I really enjoy Audacity, but it takes some trial-and-error finagling with the settings to get it just right. More importantly, it's crucial that your microphone is set up in a way that protects it from echo, white noise, or other ambient noises that distort the sound.
My $5 solution to creating better sound was placing my MXL 990 USB inside a cardboard box. Inside the box, I glued some packing foam (something like this...really basic and cheap) on all sides to dampen the sound and reduce any echo present in the office. After that, I stapled fabric to the front of the box to stop hard consonants (Ps, Ts, Ks, and hissing S sounds) when narrating.
Check it Out (A Very Ugly Duckling):
It's not the most elegant or pretty sound studio, but it's amazing how this small, cheap setup can drastically improve audio quality.
Once you have that in place, you can tweak Audacity settings. I use the Noise Removal effect with the following settings for optimal audio quality.
OMG Cody! Being a fan of Audacity myself- I have to say this is a creative "super awesome microphone studio." I too personally like Audacity as I have experience using it to mix music, record, and anything really dealing with sound files that I want to manipulate.
I am going to build me a "super-awesome microphone studio" now! :)
3 Replies
Hey, Drew.
I really enjoy Audacity, but it takes some trial-and-error finagling with the settings to get it just right. More importantly, it's crucial that your microphone is set up in a way that protects it from echo, white noise, or other ambient noises that distort the sound.
My $5 solution to creating better sound was placing my MXL 990 USB inside a cardboard box. Inside the box, I glued some packing foam (something like this...really basic and cheap) on all sides to dampen the sound and reduce any echo present in the office. After that, I stapled fabric to the front of the box to stop hard consonants (Ps, Ts, Ks, and hissing S sounds) when narrating.
Check it Out (A Very Ugly Duckling):
It's not the most elegant or pretty sound studio, but it's amazing how this small, cheap setup can drastically improve audio quality.
Once you have that in place, you can tweak Audacity settings. I use the Noise Removal effect with the following settings for optimal audio quality.
Here's a good tutorial on how to use the Noise Removal effect in Audacity.
OMG Cody! Being a fan of Audacity myself- I have to say this is a creative "super awesome microphone studio." I too personally like Audacity as I have experience using it to mix music, record, and anything really dealing with sound files that I want to manipulate.
I am going to build me a "super-awesome microphone studio" now! :)
Thank you much!!!! I like Audacity, but never set the noise levels prior to recording.
Really helps indeed :)
BTW - I also use an MXL mic
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