Making voice recording sound awesome

[joseppi]

How can I adjust the recording volume to increase it
so that the blue wave-form is taller? In my first attempts,
the blue wave form (I don't know what else to call it) only
goes to a maximum of about 0.02 and thus the recorded
result has to have the playback volume turned all the way
to maximum to hear it. I can get a little taller blue wave form
by holding the microphone about one inch from my mouth,
but that creates other problems.

So, how can I turn up the recording volume while keeping
the mic at the recommended 6 to 8 inches from my mouth?

[email protected]

[steve]

Adjust the recording volume with your sound cards control panel/mixer application.
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... bar_Issues

If you are using a pre-amp or mixing desk, you may have the input gain too low.

[DoomMunky]

I was really excited by this question too, Joe, but it turns out that on my Dell XPS420 I have a really crappy SigmaTel HD audio driver that has NO options for recording gain. I think some serious playing around with my Lambda Lexicon audio interface (in both software and hardware) is in order.

Thanks for all the help, Steve. You're a real mensch.

Any chance you have (or would consider writing) a beginner's guide to using some of the more advanced techniques within Audacity? =)

[steve]

Any chance you have (or would consider writing) a beginner's guide to using some of the more advanced techniques within Audacity?

There's quite a few good tutorials in the Audacity wiki (link at top of page), and also many other on the internet including some video tutorials. Unfortunately not all of the tutorials are completely accurate, and some may be a bit out of date, so you need to use a bit of common sense.

The Tutorials in the Audacity wiki seem to be pretty accurate, and there is also a very good "Tips" section which should be essential reading for anyone using Audacity.
Tutorials: http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Tutorials
Tips: http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Tips

I've also started building a web-site with tutorials and other useful bits and pieces for Audacity users that I hope to launch early in the new year. This will not be to replace the Audacity wiki, the official documentation, or this forum, but will hopefully compliment them. Assuming that the content is up to par, I'm hoping that the Audacity team will allow me to announce the launch through this forum (possibly in my signature), though I've not actually asked them yet - but still early days yet.

[kozikowski]

I agree if you need the noise removal right at the top, you have problems, but, having listened to the clip, what happens when you put the voice into the production? If you're going to add background music, special effects, and other dialog, I suspect what you got will be fine. When most people complain about sound quality, they sound far worse than you do. ("Wait, isn't that noise the 108 Marina del Rey Metrobus...?)

When was the last time you heard a top quality studio theatrical recording for an eventual mix down into a show? The individual pieces of the dialog sound an awfully lot like your track. Try not viewing the track so closely that you lose sight of the show.

Koz

[DoomMunky]

I've also started building a web-site with tutorials and other useful bits and pieces for Audacity users that I hope to launch early in the new year. This will not be to replace the Audacity wiki, the official documentation, or this forum, but will hopefully compliment them. Assuming that the content is up to par, I'm hoping that the Audacity team will allow me to announce the launch through this forum (possibly in my signature), though I've not actually asked them yet - but still early days yet.

This is excellent news! I look forward to hearing more about this!

@Koz: Thanks for the perspective, man! It's good to hear that I'm in pretty good shape, especially for a beginner. As I get better with this stuff, I bet I'll solve a lot of the "problems" I've identified. The main "problem" seems to be the expectation that I should sound like a professional from Day 1!

Since making that recording I've moved into my closet and begun stringing sound-dampening materials all over the walls. I'm getting a lot less noise, and am able to get a lot more detail into my recording. I'm hoping to mix something up soon for you to listen to (and offer tips on!). Thanks again.

[DoomMunky]

Hey guys! I have a sample of a recording made in my new sound booth: Download Link

It's got no audio, and very little processing (Normalization, I think). Tell me if there's any issues you notice.

Here's the final file I made with it, adding music and a bit more processing (though still no EQ or Noise Removal). It sounds a teeny bit quiet to me in final mp3 form, but PERFECT in Audacity before I export it. Any thoughts? When I turn up the gain before exporting into mp3, the mp3 is a little hissy.

[steve]

There is a bit of noise on the voice recording, much of which is low frequency interference, which can be "cleaned" substantially (by about 10dB) by using a high pass filter to remove subsonic noise. Also there is a noticeable peak in the frequency response in the region 4-8kHz. This is probably due to a "presence boost" by the microphone (and exaggerated by MP3 encoding), which I find to be a little excessive and would tame with Equalization. dropping this range a little will make the voice sound a little less "sssy". Turning it down too much will make the voice sound dull. I also find that the vocal has just a little too much bass, and would bring it down just a little (how much is a matter of taste, and I appreciate that you are aiming for a low intimate kind of sound).

After Eq'ing, I would use a bit of gentle noise reduction to drop the background hiss a little. With the Eq adjustments already made, the background noise will already be substantially lower, so not much noise removal is needed.

The overall quietness of the track is because there is a big peak at about 25 seconds which means that you cannot amplify/normalize much without clipping that peak. You could use a compressor, limiter or leveller to bring that peak down, which will then allow the entire mix to be brought up to a higher level.

[DoomMunky]

Awesome! Thanks for the wonderfully detailed response! Now help me understand what the heck it means! =)

There is a bit of noise on the voice recording, much of which is low frequency interference, which can be "cleaned" substantially (by about 10dB) by using a high pass filter to remove subsonic noise.

I used the High Pass Filter in 1.3.5 on its default settings (3db Rolloff, Filter Quality .6, Cutoff Frequency 1001Hz) and it made everything sound thin, attenuated, with none of the punch I want from the voice. Is this what it's supposed to do?

Also there is a noticeable peak in the frequency response in the region 4-8kHz. This is probably due to a "presence boost" by the microphone (and exaggerated by MP3 encoding), which I find to be a little excessive and would tame with Equalization. dropping this range a little will make the voice sound a little less "sssy". Turning it down too much will make the voice sound dull.

How do I do this 'taming' of which you speak? And what is that range? Is that the 4000-8000Hz range? Are you suggesting I go into the Equalizer and drop the levels in that range a bit? And drop them down to what? -3db? -6db? (I'm using the basic view in 1.3.5: Draw curves box ticked, Linear Frequency Scale UNticked).

I also find that the vocal has just a little too much bass, and would bring it down just a little (how much is a matter of taste, and I appreciate that you are aiming for a low intimate kind of sound).

The way I interpret this is to drop the lower frequencies on the Equalizer by some amount. How much should I aim for? (and yes, I am going for that intimate sound, but it's great to learn how to do this stuff, anyway!)

After Eq'ing, I would use a bit of gentle noise reduction to drop the background hiss a little. With the Eq adjustments already made, the background noise will already be substantially lower, so not much noise removal is needed.

Yay! I know how to do this!

The overall quietness of the track is because there is a big peak at about 25 seconds which means that you cannot amplify/normalize much without clipping that peak. You could use a compressor, limiter or leveller to bring that peak down, which will then allow the entire mix to be brought up to a higher level.

And by "brought up to a higher level", you mean Normalized up as far as possible, right?

This one has been difficult. I got the waveforms to go almost to the top by using a leveler (set at -6db) and then Normalizing (to -1db), but there's some noticeable distortion at the parts that used to be 'too loud'.

And I can't get a compressor to work for me. Everything that's NOT that peak is around -12db at the highest, so I set the compressor to Threshold -12 and keep everything else at default because it scares me (Ratio 2:1, Attack Time 0.2 seconds, Decay time 1 second), and tick the "Normalize to 0db after compressing" box. The waveform (db) view seems to get a tiny bit bigger, but there's still that big peak there, and the overall loudness seems to barely have changed. I'm not sure if I'm using the tools incorrectly.

[steve]

I used the High Pass Filter in 1.3.5 on its default settings (3db Rolloff, Filter Quality .6, Cutoff Frequency 1001Hz) and it made everything sound thin, attenuated, with none of the punch I want from the voice.

Use a steeper filter and a lower cut-off frequency, perhaps 12dB per octave at 40Hz. This should then only affect the frequencies that are below the voice and not the voice itself.

By the way, there is an error in the current high-pass and low-pass filters. The slope ("Roll Off" amount) is incorrect. If you select 3dB, the actual filter is 6dB per octave. Selecting 6dB s actually 12dB.... each setting has been incorrectly listed as half of the actual value. This will be corrected in the next Audacity release.

How do I do this 'taming' of which you speak? And what is that range? Is that the 4000-8000Hz range? Are you suggesting I go into the Equalizer and drop the levels in that range a bit? And drop them down to what? -3db? -6db?

Yes, exactly so. Again, this is partly down to taste, but to me it sounds a little "zingy" with that peak in the response.

(a little too much bass)...The way I interpret this is to drop the lower frequencies on the Equalizer by some amount. How much should I aim for? (and yes, I am going for that intimate sound

Yes, with the equalizer. How much? Not a lot. Perhaps gently rolling off the bass from about 200Hz, but with a very gentle slope so that you are down by about 3dB at 50Hz, then you can go a bit more steep below 50Hz. You will know if you have overdone it because it will start to sound "thin, ...., with none of the punch I want from the voice".

And by "brought up to a higher level", you mean Normalized up as far as possible, right?

I don't generally go "as far as possible", but up quite a bit. I like to leave at the very least 0.1dB headroom, and more usually go for -0.3dB. This is as close to 0dB as makes no audible difference, but can avoid possible clipping which can occur when normalizing to 0dB.

While I'm working with the audio (in 32 bit format) I generally use a nominal level of around -6 to -3 dB. This allows enough head room to avoid the possibility of clipping while I'm working. If you are doing a lot of processing (which you probably will not be doing on this particular project), there is no harm in normalizing or amplifying several times to keep the level in a usable range. The precision of 32 bit audio is so high that amplifying is virtually lossless, even if you do it a dozen times or more.

got the waveforms to go almost to the top by using a leveler (set at -6db) and then Normalizing (to -1db), but there's some noticeable distortion at the parts that used to be 'too loud'.

You are probably just using it a bit too aggressively. Try setting it a bit lower (higher level), say -4dB. If you set the threshold too far it will cause noticeable distortion as you describe. Try setting it at -20 dB just to see how bad it gets - that will give you a very loud recording, but it will sound terrible.

The standard compressor that is built into Audacity is not really suitable. It is a very simple dynamic compressor, but the attack time is too slow, so it misses the sudden peaks. There is a compressor called SC4 available as a plug-in which is much better (I think it is one of the Steve Harris plug-ins). With the SC4 you can set the attack much faster so that it will catch the peaks. Also, you can set it for "peak" rather than "RMS" which will be better for this as you are just wanting to stop the peaks going too high.

There is another plug-in called "Fast Look Ahead Limiter" which is pretty good.