How to record audio files?

[Torsten]

Hi everybody,

It would be great if you could share your experiences with recording voice files. We want to create audio versions of our printed materials and are looking for the best equipment and software. We used to use an AVL2500 microphone by AV-Jefe with a separate Speaka pre-amplifier but either the mic or the pre-amplifier broke down and I think it's time to look for something smaller and handier.

Please let us know what you think.
Many thanks,
Torsten
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[Ralf]

I'm working on yours, as we speak
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[Torsten]

Hi Ralf,

That's great to hear. What do you think of this mic?
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[Ralf]

Hi Torsten,

You need a condenser mike (Kondensatormikrofon) for voice recordings. I'd go for this one here
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[Jamie (K)]

I was told by the recording expert at a large music equipment store that a MacBook laptop with a decent microphone and some software like Audacity, Amadeus, SoundStudio, etc., is as good for remote recording as most professional recording equipment, for both sound and music. Who knows if he's right.

[Ralf]

I'd say he is. I'm using the apple Garage software and a simple USB condenser mic. Does the trick!
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[Torsten]

Hi Ralf,

I think you did an excellent job with your recording ("just the works, indeed") and I look forward to your next files. Thanks a lot for your efforts!

Torsten
PS: How did you do this "telephone sound" -- does your software program come with such a feature?
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[Ralf]

Thank you Torsten. As for the telephone sound, it's very easy to manipulate. My software has an equalizer function, and all I did was tweak down the first and last (out of seven) controls down completely. Glad you like it!
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[Torsten]

Hi Ralf,

How are you today? Thanks a lot for all your support, especially for your help in finding the best audio recording/editing software. It would be great if you could tell me what you think of the sound quality of these recordings.

I'm asking because those recordings were made on mini-tape recorder and then converted into MP3 files. I think the sound quality is amazing -- the background noise stems from the voices in the restaurant and it was left there on purpose. So I'm just thinking if was possible back then to produce audio recordings of this quality, then it should be a piece of cake with the equipment and technology available today. It's probably just a few things we have to take care of.

Anyway, let me know what you think.
Regards,
Torsten
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[Ralf]

Hi Torsten,

Thank you for your comment. The quality of both recordings is really very good! Only that Ed doesn't have a Cockney accent, but a pretty smooth London accent Does Raymond live in Leipzig? I've never met him...
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[Torsten]

Hi Ralf,

Yes Raymond Romanos has lived in Leipzig since 1996 so it's high time you met him in person .

Regards,
Torsten
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[Torsten]

Hi everybody,

What do you think of this Samson mic? I'm quite intrigued by this:

"The Samson Q1U, C01U & C03U are designed to be fully functional without installing the SoftPre applet software using the standard drivers included in your computer's operating system. However if you would like added functionality of the Samson SoftPre applet (Input Level Meter, Volume control, High-pass filter and Phase Switch), you may download the appropriate one for your operating system below."

Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Torsten
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