Are audacity podcasts greatly superior to Garageband?

[dancingletters]

osX 10.8.4 Audacity 2.0.3 From zip i think.

Hi,

Am totally new to Audacity. (Have made one recording and am running into problems I have addressed in another post.)

I am about to make hundreds of hours of voice recordings of installments of a very long book (with lead in and out music).

I don't have time to learn a whole lot of editing techniques. I already know GB and wonder if I should record in GB using my yeti mic, then import file into audacity and clean it up there using noise removal (there is often a hum in GB).

Is the difference in potential quality so great that it is worth going with Audacity despite the learning curve?

Any tips welcome!

THANKS!

Ani

[kozikowski]

You use the software package that gets the job done for you. If it requires learning a software package, then that's the task. If Garageband is getting the job done, then by all means continue using it.

Were we able to resolve your problems in the other posting? We don't lose many people who write asking for help. You may decide after a while that trucking back and forth between two different software packages is bothersome and decide to go with one or the other. That's what a Producer does. Makes decisions like that.

Not to wander off topic, but Garageband does not "produce hum." If you have something wrong with your equipment setup, then you should by all means solve it at the top rather than trying to patch it together later using multiple software packages. Noise Removal in particular sucks more often than not. It almost never actually "removes noise" but it frequently damages the work and the damage is audible and permanent.

Post some of your damage and we may be able to help you solve it. This isn't a religious experience. Audacity isn't for everybody and we regularly wave people off who are trying to do things Audacity isn't good at.

Koz

[steve]

we regularly wave people off who are trying to do things Audacity isn't good at.

We do, but we rarely wave off people making podcasts or audio books because Audacity is pretty darned good at these things.
If you have hundreds of hours of recordings to do, then I'd say that it is definitely worth spending a few hours familiarising yourself with Audacity before you start for real.

[dancingletters]

Again, thank you, Koz and Steve!!

I am totally willing to spend some time learning Audacity, especially with this kind of support available when I get a bit stuck!


I asked wondering if the difference between GB and Audacity warranted me slowing down the project for now to learn. Is there a nutshell way to tell me some of the key differences between using one or the other for my purpose: voice recordings? I don't ask to be convinced but to gain understanding and perhaps glean some knowledge about the advantages of using Audacity.

About your comment, Koz:

Garageband does not "produce hum." If you have something wrong with your equipment setup,

I have heard the hum almost every time I use GB, (not infrequently the motor kicks on, too). Can you say just a bit more about equipment setup--since perhaps this will show up in Audacity, too, if I am ignorant of placement of my Macbook Pro and Yeti mic* (only two pieces of equipment I have).

*My next post is going to be about Yeti mic...

Thanks!

A.

PS. Enjoyed the comment about Audacity not being a religious experience.

[steve]

I asked wondering if the difference between GB and Audacity warranted me slowing down the project for now to learn.

I don't use a Mac. I've played briefly with GB and it seems to be orientated more toward getting down music ideas.

[dancingletters]

Thanks, anyway, Steve! I will do my best to learn Audacity; sounds like a better more versatile program.

[kozikowski]

I have heard the hum almost every time I use GB

Post some of it.
http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 49&t=64936
http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 49&t=72887

Koz