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How I get Decent Audio with no real equipment and very little money spent (for PC)
Not saying this is any better than a Pro studio setup or that I am an expert at recording/producing but for those of us who don't have equipment or can't afford studio time here's what I do. So consider this advice to beginners (like myself) who have very little resources.
I'm a poor man in the sense that I have no real recording equipment at all.
I have only a cheap Sony ECM-MS907 Stereo digital recording mic ($75) and a Soundblaster X-FI Xtreme Music Soundcard ($75) in my PC. That's it for hardware. I've been asked so many times how I get my audio to sound the way it does. I finally documented it in exact detail in the interest of helping others who have no money to buy recording equipment. This info is the result of about 3years worth of trial and error experimentation and now I'm pretty settled on this method. A sample video will be included in this post:
I highly recommend getting a remote hard drive as well (I have a 750GB remote drive) to store all of these huge 24/96 wav files you will create. After all life is too short to waste your music on compressed formats. You can always convert your WAV files for that but I never record to mp3.
mp3 will thin out your sound and not be a good candidate for this method. So get yourself the remote capacity and record to full uncompressed 24bit/96kHz WAV files for best results. The remote also safeguards your files in case your computer crashes.
Put your Soundblaster card into audio creation mode.
Turn off all effects.
Set recording volume to 50%.
Make sure you set it to Microphone input (card has built in pre-amp)
It is VERY IMPORTANT for the room to be as quiet as possible otherwise my technique will just end up enhancing background noise too.
I put my computer in a closet and when I want to record I cover it with an old comforter to dampen noise.
Download the free program Audacity.
Record using Audacity set to 96Khz.
Choose microphone input in Audacity and again make sure record volume is at 50%.
Once recording is done you can cut out any false starts or bad takes and keep the good take.
Export that as is with NO modifications to a 24 bit/ 96 kHz WAV file.
(Make sure your export settings are set to 24 bit signed WAV file, the 96 kHz indicator is always in the bottom left hand corner.
Audacity defaults to 48 kHz so you hav to change this to 96 kHz BEFORE recording.)
This is your archival copy and you should never modify this raw recording.
Once archived you can then modify your recording.
First I use Audacity and apply compressor effect.
Then I apply Leveller effect set on Light.
Then I put a fade on the end.
Sometimes I put a 1 db Bass Boost too but not always (up to your ears)
Lastly I split the stereo track and pan hard left on left channel and hard right on right channel.
Then I export that to another 24 bit/96kHz WAV file in another file I have labelled HD Remasters.
For the final steps I use Nero software suite. It's well worth the purchase price for everything you get.
Using Nero Wave Editor I open up the modified WAV file I created.
First I apply the Equalizer tool set on "Loudness" default setting.
Then in the Effects menu I apply the Reverb effect with th following settings:
Reverb Time: 600ms
Room Size: 200 sq. meters
Brightness: 15%
Dry Signal 0db
Effect: I change this to suit each song but -6db is a good starting point. (Some songs sound better with more some with less)
Now check your WAV file volume. If you see the Wave form on screen exceeding the limits then it is clipping.
Go to the volume menu and apply normalize. (I usually don't have this problem)
Now you can zoom in to the beginning of your audio to the part before you started playing the song.
Once zoomed in choose a section of that beginning segment.
This segment represents the background noise of your room and you can isolate it and reduce noise as follows.
Once you have highlighted the beginning section (before you started playing song) you then go to the Enhancement menu.
Use the Noise analysis function.
Once analyzed then select the entire recording and in the Enhancement menu choose Noise Reduction.
I generally set Noise Reduction to 90% but preview it and make sure it is not distorting the audio.
By analyzing only the background noise at the beginning the Noise Reduction should only eliminate that noise throughout the recording.
Not done yet!
Now use the Volume menu and choose Change Volume and reduce it to -21db
Next use the Tools menu and apply Dynamic Compressor.
This is tricky and sensitive but basically the setting I use are custom as follows:
You will see a graph screen with a line and two dots that you can grab and move.
Horizontal graph is output gain (db) and vertical is input gain (db)
I have the first dot on the left set to output gain of -71db and input gain of -36db
Second dot I have at output gain of -30db and input gain of -13db
Now listen to it and see how it sounds. Should sound much fuller.
(note: the wave form on screen will not look like it has increased in volume but once you save it it expands. Took me a while to learn this.
NOW save your file.
Optional: Sometimes I use this technique twice to get a fuller sound but some recordings don't need it and others sound better.
It's up to your ears.
use the Volume menu again and choose Change Volume and reduce it to -21db
use the Tools menu again and apply Dynamic Compressor (same settings).
Listen back to it before saving. If it sounds overdriven then don't save it again with those changes.
If it sounds better to you save it again.
Now you should have a fantastic sounding recording as a 24 bit/96kHz WAV file.
Next step is to use NeroVision to make the video.
Import your video and audio in and put them on the timeline.
Trim each so that they are in sync with each other.
I do this by ear. I use the audio that the camera recorded to listen with and once the wav file and camera audio sound like one then you are is sync and that is when I select the video clip, right click, choose Properties and turn the volume on the video clip to Zero. Now you 24 bit/96kHz WAV file is the audio track.
I then encode this to a WMV file using the HD720P setting.
For the audio codec I choose Windows Media Audio 10 Professional.
It uses a higher bandwidth for audio and preserves quality.
What you end up with is a WMV file you can upload and it has the HD play option.
Here's some Audio examples:
Raw Microphone Recording:
Produced Audio (w/ harmony vocal overdubs):
Here's a video showing me recording the song and using the Final produced Audio for the soundtrack:
I'm a poor man in the sense that I have no real recording equipment at all.
I have only a cheap Sony ECM-MS907 Stereo digital recording mic ($75) and a Soundblaster X-FI Xtreme Music Soundcard ($75) in my PC. That's it for hardware. I've been asked so many times how I get my audio to sound the way it does. I finally documented it in exact detail in the interest of helping others who have no money to buy recording equipment. This info is the result of about 3years worth of trial and error experimentation and now I'm pretty settled on this method. A sample video will be included in this post:
I highly recommend getting a remote hard drive as well (I have a 750GB remote drive) to store all of these huge 24/96 wav files you will create. After all life is too short to waste your music on compressed formats. You can always convert your WAV files for that but I never record to mp3.
mp3 will thin out your sound and not be a good candidate for this method. So get yourself the remote capacity and record to full uncompressed 24bit/96kHz WAV files for best results. The remote also safeguards your files in case your computer crashes.
Put your Soundblaster card into audio creation mode.
Turn off all effects.
Set recording volume to 50%.
Make sure you set it to Microphone input (card has built in pre-amp)
It is VERY IMPORTANT for the room to be as quiet as possible otherwise my technique will just end up enhancing background noise too.
I put my computer in a closet and when I want to record I cover it with an old comforter to dampen noise.
Download the free program Audacity.
Record using Audacity set to 96Khz.
Choose microphone input in Audacity and again make sure record volume is at 50%.
Once recording is done you can cut out any false starts or bad takes and keep the good take.
Export that as is with NO modifications to a 24 bit/ 96 kHz WAV file.
(Make sure your export settings are set to 24 bit signed WAV file, the 96 kHz indicator is always in the bottom left hand corner.
Audacity defaults to 48 kHz so you hav to change this to 96 kHz BEFORE recording.)
This is your archival copy and you should never modify this raw recording.
Once archived you can then modify your recording.
First I use Audacity and apply compressor effect.
Then I apply Leveller effect set on Light.
Then I put a fade on the end.
Sometimes I put a 1 db Bass Boost too but not always (up to your ears)
Lastly I split the stereo track and pan hard left on left channel and hard right on right channel.
Then I export that to another 24 bit/96kHz WAV file in another file I have labelled HD Remasters.
For the final steps I use Nero software suite. It's well worth the purchase price for everything you get.
Using Nero Wave Editor I open up the modified WAV file I created.
First I apply the Equalizer tool set on "Loudness" default setting.
Then in the Effects menu I apply the Reverb effect with th following settings:
Reverb Time: 600ms
Room Size: 200 sq. meters
Brightness: 15%
Dry Signal 0db
Effect: I change this to suit each song but -6db is a good starting point. (Some songs sound better with more some with less)
Now check your WAV file volume. If you see the Wave form on screen exceeding the limits then it is clipping.
Go to the volume menu and apply normalize. (I usually don't have this problem)
Now you can zoom in to the beginning of your audio to the part before you started playing the song.
Once zoomed in choose a section of that beginning segment.
This segment represents the background noise of your room and you can isolate it and reduce noise as follows.
Once you have highlighted the beginning section (before you started playing song) you then go to the Enhancement menu.
Use the Noise analysis function.
Once analyzed then select the entire recording and in the Enhancement menu choose Noise Reduction.
I generally set Noise Reduction to 90% but preview it and make sure it is not distorting the audio.
By analyzing only the background noise at the beginning the Noise Reduction should only eliminate that noise throughout the recording.
Not done yet!
Now use the Volume menu and choose Change Volume and reduce it to -21db
Next use the Tools menu and apply Dynamic Compressor.
This is tricky and sensitive but basically the setting I use are custom as follows:
You will see a graph screen with a line and two dots that you can grab and move.
Horizontal graph is output gain (db) and vertical is input gain (db)
I have the first dot on the left set to output gain of -71db and input gain of -36db
Second dot I have at output gain of -30db and input gain of -13db
Now listen to it and see how it sounds. Should sound much fuller.
(note: the wave form on screen will not look like it has increased in volume but once you save it it expands. Took me a while to learn this.
NOW save your file.
Optional: Sometimes I use this technique twice to get a fuller sound but some recordings don't need it and others sound better.
It's up to your ears.
use the Volume menu again and choose Change Volume and reduce it to -21db
use the Tools menu again and apply Dynamic Compressor (same settings).
Listen back to it before saving. If it sounds overdriven then don't save it again with those changes.
If it sounds better to you save it again.
Now you should have a fantastic sounding recording as a 24 bit/96kHz WAV file.
Next step is to use NeroVision to make the video.
Import your video and audio in and put them on the timeline.
Trim each so that they are in sync with each other.
I do this by ear. I use the audio that the camera recorded to listen with and once the wav file and camera audio sound like one then you are is sync and that is when I select the video clip, right click, choose Properties and turn the volume on the video clip to Zero. Now you 24 bit/96kHz WAV file is the audio track.
I then encode this to a WMV file using the HD720P setting.
For the audio codec I choose Windows Media Audio 10 Professional.
It uses a higher bandwidth for audio and preserves quality.
What you end up with is a WMV file you can upload and it has the HD play option.
Here's some Audio examples:
Raw Microphone Recording:
Produced Audio (w/ harmony vocal overdubs):
Here's a video showing me recording the song and using the Final produced Audio for the soundtrack:
Views: 120
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Charles on -
Quite an impressive demo. Quite a difference between raw and final audio.
Was this your own song? Sounded very much like a Neil Young production to me. Either way, I enjoyed it. Chuck -
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Permalink Reply by Gil on -
Thanks Chuck,
I should have mentioned that it is an original song of mine.
Recorded and produced as I described.
I also have a video posted showing me recording the song and using the produced audio for the video.
http://acousticguitarclub.ning.com/video/where-is-your-soul-original -
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Permalink Reply by Paul Cohen on -
Gil,
Thanks for your article. I was particularly interested in what you said about Audacity since I use it as well. Actually I started another discussion group similar to this one where I mentioned this, and I just noticed that there is yet a third group that appears to share the same topic.
I am curious why you prefer the equalizer, reverb and noise reduction on you Nanoware editor to these tools in Audacity. By the way, thanks for mentioning the noise reduction tool. I had never used it before this morning and it (the one in Audacity) seems to work well.
Also, I'm curious which version of Nanoware you use. The copy I have doesn't seem to have these tools. Nanoware seems to offer quite a variety of software suites and I've not found much detail in their descriptions, though prices range from free to over $100. My copy came free with a computer that I bought. -
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Permalink Reply by Gil on
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Hi Paul, I'm not familiar with Nanoware. I use the Nero 9 software suite (complete version). Part of that suite is a great audio editor called Nero Wave Editor. I had tried using the Audacity tools for evrything but I found that the Audacity settings were not that user friendly and I couldn't easily understand how to configure. Also I found that the noise reduction in Audacity actually stripped away some fidelity in some cases.
The Nero Wave Editor tools seem to be much easier to understand and configure. At least for someone like me who is doing this stuff by trial and error. The Nero 9 suite is well worth it and includes many applications. -
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Permalink Reply by AC Phillips on -
Thanks for the extensive details. Very helpful. I'm curious too, why don't you use the effects features within Audacity? I have tried them and found them to be OK for most instances. Takes some getting used to but mostly acceptable results. Would like to hear back on this. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
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Permalink Reply by Gil on
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Hi AC, I did experiment with Audacity to see if I could get results that sounded good to me using just one program. I found the settings very confusing for me and also the noise reduction compromised fidelity in some cases. So I went with software that I paid money for, Nero Wave Editor.
The tools in that software seem to be much easier to conigure and understand, at least for someone like me who doesn't know a lot about technical aspects of audio production. -
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Permalink Reply by AC Phillips on
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In going to the Nero web site, I only see Nero 9 as a relevant media package. They don't show a separate Wave Editor product. Is Wave Editor a module within Nero 9? Thanks.
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Permalink Reply by Gil on
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Hi AC, Yes you do have to buy the whole software suite but for all the programs included it is well wroth it. In addition to Wave Editor I also use NeroVision to make my videos (as described above) and I use Nero Burning ROM to burn CDs. It allows me to use the full resolution 24/96 wav file as the basis for burning.
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Permalink Reply by BrotherX on -
Thanks for taking the time to document this. For those starting out, this would seem to give great results for the amount of money and time spent in doing it. I'm going to have to apply some of your tricks to my process. I've got much better hardware but can say I'm not getting the good results you are. I've suspected there's a lot to the process and you've documented it. Thanks.
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Permalink Reply by Charles on
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I revisited this comment today and just caught the video which I apparantly missed on the first pass.
Really a sparse recording setup! Mike hanging by a cord, space almost a closet!
This should be wonderful incentive to anyone setting up a recording studio on a budget..... you have demonstrated that it does not require a lot of bucks as the hardware people would have us all believe! -
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Permalink Reply by Gil on
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A great question and I can tell you that I have tried noise reduction as a first step.
However through my trial and error experimentation I found the best result occurred after the intial steps in Audacity and after applying equalizer and reverb in Nero Wave Editor.
My guess as to why this works best is that all the noise is brought up with those intial steps to a normalized volume and enhanced with the audio. As I explained I find the beginning "quiet" part of the recording and highlight that part only. Then I do a Noise Analysis of that part. Then I selct the whole track and do Noise Reduction to 90%. Then listen and make sure it sounds OK.
After that is when I decrease volume by -21db and then apply Dynamic Processor in Nero using the settings I describe.
I also tried doing noise reduction after the Dynamic processor step but it took away too much fidelity from the track. Thia is just what I have found through experimentation. There may be a better way I have not discovered yet. The Nero Wave Editor noise reduction is so much better than Audacity. Audacity can sound like it scrubbed out too much noise leaving the track sounding truncated in parts. Perhaps I don't know how to configure Audacity properly. -
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