Upgrading my Radio Dramas
November 14, 2014 8:15 AM Subscribe
I've been writing and recording radio dramas with some friends for the past year and it's been a terrific amount of fun. But I want to take them to the next level and I'm not sure how.
As of now I use my university's recording studio to record vocals, then import the tracks into garageband and edit and mix them. I try to do all my own foley work using a snowball microphone outside the studio, but occasionally I use Freesound.org for sounds that just can't be got through recording (I'm convinced train chugging sounds are impossible to imitate with household items). Finally, once I'm satisfied with the product I put the audio to a slideshow of somewhat related pictures and post it to youtube. Here's a representative product: The Bootleggers
There's a lot of room for improvement, and lately I've set aside a little money to try and upgrade my setup.
I'm a total novice at editing and mixing, and garageband in particular seems woefully inadequate (especially when, e.g. a recording that can't be duplicated is found to have a persistent buzz), but I'm running a mac and audacity is too slow on my machine. Is there a better software for editing? Better yet, how would I find someone to professionally edit and mix the tracks? Would this be prohibitively expensive? (episodes are typically less than 20 minutes) Is there a better library of creative-commons-licensed sound effects out there? Finally, youtube seems like a pretty terrible place to release these tracks (especially as slideshows for which the pictures are only tangentially related). Is this the kind of thing that would work for podcasting, or is there a better forum?
Thanks!
As of now I use my university's recording studio to record vocals, then import the tracks into garageband and edit and mix them. I try to do all my own foley work using a snowball microphone outside the studio, but occasionally I use Freesound.org for sounds that just can't be got through recording (I'm convinced train chugging sounds are impossible to imitate with household items). Finally, once I'm satisfied with the product I put the audio to a slideshow of somewhat related pictures and post it to youtube. Here's a representative product: The Bootleggers
There's a lot of room for improvement, and lately I've set aside a little money to try and upgrade my setup.
I'm a total novice at editing and mixing, and garageband in particular seems woefully inadequate (especially when, e.g. a recording that can't be duplicated is found to have a persistent buzz), but I'm running a mac and audacity is too slow on my machine. Is there a better software for editing? Better yet, how would I find someone to professionally edit and mix the tracks? Would this be prohibitively expensive? (episodes are typically less than 20 minutes) Is there a better library of creative-commons-licensed sound effects out there? Finally, youtube seems like a pretty terrible place to release these tracks (especially as slideshows for which the pictures are only tangentially related). Is this the kind of thing that would work for podcasting, or is there a better forum?
Thanks!
Oh, also: Norm Sherman does some amazing work for The Drabblecast, Escape Pod, and various other outlets. I don't know if he's available for hire, but I searched on "Norm Sherman production services" and got Drabblecast B-Sides 40 – Drabblecast Presents: Audio Fiction Production pt. 1 and Drabblecast B-Sides 41 – Drabblecast Presents: Audio Fiction Production pt. 2.
posted by straw at 9:15 AM on November 14, 2014
posted by straw at 9:15 AM on November 14, 2014
Aaaaand. while I'm hitting "Post Answer" way too frequently: Yes, you want a podcast (easiest way for people to listen on the go), and I don't know what it takes to get on iTunes or other venues, but I do know that several of the feeds in my podcast app point to Libsyn domains.
posted by straw at 9:17 AM on November 14, 2014
posted by straw at 9:17 AM on November 14, 2014
I use my university's recording studio to record vocals,
This suggests that your university has some kind of "audio/video technology" or "media production" program.
So, first, how about looking for help from a fellow student who's in that program, probably cheaper than paying a pro, and they may even be willing and able to collaborate with you for credit or a class project.
Also, colleges & college students often have access to deeply discounted versions of software like ProTools (the industry standard for audio recording and editing.) Even if you don't get your own copy, you might be able to get to use such a program on the school's machines.
Is there a better software for editing?
Yes, several (and better for recording, too), although the learning curve might be a little steep for you. The term you're looking for is DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).
One free/share/honor-ware system (download is free, the first window that shows up every time you open it asks for money, but you can just click past it until/unless you donate and get a registration key code) I've seen people use often is Reaper, which also has a whole community of people creating "plug-ins", small add-on programs that let you do things like reduce or eliminate buzz & noise, or level out volumes, or change the tone of a track, stuff like that.
how would I find someone to professionally edit and mix the tracks?
There are a ton of people doing this professionally, semi-professionally, and as (sometimes very talented) amateurs. Unless you are pretty literally in the middle of nowhere, you should be able to find a bunch of people doing this within an hour's drive of you. You'll want to search for "recording studio" or "mastering studio." Most will have some kind of web presence with audio samples of their work or links to the pages of acts they've worked with so you can hear some of what they've done.
Would this be prohibitively expensive?
There's no way to really answer this definitively. Studios can charge by the hour (hour of work, not hour of finished product) and/or by the project and/or by "blocks" of time based on a discount off their hourly rate. And different studios can and will charge different amounts, depending on the city they're in, and how much work they have at the moment, and how hi-tech their set-up is, and, I dunno, the phase of the moon or such. Like, a studio in a commercial space in Boston with all the latest and greatest gear that's mostly doing advertising voiceover work is probably going to be more expensive than a guy or girl doing it for fun and extra cash in their basement in Indianapolis. But maybe not, if the Boston place is in urgent need of cash, and has enough experience to work very quickly, and is willing to do the work in "off" hours, like after midnight.
So you'll want to call and email a variety of places and get some quotes or estimates to get an idea of how much it might cost, and then decide if you think it's prohibitively expensive.
posted by soundguy99 at 10:19 AM on November 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
This suggests that your university has some kind of "audio/video technology" or "media production" program.
So, first, how about looking for help from a fellow student who's in that program, probably cheaper than paying a pro, and they may even be willing and able to collaborate with you for credit or a class project.
Also, colleges & college students often have access to deeply discounted versions of software like ProTools (the industry standard for audio recording and editing.) Even if you don't get your own copy, you might be able to get to use such a program on the school's machines.
Is there a better software for editing?
Yes, several (and better for recording, too), although the learning curve might be a little steep for you. The term you're looking for is DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).
One free/share/honor-ware system (download is free, the first window that shows up every time you open it asks for money, but you can just click past it until/unless you donate and get a registration key code) I've seen people use often is Reaper, which also has a whole community of people creating "plug-ins", small add-on programs that let you do things like reduce or eliminate buzz & noise, or level out volumes, or change the tone of a track, stuff like that.
how would I find someone to professionally edit and mix the tracks?
There are a ton of people doing this professionally, semi-professionally, and as (sometimes very talented) amateurs. Unless you are pretty literally in the middle of nowhere, you should be able to find a bunch of people doing this within an hour's drive of you. You'll want to search for "recording studio" or "mastering studio." Most will have some kind of web presence with audio samples of their work or links to the pages of acts they've worked with so you can hear some of what they've done.
Would this be prohibitively expensive?
There's no way to really answer this definitively. Studios can charge by the hour (hour of work, not hour of finished product) and/or by the project and/or by "blocks" of time based on a discount off their hourly rate. And different studios can and will charge different amounts, depending on the city they're in, and how much work they have at the moment, and how hi-tech their set-up is, and, I dunno, the phase of the moon or such. Like, a studio in a commercial space in Boston with all the latest and greatest gear that's mostly doing advertising voiceover work is probably going to be more expensive than a guy or girl doing it for fun and extra cash in their basement in Indianapolis. But maybe not, if the Boston place is in urgent need of cash, and has enough experience to work very quickly, and is willing to do the work in "off" hours, like after midnight.
So you'll want to call and email a variety of places and get some quotes or estimates to get an idea of how much it might cost, and then decide if you think it's prohibitively expensive.
posted by soundguy99 at 10:19 AM on November 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
Oh yeah, and this - "I'm running a mac and audacity is too slow on my machine" - sounds kind of odd to me. I haven't used it a ton, but my experience has been that Audacity's a fairly quick program even on ancient computers. You might want to do a re-install and make sure you have the latest version.
Also, in general, media editing programs do tend to be processor hogs, so you'll probably get better results if Audacity or whatever else you eventually go with are the only programs running when you're working in them.
posted by soundguy99 at 10:41 AM on November 14, 2014 [2 favorites]
Also, in general, media editing programs do tend to be processor hogs, so you'll probably get better results if Audacity or whatever else you eventually go with are the only programs running when you're working in them.
posted by soundguy99 at 10:41 AM on November 14, 2014 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I would rethink hiring someone to do this. Editing and mixing a podcast is so much fun and you can learn to do it properly yourself. I've been doing a podcast called "Sounds Good" (LOL, yes, it's true) for years until I became a dad and now I do an occasional guest segment for some shows. I'm also a post production sound engineer so I sort of know what I'm talking about.
+1 for Audacity. This program should run on your machine. It's not that heavy in terms of system requirements. Try it again.
I listened to your example. Here are some thinks to try:
- Record more close to the microphone. Right now you hear the room acoustics way too much. That way, it will forever sound like "people in a room with some ambiance added". If you record close mic'ed (like your mouth about 7" away from the diaphragm of the mic), you can always add some reverb later. GarageBand and Audacity will let you do this.
- Record in 24 bit and make sure you stay well below digital saturation (0 dBFS). That way you have a huge dynamic range to play with and no clipping distortion.
- Use a plop filter to avoid plosives in your recordings. Make sure the room is acoustically as dead as possible. This should not be as difficult as it sounds. A pillow behind your head and a blanket behind the microphone can work wonders.
- EQ and compress your vocals. That will really lift your audio to another level. Be gentle with the settings. You can remove a little bit of the area around 150 Hz and boost some of the high starting around 2 kHz using a shelving filter. Experiment with that until it sounds just right. For the dynamics, try finding a good vocal preset in a compressor plugin. You can do all of this in post production. Just make sure your recordings are clean and 24 bit.
- For effects like the voice coming from a radio, you can sound more professional by using an EQ for that too. Remove a lot of low end and high end so it will really sound like a radio.
- The dialog is in some sort of stereo, but it sort of stays the same throughout the episode. This suggests people sitting statically in a room. Record everyone to their own mono track and position them using pan settings and reverbs. Play around with it too; in real life people move all over the place.
- The dialog is also too clean, too polite, too theatrical. In real life people talk at the same time, stutter, never end certain sentences, etc. You can learn a lot from the dialog in Hal Hartley movies (try "Trust").
- You can add dynamics to the dialog by moving around too. To suggest someone leaving the scene, physically walk away from a microphone.
- Some of your effects sound wrong. Like the shooting of the boat. Even GarageBand ships with better gun shots than that.
- Be more ruthless with the editing. It's too clean. Everyone waits for everyone. There is a pause before the music starts. The effects are cued when everyone is finished talking, etc. Good examples of superb editing in this regard (albeit not radio drama) are the "Radio Lab" and "This American Life" podcasts.
Good luck and have fun! The mere fact that you want to take it to the next level should be fuel enough to make it work.
posted by hz37 at 11:58 AM on November 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
+1 for Audacity. This program should run on your machine. It's not that heavy in terms of system requirements. Try it again.
I listened to your example. Here are some thinks to try:
- Record more close to the microphone. Right now you hear the room acoustics way too much. That way, it will forever sound like "people in a room with some ambiance added". If you record close mic'ed (like your mouth about 7" away from the diaphragm of the mic), you can always add some reverb later. GarageBand and Audacity will let you do this.
- Record in 24 bit and make sure you stay well below digital saturation (0 dBFS). That way you have a huge dynamic range to play with and no clipping distortion.
- Use a plop filter to avoid plosives in your recordings. Make sure the room is acoustically as dead as possible. This should not be as difficult as it sounds. A pillow behind your head and a blanket behind the microphone can work wonders.
- EQ and compress your vocals. That will really lift your audio to another level. Be gentle with the settings. You can remove a little bit of the area around 150 Hz and boost some of the high starting around 2 kHz using a shelving filter. Experiment with that until it sounds just right. For the dynamics, try finding a good vocal preset in a compressor plugin. You can do all of this in post production. Just make sure your recordings are clean and 24 bit.
- For effects like the voice coming from a radio, you can sound more professional by using an EQ for that too. Remove a lot of low end and high end so it will really sound like a radio.
- The dialog is in some sort of stereo, but it sort of stays the same throughout the episode. This suggests people sitting statically in a room. Record everyone to their own mono track and position them using pan settings and reverbs. Play around with it too; in real life people move all over the place.
- The dialog is also too clean, too polite, too theatrical. In real life people talk at the same time, stutter, never end certain sentences, etc. You can learn a lot from the dialog in Hal Hartley movies (try "Trust").
- You can add dynamics to the dialog by moving around too. To suggest someone leaving the scene, physically walk away from a microphone.
- Some of your effects sound wrong. Like the shooting of the boat. Even GarageBand ships with better gun shots than that.
- Be more ruthless with the editing. It's too clean. Everyone waits for everyone. There is a pause before the music starts. The effects are cued when everyone is finished talking, etc. Good examples of superb editing in this regard (albeit not radio drama) are the "Radio Lab" and "This American Life" podcasts.
Good luck and have fun! The mere fact that you want to take it to the next level should be fuel enough to make it work.
posted by hz37 at 11:58 AM on November 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
If you want very thorough advice from some of the best radio producers in public radio, go to transom.org. Besides gear and software, they also have a ton of advice and passion-making articles for aspirational producers.
posted by Mo Nickels at 3:30 PM on November 14, 2014
posted by Mo Nickels at 3:30 PM on November 14, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
In terms of hiring production: I have been impressed by what Nobilis Reed turns out, I think you can pay for him through Quiver and Arch Productions, and I'm listening to Rish Outfield's narration of Abigail Hilton's Hunter's Unlucky. It's amazing, and I believe that Abby hired him to do the whole shebang, though she may have also done the final mix (I think she did the production work on the full cast Guild of the Cowry Catchers). But if he can do the voice work through the production like that, he can certainly also just do the production.
I believe that J. Daniel Sawyer has a production company, his full cast audio stuff is pretty amazing, and ... Sooo many people with awesome well produced audio story podcasts, I don't want to leave anyone out and I'm leaving all sorts of people out, but you might also ping Veronica Giguere to see if she does post stuff, or if she can recommend someone.
(It sounds like Balticon or the New Media Expo are the places to catch these folks)
posted by straw at 9:09 AM on November 14, 2014