Dell Inspiron 6000/Home Studio 2002 Questions

Welcome

I think I can help on some of these.

1. First the microphone. Here I'm not so sure, but your low-impedence mic is not driving the high impedence mic input of the Sigma-Tel board. For this, you need a mic preamp. For you, the best thing you could do is to get a small Behringer mixer ($60 or so) that has a couple of mic preamps. This unit isn't great quality, but it's not horrible either -- plenty for you right now.

2. See 1 above

3. The delay. You want to monitor directly. In your manual, read about Direct Input Monitoring. You hear a delay because the computer is converting it to digital, processing it, coverting back to audio, and playing at you. You get a delay. But the software can create direct connection between input and output so that don't get a delay during recording.

4. Export to MP3. Yes, there's a number of free "trial" conversions that come with HS but when you've burned through them you have to pay.

Enjoy.

Aristotle...

Thanks for the tips...I thought maybe there was an impedance
issue...that's certainly worth further investigation.

I'm printing out the HS manual at work today...and will work on
the direct connection tonight.

MP3 Export...thought so...but $29.00 won't break the bank.

Regarding mail order companies...who (whom) do you like? I have a
Sweetwater catalog...they seem to have lots of stuff...and
brag extensively on their customer support.

Thanks!

Ray

ORIGINAL: ND8L

Papa...

Thanks for your words. If, wisdom is knowing what you don't
know...I'm the smartest guy on the Forum.

Bear with me here...

1) Do you have any specific recommendations for a mixer? The
one problem I see is that the Dell laptop only has a mike input and
headphone output...I may need to go back to the desktop and
replace the soundcard!?

If you have a USB or FireWire port you can get an external soundcard such as the M-Audio Audiophile USB . Then there are options such as the TASCAM US122 which is a compact mixer and USB computer interface. It act as a "soundcard" for your laptop. There are many affordable options available to you in this area. You will have to make your final decision(s) based on your budget and what your actual needs are.

BTW, many of the equipment recommendations I post links to are from Sweetwater.com so I should add that I do NOT work for them, I am not affiliated with them in any way whatsoever other than the fact that I have purchased a good deal of equipment and DAW software apps & plugs from them and have never been disappointed. I have also used Music123.com & other online music e-tailers, but Sweetwater is my first choice because I have consistently received excellent customer service from them.

2) Do you think there's any merit in purchasing a small mixer with
digital recording capability...and transferring that file to the PC
via USB or Smart Card and editing in HS?

For broadcast applications the TASCAM US122 should suffice. If you decide to expand into music applications such as recording soundtracks for HDTV programs and/or film productions, music video editing, CD/DVD mixing and/or mastering, etc., you would definitely want to upgrade to a mixer with more capabilities. I see no reason to do so based on what your immediate needs seem to be.

3. Yep...thought that deal about "plugging in the microphone and
then magic..." was a bit too easy. Blessed are those who expect
nothing...they shall not be disappointed.

At least you learned something from that...

4. Actually, I've been doing voice-overs for about thirty years. I've
been out of the broadcast side of the biz since 1984...worked for
WDVE in Pittsburgh (ABC O&O) and KDKA as a weekend jock
while in grad school. That being said...up 'til now...I've just stood
in front of a mike and talked. Now...two of the studios I work for
would like me to cut my own audio and e-mail to them.

Herein lies a bit of a problem (not insurmountable)...HS is not the ideal DAW program for audio editing. A more appropriate DAW for extensive editing apps is Adobe Audition...(Apologies to the fine folks at CW and their diehard fans)...

You mentioned exporting your audio tracks to MP3...Is that due to file size limitations of the e-mail servers you & the studios use? If so, you should consider sending them raw data files of the audio; they can then (depending on their DAW software) convert the raw data file to wav files and have no lossy-compression issues (what MP3 is)...

5. Any recommendation for reading material you could pass along would
be appreciated.

A good place to start is TWEAKHEADZ.COM for basic info on home studio setups. Hard copy books such as THIS ONE, or THIS ONE, or THIS ONE, or THIS ONE can offer a great deal of assistance in getting your studio setup up & running.

You should also make sure your system is "tweaked" for audio apps...To learn more go to THIS SITE and follow the instructions. Your audio applications will run much more efficiently.

Glad you came through the storms ok...my son lives in Sarasota with his
Mom...I have a feeling I'm going to be lighting a lot of candles this season.

I hope they remain safe and sound during the storm season...I will keep you (and them) in my thoughts and prayers.

If you have any more questions about your endeavors, let us know.

Regards,
Papa

ND8L,

Glad I could be of assistance in any small way...You seem to have the "want to" that it will take to get "up to speed" with this wonderful technology...I wish you well in your learning experience!

Regards,
Papa

I've never heard anyone talk about lossless audio compression like shn or flac on this forum - does anyone use these?

Lots of people use shn and flac for sharing files over the web. But I think most people are interested in putting stuff on an MP3 player or posting songs on the web. SHN and FLAC files are still pretty big, too big for quick downloads. Most people are interested in posting files that can be opened quickly and easily in a web browser - thus MP3.

If you're into collaboration, sending BUN files around is probably the best way to go. All the audio in a BUN file is compressed, similar to SHN or FLAC.