Any of you guys out there got a recommendation for recording voice files cheaply but relatively well on PC hard drives? What kind of mic, sound card, mixer software would be needed?
Any card and mike will work perfectly well for that. The cheapest will do a perfect job.
Most PCs will record in .WAV format, which for sounds of more than a few seconds duration yield gigantic files. If you’re going to record anything other brief clips, you might want to find some software to record in MP3 format. Other than that, a standard sound card and a mike plugged into the input jack should work fine.
If you go to Radioshack, you can get a cheap little piece ($2) that will convert an RCA head audio jack (like the ones on your VCR) to a 1/8" microphone jack. That way you can plug your VCR into your computer sound card and record the sound directly.
>> software to record in MP3 format
Pretty much any audio software will do that (starting with Sndrec32 that comes with windows). You can get any number of freeware programs that do it. I have CoolEdit which works just fine and does way more than I need.
But for hardware, just about anything will work just fine.
Another option is RealAudio files. I did some of this before the MP3 standard was available, and you can tradeoff sound quality for file size. You can get the real audio encoder from http://www.real.com.
I hate RealAudio with passion! The format is clumsy and the player is slow and messy. I much prefer to used regular WAV files using MP3 compression. Then I can play them on any player. I use Windows Media Player 1 for Audio and MediaPlayer 2 for video. I have installed RealPlayer for the few cases where I need it but I do not like it. I also hate the Quicktime format.
Really? The Sound Recorder program I have has a bunch of obscure formats to record files in, but none of them looked like MP3. Am I missing something? Otherwise I suppose I could give CoolEdit a try.
CoolEdit does a ton more than SNDREC does. SNDREC is ok just to record a clip with your voice and stuff like that. For anything else Cooledit is much betetr.
At any rate, as I have explained in several other threads several times (often to people who were very incredulous at first) WAV is a format that admits MP3 compression and you do not have to see an MP3 extension to have MP3 compression.
If you search the board you will find the full explanation. I don’t feel like doing the whole thing over again.
The following is from an email I wrote ages ago. I hope it helps:
You can record your voice using SNDREC32.
Start it. Set the recording parameters. You can experiment later but for now do:
File/Properties/Convert
Format: PCM (select from the pull down list)
Attributes: 11025 hz, 16 bit, mono (select from the pull down list)
OK, OK
now you can record (about up to one minute) by clicking on the red button.
once you have finished recording you can listen to it
now you can save it if you want (just for comparison as you will see)
Ok, now comes the good part: compression:
File/save as/ Format Change
(you get a new window titled sound selection)
Format: MPEG (select from the pull down list)
Attributes: 18Kb, 11025 hz, mono (select from the pull down list)
Ok
give the file a new name this time and save it
you will see the new compressed file is about 1/10th the size of the original uncompressed
About a year ago, I recorded two RealAudio files for two web sites using a free recorder they had available then. Now I’d like to record three as a demo for a client’s web site for which I am a designer. However, now RealAudio wants $249 for the recorder. That’s a lot of pay just to demonstrate the idea to my client.
Anybody know if that free recorder is still around somewhere?
sailor wrote:
It’s not there on mine. I get about 15 different formats, but no MPEG. If it matters, I have NT4sp5.
It’s still there, but they try their hardest to bury the free stuff so no one can find it. I even knew what I was looking for, but they change the site so often, it’s different every time I go back to look for it. I found a link for you though, and the product you are looking for is RealProducer Basic. It used to be name RealEncoder, IIRC. RealProducer Basic is linked to around the top of this page:
http://www.realnetworks.com/products/producer/info.html?src=001010realhome_2,prdcrpl_082200,rabndl_080300,toolsmn_100600&mcc=001010realhome_2,prdcrpl_082200,rabndl_080300,toolsmn_100600
CurtC, that is strange, you are the first person to report this. I am assuming you do have the Codec installed? I believe that list is just a list of the available audio codecs. Maybe your codec displays a different title or you just don’t have the codec installed (although I find this unlikely) If you don’t have the codec I can email the program that installs it to you.