. Yes, the mic green light is on. There is, in fact, a volume dial on the side of the mic as well.
I put up the Mac System Preferences Sound setting all the way up, yes.
I am so surprised at how convoluted the Mac is for this. This was supposed to make my life easier!
I'm not worried about those other "normal" sound problems. That's precisely why I got the RODE. As a "dynamic" mic, you don't hear those things anymore.
But that's when the "saliva" noises showed up.
Ahhh, you're a professional. That's why you know your stuff. Yes, it may come to my getting an inexpensive mixer to get the saliva out I guess.
I also wonder why I don't hear it as much on the "yelling" record. That's bizarre.

You really need to have Audacity pay you!

Thank you again,
Bonnie.



Thanks again, Bonnie.

[kozikowski]

I just recorded and sent off with noise reduction and amplify.

Wait. Sent what to whom?
You're intended to record one of those standard sound tests and post it on the forum so we can tell you how to fix it for the client.

There is, in fact, a volume dial on the side of the mic as well.

Correct. That's the headphone volume and has nothing to do with the show volume.

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And using "amplify"(and normalize if I can figure out what that does) . And then cleaning it up.

And if you post that sound test, we will tell you what Amplify, Normalize and Clean Up do.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/Test ... _Clip.html

This was supposed to make my life easier!

You have no idea.

"How come my audiobook reading sounds like I have my head in a barrel?"

"Go into Windows setup panels and turn off the environment enhancement and echo cancellation settings—if you can find them."

Koz

[BonnieO]

Hi Koz.

Well, I spent part of today at Apple. The genius guy there suggested going into Audacity preferences and enabling sound activated recording. And that's now at -60dB. Not sure why that would help, honestly. But at least between the volume raise on the Mac and on Audacity, I'm getting to .5 wave size. I'm trying to decided if that's good enough or if I need to amplify beyond that.

Sorry if I wasn't clear last night. I uploaded, and will again, the sample you requested. I was just trying to say I used a piece of copy from a prior audition. But I did it again for you.

RODE support said they're going to put a local dealer in touch with me to see if there's a defect in the mic, keeping the volume low.

That's all I got for now.

Thank you again. So much. You HAVE been a ray of sunshine!
Bonnie.

[BonnieO]

Oh also - a friend of mine suggested trying a powered hub. I'll see how expensive those are on Amazon.

[kozikowski]

So much. You HAVE been a ray of sunshine!

That's me. An ROS®

a friend of mine suggested trying a powered hub.

Correct. We sometimes tell people that if there is some doubt the computer USB service isn't up to running the microphone. We stopped doing that in most cases because it's possible to buy a powered hub that's such cheap crap it introduces its own problems such as background noise from the wall outlet.

Also, it's unlikely to be a problem in your case because you have your Little Green Light and you don't have problems normally associated with low power, such as dropouts and little holes in your vocal presentation.

RODE support

I would like to understand what they think of your problem.

In any event, please shoot and post one of these twenty second voice tests.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/Test ... _Clip.html

It's not rocket surgery. This is a "one-line" direct quote from the instructions.

"Record. Freeze for 2 seconds, speak for 18 seconds. Stop. Export mono WAV (Microsoft), 16-bit."

Oddly the hardest part of that test process is Not Doing Anything for those two seconds. We can hear your clothing move. Don't fidget or gasp for air until after the two seconds.

Koz

[kozikowski]

We haven't heard any sound postings from you past the one way at the beginning.

Scroll down from a text entry window > Upload attachment > Browse.

Koz