Kinda sorted for a mic now, any tips on sound editing?...

Get that song on tape! Errr... disk?
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PorkyPrimeCut
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Re: Phantom power mic into a laptop...NOPE...alternatives?

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Thu Mar 26, 2020 10:12 pm

After giving the idea time to settle in I'd probably be wise to still order another mic.

I dunno, I'm starting to think that the mics in earphones, whilst cutting out the reverb problem, will sound a little odd.
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Re: Phantom power mic into a laptop...NOPE...alternatives?

Post by somanytoys » Fri Mar 27, 2020 8:41 am

If you have the capability to mix the signals of the mics, that does seem like it would be optimal. You may not get a studio grade sound from those, but they should be consistent. Blending 2 may be a good idea.

If you’re not using as big a room as you originally intended to use, and so don’t have quite the reverb aspect to contend with, it’s possible that a “room” mic might work for you, to blend in for a little more natural sound, while still keeping the clarity of the close mic.

I bought some MXL 990 mics to do room capture with. They’re not expensive (~$80 - $100), and they may not be the best choice, but they work well enough for my purposes. Again, someone else may have a better suggestion.

Something like that could be a cheap way to get your feet wet and see if it works. And even if it doesn’t work well, you can move on from there to something else, without having made a big investment.
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Re: Phantom power mic into a laptop...NOPE...alternatives?

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Tue Mar 31, 2020 1:52 am

A little update...

I got this little guy through the post, for far less than any of the other mics I'd have preferred (which were all sold out or had risen in price).

Image

You know what, for my own room it's great! It completely cuts out the hiss I was getting from my MacBook Pro mic and sharpens up the sound considerably. So long as I lower my voice when my head's close to it there's no problem at all. Even when my heads right over the other side of my mat the sound is clear & even.
Since I bought this the studio I was filming in have had to buy a proper video recorder & mic as both their cameras broke from over-use. Hopefully they've been able to sort out their audio problems a bit more. I'll find out in the next couple of days.
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Re: Phantom power mic into a laptop...NOPE...alternatives?

Post by somanytoys » Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:51 pm

Damn, that’s cool that you found something that works well and at a good price.

You can always get something better later, if you decide to, burn for now it seems like you’re set.
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Kinda sorted for a mic now, any tips on sound editing?...

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Thu Apr 02, 2020 12:23 am

somanytoys wrote:
Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:51 pm
Damn, that’s cool that you found something that works well and at a good price.

You can always get something better later, if you decide to, burn for now it seems like you’re set.
It's basic & probably not too dissimilar to the one in my laptop but it means I can sit it close by & it looks quite discrete. Almost (dare I say it?) professional.

I'm now starting to look at decent, lightweight & free sound editors to help sculpt the sound a bit more.
There's a very basic one in the film editing software but I'd prefer something that lets me equalise the sound more.

Any suggestions?
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Re: Kinda sorted for a mic now, any tips on sound editing?...

Post by andy_tchp » Thu Apr 02, 2020 1:49 am

Audacity is good for basics, is free and open source.
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Re: Kinda sorted for a mic now, any tips on sound editing?...

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Thu Apr 02, 2020 2:47 am

andy_tchp wrote:
Thu Apr 02, 2020 1:49 am
Audacity is good for basics, is free and open source.
Thanks! I'll check it out.
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Re: Kinda sorted for a mic now, any tips on sound editing?...

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:09 am

Yeah, Audacity is a very good editor with a pretty complete collection of the things you'll be needing, like a compressor, EQ and such. There's also some noise removal plug ins there.

There's a couple of hassles with adding in the ability to work with proprietary formats like the Mp3, but once you work around that it's a great little sound editor. Really no reason to consider anything else unless you have specific need for advanced functionality.
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Re: Kinda sorted for a mic now, any tips on sound editing?...

Post by somanytoys » Thu Apr 02, 2020 7:59 am

That mic does look pretty slick, if it comes into view. The main thing is that it works, but it looks good, too.

I’ve only used Audacity to edit cuts and convert from wave to MP3. I’ve seen people use it’s better capabilities, it’s very powerful for freeware.

Is this something that you’re recording and then sending out, so that you can manipulate it, or are you streaming this live, and need software working on the fly? It seems that may make a difference in the potential use. But even if live streaming, it seems like as long as it can be used within or in conjunction with your other software, it should be good.

If not, you may want to consider plugins for your main software (?). There are usually lots of free offerings for those that as well.
-David

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Re: Kinda sorted for a mic now, any tips on sound editing?...

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Sun Apr 05, 2020 3:43 am

So, my online students have commented on the improved sound & none of them seem to have a problem with it any more...

...but, with Zoom there's a short delay between video & audio. I'm reading that this could be to do with it being a USB mic & not a 1/4" jack.

Anybody know of a work around for this?
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Re: Kinda sorted for a mic now, any tips on sound editing?...

Post by somanytoys » Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:53 am

My guess is that your computer is having to convert the sound from the usb mic, instead of an audio signal from an xlr mic & interface, and that additional processing is causing a lag between it & your video.

Most interfaces that accept xlr & converts the signal will also process the signal through the usb interface to your computer, but it seems like the difference would be that the interface is working separately from the computer, and so is sending an already processed signal to the computer, that won’t require as much additional processing by the computer that will cause the lag. (That’s the theory, anyway)

It seems like you should be able to use an xlr mic into an interface that’s set up properly on your computer, to feed your audio directly into Zoom to sync with your video, but I’m not familiar with that program.

For what you’re doing now, you shouldn’t have to spend a lot on an interface (assuming you don’t already have one).

Edit: I’m assuming it’s the audio that’s lagging behind the video, and not the other way around.
The only other way I can think of to change that, is to mess with the latency settings in your computer. I don’t recommend doing that if you don’t have a really good idea how to do it.
But that’s the only other way I can think of to try to sync your signals besides using other hardware. Maybe Larry will have another/better idea.
-David

It's a boost booster, to boost your boost - it makes your tone much muchier.

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