Record Mic and Computer Sound Simultaneously

[kozikowski]

the main host, Scott Johnson, uses a Mac. But I also know he has a PC and a mixer.

I might be able to do most of that show with all of those machines and maybe a stand-alone recorder. Fill in the missing parts as needed in post production.

One of the computers just does Skype. It's connected to the mixer so that the Pre-Fade-Mix goes back to Skype with Skype's own voice missing. That solves the return echo problem and the caller will hear everything but their own voice. The second computer plays the stingers, bumpers, themes, interstitials and other music into the mixer. I think any DJ sound package will do that. Maybe just iTunes or Windows Media, suitably cued up like a playlist.

The Stand-Alone Recorder just sucks it all in and makes the sound file. I guess the second computer might also be the recorder, but that would be pushing it. You would have to be really careful not to press any common hot keys by accident. "STOP" in the music player [Spacebar] can't also be "STOP" [Spacebar] in the recording software. So no, you would need a stand-alone recorder.

That's 2-1/2 computers, a good comprehensive mixer, some way to distribute the headphones if you have more than one host, and obviously a Skype account, etc. I don't think you can do that show live with less equipment than that.

Koz

[kozikowski]

This is good. I think this is the first time anybody told us of the actual podcast so we could rip it apart and see how they did it.

Please note that the lead actor sounds like he's air broadcasting. He does not sound like he's recording in a bathroom or a kitchen.

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

He either has a good soundproof room or is wearing a high quality headset/microphone. I'm going with the headset.

There is a portion of the show that had background music, both host voices and the Skype conversation running at the same time. While that's not impossible to do on one computer, it's very highly unlikely. Has to be multiple computers. I heard the announcer cue up and play several real time short sound clips. That's the music computer and you can see him clicking on music clips one after the other. You can do that on an iPod or iPad, by the way. It doesn't have to be a full-on computer to play the music.

But the thing that makes this enjoyable for me is the extreme high quality of the voices. That is so welcome.

I was thinking about actually producing a show in real time. Some provision must be made to "set up" the Skype call before it goes live. I wonder if that's what the second announcer is doing while the first one does his patter. Remember, starting the call and setup can't go through the mixer unless you have a really talented mixer.

Broadcast mixers have an "Off Cue" feature. Pull any fader down and the music goes all the way off. Pull it further and the fader clicks and puts the music into your own private studio sound system for cuing.

It's possible that you can't do that show with one person. It's really the announcer (lead voice) doing his thing with the producer in the background setting everything up, arranging the callers, listing the music, getting coffee. Producer stuff.

Koz

[kozikowski]

I might actually have all the pieces here to do that show. An old Mac with the busted screen for the recorder (Audacity, of course). The new Mac with the Skype account. The Peavey PV6 has a Post Fade Effects Send. I have a good quality head mount microphone and good headphones.

I have an iPod for music production.

I think I can do whole thing on batteries in the back garden. Oh, wait. No I can't. The Peavey mixer is wall powered. Shucks.

I borrowed a Zoom H4 from a friend while he's in New York. That could be used for the recorder in place of one of the computers.

Koz

[Chaseisfdr]

I know because the host might think of something off topic, and play a sound effect for it. The other host hears it and laughs. I know it's all done through skype because I can hear him call people on it (complete the usual skype ring tone), and they sometimes get disconnected as well. It's all legit and barely edited. If you had heard it you would know. But you're right, hes a professional, so its probably all above my pay grade.

[steve]

It's all legit and barely edited.

I was listening to: http://frogpants.com/tms/

Today, on this spicy black bean flavored episode of the morning stream, some healthy negative reinforcement, how bi-curiuos is your state, when killing a snake means burning your house down, having your kid pepper spray the help, reincarnated kids needed and ....

which is full of edits:
Today, on this spicy black bean flavored episode of the morning stream, // some healthy negative reinforcement, // how bi-curiuos is your state, // when killing a snake means burning your house down,// having your kid pepper spray the help, // reincarnated kids needed and ....

I've also watched http://frogpants.com/live/ Scott's Cam.
Agreed this is unedited, but what we see here is a video cam or web cam, a computer that plays cued sounds, and a big Mac behind him (not used).

What I don't see is Skype + Voice Recording + Music Clips all in real time on one computer. It's not impossible to do that, but it is certainly not the easiest set up, particularly on Windows which has little built-in ability to route multiple audio streams.

[Chaseisfdr]

That really is like one of the only parts that is edited. The rest of the show is really casual, they mess stuff up all the time. It's a very comfortable environment, the podcast and the people who listen to it are like a family, so they don't care much about editing and errors.

I do really appreciate you guys taking a listen to see what I am talking about.

Also, the second host is not controlling anything, and there is no producer. It's all done by Scott, the main host. I know this from listening to it for so long. I listen to like 6 of his shows, so I get a pretty good idea of whats going on.

I figured how to do what I am talking about using Virtual Audio Cables, but obviously thats not ideal.

I hope that one day I can actually get through to Scott, and we can really see exactly how he does it. I think I may go make a post on their forums and see.

Thanks guys!

[kozikowski]

I'm tossing this around in the supervisory part of the forum. I think I can do their show -- possibly better than they're doing it -- with this.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/ ... cast-I.jpg

I'm arranging for someone to test Skype with me. One extension to this system is not have the second computer and use an iPod or iPad for music playback and a stand-alone recorder, in my case a borrowed Zoom H4. I can do some grownup shows with this setup, too. All in real time.

I'm going to see if I can make it through a full (30 second) unedited show with all the parts to illustrate the principal.

You don't need to be a Deity to do it, either. The mixer is $100 (you do need to be careful which one you buy) and the other parts aren't much over that. I'm writing the How-To as we go.

Steve did illustrate how to do this in Linux-Land with fewer parts but the operator would need to be locked up or sedated after the show.

Koz

[Chaseisfdr]

hey again,

any luck with what you tried?

I bought a Behringer 802 mixer off craigslist. I figured out how to record everything I want to record...myself in XLR, my skype guest, and the computers sound all at once. The only issue, and I guess its a minor issue, is that its all in the same track. I wish my voice was separate from partners voice, but everything comes through the stereo mix, so it's all or nothing. Which I guess as long as I get all the levels right an EQ'ed the best I can before hand, that won't be so bad. I know its not the most professional thing in the world, but it will do for now.

I guess I just don't understand exactly how mixers work. This is an analog mixer (no usb), but I can plug it into the "line in" port of my computer and it picks up everything and sounds good. But I know I have seen people record separate tracks at the same time. I have record with a band before (as a musician, definitely not as a sound engineer) and we had TONS of tracks recording at once. At first I was thinking I would run each channel of the mixer to my PC seperately, but even if I had an awesome sound card, I still couldn't replicate what I'd seen in a studio. How do people get multiple instruments all at one time? (Or in my case, my voice in one channel, and my pc in the other).

I just figure it was like Computer------>Mixer(using just one cord to connect them) Then Mixer ------>multiple instruments and channels (using multiple cords). Then I thought they would all show up as separate tracks on the computer. But right now on the computer, all I have is Line in, or Stereo Mix. Both of these record my voice. Difference is Stereo Mix records my voice and my computers sound. So Even though I can technically record my voice seperate, when I am using Stereo Mix to record skype and PC sounds, its also going to record my voice by default, which defeats the whole process of having my voice recorded on its own track (through the line in port).

I know none of this makes sense. I literally sit here and do research and think about it all the time. It just seems like theres so many ways to configure things in this world with so many different computers and things, it's hard for me to do research on. If anyone feels like taking a stab at what I said, please do. If not, at least I am at a point where I can record everything I needed to.

Thanks all!

[kozikowski]

any luck with what you tried?

No, and for some silly reasons. I couldn't get Skype to behave on the transmit audio . The mixed, completed show sounded terrific in Los Angeles, but my guest said I sounded horribly distorted in New Jersey. You can't do an interview that way, so I have to figure out what I did wrong. A couple of days later I discovered an additional microphone distortion problem, so one step backwards while I resolve that. Oddly, I was doing a voice/mix demonstration for another poster and no matter what I did it didn't sound right. Then I listened to the voice alone and it sounded like dog poop. [email protected]#$%. I'm no announcer/presenter, but I'm not that bad.

I took the afternoon to rip everything apart and Windex, vacuum and blow out the computers and drive systems. I know technically it's not going to help, but I expect the "I just washed the car and it runs better now" effect.

I need to go through your post again. I want to know how you crammed everything into one machine. In particular, I wanted to know how you kept the guest from hearing show echoes in their headphones.

Or haven't you actually tried that yet...

My goal is no post production. An On-Air radio show in a single sound file, one shot all the way through. If your podcast catches on, you will not have time or inclination to follow each show with a lot of editing/filtering. I accept come cutting. My test clip is going to need to cut off the beginning and the end. You may need to do a cut if somebody on a Skype uses a naughty word. But you need to know the common wisdom for editing is at least three times the length of the show. So you will be spending four hours producing a one hour podcast if you need to construct and edit each show from pieces. Complex shows can take longer.

I need to look up and see how your mixer works.

Koz

[kozikowski]

OK, your Behringer 802 is a tiny version of my mixer and it has an effects send (the red knobs).

I have record with a band before (as a musician, definitely not as a sound engineer) and we had TONS of tracks recording at once.

No doubt they were set up for multi-track recording, and by set up, I mean they had a multi-track sound card, drivers and the multi-track recording software to go with it. We wrote a thing about this. Audacity can record multiple tracks if you can get your computer to supply it.

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 27&t=38626

All the mixer does is volume control all the inputs, six in my case and four in yours, and mixes them down to one stereo show. Plug the mixer output into a stereo recorder and press record. Only the super high-end studio mixers give you individual input copies so you can feed a multi-track recorder.

To do a good job with this, you have to create and manage four different sound feeds.

-- The Mixed Show
-- The Skype guest voice
-- The show minus the guest that the guest hears. In broadcast this is called Mix Minus.
-- The Music/Effects/Themes

Computers have two channels. Stereo Record and Stereo Playback. All Stereo Mix does is jam them together so you can record what's playing.

Since you got all this to work, post a sample. Play music in the background, talk to a person on Skype. Ask them if they can hear the music OK. Fade down and change the music and fade it back up.

Stereo Mix tends to really screw up Skype, and if you feed Stereo Mix to the guest, they will get their own voice delayed and garbled in their headphones. You may get delay feedback, too, that pumping effect. I have a sample of the one I did, but it's not on this computer and its too late to go find it. Rain Check.

Win7 has no provision to open up more than one sound channel, so I really wonder how you got music, your voice and Skype in the same show.

Koz