Recording Levels

[Joseph Witchard]

My friends and I record a podcast, and we all use Audacity and Skype to do so. If you're using a headset, what levels should you set the volume and mic input to? I'm sure it varies a little for each person, but what is the average for both settings that I should shoot for?

[kozikowski]

Sound peaks in the minus 6 to minus 3 range on the bouncing volume meter. Lower is safer if you have someone who likes to get dynamic during the performance. You can use Amplify, Normalize, and Chris's Compressor after final production to level everything out as long as the segments aren't too far off.

I'm terrifically interested in how you're doing the podcast. You shouldn't be able to using just those two. Skype likes to take over all the sound services and to heck with everybody else. You can't record both sides without a special software package.

I can conceive of everybody recording their own part of the performance and then emailing them to a central point for integrating and mixing. Is that what you're doing?

This problem comes up all the time and there's no good answer I know of.

Koz

[Joseph Witchard]

Oh yeah, we all have Audacity. We record at the same time and then they send me their .wavs for editing, and I put them all together. Which, I'm not great at editing yet, but I'm learning.

[kozikowski]

Shucks. You were supposed to tell me you all press a magic control-shift key combination and suddenly everything starts working.

It's awkward and a lot of work for somebody who has to edit the final product, but you should be able to produce a perfect show that way. Everybody has the same time reference, so there are no delay problems, etc.

I can think of one potential problem (lower case problem, not Upper Case Problem). If one of the performers has a crappy sound card, it is possible that his/her track may drift when played back on your computer. Over an hour show, it could account for several seconds or more difference. Some people with really crappy sound cards have noticed speed changes over a three-minute musical performance.

I would urge you to start using Audacity 1.3.11. You will find the editing tools enormously improved and it's a much more polished product. You can safely install both versions, but you can only use one at a time. Audacity 1.3 projects will not open in 1.2.

There is a fuss in developer land about calling these products "Stable" and "Unstable." They don't reflect reality at all right now. The latest Macs do not support Audacity 1.2, so technically, if you believe the labels, there is no Audacity for Macs (I am a happy user of 1.3.)

Koz

[Joseph Witchard]

Heh, sorry :p I had a Skype recorder, but I found I could make it sound better if I edited the tracks individually rather than if it came as one big thing.

Should I record with 1.3 as well, or just do the editing in 1.3?