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Recording on your home computer has never been easier to do than it is today. With the speed of the modern day computer you can do some pretty neat things with your recordings. Modern technology will take you a long way toward success but you still need to understand what is going on if you want to have a great recording. It does not take all that much computer recording studio equipment to have a nice little setup.

To record on your computer you will need a few essential items. You must start out with a powerful computer that has a pretty decent soundcard. The next step is to go shopping for the software you need to actually get the sound inside your computer. You will find a decent set of headphones handy to have around and the most important thing you need is a good microphone. This article will take a look at these items and how they relate to home recording on a computer.

You cannot do much computer recording without a computer. Almost any modern day system will get the job done. The faster CPU and the more memory you have the better. Many people like to build a special computer just for recording purposes. This may be overkill if you only want to record one or two tracks at a time. Next you need to add a good soundcard or audio interface to your system.

There are many choices you can make when picking out a soundcard or external audio interface. You do not have to spend a lot of money to get a decent sound but usually the more expensive brands have some features that you may need. It is wise to search the Internet and forums to see what people are saying about the different soundcards before spending your hard earned money.

You will need to get some recording software to add to your computer recording studio equipment. There are many brands to choose from the free Audacity to programs costing a lot of money. If your recording needs are simple you can probably get by with one of the cheaper packages. On the other hand if you want to record a band you will probably need to spend a few more bucks on one of the more expensive software programs.

Add a microphone to this must have equipment list and you will almost be done. Get the best mike you can afford as the quality of this piece of equipment has much to do with the final sound of your project.

The last thing you will need to complete a basic set up is a set of headphones so you can hear what is being recording. Get a decent set but you can get by ok with a simple pair of headphones.

As you can see you do not have to spend a lot of money on computer recording studio equipment to get started recording on your home computer. Take your time and choose your equipment carefully and you will not have to go this again in 6 months when you have figured out that the cheap stuff you bought just is not getting the job done.

For more information on how to use a computer for recording try visiting http://www.create-streaming-audio.com where you will find tips, advice and resources about topics such as recording equipment for computer home studios .

Hard Disk / Computer-Based Recording

One of the biggest trends in recent audio production has been to merge digital audio with computer technology to create a samplebased approach to sound recording. The encoding of audio data into digital memory or onto a storage medium provides us with a means for storing or manipulating defined blocks of digital data. This data can be stored as a soundfile such as .wav, .aiff or SDII.

Perhaps the most important difference that can be distinguished between a tape-based system (digital or analogue) and samplebased recording system is random access. Random access production refers to the fact that digital audio can be stored within a random access memory (RAM), or a disk based memory medium in such a way that the data can - virtually instantaneously - be accessed, processed, or reproduced in any order at any point in time.

Once developers began to design updated sample editor software, it was discovered that through additional processing hardware, digital audio editors were capable of recording digitized audio directly to a computer’s hard disk. These devices, sometimes known as digital audio workstations (DAW), serve as computer based hardware and software packages that are intended specifically for the recording, manipulation, and reproduction of digital audio that resides on hard disk.

Commonly, such devices are designed around and controlled by a standard personal computer with the addition of a sound card which provides the input and output interaction with the computer.

There are multiple advantages to using digital audio workstations in an audio production environment.

- The capability to handle longer sound files. Hard disk recording is limited only by the size of the hard disk itself (commonly one minute of stereo recording at 44.1 kHz occupies 10.5 MB of hard disk memory or 5MB / track minute).

- Random Access editing. As audio is recorded on the hard disk, any point within the program can be accessed at any time, regardless of the order in which it was recorded.

- Nondestructive editing allows audio segments (often called regions) to be placed in any order, manipulated in any fashion without changing the originally recorded sound file in any way.

- DSP. Digital signal processing can be performed on a segment or entire sound file in either real time or non-real time in a nondestructive fashion.

- In addition to these advantages, computer-based digital audio devices serve to integrate many of the tasks related to both digital audio and MIDI production. Many DAW’s are capable of importing, processing, and exporting sound files into formats such as mp3 or Real Players G2.

Recording Techniques

FILTERS
Also known as equalization or EQ, filters are used to increase or decrease the level in a specific range of audio frequencies. The most common filters are the simple bass and treble controls found on inexpensive stereo systems, which act on a broad range of frequencies. But other filters are designed to surgically boost or cut very narrow bands of the audio spectrum.

SHELVING FILTERS
As the simplest form of filter, shelving EQ boosts or cuts all frequencies above or below a fixed frequency. A bass shelving filter, also called a low-pass filter, boosts or cuts everything below its fixed center frequency. Likewise a treble shelving filter, also called a high-pass filter, boosts or cuts everything above its fixed center. A single control typically adjusts the amount of boost or cut.

These filters are useful for making broad changes like reducing boomy bass and wind noise. But encoders can easily be overloaded by too much bass or treble, so it’s often wisest to use these filters to cut high and low frequencies to prevent artifacts.

BANDPASS FILTERS
These filters can be used to boost or cut audio on both sides of a center frequency. Bandpass filters are commonly used as midrange filters, because they have little effect on either high or low frequencies. The familiar graphic equalizer is just a set of bandpass filters tuned to different center frequencies.

More sophisticated versions, called sweepable bandpass filters, have an additional control allowing you to change the center frequency. Bandpass filters are useful for increasing the intelligibility of a speaker without increasing hiss or background noise. A variation of the bandpass filter is the notch filter, which boosts or cuts all frequencies except those around the center frequency.

PARAMETRIC FILTERS
A parametric filter is a bandpass filter with an additional control to adjust the width of the frequency band being effected (fig. 3). These are the surgical tools of audio editing. They can be used to eliminate just the noise from an air conditioner, while having a minimal effect on the rest of the audio.

With all filters it’s important to follow the audio engineer’s first rule of EQ — cut rather than boost wherever possible. Cutting undesired sounds is always less obtrusive, and boosting too much can make a track too loud and lead to distortion and artifacts when encoding.

COMPRESSORS
A compressor’s basic function is to reduce the dynamic range of an audio recording, which is the difference between the loudest and softest sounds that pass through the recording chain. Simply put, a compressor is a processor whose output level increases at a slower rate as its input level increases.

By reducing the volume of the loudest sounds, a compressor lets you raise the level of the entire audio track, making it all sound louder than it actually is. Compression can be a big help in achieving intelligible audio tracks with a more uniform volume that will survive the encoding process.

A compressor consists of a level detector that measures the incoming signal, and an an amplifier whose gain is controlled by the level detector.

A Threshold control sets the level at which compression begins. Below the threshold, the compressor acts like a straight piece of wire. But when the input level reaches the Threshold, then the compressor begins reducing its output level by an amount determined by the Ratio control.

The Ratio control establishes the proportion of change between the input and output levels. If you set the compression Ratio to 2:1, then when the input signal gets twice as loud, the output signal will increase by only half.

If you set the Ratio to its maximum (10:1 or more), the the compressor becomes a “limiter” that locks the maximum level at the Threshold.

While a compressor can level out a recording, high levels of compression can also introduce artifacts including “pumping”, in which there is an audible up and down change in volume of a track, or “breathing”, which sounds like someone breathing as the background noise level goes up and
down.

EXPANDERS
An expander is the opposite of a compressor. As the level of the audio signal gets louder, the expander’s amplifier turns up further making loud signals even louder. An expander can be used to reduce noise in a process called downward expansion. In this case you set the Threshold just above the level of background noise. The expander will then raise the volume of everything above the Threshold, but won’t change anything below the Threshold, thereby lowering the perceived background noise.

NORMALIZING
Normalizing increases the gain of the audio file until its loudest point (or sample) is at maximum level. The overall signal level is now higher, which makes for clearer audio, and also gives the encoder more bits of data to work with and reduces encoding artifacts. The only downside of normalizing is that it increases the noise as well as the audio signal so it should be used carefully. It should be your last step before encoding, and you may not need it at all.

Stephanie Ciccarelli is the VP of Marketing with Voices.com, the voice over marketplace hosting more than 10,000 professional voice talents. Stephanie is also the author of The Definitive Guide To Voice-Over Success.

Today you can purchase Mp3 portable players in many different styles that can play many hours of music all stored in a small compact package much smaller and more portable than the Walkman. These portable players use digital technology to shrink down the size of the music file so you can store more songs in less space. When you own an Mp3 portable player you can literally carry around your entire music collection wherever you go. A modern day portable Mp3 player continues its evolution from being a plain audio player into a fantastic modern day device.

It is still somewhat amazing that you can take all of your music everywhere you go in something so small. Some Mp3 players are about the size of a matchbook while the larger sizes may be about the size of a pack of cigarettes. With so many songs stored in something so small you may think you will have a hard time finding the music you want to play. Most of the players have a very simple clear way to find your song you want to play and as a bonus some of the popular brands include FM radio and a voice recorder.

The development of tiny hard-disk drives allows these Mp3 portable players to store a lot of music making it possible to save entire music collections onto a digital audio player at a reasonable cost. The other type of storage is flash memory, which is usually smaller and often does have as much storage capacity as the models with hard drives. For the more active type of person often a flash type storage device is a better fit because it is smaller and sometimes more robust.

Deciding which type of Mp3 player to purchase is often a hard choice because there are so many different makes and models. You need to do your homework before making a decision on the right model for you. It would be wise to read as many different reviews as you can. Compare prices and features and get in your head what features you want and need. Check out as many web sites as you can and possibly read something like Consumer Reports to get information you can rely on.

The simple Mp3 portable players continue to grow every month. It has gone from something to listen to music on into a full-blown media center. As time goes on you can expect this evolution to thrive. With modern technology growing every day the compression rates of audio and video is sure to improve. This is an exciting time to make the move into digital technology.

For more information on how to find the MP3 player that is right for you.
try visiting http://www.streamingaudio101.com where you will find tips, advice and resources about topics such as the top ten ipod stereo accessories.

It is quite easy to have a conference call go awry. All it needs is a lack of adequate planning. Sure, Conference calls are easy to make, involve less physical effort (through traveling), and save time. However, on the flip side, a conference call that is badly managed will surely be a disaster. Just as in a regular meeting, everybody has to be informed, and everybody must come on time. If you thought reaching a meeting late was bad business etiquette, so is being late for a conference call. After all, it is simply a meeting in a different incarnation.

Moreover, the fact that a conference call does not require the physical presence of every participant in a single room is at once a disadvantage. If you thought controlling people within your reach was a handful, just try doing it from a country away. After all, there is no need for the people to pay attention, and they are likely to get bored because the element of personal touch is not as strong.

It is easy to call this one of the major disadvantages of a conference call and leave it at that. But then, what is the point of a meeting that does not get the participants enthused at all? There are several ways in which one can pep up a conference call. For instance, it helps to give clear instructions to participants before the conference begins. Then, it is necessary not to confuse them by making too many people act as host. It would be a better idea to choose a single host and let him do most of the talking.

Of course, there is no point in having a conference call if it is going to be one-sided. A conference necessitates the participation of the various delegates. The purpose of any conference is to seek some kind of a consensus even among different groups of people. So, it is essential to get each of the delegates to pitch in once the basic presentation has been made.

One way to do this is to have a clear-cut agenda and to communicate this to the conference call delegates beforehand. This would give the delegates some time to prepare, collect their thoughts, form opinions, and enrich the conference call. The fact that it is a call, makes it all the more difficult to grab the attention of the participants. If you happen to be hosting a conference call, make sure that you know exactly how you can make the conference richer and livelier.

Ajeet Khurana recommends Conference Calls, Conference Call, International Conference Call.

I always associate corporate culture with suits and ties in high summer, and with unending business meetings. I always picture these meetings being held in an air-conditioned conference room with a long rectangular table where the delegates are seated, some attentive, others bored, yet others thinking about the lunch hour. One person or two people at a time stand up to give a presentation, complete with graphs, charts, and statistics. Thereafter, there are questions, debates, arguments, and sometimes a conclusion. Finally, everyone files out towards the cafeteria.

Of course, these days, it is no longer necessary to have those really long tables at a conference room, thanks to the development of methods like conference calls and web conferencing. These are used increasingly frequently by corporate organizations to overcome the hurdles put up by time and space.

These days organizations that offer services to facilitate conference calls have been becoming increasingly competitive. And why shouldn’t they? As demand for conferencing rises, so too will the supply, and everybody wants to prove that they are the best. So each conference call service provider tries to provide better service. So you can get CDs recording all that took place in the discussion. Also, the person hosting the conference call usually has access to a number of features that may be used to better the conference.

Perhaps I am being old-fashioned when I say that nothing can replace the good old days when every conference delegate was within touching distance. I am not convinced that the personal touch element can be achieved through conference calls. Can a conference call really be a good enough substitute?

Then again, conferencing is quite a cost effective way of getting one’s employees together. The organization no longer has to spend as much on travel expenses to get people from far and wide to attend a meeting at a tiny portion of the globe. All it takes is a little expense on the technology involved, a little planning, and a conference call can be conducted with great ease. With a little practice, even those that are not what one might call technologically savvy, will soon be successfully having meetings with people who are continents away.

However, as with the meetings prior to conference calls, one can never really count on having everyone’s mind on the job. That more than one mind will be wandering elsewhere, is guaranteed. Even with all our progress, the development of humanoid robots, cloned sheep and so on, we have yet to learn how to go about controlling people’s minds.

Read Conference Calling Features, Planning Conference Calls, Conference Call Controls.

Your voice is your instrument and is also the main component of your business.

That being said, it is crucial that you find the right teacher for you to study with as the decision made will directly impact the outcome of your goals.

For our purposes, I am going to assume that you are a working professional or are on the brink of starting out as a novice voice actor who wants to study with a teacher to aid in the preparation of recording a voice over demo.

While a great deal of your success is reliant upon your actions and level of dedication a significant amount of weight is held where private study with a teacher of voice over is concerned.

We’ve all had teachers along the way, whether in public school or through private lessons, who have had left an imprint on our perspectives, goals, and potentially the directions taken in our lives.

Teachers have the ability to inspire or to deter depending on how you interpret their methodology, or bedside manner if you will.

This is why you need to select the best fit for you as a student of voice over to succeed.

For every person, there is most definitely an instructor who can open you up, develop, and refine your skills. The challenge is finding these individuals and having the ambition and humility to become a student of voice over.

Depending on your needs and aspirations, you will discover that certain coaches will make a better fit for you than others, particularly if you are working within a niche of voice over. The narrower your niche, the fewer qualified coaches there will be that meet your needs.

What do I mean by that?

Let’s say you are specifically interested in studying with a teacher of audiobook narration.

Now let’s add a few variables:

This teacher also needs to have at least 20 years experience, lives within a two to three hour drive of your home, and is a voice acting specialist in the field of audiobooks.

That’s not even hitting on personality, teaching style, or educational facility.

To be certain you will have your own set of criteria that will need to be met that may be completely different from the example I’ve used above.

More options are opened up to you if you are interested in studying over the phone, Internet, or through reading books, so keep those avenues in mind if you cannot locate someone within a 200 mile radius of your home.

After you’ve settled on what your criteria is for studying with a voice over coach, it’s time to start doing some research.

My advice is to ask your colleagues about their experiences with a particular coach (one with whom they train with on a regular basis) and get the inside scoop from them on why they love studying with their teacher.

They’ll have specific reasons why they chose and continue to work with the coach they are presently training with.

Don’t just ask one of their students, though, ask several.

Each person will have their own unique reasons for studying with that coach and you may also find that students in a given studio share similar thoughts on why studying with them has improved their performance.

What to look for in a voice over coach?

- Honesty and Integrity
- A Genuine Interest in You
- Positive Referrals from Past and Current Students
- Recognized by their Peers
- Education and Degrees
- Practical Experience
- National or International Credits for Voice Work
- Awards Won
- Community Involvement
- Good Business Ethics

One of the ways that the team at Voices is assisting you to find voice over coaches is by offering the Voice Over Experts Podcast.

Each week, you’ll have the opportunity to freely sample the teaching style and expertise of a different voice over expert, helping you to learn more about the instructor before making a commitment to study with them.

You’ll also find that each coach has provided a biography for you to review and a link has been provided to their websites directly from the Voice Over Experts website making it easy for you to peruse a variety of voice over experts and acquire more information.

Now that you have the tools to find a voice over coach, you can start your quest to voice over excellence.

Stephanie Ciccarelli is the VP of Marketing with Voices.com, the leading voice actor web service hosting more than 10,000 professional voice actors. Stephanie is also the author of The Definitive Guide To Voice-Over Success.

Do you want to be the NEXT Amazon in new special niche; Audio Books Did you know that audio books are becoming more and more popular by each day? For example, in 2004, over $124 million worth of audio books were sold in the UK and $120 million in Germany during 2005. Experts say that this year the market is expected to rise by 20% in Europe, and audio books seem to be even more popular in the USA.

According to the report from digital trends, research firm iSuppli is predicting that shipments of MP3 players are expected to rise by nearly a factor of four from 2004 to 2009 which means total MP3 player shipments will expand to 132 million units in 2009, rising at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 29.1% from 36.8 million units in 2004.

The audio books industry is the next big thing to watch out for.

But why are audio versions a convenient way to “read” a book?

1) You save time, because you can listen to an audio book anywhere and everywhere, and you can even do other things at the same time. You can listen when driving to and from work, when walking the dog, cycling, working around the house or at the computer, exercising, and so on. The possibilities are endless.

According to a recent survey, in the USA a person is driving an average of 1 hour and 13 minutes daily, which means over 440 hours a year for each driver, or 11 full-time work weeks. This is huge! Imagine how many things you could learn during this time by simply having your MP3 player with audio books at hand.

2) If you love reading but don’t have a enough time, audio books can give you the opportunity to read many more books that you would otherwise have time for. Audio books are a great way to fill the “dead” moments we all have in our lives.

3) Audio books are good for older, ill or recovering people and can be a wonderful gift for someone in a nursing institution. This is a gift they can remember and enjoy time after time.

4) Audio books can be a blessing for blind people, disabled people or people with impaired vision. Everyone should have the chance to experience and enjoy a book and in many cases, this is the only way for such persons to do it.

Spoken books can help these people improving their education, help them developing new hobbies and habits and greatly enriching their life, both personally and professionally.

5) The most important skill a child can ever acquire is probably the ability to read, and audio books can be easily used to stimulate literacy in children. Books can be listened to by children while following the story in the paper book. Or they could listen just to gain and improve vocabulary and communication skills. If you want to instill in your child the love of reading, audio books can be a excellent start.

There are many more benefits of using audio books, but even these few reasons should be enough to convince you to enter the exciting world of the spoken books.

You can select a vast range of audio books from the following categories:
Arts & Drama Biography Business Crime & Thrillers Fiction Foreign Language Study Health & Recreation History Humor Juvenile Misc Radio Shows Religion & Spiritual Self Help TV & Film!

To check out how you can listen to some of the #1 best seller books, visit www.merlionaudio.com
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