Recording an Interview; Mic & Person Speaking

[Justin300]

So I've been tasked to do interviews with people, and I read somewhere that it is possible to do interviews with audacity.

Basically the site was saying that if you created an audio track, and set it to record your mic, and then you made another audio track and set it to record the output device to capture the persons voice, that it could work this way.

So I tried to do that, I made two audio tracks, but I don't know how to individually have one track record my mic and one track record just the output port. Whenever I change the recording port from the top menu it changes both audio tracks.

So what am I doing wrong or does Audacity not support this feature?

[kozikowski]

This could be as simple as jamming a USB microphone into a computer, handing the hot part to the interviewee and ask questions. Press record in Audacity.

If you're going to be doing this in the field a lot, I so wouldn't be using a computer.

http://www.samsontech.com/products/prod ... rodID=1901

I will admit I can't tell what your goal is. Many people doing interviews for the first time think they produce the finished show when they press stop after the recording session. The best, well timed pleasing, and polished shows are produced later in an editor such as Audacity by cutting out the parts where the actor sneezed and stopped to blow his nose and answer the cellphone. And take out the part where the jet went right overhead.

If you have only one good microphone you can record your questions days later and interleave them into the show with the answers -- again with skillful editing in Audacity. You don't have to record both sides of the interview right then.

So describe the show.

Koz

[Justin300]

It's an online interview. I'm a staff member on a gaming league, and we do weekly player interviews. Thus it's not possible to do it without a computer/internet. So I was wondering if I record both my mic and my headphones speakers at the same time.

Yet the work around you suggested with interleaving them is fine, but I also found that I could just record the playback from Ventrilo using Audacity, and then edit from there on.

It's not so much about the editing, but more about recording.

[kozikowski]

<<<we do weekly player interviews. >>>

How? Skype?

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 27&t=12251

Koz

[Justin300]

Through ventrilo. You can record the audio from all parties in the channel. After the recording, you playback the recordings, and capture them in Audacity or another recording software.

[kozikowski]

<<<You can record the audio from all parties in the channel.>>>

All of them including you? That's usually what kills. Bidirectional sound channels don't lend themselves to sneaky capture on the side.

Koz