Audacity Forum

hello all,

my friends and i play a weekly D&D game, where there are between 5 and 7 of us. The host decided he wants to create podcasts from our games, which was about the nerdiest thing any of us could think of. since i have some experience with audio recording he asked me to do some homework and figure out how he could mic each individual player so that we could mix it down into a nice, level sounding track (some of us are a little louder than others). we had considered getting lapel mics for everyone, a 12 channel audio mixer, and some stupid expensive box to get it all into the computer, and then mix and master with a digital audio program, like audacity. i pointed out that this would get really expensive really quick, and started thinking about the possibility of using bluetooth headsets as mics, then record them directly into seperate channels on audacity. we all have the headsets, my laptop has bluetooth, and audacity is free, so this seemed like a great, if temporary, method of doing this.

well i got audacity on my laptop and have been doing some exhausting googling (we all know how that feels), and have yet to be able to record with anything other than the build in mic on my laptop. i checked under preferences -> audio i/o, and the headset is not there. do any of you know any way i can do this?

again, i need to use a bluetooth headset connected to my laptop as a mic to record my voice. the headset is connected, but HOW do i get audacity to recognize it?

many thanks,

vance

<<<bluetooth headsets as mics, then record them directly into seperate channels on audacity.>>>

Grand idea, except Audacity will only record from one Sound Device. Once you do find the appropriate sound channel, you will probably discover that Audacity will only record from one at a time. I think you were on the right track with the mixer.

You're on a PC, right? I use Total Recorder to record whatever is on my PCs sound channels. That may be one way out of this.

Once you start Post Production, you run into the ten to one rule. One hour of show takes, on average, ten hours of production. Everybody pokes fun at that, but then they hand the client the finished product and add up all the time consuming things that happened during the work, it was ten hours.

As I'm typing I'm trying to think what I would do if somebody paid me a lot of money to do this. Yeah, yeah, I can do it with twelve lavalier microphones, too, but.....

Isn't it the case that each headphone has all the other voices in it, minus that one person? Can you get insanely sneaky and involve a separate laptop computer as part of the game play, except the only reason it's there is to capture all the voices? People get wedded to the idea that everything has to happen inside one PC.

Good luck with that.

Koz

How can I connect multiple bluetooth devices to one laptop simultaniusly? I bought a Motorola bluetooth earpiece with it's bluetooth USB transmitter. Then I bought a bluetooth mouse for bluetooth laptops. Now, I can use only one at a time. When I am using my earpiece, I can't discover the mouse. I have to disconnect from the earpiece first. Same goes for the mouse. Is this come configuration limitation, a driver limitation or is it a limitation of the bluetooth technology?

You can't connect common services like two headsets, and you can't support more than one antenna, but I believe the maximum number of absolute connections is 7 or 8. Assuming the drivers and Windows supports it.

<<<bluetooth USB transmitter.>>>

That may kill you right there. Two antennas, one inside the computer.

Koz

Pardon the lane change, but perhaps this give you a different angle on acomplishing your bluetooth recording goal. I found an $60 Sony bluetooth receiver / transmitter that would allow you to record from a bluetooth microphone device by outputting a line level audio output into your computer or another recorder. It's documentation states it can store 8 pairings with other devices, but does not indicate whether its transmitter is capable of connecting to more than one device at a time, which would be critical to meet your goal.

Sony's Product Description
Now you can enjoy your entire music collection wirelessly via Bluetooth communication! Simply connect the HWSBTA2W Bluetooth Transmitter/Receiver to your current home audio system for instant music streaming. Usable as Wireless Stereo Audio Receiver for Home Audio System for communication from a device which has the BLUETOOTH A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) Transmitting Function to any audio device input. Output(s) : 1 (Line Out - stereo mini-jack)
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... d=11035425

$60 found at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Two-Way-Blue ... roduct_top

As an alternative to recording with your PC or MAC, consider a portable recorder like a Zoom H2 Handy Recorder. I have one, used it for over a year, feels cheap, but it has worked very well for me.
http://www.samsontech.com/products/prod ... &brandID=4

I hope this helps!
Mack