Podcasting Equipment Recomendations

[Wilhelmina Randtke]

You can use Google to find instructions on how to do this.  Try searching
"noise gate".  You can find instructions for just about any audio editing
software.

To apply a noise gate, you look at your sound as a wave.  It has peaks and
dips.  High peaks and low dips are louder sounds. Perfectly flat is mute.

You look at the sound as a wave, then you pick the level of volume that
encompasses background noise.  Look for part of the audio where no one
talks, and it is perfectly silent.  The peaks and dips here are very slight
and not as loud as when speakers or music plays.  These peaks and dips are
background noise.  The noise gate is a filter to remove all sounds quieter
than this.  If you do not apply a gate, then you will have a low level of
backgrund noise all through your audio.  If you go too wide and remove too
loud and too soft sounds, the sound quality will be tinny.  So, apply the
gate at the level of the background noise, but no more.  And your original
audio limits what you can do. Too much background noise and your
alternatives are a tinny sound or leaving the background noise in.

Levels while recording and a noise gate after recording will get you
professional, radio broadcast ready, results with a $45 pocket mp3
recorder.

Even the mic built into your laptop may be fine. It's mostly a factor of
how much noise the laptop's fan makes.  The big jump in quality is the $45
mp3 recorder and how you use it.

-Wilhelmina Randtke
On Mar 16, 2013 4:48 PM, "Cindy Harper" <cindyharper1145 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Could you explain the concept NOISE GATE? I woud guess this means that you
> edit out out al sound below a certain level? How is that done with Audacity?
>
> Cindy Harper
> charper at vts.edu
>
> Sent from Windows Mail
>
>  *From:* Wilhelmina Randtke
> *Sent:* March 16, 2013 9:09 AM
> *To:* WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> *Subject:* Re: [WEB4LIB] Podcasting Equipment Recomendations
>
>
> Get a good quality WAV recorder, and a quiet room.  Both are important.
> Then edit with Audacity.  For what you are doing, this is as good as
> SoundForge or any expensive sound editing software package.  Add the LAME
> mp3 encoder to Audacity to let you edit then save in mp3, which Audacity
> won't play with out of the box.  To get good sound quality, check the
> levels as you record, then afterwards put a gate in to elmininate
> background noise.
>
> Those two thing - (1) levels, and (2) noise gate - and understanding how
> they work will do more for sound quality than almost any high end equipment
> you could purchase. At least, good equipment will not help you without
> those skills.
>
> LEVELS when recording.
> Add a NOISE GATE when you edit.
>
> A good WAV recorder will run about $400.  That is all in the microphone.
> Keep it clean and in a box when you aren't using it.  You can get fine
> results with a $50 pocket mp3 recorder. Most people will not hear the
> difference, and you are not recording music.  A $50 recorder is actually a
> really good mic for multiple people in a group, because it will pick up
> noise made across the room from the mic. Many mics are designed to capture
> only sound very close to the mic, so for a singer or speaker to hold near
> their face.  You don't want multiple expensive close range mics and a
> mixing board. This isn't the 80s. We are in the future and have
> alternatives.  If you have money and space for that, then use it to sound
> proof a room.  Take the time you would spend setting the mixing board up,
> and instead use it to practice setting levels and noise gate.
>
> And remember the quiet room means no background noise, so does the same
> thing as the expensive mic. No matter what your budget, pick your space
> carefully. A $50 mp3 recorder, a quiet closet, and Audacity with LAME mp3
> encoder can get professional results.
>
> -Wilhelmina Randtke
> On Mar 14, 2013 9:50 AM, "Wesley Johnson" <wjohnson at dcplibrary.org> wrote:
>
>> Hello,****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> We’re tossing around the idea of a semi-regular podcast at my library.
>> I’m looking into equipment now and thought I’d toss this to the list and
>> ask for recommendations. We want something capable of recording multiple
>> people in the same room with a modest mixing board to make sure audio
>> levels are nice and even. I’d also love to hear what other libraries are
>> doing on the podcast front.****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> Thanks,****
>>
>> Wesley****
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>> 2013-03-14
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