I started a podcast a couple months ago and use Audacity. Truthfully, I just learned the basics and am not as well versed on it as I should be. I just leave the settings and record each week.
This week we had a 1hr 40 minute show and it was our best show ever. unfortunately when i got home and listened to it, it is horrible. I have no idea the reason for it, but it sounds metallic, echo-e and is totally useless. I am crushed and am at a loss to see if there is any way to fix this. I have a feeling I am screwed, but if anyone has any ideas, i would love to hear it.
We use a mixing board which is plugged into a focusrite box which goes into the computer. on the headphones, everything sounded great.
i am using windows 10, and it is version 2.1.3. sorry, i dont know if i had the installer or zip
Music/Singing? Were you musically singing in the other shows? On Windows machines, it’s normal for the sound system to think you always want to talk, chat, conference or communicate. Not sing. The machine tries to suppress room and environment noises to make your speech clearer. Singing sounds like room noise, so it tries to get rid of it.
Were the headphones connected to the computer, the mixer, or the Focusrite? …You may not have been listening to what you were recording. And assuming the headphones are in the same room with the band, you’re hearing a lot of live-sound leaking-in making it hard to “analyze” what you’re hearing through the headphones.
My guess is, you accidently recorded from the mic built into the laptop. It was a laptop, right?
And yes, you’re screwed! …Computers are the least reliable things we own and if you are recording an important one-time event where there’s no chance for “take two”, then you need a back-up system recording in parallel. And with a computer you usually don’t even know there’s been a problem until it’s too late. (In the old-analog days with a 3-head recorder you could monitor off the tape a fraction of a second after it was recorded… I’m NOT “praising” tape… Analog tape was inferior in almost every way.)
When pros record live shows, they usually record more than one show.* And, they’ve recorded the technical rehearsal, the regular rehearsal (if there was one) and the sound-check, so all of the bugs have (hopefully) been worked-out. All of their equipment is dedicated to recording so it’s not messed-with during the day, and they’ve got tons of back-up equipment (although they may not be recording in-parallel to a back-up system).
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This is a short story about two video takes of a live show. I have a U2 concert DVD, and there’s a “making-of” feature, or maybe it’s a director’s commentary option - Apparently there is always a conflict between the way a live show is lighted and the way the video guys want it lighted. So the first night, the video guys “won” but they ended-up too much bright-white light and a “washed-out” video. The 2nd night they uses less white and more color and that’s what ended-up on the DVD. (The live lighting guys still weren’t happy.)
P.S.
We use a mixing board which is plugged into a focusrite box
That usually doesn’t work very well (depending on the kind of music and the set-up) because with most bands, there’s lots of sound coming directly from the stage (drums, amplified guitar & bass, etc.) so the sound from the PA doesn’t represent what the audience is hearing, unless you’re doing small show with a mic’d singer and acoustic guitar or a big stadium/arena show… where everything is coming out of the PA. And, recording an “amplified” band with a pair of stereo mics usually doesn’t turn-out well either… Live recording is tough unless you can close-mic everything and multi-track.
In that case it’s possible to recreate the performance “in the studio”. If, it’s really THAT important to everyone involved. I’m not saying it’s “easy” and it’s probably going to take you a lot more than 1.5 hours, but it’s possible.
As you may know, on-location movie dialog is re-recorded in the studio… That’s just a normal part of movie production. Almost everything in movies and on TV is “faked”, and you can fake this too!!! (Sometimes parts of live music recordings are re-done in the studio.)
i have done the same thing through 16 episodes and this has never happened before
That’s good to know… We know there’s nothing wrong with your equipment or your set-up (when everything is set up correctly).
Actually, one failure out of 16 isn’t that bad. Maybe you’ll go another 100 shows before you have another failure…
I’m not saying it’s “easy” and it’s probably going to take you a lot more than 1.5 hours, but it’s possible.
Fuzzy rule, post production takes five times the show, so that’s, what? 7.5 hours? Everybody goes into post dedicated to proving that rule wrong.
As you may know, on-location movie dialog is re-recorded in the studio…
Unless it’s cheaper to just hire out the restaurant, turn the music off and all the people in the background are actors quietly acting like customers.
The background people’s lips are moving but there’s no sound coming out.
Yes. So?
Every so often a shoot settles here in the neighborhood. I sometimes go over to say hello to the other sound people. Nobody hires out a post-production soundstage if they don’t have to.
…Computers are the least reliable things we own and if you are recording an important one-time event where there’s no chance for “take two”, then you need a back-up system recording in parallel. And with a computer you usually don’t even know there’s been a problem until it’s too late. (In the old-analog days with a 3-head recorder you could monitor off the tape a fraction of a second after it was recorded… I’m NOT “praising” tape… Analog tape was inferior in almost every way.)