Audacity Forum

Hi all,

Sorry to jump in but have a similar problem and I am very new to Audacity. I'd like to start recording my own voice and remote interviews for a podcast but I just encountered the delay issue (as I was plugging both mic and headphones directly into the PC).
So I take that the only solution would be acquiring a sound interface or mixer - I use a RØDE VideoMic GO as a mic which has a 3.5mm jack instead of the XLR. I have seen the Behringer UM2 recommended on another post which seems to have a reasonable price as my budget is very low but what I am wondering is if I would be able to plug in my mic (with 3.5mm jack) plus the headphones for sound monitoring when I record, or if I would need an XLR for my Mic? And would it work also for recording interviews through Skype/ other remote options?
One last doubt is if, given that I would like to start a podcast if the UM2 is a good option for a starter that may be wanting to continue or if with a bit more expense it would be better to get a small mixer directly?

Thank you very much in advance for any help you may provide!
Many thanks,

Nescaphe

I split your message off from that topic because this isn't quite the same thing.

Are you following someone's instructions or format to record you and the Skype guest at the same time? It may seem you can do that with a couple of button pushes, but you can't. I got an interview to work with two computers and a sound mixer with mix-minus configuration and special interface cables.



Not exactly an app or button click.

Can you record both sides of a conversation just using your laptop built-in microphone and plain, ordinary Skype? Is it a laptop? You didn't say.

Koz

Hi Koz,

Thank you very much for your answer - sorry a few more doubts came out afterwards and added many things together.

So, I haven't practically tried yet, as I am trying to set up my basics these days to understand what I would need to get it going.

My computer is a laptop with Windows 10 - I have seen several videos where they recommend using the Skype built-in recording option on both sides and then sinc the two audios which sounded fairly straightforward however the problem of the monitoring delay with audacity made me think that it would probably become an issue whilst doing other recordings online too independently from the app.

However from what you tell me it sounds way more complicated than this. I am at the very start but trying to get decent sound so I think I could definitely record without monitoring but it's something I would like to introduce at a later stage to have better quality audio.
This is why I was considering a sound mixer or audio interface so that I can check on my own recording - but then having the other person activating the recording too so that I have recording from both ends to sinc without issues. Or does the Skype recording app / or other apps record from each end automatically and getting the two tracks?

Also do you think a jack 3.5mm cable for the mic could work with a small mixer or the UM2 without XLR?

Thank you very much again!

Federica

they recommend using the Skype built-in recording option

Skype does offer a total recording option on their servers, but there have been complaints on the forum about the highly processed distortion. Everything sounds like a bad cellphone. And then there's the restriction that all the participants need to be on Skype. No splitting services or using a cell call or (gasp) telephone as one of the performers.

Then we pull back to the wide view, what happens when your interview is on Zoom or one of the other services? The way I did it splits the Skype/Zoom/Chat machine from everything else. It doesn't matter whose service you use. This is a cousin to how the broadcasters do it. "Sorry we can't cover the meteor strike on Long Island because the correspondant is on Zoom and we only use Skype."

Yes, you can totally record on each of the local machines and shuffle sound files around and edit them together. That's how this was done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU8hXDim-1s

Sounds perfect, right? It's very much like marching cats. If any one of the performers loses it, that's the show in a trash bag. People do do this all the time, but you can't do an interview like this. "Excuse me, Senator, can you load capture software on your phone?"

I know this seems like I'm extending this way outside of your show concept, but if your podcast catches on, this suddenly becomes a Really Big Deal.

Meanwhile, back at the microphone.

Microphones that have the 1/8" plug generally depend on being able to plug directly into a computer to not only supply voice, but take battery and services from the computer. They're not good stand-alone microphones, and, in general you can only have one.

USB microphones can have their technical problems, but thousands of them are in use all over earth—for people who only need one—such as an audiobook reader. The first time your podcast needs two "studio" microphones, you're dead. Audacity will allow you to choose which one to record.

So that blows us out to the XLR microphones and mixer. The only serious split here is microphones that need Phantom Power and those that don't. The fancy-pants studio condenser microphones need power from the mixer to work. They have electronics inside. So that's what the 48v button on the mixer does. It sends battery up the mic cable to run the microphone at the same time the microphone is sending sound back down the cable—at the same time. Perfectly valid. Microphones have been doing this for decades.

Many microphones don't need that. The Shure SM58 rock band microphone, for one example, doesn't need that. The SM7 microphones as featured on Joe Rogan don't need that, but those microphones are pretty quiet, so they're almost always sold with a Cloud Lifter volume booster, which does.


That's the whole bundle. I wouldn't mind having that bundle the next time I have $600 laying around.

monitoring delay

That happens when you listen to the computer. The computer has transit and other delays which almost always makes your live voice late.

The solution is to listen to the microphone, interface or mixer. This is one obvious example of that.



You can listen to the mixer.

The problem then becomes how do you hear the far side?

You can do that with a sound mixer that has Mix-Minus. You bring all your sounds into the mixer, mix them together and send the mix to a recorder. It doesn't have to be a separate computer. I just happen to have an older one with Audacity.

This mixer has Effects Send which is like a separate mixer inside the main mixer. That's normally used to send a performer's voice to an echo generator or flanger or other effects generator. Plug that into the computer and send that to Skype. Send everything but Skype's sound. That prevents echoes, reverb and other Skype distortion.

If everybody is on headphones, you can do remarkably good work.

This was an engineering test. Denise and I are four time zones apart.


Koz

Skype may be offering other services by now. We're all looking at each other wondering why Skype doesn't offer recording both sides on the local machine. I can point to billions of forum posters who want that.

So if you know about more services than I do, post back.

Remember that it's only going to work for Skype......

Koz

Ok I see, thank you so much for the tips, there are many things which are still unfamiliar to me but if I can make some earlier stage adjostements without spending a fortune that would be fantastic.
You mentioned mixers with Mix-Minus - do you think a mized such as https://www.thomann.de/gb/behringer_xen ... 8MEALw_wcB (Behringer Xenyx 802) could do the job?
I'll probably need to go into trialling and experimenting to learn a bit more but definitely this will help, thank you very much!

Federica