Mic Placement for Podcasts/Audiobooks

15 years at the Mic

I've been so busy these past few days narrating the two audiobooks of my book series "Prissy Little Chloe". I've loved recording into a mic since I was really little -- except today I'm going to show you the proper way to self-record any vocals, podcasts or audiobooks.

Equipment

For starters, I recommend a USB mic, no more than $100. The best type is a cardiod (heart-shaped input) condenser mic. These are much more sensitive than diaphragm (stage) mics, perfect for home recording -- in a quiet place!

That's why treating the room with acoustic foam works great; but a quick and easy DIY hack is to use a blanket over your setup or record in a closet. If you can, record in a room with carpet.

A great entry-level mic I highly recommend is the Samson Meteor, which retails for $80. It's a USB mic that's extremely portable, as it has it's own fold-able mic stand and sounds professional.

Setup

Put your mic up in the center of your mouth, about 4-6" from your face, depending on your recording volume. Then plug the USB mic into your laptop or desktop computer. If you speak with a lot of plosives (hard consonants, especially "Ps" with a lot of air you can hear in the recording), put a pop filter on the mic.

Alternatively, you can put a piece of stocking over the mic. For the Samson Meteor, put the carrying bag that comes in the box, over it.

Make sure you are dead in the center of the mic! Wear lose clothing -- nothing that rattles! - don't chew gum or turn your head while your recording! Stay in the dead-center of the mic!

You also need a good pair of headphones, so you can hear yourself while your recording and while playing it back later, for edits.

Software

The best free recording software is Audacity -- but for those more experienced with DAWs, I suggest Pro Tools or Adobe Audition. These programs give you a visual wavefrom representation of sound input and are very easy to edit, master and export.

Most of all, be in love with voice-over and have fun with it!

Comments

Level Design in God of War (Part 1)

Becoming the God of War God of War is one of the most-critically acclaimed franchises to ever hit the Playstation market. In this pipeline deconstruction, I will refer to elements of the series as a whole. Dominus the main character in concept, needed to be summed up in a single word -- wrath . Covered in the ash of his wife and child, the character is a demigod who seeks revenge on the gods who betrayed him. Once the artists stripped away his armor and shield, the character’s true raw, animalistic side was exposed. Tall with upper-body musculature, covered in ashes and hunched over with his signature Blades of Chaos, Dominus was a force to be reckoned with. Dominus set the stage for the today’s Playstation mascot -- Kratos. Level Design Mood and exploration is a staple part of level design in God of War . Areas that are more open are also relatively barren; while many objects are placed around smaller areas like rooms. I think this encourages the player’s sense o...

Time Manipulation in Game Design

Time Manipulation in Games Introduction The gameplay mechanic that I wish I had come up with first, is Time Manipulation. This is includes the concept of time dilation and the reversal of time in games. Implementing the Manipulation of Time Time manipulation is a robust mechanic. It involves non-exploitable time manipulation, with the goal of being fast and smooth, while not computationally-taxing on memory or hardware resources. The best way to implement this mechanic can be seen in Braid - an indie platform and puzzle game, developed by Number None, Inc. In this game, the world state is recorded for every frame, where the data is stored and compressed. With the recorded frames, any changing entities are extracted and mixed into the final state, which can be manipulated or rewound by the player. The player’s position is recorded and other properties such as color and rotation are stored as an integer that can be reconstructed, along with time information taken fro...

Most Difficult Parts in Heavy Rain

Under Pressure In my experience, the most difficult button combination sequence in the game is when Norman Jayden must bring in a suspect for questioning, who goes by the name of Mad Jack. Jackson is said to have sold a used car to the Origami Killer and presumably has information on the killer identity or alias. When Jayden finds traces of human blood and orchid pollen, he tries to arrest Jack on the spot. He resists the arrest and goes to Kill Jayden — which he can if the player is not quick enough during the intense fight sequence. If Jayden survives the attack and beats Mad Jack, he concedes and Jayden proceeds with the arrest. It’s then Jayden’s nose begins to bleed, his eyes begin twitching and his hands start shaking uncontrollably in the middle of the arrest. To resist feeding his addiction to a drug called triptocaine, the player must hold down a series of buttons to stop his hands from shaking and the weakness from his symptoms of withdrawal. If the playe...

Prissy Little Chloe

Search This Blog