microphone question

[this_is_the_real_me17]

hi guys! i decided i wanted to try my hand at over dubbing a few clips from my dvds to create parodys. i dug up my headset with microphone and wondered if it will work for dubbing. i wasn't sure if the quality would be all that great or not. is there a certain brand any of you would recommend? and if anyone could help me out with a better dubbing guide than the animemusicvideos.org one, could you post any tips? please let me know!

this_is_the_real_me17

[Scintilla]

hi guys! i decided i wanted to try my hand at over dubbing a few clips from my dvds to create parodys. i dug up my headset with microphone and wondered if it will work for dubbing. i wasn't sure if the quality would be all that great or not. is there a certain brand any of you would recommend?

I've got a Realistic cardioid that my father used to use when he was a DJ, and I managed to find an adapter that lets it plug into my Sound Blaster Audigy. It's worked quite well for me in the past (including the original trailer parodies I've done voices for). But he would know more about mikes than I do.

I'd recommend finding a mike with the widest frequency response range you can get. Personally, I'm a bass, and the lowest note I can consistently sing is about 70 Hz, so if I was shopping for a mike for personal recordings, I'd want one that could pick up frequencies at least as low as about 50-60 Hz to be safe.

It also pays to have a good sound card. When I upgraded from an integrated sound card (Realtek Avance AC97) to the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy I have now, there was a <i>significant</i> decrease in hiss and noise when recording.

and if anyone could help me out with a better dubbing guide than the animemusicvideos.org one, could you post any tips? please let me know!

The Org has a guide to dubbing? Wait, are you talking about the lip synch guide?

[this_is_the_real_me17]

and if anyone could help me out with a better dubbing guide than the animemusicvideos.org one, could you post any tips? please let me know!

The Org has a guide to dubbing? Wait, are you talking about the lip synch guide?[/quote]

oh, sorry! i made a mistake there. but do you have tips on dubbing? if so, please let me know!

[Scintilla]

All right, here's some tips:

Run your recordings through a noise removal/reduction filter and a dynamic range compressor before adding them into your project (but of course, keep the original files around as well as the filtered ones). Programs like Cool Edit Pro/Adobe Audition have such filters; it turns out that so does Audacity (the free, open source alternative). The value of noise removal/reduction is obvious, while the dynamic range compressor will make the overall level of each line more even, bringing the quieter parts of the words more into line with the louder parts and making it easier to hear everything.

Watch your levels when you're mixing the recorded lines with your background music. If the audio starts clipping, you might want to take the volume down until it doesn't anymore. Whatever program you're using to mix the audio should have a clipping indicator somewhere that lights up when the audio goes above the limit.

And here's one I loved to shove down Voices of Ryan's throat:
When you've got everything mixed together and are ready to export, please, please <b>NORMALIZE THE AUDIO</b>. If it's still too quiet after that, then <s>Hot</s> hard limit the sucker. Again, this is something programs like Adobe Audition can do; I've never seen it work right with Audacity, but they may have fixed that since last I tried it.

[this_is_the_real_me17]

thanks for the tips!