Recording: 1 Mic + PC Sound to different Tracks

[Audaclaw]

Hi guys

I've read my way through many tutorials and faq's here, so I really hope that I haven't missed a post that already answers this question (although... it MUST be somewhere)

For my podcast I want to use one Blue Yeti MIC for our voices. But I also want to be able to play some intros for segments, jingles and other links, for example a beat in the background diretly as we are doing the podcast.
I want the mic input to be on one track, and the other wavs and mp3s I play from a soundboard (so far I have found PodProducer), to go on a second track. When going through the tutorials and faqs, I always came to multi-Track recording... but the descriptions where for soundcards that let you plug in different sound sources.

Would I need another soundcard? Not really right, since I have only one "outside" soundsource? I really struggle with all this, went through the Stereo Mix Options and tried other ways, but I'm just not grasping the proper way to do this.

I have two PCs, and preferably I would like to set this all up on my "older" Windows XP PC so I could move that one to the corner where we will have the podcast.
But my powerful PC is with Win 7 64.

Can you pros point me to an article or give me hints what I have to check and how I can get this done?

Thanks!

[kozikowski]

You missed a step. Integrating Skype interviews.

Actually, two steps. You have to be able to hear the audio effects, stingers, beds, bumpers and interstitials without interfering with the voices and without feedback.

I wonder if by now someone hasn't generated a sound package which will do all that. It's a pretty obvious product. Did you run across anything in your Google -- even money-based? We just tell people it can't be done on one computer. Standard computers have two sound channels, stereo record and stereo playback. Full stop. As you found, Stereo Mix just connects them together to let you record what the computer is playing.

Koz

[Audaclaw]

No, haven't found anything yet.

Oh my, Skype interviewing was in the very distant future, but planned as well.. haha.

So I guess all I can do, is record our voices, still play the intros etc so we can hear it , but I will have to add all that during the edit phase?
Is there a way I could set bookmarks at least, while recording, to easier find where I need to add fx/intros etc when I go to editing.

Yeah, kinda blows my mind, that this cannot be done yet.

[kozikowski]

Yeah, kinda blows my mind, that this cannot be done yet.

Oh, it can totally be done, just not with an $800 laptop and a Snowball on the kitchen table.

Call-in radio talk shows do this all the time -- in real time. Two people and a mix console, mix-minus headphones, telephone bridge, etc. etc.

There's pages of problems and I'm sure you're only interested in solutions, but there is one problem a software package isn't going to solve. Have you tried to record four people with a Snowball? You can totally do it. The snowball has a omni-directional pattern selector (#3, I think) but when you do that, you record the room, too. We can't fix echoes in software and echoes are the single feature that distinguishes the bad home recording from a higher end podcast.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/clips/EchoSample.mp3

I've been known to throw furniture moving blankets around to get rid of that effect.

http://www.kozco.com/pictures/boothFini ... op-mic.jpg

...or record in a sound-proof room.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/MicTests/studioLayout.jpg

Yes, you can produce a very good podcast in post production, but remember post production takes at least three times the duration of the show. So your hour podcast is going to take you four hours total to knock together.

I need to drop out for a while.

Koz

[ragnar.jensen]

I want the mic input to be on one track, and the other wavs and mp3s I play from a soundboard (so far I have found PodProducer), to go on a second track. When going through the tutorials and faqs, I always came to multi-Track recording... but the descriptions where for soundcards that let you plug in different sound sources.

You want the Snowball on one track and sounds that the computer plays on another? Audacity cannot this, but there is another free program that can - Kristal Audio Engine.
http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/
There is one limitation, though, you'll not be able to listen to the sound from the microphone as you record. Kristal is a good recorder, but has limited editing capacity, so record with Kristal and edit in Audacity.
We had a thread not long ago discussing your situation. http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 46&t=70765

You have to be able to hear the audio effects, stingers, beds, bumpers and interstitials without interfering with the voices and without feedback.

Koz speaks the truth. No speakers, everyone should use headphones.


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Ragnar

[Audaclaw]

Wow, that's great News!

I don't care that much, that I don't hear my voice over the mic (again, keep in mind: Supernoob speaking). The first few tests I ran, I turned the mic in my headphones down, because of echo.
So a combo of these two products sound great.

[kozikowski]

Kristal is a good recorder, but has limited editing capacity

And limited quality. I posted about this earlier and people poked holes in it almost immediately because it works at a reduced sound quality.

Here's one review.

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 40&t=70599

Maybe they fixed that. The quality problem was pretty serious.

Koz

[kozikowski]

Oh, and remember this isn't a Help Desk. It's a forum. If you get one to work, post back and say how.
Koz

[ragnar.jensen]

Here's one review.

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 40&t=70599

Maybe they fixed that. The quality problem was pretty serious.

Koz

Hmm, now you've gotten me all curious. That link gives me "You are not authorised to read this forum" and that makes me even more curious

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Ragnar

[Audaclaw]

Oh, and remember this isn't a Help Desk. It's a forum. If you get one to work, post back and say how.
Koz

Wow, maybe it's just your writing style, but sometimes it comes across pretty agressive?

Haven't had the chance to do anything podcasty since this afternoon, had guests and now its 01:30am in Switzerland. Maybe I get to it tomorrow.
Thanks for all the input guys.