Help! I need advice on Noise-Reduction...for my animations

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FWal
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Help! I need advice on Noise-Reduction...for my animations

Post by FWal »

This isn't about the Anime Studio but important for my animation in it. I'm looking for a downloadable easy to use microphone noise reduction or anything just like it scince my home mic produces blurred and noisy recordings. I used to have an Andrea Electronics option on the control panel for sound where you could check the box and it would automaticlly cancel sound wonderfully, it came with my broken laptop. I was wondering if there is anything like it...possibly free? I have no money..heh. Thanks in advance! (p.s. i'm not a bum im just 14 and don't get an allowance)
Meh.
myles
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Post by myles »

Audacity has a noise removal feature - see this tutorial on how to use it, and also read this.

Enhance can sometimes help - also try using it to do the actual recording.

I've been reasonably pleased with the quality of sound coming from the quite cheap Logitech USB microphone with noise cancellation built-in.

Hint: Record with the microphone to the side of your mouth rather than in front.

Regards, Myles.
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heyvern
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Post by heyvern »

Audacity noise reduction isn't so great. It works in some specific cases but it can seriously degrade the sound quality.

Your best bet is to spend the money on a high quality microphone. I'm not familar with specific brands but my brother does some home music production using this really fancy shmancy mic he got for his birthday or christmas. Apparently it cost quite a bit but the quality is outstanding. He does his recording on a Mac mini and mixes with Garage Band.

Also you need to make sure there isn't a bunch of other things happening... sound from the computers fan or bad cables causing noise.

I tried doing some recording on my old PC using a fairly good mic. It was unusable. I had all kinds of electronic noise and static. Worked better on the mac.

I did some dialog recording of my sister for one of my AS characters a while back. I used a good microphone with a LONG cord so the computer was very far away. The sound quality was pretty darn good considering it was only a "fairly" good microphone (under $50). You can spend hundreds on a good mic.

-vern
human
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Post by human »

Vern is right--there's just no better solution than having a decent microphone.

This need not be terribly expensive. (Granted, I know that expense is a highly personal judgment call.)

Wish I could advise you more specifically about how to pick the most cost-effective one, but there's bound to be people in your neighborhood, no matter where you live, who can guide you.

I would ask a few local musicians first, and my second alternative would be to turn to folks associated with a church (of all things). I don't patronize them myself, but I understand that Protestant churches of various flavors do rather a lot of audio visual production...

Good places to shop online are J&R Music World

http://www.jr.com/JRSectionView.process ... 6&Ne=10000

and bhphotovideo.com

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/8538/Vocal.html

You can sort the link above from low to high price

EDIT: Also pay very close attention to Vern's advice about noise introduced into the recording process by the PC. You may need some experienced help to prevent that noise.
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slowtiger
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Post by slowtiger »

Additional tips:

Try to get a decent setup for your mic. Two or three thick blankets hanging around the voice artist, forming a cabin, make a big difference in sound. Use some shield against pop noises (can be made from a warped wire coat hanger and an old nylon). Get your artist positioned at the right distance to the mic. Use a pre-amp.

There must be hundreds of sites in the web about microphoning.
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funksmaname
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Post by funksmaname »

i have one of these:
http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/h4/index.php

Here are a couple of recordings i made with it

The dual condenser mics on the front are really clear, and its so portable you can use it to take location recordings for backgrounds/noises (the have fantastice stereo spread, for like when cars drive past) etc as well as voice... you record directly to wav/mp3, and then can just drag the files off to be editted.

I think it was about £200, but there are probably cheaper solutions out there that do similar things (my Rode NT1 mic for my home studio cost around £150 i think, and that still needs to be plugged into an audio interface)

Things you probably wont need are the 4track option, and the XLR/Jack inputs - so you might be able to find similar recorder without those options, but the H4 is great bang for buck.

Alternatively you could get a decent sony mic and a minidisc player, but that will require you dubbing the sound over, rather than the more convenient drag and drop method of more modern portable recorders.
Genete
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Post by Genete »

More information HERE in the forum posted by LM long time ago.
I read the FAQ frequently... :wink:
-G
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J. Baker
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Post by J. Baker »

Audio recording is only as good as it's source. A decent conderser mic hooked up to a mic preamp using xlr cables. Then hook up the preamp to your soundcards line-in, not mic-in. You'll have to get a cable or adapter that goes from 1/4" to an 1/8" from the preamp to soundcard.

Noise removing software just makes your audio sound muddy.
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FWal
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Post by FWal »

Thanks everyone. I'll start thinking about mics...and also a better layout for recording. Thanks again!
Meh.
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