Need Help/tips on making a radio drama with Goldwave.

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ghostvoice27
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2011 4:08 pm

Need Help/tips on making a radio drama with Goldwave.

Post by ghostvoice27 »

Hi everyone.
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I am planning to make a radio drama using Goldwave and Goldwave alone. Thing is, I'm sure how to use it properly. Don't get me wrong, I now that putting different audio clips from other people and putting them on one file is easy. The thing is, what do I look out for? Hums, noise, breathing? I'm not the most technical guy with Goldwave so there is so little I can understand with Goldwave. Heck I can't even understand the graph on the noise filter.

Another thing is combining the vocal cast with music. I want to put music but not in a way that the voices are trampled on by the background music. Or worse, the voices would become muted as the BG music comes in.

Help me guys.

Plus any other advice is much appreciated.
DougDbug
Posts: 2172
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:33 pm
Location: Silicon Valley

Re: Need Help/tips on making a radio drama with Goldwave.

Post by DougDbug »

The thing is, what do I look out for? Hums, noise, breathing?
Breathing is natural, as long as the actor is not breathing directly into the mic to the point where it gets distracting.

The mic input on a regular computer/soundcard is pretty-much worthless for quality recording.

1. You need a good mic. That means a low-impedance "performance" or "studio" mic with an XLR connector. A studio would normally use a "large diaphram condenser", but a good dynamic mic like the famous Shure SM58 would be acceptable.

2. A mixer or USB interface with XLR mic inputs. The output of the mixer goes to the computer's line-in. Ideally, each actor would have his/her own mic.

3. A quiet room that's acoustically non-reflective (a minimum number of hard walls).

4. Good microphone position (6"-12" from the speaker).

The best way to get a good signal-to-noise ratio is with a strong signal. If you have a slight amount of remaining hum or hiss, it can usually be filtered out.

Another thing is combining the vocal cast with music. I want to put music but not in a way that the voices are trampled on by the background music. Or worse, the voices would become muted as the BG music comes in.
GoldWave has a a couple of tools that might help.

When you mix with GoldWave, you can adjust the volume of the sound you are adding-in (from the clipboard), but you can't change the volume of the file you are mixing into.

When you mix, the digital samples are literally added (summed) together. This means you can get clipping (distortion). You can avoid clipping by Maximizing Volume after mixing and before saving.

AutoGain is an automatic volume control that you can apply to the voices before mixing-in the backgoround music.

Compression* can be applied before or after mixing-in background. This will give you a constantly-strong level.

Shape Volume can be handy for ramping up or down sections of sound. The trick is to keep the end-points at 0dB (no change) so tha tthe volulme doesn't suddenly change.

There is a Voice Over effect that adjusts the background music while mixing.
DewDude420
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Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2005 11:15 pm
Location: Washington DC Metro Area
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Re: Need Help/tips on making a radio drama with Goldwave.

Post by DewDude420 »

Having done similar things with Goldwave, I appreciate your entusiasm in wanting to try this.

However, expierence makes me give you warning; you'll find this is MUCH easier with a multitrack program.

Goldwave is great at what it does..it's a two-track editor. Yes, you can mix and paste in sounds, which in fact would allow you to produce a radio drama. The problem lies in the actual idea behind production. I'm guessing you've never produced a radio program before.

In the golden age of radio, programs were usually recorded "live", editing methods hadn't really evolved due to the use of disc transcription. They could mix takes, sure, but, the bulk of material was done in one take....then there's the ones that were done live. They only managed to get to that level by not only expierence, but rehearsal rehearsal rehearsal; every single detail was scriped and planned.

The problem you're going to face is if you decide, later on, that you want to change a sound effect or a line of dialog; if doing it in Goldwave you'll have to "undo" everything, make your change, then repeat everything. With multi-track, you can just move the blocks of audio around the track.

I feel the only way you're going to be successful is if you plan absolutely EVERYTHING out, then carefully mix/paste in Goldwave.

It can be done, but it will be a pain.
donrandall
Posts: 550
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2004 11:06 pm
Location: Denver, Colorado

Re: Need Help/tips on making a radio drama with Goldwave.

Post by donrandall »

You've just received some good information from some people who know their stuff.

I will add that much will depend on your willingness to experiment and learn. If you think you are just going to sit in front of the computer and everything will just happen on it's own, you will be disappointed.

I have discovered that many people want help until they discover that they will still have to do the work and they will have to pay attention and think about what they are doing.
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