I was reading over various topics for voice acting and sounds and all that stuff, when it occurred to me that many of the questions were being repeated. I'm sure there are people out there who would love to do some voice acting, but don't have the kind of cash to drop for microphones and recording software.
I'm going to give you some tips on sound recording and editing on the cheap, hopefully you can learn something off of this.
I did not know where to put this, so Don't get mad, just tell a mod to move it.
I'm going to give you some tips on sound recording and editing on the cheap, hopefully you can learn something off of this.
Most of the people on RMXP are familiar with the Sound Recorder that comes with WinXP.
I personally hate it.
It lacks functionality when trying to mix audio, edit audio, and save audio. It has no visible timeline just a little "scope" of the audio that is being played. Frusterating. Very frusterating. Did I happen to mention the great array of effects? Slow down, speed up, volume control. Eew.
For the budget sound editor, I recommend a popular and wideley used program called Audacity. It does not come with an MP3 encoder, but you can download it off the site, along with hundreds of mods. It is completeley freeware, so you don't have to worry about "accidentally" getting an illegal version. As a plus, it can encode OGG files perfectly for RMXP.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
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As for midi composing, I recommend (Mind you I'm talking about freeware here) Anvil Studio. As long as you know how to read some music, or have a pretty good idea what the thingus means, then it is a pretty nice program. Very helpful. It can save as a WAV file that is ready to be imported into Audacity. You can put notes in on a guitar fret, or piano keys.
http://www.anvilstudio.com/
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If you don't mind dropping some cash for some products here is what I reccomend:
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Sound Editing:
Adobe Audition is a great program for proffesional sound. It has over 50 audio effects and DSP tools. It has a neat low-latency system that lets you import an unlimeted amount of audio tracks. You can easily change volume, pan the sound from ear to ear, it is a great program for a pretty good price.
http://www.adobe.com/products/audition/
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Music Composing:
There are so many composing sofwares out there, it is not even funny. Among the best are Fruity Loops, PG Band in a Box, Master Writer Songwriters Software Suite, and many others. They usually are pretty good for the price, Be careful you get what you want.
I personally hate it.
It lacks functionality when trying to mix audio, edit audio, and save audio. It has no visible timeline just a little "scope" of the audio that is being played. Frusterating. Very frusterating. Did I happen to mention the great array of effects? Slow down, speed up, volume control. Eew.
For the budget sound editor, I recommend a popular and wideley used program called Audacity. It does not come with an MP3 encoder, but you can download it off the site, along with hundreds of mods. It is completeley freeware, so you don't have to worry about "accidentally" getting an illegal version. As a plus, it can encode OGG files perfectly for RMXP.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
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As for midi composing, I recommend (Mind you I'm talking about freeware here) Anvil Studio. As long as you know how to read some music, or have a pretty good idea what the thingus means, then it is a pretty nice program. Very helpful. It can save as a WAV file that is ready to be imported into Audacity. You can put notes in on a guitar fret, or piano keys.
http://www.anvilstudio.com/
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If you don't mind dropping some cash for some products here is what I reccomend:
-------
Sound Editing:
Adobe Audition is a great program for proffesional sound. It has over 50 audio effects and DSP tools. It has a neat low-latency system that lets you import an unlimeted amount of audio tracks. You can easily change volume, pan the sound from ear to ear, it is a great program for a pretty good price.
http://www.adobe.com/products/audition/
-------
Music Composing:
There are so many composing sofwares out there, it is not even funny. Among the best are Fruity Loops, PG Band in a Box, Master Writer Songwriters Software Suite, and many others. They usually are pretty good for the price, Be careful you get what you want.
My cheap and easy solution to "I've got no mike, how do I do voice acting'?" is headphones. Buy a pair cheap, or use your little brothers, I don't care. Usually you can find them at a thrift store for 25 cents, and they work fine.
Here is how to turn you headphones into a mike:
Step 1: Plug it into the mike port.
Step 2: Test which ear thingus "hears" you.
Step 3: Mark that thingus and start recording.
Pretty complex, huh?
The downside to using headphones for a mike is that they don't receive much, if you are trying to record something like a guitar (I'll get on to that soon..) with head phones, it is not gonna work.
To record guitar:
Chances are, if you have a guitar (Electric right now, I'll get to acoustic next), then you would not mind going down to Wal*Mart and buying a 9.99 Philips microphone. They are pretty good, and record nice and crisp right out of the box, but they get a little fuzzy after 6 months of use. The real thing you paid for was a converter. This little guy has a 1/4th jack (Big) to Mini (PC sized) type converter. Very useful.
Click on the little sound icon on your start bar, and go to advanced controls, uncheck the box that say "Mute" underneath microphone. Plug you guitar using a cord use to connect it to an amp into the converter, then plug the converter into the computer. If you hear a horrible crackle, move the plug around until it stops, and then find a way to prop it up that way. Now strum your guitar, and it should come out the speakers just like your amp (Or you could save 400 $ and just use your computer for an amp), if not open up Audacity... Now, as soon as you finish playing Crazy Train for the fifth time today, open up Audacity (If you have not already..) and push the red button. Strum out a few chords, and then push stop (The square! The square!). There you go. You just recorded your guitar.
As for acoustics, as many of them so not have 1/4" jack, you can prop your mike up in front of it, and strum to your hearts content. That Philips mike mentioned earlier may not work for this, a higher sensetivety mike will have to do. There are many moderatley priced mikes that will work. I recommend a directional (Shotgun) mike, so it does not have to be right up next to your guitar.
Here is how to turn you headphones into a mike:
Step 1: Plug it into the mike port.
Step 2: Test which ear thingus "hears" you.
Step 3: Mark that thingus and start recording.
Pretty complex, huh?
The downside to using headphones for a mike is that they don't receive much, if you are trying to record something like a guitar (I'll get on to that soon..) with head phones, it is not gonna work.
To record guitar:
Chances are, if you have a guitar (Electric right now, I'll get to acoustic next), then you would not mind going down to Wal*Mart and buying a 9.99 Philips microphone. They are pretty good, and record nice and crisp right out of the box, but they get a little fuzzy after 6 months of use. The real thing you paid for was a converter. This little guy has a 1/4th jack (Big) to Mini (PC sized) type converter. Very useful.
Click on the little sound icon on your start bar, and go to advanced controls, uncheck the box that say "Mute" underneath microphone. Plug you guitar using a cord use to connect it to an amp into the converter, then plug the converter into the computer. If you hear a horrible crackle, move the plug around until it stops, and then find a way to prop it up that way. Now strum your guitar, and it should come out the speakers just like your amp (Or you could save 400 $ and just use your computer for an amp), if not open up Audacity... Now, as soon as you finish playing Crazy Train for the fifth time today, open up Audacity (If you have not already..) and push the red button. Strum out a few chords, and then push stop (The square! The square!). There you go. You just recorded your guitar.
As for acoustics, as many of them so not have 1/4" jack, you can prop your mike up in front of it, and strum to your hearts content. That Philips mike mentioned earlier may not work for this, a higher sensetivety mike will have to do. There are many moderatley priced mikes that will work. I recommend a directional (Shotgun) mike, so it does not have to be right up next to your guitar.
Yes, I'm talking non-RTP here, folks.
The internet is a wonderful recsource. You can google search for cow.wav and find many many sites with cow noises. Be careful though, many of these are labeled incorectly:
Gunshot.wav=Bart simpson.
The internet is a wonderful recsource. You can google search for cow.wav and find many many sites with cow noises. Be careful though, many of these are labeled incorectly:
Gunshot.wav=Bart simpson.