Recording Software - Some Hard Choices? No not really...
Dear Master VO,
I'm fairly new to the field and wondered if you might be able to give me some advice on recording at home. Right now, I am recording with NCH Sound Pad recording software. Would you know of another kind of software available where I could mix background effects (music, etc.) to enhance the quality of the audition?
Thank you.
Tony Gentile
Tony,
Welcome to the VO Dojo.
Software. Talk about choices. There are many. Most of them pretty good.
NCH Sound Pad is a European product that, from what I can see, is very adequate for what you are doing, except for the fact that you want to add other tracks. ie. music or sound effects.
In the good ol days before PC recording, in fact, before many radio stations employed the use of multi-track tape recorders, (Yes, I'm that old) we made commercials in real-time, running different sound sources (like a record on a turntable!) at the same time and mixing the levels manually on the fly. It took a little rehearsal and sometimes a bunch of takes, but it worked, and gave us great understanding of the logical process involved. Editing was done with a grease pencil and a razor blade. (huh?) I sorta miss it.
When mulit-track machines were introduced widely into local broadcast production in the early eighties, production directors like myself marveled at how we could record things one at a time and "punch in" sound effects and music with deadly precision. Then you could "mix down" the recording so everything sounded just right.
With the advent of digital recording in the later eighties and its development into the more sophisticated multi-track programs we have today, the only real time thing you are recording is your voice. The rest is cut and paste. Import and and insert. To us grease pencil and razer blade jockeys it was like going from driving a Ferrari to riding a bike. Yeah really. The margin of error had been erased. (An error is not something you want to make in Ferrari)
Why the history? To show you that the mental process hasn't changed in the 30 years I've been working in a studio. You still have to plan out what it is you are producing and make the right choices based on the script you are presented. Mapping the production in your mind was the skill we developed. The analog process was slower, and by the way, sounded like garbage compared to hissless bits and bytes we use today. But, it made you be very conscious of what you were doing.
Today you have choices of multi-track software that all do pretty much the same thing. The only difference is how many tracks you can create and use at once, and the physical layout of the interface. (Ok, we'll stay away from "plug-ins" and that stuff for today)
I've mentioned "Audacity" in this space in the past, and considering my ten year-old is re-mixing songs using it, its a sure bet anyone can handle its simple and logical interface. Best of all, Its FREE shareware!
On the Mac side, when you buy a Mac, it comes with all you need. Garage Band! (The more expensive models come with Logic Express, its big brother) Garage band is designed with the beginner in mind. Harmonic simplicity! Play around with it at your gear dealer and see what I mean. In fact all the manufacturers generally offer free trials of thier packages online so you can play around and see what is the easiest to use.
There are other choices as well like CUBase and Appleton and etc etc.....Those are for musicians and bands making thier own music CD's. They can play and mix MIDI tracks and recorded audio and have sound manipulation features to beat the band, (Pardon the pun)
I invite any and all to comment and add to what I have presented here so that Tony can feel he has all relevant information.
Thanks for that question Tony!
Master Vo out ((((GONG)))))
