So if I was to ...

[Rob_Royale]

try my hand at recording audio stories, what equipment and software would I need?
I'm sure some sort of editing SW would be needed because I'm positive that I'm not capable of reading a 12k word story through without making errors. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Erozetta]

try my hand at recording audio stories, what equipment and software would I need?
I'm sure some sort of editing SW would be needed because I'm positive that I'm not capable of reading a 12k word story through without making errors. Any advice would be appreciated.

All you really need is a halfway decent microphone, a quiet place to record, and audacity, which is free. An external hard drive with a lot of space is a good idea. Patience is required, and so is time to edit. Sooo much fucking time.

I have my setup in the closet.

And just so you are aware, raw audio of 12k words will likely be 2+ hours of recording including fuckups. If you mess up a line, pause, then redo from the previous paragraph break, it makes the editing much easier. Trying to cut between each word is a pain in the ass.

Edited to add: and water. In a glass so your aren't making excess noise opening and closing anything. Drink the water. Speaking for that long can hurt if you don't.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Thanks. The closet is likely where I'll end up too. Gonna have to figure out the editing SW.

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

Thanks. The closet is likely where I'll end up too. Gonna have to figure out the editing SW.

Have you looked into Audacity? It's free and fairly straightforward last I used it.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Have you looked into Audacity? It's free and fairly straightforward last I used it.

I have not, and I thank you for the recommendation.

 

[Erozetta]

I have not, and I thank you for the recommendation.

Audacity is what I use. It's pretty good, but there's a lot of learning as far as cleaning up the audio without fucking up the audio, work on a copy not your main file (I learned the hard way). The actual editing of errors and smushing the audio together is extremely easy.

 

[ShyChiWriter]

Heya,

A little late to this party. I've been down this road and here's my advice.

Microphone: Start out with a dynamic mic as opposed to a condenser. Dynamic mics have a very tight cardioid pattern, so they only capture the sound directly in front of the mic. This means you don't have to treat your room (or closet) nearly as much with soundproofing, etc.

My recommendation is the Audio-Technica AUD AT2005USB, it is about $80 on Amazon. It won't capture as many nuances as a condenser, but it is a great way to start. It has self-monitoring, meaning you can plug directly into the aux jack on the side of the mic to hear yourself, and your playback.

Get yourself a nice set of earphones (cans). I purchased the ATH-M40x, because they are super comfortable, have great, true sound, AND they have a replaceable cable. I think they are around $100-ish. However, if that's out of your price range, look to the OneOdio Wired cans. $30 and a decent sound. Again, a serviceable thing to start with.

You really can't go wrong with Audacity to start out. Free. Spend some time learning punch-and-roll and how to record to multiple tracks, then bouncing down.

If you are Mac, you can also use Garageband. Getting started with it for just voice recording isn't as intuitive, but once you get the hang of it, it is a piece of cake. I know some of my favorite podcasters still use Garageband.

So... there's your starter pack. If you get more into it, you can look at investing into a Shure SM7B or an Electrovoice, or a Sennheiser Shotgun mic that lots of the best voiceover folks use, and building a studio to hold it all.

But, for now, the above will more than take care of what you'd like to do and give you very decent sound.

The one piece of advice I'd give beyond that is to be patient when you start. Your voice is a muscle that needs to be conditioned. It takes a while to get the hang of reading long bits of text.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Heya,

A little late to this party. I've been down this road and here's my advice.

Microphone: Start out with a dynamic mic as opposed to a condenser. Dynamic mics have a very tight cardioid pattern, so they only capture the sound directly in front of the mic. This means you don't have to treat your room (or closet) nearly as much with soundproofing, etc.

My recommendation is the Audio-Technica AUD AT2005USB, it is about $80 on Amazon. It won't capture as many nuances as a condenser, but it is a great way to start. It has self-monitoring, meaning you can plug directly into the aux jack on the side of the mic to hear yourself, and your playback.

Get yourself a nice set of earphones (cans). I purchased the ATH-M40x, because they are super comfortable, have great, true sound, AND they have a replaceable cable. I think they are around $100-ish. However, if that's out of your price range, look to the OneOdio Wired cans. $30 and a decent sound. Again, a serviceable thing to start with.

You really can't go wrong with Audacity to start out. Free. Spend some time learning punch-and-roll and how to record to multiple tracks, then bouncing down.

If you are Mac, you can also use Garageband. Getting started with it for just voice recording isn't as intuitive, but once you get the hang of it, it is a piece of cake. I know some of my favorite podcasters still use Garageband.

So... there's your starter pack. If you get more into it, you can look at investing into a Shure SM7B or an Electrovoice, or a Sennheiser Shotgun mic that lots of the best voiceover folks use, and building a studio to hold it all.

But, for now, the above will more than take care of what you'd like to do and give you very decent sound.

The one piece of advice I'd give beyond that is to be patient when you start. Your voice is a muscle that needs to be conditioned. It takes a while to get the hang of reading long bits of text.

Thanks very much. Great info.

 

[THoney269]

try my hand at recording audio stories, what equipment and software would I need?
I'm sure some sort of editing SW would be needed because I'm positive that I'm not capable of reading a 12k word story through without making errors. Any advice would be appreciated.

Phone mic will work okay (though it picks up literally EVERYTHING close by), and I use AudioLab instead of Audacity for editing because Audacity doesn't work on Android devices.. Editing from paragraph breaks when you screw up is definitely easier than trying to edit single words or phrases