I just saw a tutorial - think it was one of BillyBoy's - can't remember where it was - about how to make a small box to reduce air movement, noise and room accoustics when doing voiceovers. It won't save a lousy microphone, but may bring out the best it has got to offer.

Tor

Before you run out and buy more equipment, be SURE your computer is processing audio input properly. I have EXCELLENT results with a "cheaper" microphone a Telex M-60 that cost me around $30. It is highly directional, has roughly a 12 inch length and about half inch in width. For lack of a better description it looks like a extra long thin groved banana. This mike is so sensitive that it picks up the sound of me breathing and swallowing if I'm too close to it.

My guess since I've seen several people write about poor audio input when trying to record directly into Vegas is either the sound card or mixer on your PC isn't set up properly or not working as it should.

The last couple computers I've build the motherboard has had built-in audio and like I said the results are excellent not just for input, output as well. Look on the Task Bar extreme lower right for a mixer control. Look for a record button which may be label REC or MIC or who knows what. Be sure the gain is set right on that slider switch. A too high a setting can be as bad or worse then a low setting. Also check if there is another setting that has a series of buttons on the output side. If there is one with MIC on that, that may be your problem. On a system I build for someone else if That slider was selected on top of the MIC on the record side the input worked but the feedback was horrible resulting is very poor sounding recordings, yet it had no effect otherwise on audio. Check too for various settings as to speaker configuration etc..

Once you're sure the mixer control is right, close down Vegas, locate and find Microsoft's build-in sound recorder applet. Try recording though it. If it too gives poor quality, surprise the culprit is Windows. I had that happen to me once also. I forget exactly, some specific sequence I had to do, relative to the drivers that came with the motherboard. While the audio was fine otherwise, recording through this computer until I reinstalled a needed DLL was horrible. Ever since, the quality is truly outstanding. You may need to hunt around on the web site of who ever made your sound card, motherboard. Again, if you're using XP some of the drivers that worked in other versions of Windows, don't work well or at all under XP. Sorry I got a little long winded. :-)

As usuall Billy thanks for the great advice

If you want great audio, use your cam-corder.

It has a 16bit a/d converter.

Plug your mic into it for reduced motor noise.

Like everything else in the video art/craft, recording narration tracks doesn't come easy. I've recorded narrations into Radio Shack microphones that have ended up on network television, (through a $100.00 radio shack mixer, and $75.00 cassette machine) and surprisingly, came out ok!... HOWEVER, in that situation, there were people involved who knew how to compensate for the cheap audio equipment.

If you're on a tight budget, and can't get better equipment, the things to look out for are:

1) The acoustic environment. Find a location that is not too "live" - not a lot of smooth walls which echo. A bathroom is a bad place to record, a living room with a lot of stuffed furniture is better. Also, pay careful attention to background noise -- you might need to turn off the furnace while you're recording. If you're recording into a computer, make sure you can't hear it in the background. If you have a decent mixer (The Berringer units are cost effective.) and a low-impedance microphone, you can ad an extension cord to get some distance from the computer.

2) Microphone placement. The microphone should be 3 to 12 inches from the narrator. If I'm in a "live" studio, the placement is usually about 4 inches away, if the studio is a "dead" room, the microphone is usually a foot or so. If the microphone is too close, you'll get a lot of popped "Ps", mouth noise, overload distortion, and a muffuled quality to the sound.

3) Talent. Every once-in-a-while, I end up working with production companies which, until I work for them, have relied on amatuer talent. I'm the first "professional" to record at their facility. At least a dozen times so far, the response has been "We always thought the sound problem was our equipment, what a difference! If you're using amatuer narrators, remember, they don't have the training or experience to bring to the project what a pro would.

4) Equipment IS important -- I sound much better recording into a $5000.00 Neuman microphone in a quater-million dollar studio, than I do in some guy's garage with a $50.00 microphone... knowing which compromises to make usually comes with experience -- however, by experimenting, you will get some of that experience.

Good luck,

Travis
Travis Voice Services ( www.announcing.biz )

Thanks Travis This helped a lot