Showcasing how to get good Audio with no real equipment (for PC users)

[g6120]

I'm a poor man in the sense that I have no real recording equipment at all.
I have only a cheap Sony ECM-MS907 Stereo digital recording mic ($75) and a Soundblaster X-FI Xtreme Music Soundcard ($75) in my PC. That's it for hardware. I've been asked so many times how I get my audio to sound the way it does. I finally documented it in exact detail in the interest of helping others who have no money to buy recording equipment. This info is the result of about 3years worth of trial and error experimentation and now I'm pretty settled on this method. A sample video will be included in this post:

I highly recommend getting a remote hard drive as well (I have a 750GB remote drive) to store all of these huge 24/96 wav files you will create. After all life is too short to waste your music on compressed formats. You can always convert your WAV files for that but I never record to mp3.
mp3 will thin out your sound and not be a good candidate for this method. So get yourself the remote capacity and record to full uncompressed 24bit/96kHz WAV files for best results. The remote also safeguards your files in case your computer crashes.

Put your Soundblaster card into audio creation mode.
Turn off all effects.
Set recording volume to 50%.
Make sure you set it to Microphone input (card has built in pre-amp)
It is VERY IMPORTANT for the room to be as quiet as possible otherwise my technique will just end up enhancing background noise too.
I put my computer in a closet and when I want to record I cover it with an old comforter to dampen noise.

Download the free program Audacity.
Record using Audacity set to 96Khz.
Choose microphone input in Audacity and again make sure record volume is at 50%.
Once recording is done you can cut out any false starts or bad takes and keep the good take.
Export that as is with NO modifications to a 24 bit/ 96 kHz WAV file.
(Make sure your export settings are set to 24 bit signed WAV file, the 96 kHz indicator is always in the bottom left hand corner.
Audacity defaults to 48 kHz so you hav to change this to 96 kHz BEFORE recording.)
This is your archival copy and you should never modify this raw recording.
Once archived you can then modify your recording.

First I use Audacity and apply compressor effect.
Then I apply Leveller effect set on Light.
Then I put a fade on the end.
Sometimes I put a 1 db Bass Boost too but not always (up to your ears)
Lastly I split the stereo track and pan hard left on left channel and hard right on right channel.
Then I export that to another 24 bit/96kHz WAV file in another file I have labelled HD Remasters.

For the final steps I use Nero software suite. It's well worth the purchase price for everything you get.

Using Nero Wave Editor I open up the modified WAV file I created.
First I apply the Equalizer tool set on "Loudness" default setting.
Then in the Effects menu I apply the Reverb effect with th following settings:
Reverb Time: 600ms
Room Size: 200 sq. meters
Brightness: 15%
Dry Signal 0db
Effect: I change this to suit each song but -6db is a good starting point. (Some songs sound better with more some with less)
Now check your WAV file volume. If you see the Wave form on screen exceeding the limits then it is clipping.
Go to the volume menu and apply normalize. (I usually don't have this problem)

Now you can zoom in to the beginning of your audio to the part before you started playing the song.
Once zoomed in choose a section of that beginning segment.
This segment represents the background noise of your room and you can isolate it and reduce noise as follows.
Once you have highlighted the beginning section (before you started playing song) you then go to the Enhancement menu.
Use the Noise analysis function.
Once analyzed then select the entire recording and in the Enhancement menu choose Noise Reduction.
I generally set Noise Reduction to 90% but preview it and make sure it is not distorting the audio.
By analyzing only the background noise at the beginning the Noise Reduction should only eliminate that noise throughout the recording.

Not done yet!

Now use the Volume menu and choose Change Volume and reduce it to -21db
Next use the Tools menu and apply Dynamic Compressor.
This is tricky and sensitive but basically the setting I use are custom as follows:
You will see a graph screen with a line and two dots that you can grab and move.
Horizontal graph is output gain (db) and vertical is input gain (db)
I have the first dot on the left set to output gain of -71db and input gain of -36db
Second dot I have at output gain of -30db and input gain of -13db
Now listen to it and see how it sounds. Should sound much fuller.
(note: the wave form on screen will not look like it has increased in volume but once you save it it expands. Took me a while to learn this.

NOW save your file.

Optional: Sometimes I use this technique twice to get a fuller sound but some recordings don't need it and others sound better.
It's up to your ears.
use the Volume menu again and choose Change Volume and reduce it to -21db
use the Tools menu again and apply Dynamic Compressor (same settings).

Listen back to it before saving. If it sounds overdriven then don't save it again with those changes.
If it sounds better to you save it again.

Now you should have a fantastic sounding recording as a 24 bit/96kHz WAV file.

Next step is to use NeroVision to make the video.
Import your video and audio in and put them on the timeline.
Trim each so that they are in sync with each other.
I do this by ear. I use the audio that the camera recorded to listen with and once the wav file and camera audio sound like one then you are is sync and that is when I select the video clip, right click, choose Properties and turn the volume on the video clip to Zero. Now you 24 bit/96kHz WAV file is the audio track.

I then encode this to a WMV file using the HD720P setting.
For the audio codec I choose Windows Media Audio 10 Professional.
It uses a higher bandwidth for audio and preserves quality.

What you end up with is a WMV file you can upload and it has the HD play option.

Here's some Audio examples:

Raw Microphone Recording:

http://gilsmusic.bandcamp.com/track/wiys-raw-demo

Produced Audio (w/ harmony vocal overdubs):

http://gilsmusic.bandcamp.com/track/where-is-your-soul

BTW, Check out my new signature links and if you use any of these sites please friend me there if you like my stuff!

[FX]

WoW! That is an amazing post. I certainly appreciate you taking the time to share your instructions. Great work!

Now to duplicate it will be the trick. But the sound sure seems worth the effort.

Thank you,
Greg

[g6120]

Originally Posted by FX

WoW! That is an amazing post. I certainly appreciate you taking the time to share your instructions. Great work!

Now to duplicate it will be the trick. But the sound sure seems worth the effort.

Thank you,
Greg

Thanks Greg, It is time consuming and hard work but I think worth the effort.
Remember you can add more or less reverb to suit your own taste.