Comments on: Dear Taji – An Advice Blog For Emporium Readers http://voiceover-casting.com/emporium/dear-taji.html All About Your Voice And Marketing It Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:58:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Mahmoud Taji http://voiceover-casting.com/emporium/dear-taji.html#comment-1635 Mahmoud Taji Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:16:11 +0000 http://voiceover-casting.com/emporium/?p=1522#comment-1635 You're welcome Julia. After researching the MXL .006 the only thing I can suggest is that you check the microphone switch setting and make sure that it is on the cardoid setting not the omni directional or the 8 shape. As far as I understand it this microphone has several settings so maybe it was accidentally left on one of the other two. Sorry I couldnt help more. taji You’re welcome Julia. After researching the MXL .006 the only thing I can suggest is that you check the microphone switch setting and make sure that it is on the cardoid setting not the omni directional or the 8 shape.

As far as I understand it this microphone has several settings so maybe it was accidentally left on one of the other two.

Sorry I couldnt help more.
taji

]]> By: julialombardo http://voiceover-casting.com/emporium/dear-taji.html#comment-1611 julialombardo Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:35:27 +0000 http://voiceover-casting.com/emporium/?p=1522#comment-1611 Thank you, Taj. To answer your questions, my search lead me to the MXL USB 006 Studio Condenser Microphone. My computer is a desktop iMac, and yes, I downloaded Audacity for Mac a couple months ago. I am having the same mic problem with Audacity as with GarageBand. I found an online review from someone else who owns the same type of mic and is also having the self-noise issue. Perhaps the room I am recording from is simply not sound-proofed enough. I'm checking out the links you sent. Thanks for your research and your help! Thank you, Taj. To answer your questions, my search lead me to the MXL USB 006 Studio Condenser Microphone. My computer is a desktop iMac, and yes, I downloaded Audacity for Mac a couple months ago. I am having the same mic problem with Audacity as with GarageBand.
I found an online review from someone else who owns the same type of mic and is also having the self-noise issue. Perhaps the room I am recording from is simply not sound-proofed enough.
I’m checking out the links you sent. Thanks for your research and your help!

]]> By: Mahmoud Taji http://voiceover-casting.com/emporium/dear-taji.html#comment-1608 Mahmoud Taji Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:38:58 +0000 http://voiceover-casting.com/emporium/?p=1522#comment-1608 I personally use a few different softwares that are probably not available for you on the Apple Mac. I use Adobe Audition 3 and Adobe Soundbooth (not often but it can come in handy sometimes). I have dabbled around in Soundforge and found that its audio drivers are pretty good... and the editing in it is also pretty good. At work they have sony vegas something or other... that's mostly a video editing software that has some pretty good audio capabilities. But first I would like to diagnose the issue with your microphone self noise acting up. Could you please tell me what kind of microphone you finally decided on buying? (was it the AT2020 USB?) and have you tried using any software other than Garageband? It seems to me that if the self noise goes away once you restart GarageBand then its some kind of driver issue. IF it is then you could try downloading something like Audacity for Mac (I checked and yes they do have it) its a simple program so not that hard to pick up on... anyway you should try recording with that and seeing if you still have self noise coming through. If not then you solved your problem and you shouldn't use garageband to record. The other thing is... what kind of mac is it? is it a laptop or a desktop. If its a laptop then you should know that generally laptops are more prone to bring in self noise of their own because of the battery. If its a desktop then that shouldnt bring in any interference at all because of its grounding. If you want to test a setup with a preamp that has noise gating then check with any of your fellow voice over talent in your area and ask to borrow their rig (or invite them over for ice tea and biscuits and ask them to bring their on-the-road setup with them for testing on your computer. If there is no self noise then it could be an option you can invest in. I did some research for you so you can test some other software before going ahead and checking out other rigs: http://www.pure-mac.com/audio.html http://all-streaming-media.com/record-audio-stream/direct-sound-recording-Mac-OS-X.htm I personally use a few different softwares that are probably not available for you on the Apple Mac. I use Adobe Audition 3 and Adobe Soundbooth (not often but it can come in handy sometimes). I have dabbled around in Soundforge and found that its audio drivers are pretty good… and the editing in it is also pretty good. At work they have sony vegas something or other… that’s mostly a video editing software that has some pretty good audio capabilities.

But first I would like to diagnose the issue with your microphone self noise acting up. Could you please tell me what kind of microphone you finally decided on buying? (was it the AT2020 USB?) and have you tried using any software other than Garageband? It seems to me that if the self noise goes away once you restart GarageBand then its some kind of driver issue. IF it is then you could try downloading something like Audacity for Mac (I checked and yes they do have it) its a simple program so not that hard to pick up on… anyway you should try recording with that and seeing if you still have self noise coming through. If not then you solved your problem and you shouldn’t use garageband to record.

The other thing is… what kind of mac is it? is it a laptop or a desktop. If its a laptop then you should know that generally laptops are more prone to bring in self noise of their own because of the battery. If its a desktop then that shouldnt bring in any interference at all because of its grounding.

If you want to test a setup with a preamp that has noise gating then check with any of your fellow voice over talent in your area and ask to borrow their rig (or invite them over for ice tea and biscuits and ask them to bring their on-the-road setup with them for testing on your computer. If there is no self noise then it could be an option you can invest in.

I did some research for you so you can test some other software before going ahead and checking out other rigs:

http://www.pure-mac.com/audio.html

http://all-streaming-media.com/record-audio-stream/direct-sound-recording-Mac-OS-X.htm

]]> By: julialombardo http://voiceover-casting.com/emporium/dear-taji.html#comment-1598 julialombardo Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:05:18 +0000 http://voiceover-casting.com/emporium/?p=1522#comment-1598 It was good of you to give such a comprehensive response. Since I purchased my mic, I sometimes have "self-noise" coming back on me; this dissipates if I shut down GarageBand, and then restart it. One of our members mentioned that it is not necessary to spend the money on ProTools, considered the industry standard. What is your experience with recording software for voiceover? It was good of you to give such a comprehensive response. Since I purchased my mic, I sometimes have “self-noise” coming back on me; this dissipates if I shut down GarageBand, and then restart it.
One of our members mentioned that it is not necessary to spend the money on ProTools, considered the industry standard. What is your experience with recording software for voiceover?

]]> By: Mahmoud Taji http://voiceover-casting.com/emporium/dear-taji.html#comment-1570 Mahmoud Taji Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:13:49 +0000 http://voiceover-casting.com/emporium/?p=1522#comment-1570 I have indeed used a pre-amp but not for my voice work. I used to be a musician and we used pre-amps all the time with our instruments to boost the signal and alter the overall sound. With regards to whether you need to have a pre-amp or not. That depends on what kind of setup you have. Personally I wanted the simplest most straightforward setup ... so I have a microphone to laptop setup (USB microphone to usb port). The audio tuning is all done via the audio software. If I wanted to play with the equalization I can do so with the raw audio file. In the case of using a pre-amp. There are a few options out there that allow you to use XLR microphones and plug them through a usb preamp to the laptop. In the Case of the M-Audio that is a pre-requirement to be able to run the pro-tools software in the first place (the software won't run without the hardware being attached). The benefit of the pre-amp also shows itself in that you can boost the signal without adding noise to the mix. My biggest issue is trying to keep outside noise to a minimum on my takes. And having a preamp that has noise gating or noise cancellation greatly helps keep noise down. To tell you the truth If it wasnt for the fact that audio equipment is not as readily available in egypt as it is in the states... I would have the pre-amp setup with a few xlr microphones in my home studio and the usb setup for recording while traveling. But I would also have that setup because I love to experiment with the different sounds. Price wise having either is not that expensive. Pre-amps can go from $30 all the way to $1,000 depending on how sophisticated you want them. The M-Audio usb ones aren't that expensive and average around $100. Sound quality in either case would probably not be too noticeable between the USB straight to computer or pre-amp straight to computer... multichannel preamps will allow you to have several microphones hooked up at the same time going into the same feed. The ultimate flexibility of the pre-amp that takes in XLR (standard studio mic jacks) and USB is that the pre-amp allows you to connect any kind of xlr microphone to your computer... so that your sound is influenced mostly by the kind of mic you have plugged in. With the USB microphone.. your sound will always be the same going in ... and the changes you make will have to be done using the software. I hope this helps... if you have some more questions I can get someone who works regularly with a pre-amp setup to write up an answer for you. If I made a mistake in this comment I ask any of our pre-amp using VO talents reading this to correct me. Thanks, taji I have indeed used a pre-amp but not for my voice work. I used to be a musician and we used pre-amps all the time with our instruments to boost the signal and alter the overall sound.

With regards to whether you need to have a pre-amp or not. That depends on what kind of setup you have.

Personally I wanted the simplest most straightforward setup … so I have a microphone to laptop setup (USB microphone to usb port). The audio tuning is all done via the audio software. If I wanted to play with the equalization I can do so with the raw audio file.

In the case of using a pre-amp. There are a few options out there that allow you to use XLR microphones and plug them through a usb preamp to the laptop. In the Case of the M-Audio that is a pre-requirement to be able to run the pro-tools software in the first place (the software won’t run without the hardware being attached).

The benefit of the pre-amp also shows itself in that you can boost the signal without adding noise to the mix. My biggest issue is trying to keep outside noise to a minimum on my takes. And having a preamp that has noise gating or noise cancellation greatly helps keep noise down.

To tell you the truth If it wasnt for the fact that audio equipment is not as readily available in egypt as it is in the states… I would have the pre-amp setup with a few xlr microphones in my home studio and the usb setup for recording while traveling. But I would also have that setup because I love to experiment with the different sounds.

Price wise having either is not that expensive. Pre-amps can go from $30 all the way to $1,000 depending on how sophisticated you want them. The M-Audio usb ones aren’t that expensive and average around $100.

Sound quality in either case would probably not be too noticeable between the USB straight to computer or pre-amp straight to computer… multichannel preamps will allow you to have several microphones hooked up at the same time going into the same feed. The ultimate flexibility of the pre-amp that takes in XLR (standard studio mic jacks) and USB is that the pre-amp allows you to connect any kind of xlr microphone to your computer… so that your sound is influenced mostly by the kind of mic you have plugged in. With the USB microphone.. your sound will always be the same going in … and the changes you make will have to be done using the software.

I hope this helps… if you have some more questions I can get someone who works regularly with a pre-amp setup to write up an answer for you.

If I made a mistake in this comment I ask any of our pre-amp using VO talents reading this to correct me.

Thanks,
taji

]]> By: julialombardo http://voiceover-casting.com/emporium/dear-taji.html#comment-1566 julialombardo Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:25:44 +0000 http://voiceover-casting.com/emporium/?p=1522#comment-1566 Taji, Have you ever worked with a pre-amp? I am wondering if the sound quality is that much better than a USB mic. Taji,
Have you ever worked with a pre-amp? I am wondering if the sound quality is that much better than a USB mic.

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