How Good is Your Sound?

[mbg98]

Ok, as for the quality of radio dramas goes, I would say that the proof is really in the listening. Believing the story can often times be hampered by a less than good sounding track that just doesnt fit in well. Many times, our esteemed mixer Nathan has done a wonderful job of mixing and integrating all our various sound files into one coherent soundtrack, but i think we can help each other out by advising each other or converging on the kind of audio equipment we use to make our sound files. So:

1) What does everyone use for recording sound? I'm talking computer, software, microphone, etc.

2) Have you been pleased or dispeased with the pre-mix end result and why?

3) What, if anything do you think you could use to improve the sound quality of your voice/sound that you send in for audition/post?

Just trying to get a sense of what y'all are up to.

[Hybrid Sith]

For microphones I use an ASM MK-319. The source goes straight to an Akai S5000. A hardware sampler/ multi track recorders. It connects to the computer via midi, and usb. For sequencing I use Sonar XL. For editing I use Nero wav and Magix. For mixing I use the Yamaha 01v. It’s a digital, 24 channel mixing console. For stuff like vocal effects I use an Alesis Wedge, an Art Pro-verb and sometimes the bathroom. To listen to the end result I use Event 20/20’s in conjunction with a pair of 20” Carvins. In other words speakers. For the most part I’ve been mostly pleased with the productions I’ve been hearing lately. The main things that get me are the sound effects, processing (reverb, etc). We all need to start networking on sound effects. I have a large database and am willing to assist in creating sound-beds and swapping effects. As far as processing, EQing and mixing. Try to take short breaks from time to time to refresh your hearing. This will give you a fresh perspective on the mix. Everybody keep up the great work.

[BryanH]

Im kind of new to the sound end of this. Hybrid whats the best format to save sounds in. So others can get the most use out of them with out having to d/l a huge files.

Addtionally, I totally agree with starting to network on the sounds.

[mbg98]

Hybrid, where did you get the majority of your SFX from? Web sites, cds, made your own, etc? Ben Burtt would be proud...

[Hybrid Sith]

As a musician I’ve come to rely on the sound quality and flexibility of the wav file to any other. The format has become universal for audio to computer. If D/L is the issue try zipping the file. Mp3’s covert pretty quickly to wav and there is lot of freeware to do that. Aif manage easily. The speediest way, my friend John the deadhead claims, .shn files are the fastest. Personally I’d rather have the better sound quality.

[BryanH]

I wasnt worried about myself, nessacarily. (Broadband is a wonderful thing.) I was just thinking if I wanted to put any sounds out on the web. The smaller the better due to bandwidth and data storage maximum on web hosting.

[Hybrid Sith]

I get sounds from cds, internet, ****s, *****s and creat what I don't have. If the sounds not pro quality its junk.

[Hybrid Sith]

What kinds of sounds would you post on the internet?

[BryanH]

I think this is a much easier medium to get into them fan film. However, my biggest problem right now is finding sounds to use. So I thought if I start to make any sounds I would put them out on the internet for free use in non-commercial ventures. (Not that I'm saying I can make good sounds) But as you were saying if we had a network of sounds to use we might be able to see some really high-qualty productions.

[recombinant]

Good discussion, Matthew!

I was curious as to these setup-related questions as well, and it's interesting to see what others are using...

I'm in the process of getting things organized and ready for recording, and I'm planning on using some of my setup that i used for past music projects, primarily using my PowerGook G3 running Opcode's Vision DSP (OK, yeah, it's old, but it's a great app for recording and it will get the job done just fine - plus I can use VST effects for reverb, pitch shift, time correction, etc.). So essentially it will be used only as an audio workstation. I'll probably run my mic through a mixer first then connect that up to the mac.

With regard to audio file format, .WAV or .AIFF formats are your best bet since there's no compression (i.e. reduction in quality) involved.

As far as sound effects are concerned, a good resource for sound effects that has been documented on theforce.net (http://theforce.net/theater/postproduction/soundfx/) is the Star Wars video games. They refer to extracting audio from Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight, and The Phantom Menace. I was planning on possibly extracting sounds from DF2:Jedi Knight and Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (the latter is way easy to extract the audio bits from), since those are the ones I actually have in my collection, though Star Wars Battlegrounds might have some interesting clips as well.

Hope this helps! (and didn't bore you guys too much)

[T-bone]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...0&category=3278 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2577699550&category=3278)

[Hybrid Sith]

I don’t recommend this library. Its older, over priced and has little to do with Star Wars. When ripping games try the newer ones like Galactic BGs. Its got all the origanal fighter and laser sounds from all the movies.

[Hybrid Sith]

recom do you know how to extract the Outcast sounds? For GBGs open the sounds.drs file. The disk also includes lost of wav files.

[recombinant]

Sure, no problem...

Use WinZip to open the files: [Outcast Installation Directory]\base\assets0.pk3
[Outcast Installation Directory]\base\assets1.pk3
(just to make things easier, it never hurts to register the ".pk3" extension with WinZip for future use)

Anyway, when you've got the files open in WinZip, extract all the files listed in the "sound" directory to a new folder of your choice. You'll then have a neat collection of SFX .WAV & .MP3 files.

Hope this helps!

style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/y.gif

[pyanfar]

um, wow. i guess now i see why my stuff sounds so shoddy....
i record into a Koss i15 mic that looks like it came with my roomie's original iMac, since they are the same aqua color. i stole a mic coozie from a headset at work and put that over the mic itself to try and cut down on the projectile "p"s i seem to spit out. i've got it plugged into my 2nd-hand laptop since it's the quietest pc i can find, and my loud old junker win98 box gave Nathan TONS of headaches during Second Strike.

device manager's not real forthcoming, but i seem to be using VIA AC97 WDM for my sound card, which the mic is plugged directly into.

and for software, i use Total Recorder 4.3 Standard Edition. i usually have to turn the record volume down to keep the equalizer read-out from redlining, and i've got it saving the files as .wav's at the highest quality that Total Recorder will record at.

haha, for effects... i use my throat?
*chuckle*

apparently i need a much better mic, but i have no idea what to even look for. and a friend who used to work soundboards for his band at one point in time has told me that i should be going thru something else before the sound gets to the pc, but i can't remember what.

yeah, i'm having a bit of a blonde.... year....?
:o\

[Hybrid Sith]

For a microphone I recommend a vocal mic around $50 to $100. Try a music store or Radio Shack. Check out the Sure SM58. Great vocal mic. You could find one for as little as $40. The other thing you need is a pre-amp. This gives the mic the power it needs to sound good.

[Nathan Butler]

Aha. Figured out mine. Telex M-40 microphone. It's on a Dell Inspiron 8100 Notebook with 256 MB RAM, 1.0 GHz Pentium III Processor, running Windows XP. The soundcard says configuration says it's ESS Maestro PCI Audio, and I'm recording everything these days through WaveLab directly, then compressing further, if need be for CR and such, with Cleaner 5.

[pyanfar]

pricey mic & a pre-amp, huh?
hm.... i wonder how effectively i can finance this new hobby of mine....

[keithabbott]

1) What does everyone use for recording sound? I'm talking computer, software, microphone, etc.

On RoN we used an Athalon XP 1900+ computer, 512Meg RAM, 42GB HD and a Phillips 5.1 Surround Sound Audio Card.

Mics: Primary Sennheiser - E 825S, Secondary Sony F-V420 and V320.

Digital Mixer: BOSS BR-8 Recording Studio

2) Have you been pleased or dispeased with the pre-mix end result and why?

Very. We invested a lot of time in both the pre and post mixes to get them as close to perfect as possible. Perfect of course is relative to our abilities. So in that respect, we hit it on the nail. Now, that said, there were some things out of our control recording wise that I wish could have been better. Overall though...very satisfied.

3) What, if anything do you think you could use to improve the sound quality of your voice/sound that you send in for audition/post?

I'd love to invest in a digital mixer for myself. The one we used wasn't available 24/7 since our mix technician owned it and kept it close to him. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif


Keith
Rise of Nobility (http://www.riseofnobility.com)