Total Audacity noob here

[James H]

Tried recording at my desk in front of my PC monitor. Unit mounted on a cheap mini-tripod (I think we have a better one around here somewhere but haven't found it yet) and on a folded towel. Had turned my rec level up from 75 to 80. Windscreen didn't arrive via Amazon yesterday and is supposed to arrive today. Got the Twain copy printed out, though, so I can give that a read/record later. Read it to my GF this morning. Said I sounded good and gave me a tip for one portion of the read.

Looks like the new Coppertop batteries are going to work out fine.

I saw my levels go into the yellow and even red, so I think 80 is too high. Even my tin ear can tell I was coming in too hot and poppy in Audacity and the noise from the PC is going to make this spot untenable. So it's back to the coffee table. Can't start building a "studio" just yet. Told my GF about it and she's like, "You are not going to turn our living room into a recording studio, dude." So I replied, "Possible $$$," and she goes, "Where can we find some used moving blankets?"

Just for clarification's sake, it's cool to read from any material that is in the public domain, yeah?

Any links or pointers to material suited to my voice would be appreciated.

-JH

[kozikowski]

I saw my levels go into the yellow and even red, so I think 80 is too high.

There is no "80." The only time you pay attention to the position of the knob is if it's all the way up or down. All other times you report the bouncing sound meter. If your voice is too crazy and gives peaks into the yellow, orange and red, then it's too high. Back off. Occasional peaks that just start to turn yellow is good.

As you found, volume too loud is pure evil, noisy and in most cases permanent.

I'll listen shortly.

Koz

[kozikowski]

There is one other case for paying attention to the knob. You set up for a second show and the knob got bumped from where it was last time. In That Case, knowing where the knob was is valuable. This is obsessive engineer talking.

But in all cases check the sound meters before you shoot anything.

Koz

[kozikowski]

it's cool to read from any material that is in the public domain, yeah?

You can read whatever you want, you can't sell it to anybody. That and the forum has some strict rules against marketing and promotion.

There's a sideletter to that. It's usually a good idea to do what a forum elf asks. If you sidestep or prevaricate enough times you could get the reputation as a Hostile Poster and find yourself typing into a silent keyboard.


The posted test is too loud, but you knew that going in. The pop at 16 seconds may vanish if you put the foam sock on there. Wind noise and P-Popping are cousins. Then back off the volume until you get light yellow peaks every so often.

Did you try to Export an MP3? Audacity will not make an MP3 without add-on Lame software.

Assuming you're using Audacity 2.3.0, scroll down to the lame software download.

https://www.audacityteam.org/download/windows/

There's another little exercise that's handy. The H4 has a sound meter, yes? Make a constant oooooooo sound and see the difference between the H4 meters and the Audacity bouncing light meters. There may not be any, and yes I know it's rough to perform and look at the H4 meters at the same time. I expect them to be within about 6dB of each other. Let us know.

Oh, and yes, you'll be turning the computer off for the show. There's a fuzzy rule if you can tell the computer is on by listening, turn it off.

"Possible $$$,"

Most of the civilized world is trying to read for audiobooks. The market for computer microphones is very brisk. A lot of new users are trying to make ratty, noisy recordings and patch them up in Audacity. You don't have that problem. We know how to record your voice.

So get Lame installed and the Mark Twain printed out (it helps to do it in large type), turn off the computer and read through it into the H4. Do Not announce the piece. Read through it like you're telling a story in real life. I think your voice will fit perfectly.

A WAV sound file that size will not fit on the forum, so you have to File > Export it as MP3. I'm guessing 256 quality. Inspect the sound file afterwords and make sure it's no bigger than 2MB. If it is, destroy the original MP3 and make a new one at 225 quality of whatever the next step smaller is.

Post it.

Koz

[James H]

You can read whatever you want, you can't sell it to anybody. That and the forum has some strict rules against marketing and promotion.

There's a sideletter to that. It's usually a good idea to do what a forum elf asks. If you sidestep or prevaricate enough times you could get the reputation as a Hostile Poster and find yourself typing into a silent keyboard.

I hear you loud and clear.

Post it.

Done. In the new thread "No Woman, No Cry." (viewtopic.php?f=46&t=102497)

-JH