[tstanford]

I am new to audio editing. i downloaded audacity and i figured out how to record a file from my digital voice recorder..but when i play it back it doesn't sound right..i have looked through the help files and cant seem to find what i need. my goal is to just clean up the track a little and boost the voice...please any help would be saving a life here.

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This may be of some use.

http://www.makeuseof...rded-interview/

[Wolfeymole]

This may be of some use.

http://www.makeuseof...rded-interview/

[tstanford]

It might be very helpful, however, when i play back what i recorded from the voice recorder, it sounds distorted or garbled, if you will, it is not the conversation, it is a bunch of noise and i have played around with it to at least get to play back the same as the dvr with no changes, but i haven't been able to do that. i think i will need to have someone walk me through. is it a possibility that i should have used something else to upload to the computer and then imported the file? I just assumed that recording directly from the source was the best way. im a little aggravated because i only need to figure out how to clean up this one file and i will not need to use it again. maybe i should use something a little more simple? i am really overwhelmed because it seems like this is more complicated than what i thought it would be.

[Wolfeymole]

Did you make the recording in a noisy atmosphere?

It may well be that DV Recorder does not cut the mustard so to speak, is not up for the job in other words.

One can only do so much using Audacity as against professional equipment.

[tstanford]

no..there is some background noise but not a lot...some humming that i know can be cut out. I guess to put it in simpler terms, what audacity recorded is not understandable when i play it back, it's distorted or garbled. So there is nothing to work with. I can't clean up anything because I can't hear the difference between the voice and the other sounds. If it played back the way it at least sounds on the recording I could try something but figuring out how to get it to do that has been difficult. One thing is that I have to slow the playback speed down to almost nothing to see if i can hear the sounds.

[Wolfeymole]

To me Audacity can only work with what it is fed and the program is free so there are limitations.

If you're serious about audio editing then you may wish to look at Cubase as it's the nearest thing to a professional sound studio mixing deck.

http://www.steinberg...base/start.html

[tstanford]

I only need to clean up this one conversation. So I want to say that i think it is not working for me because I am not doing something right during the recording process. I recorded by using the headphone jack on recorder to mic-in on laptop. There is no line-in option.

[Wolfeymole]

Well that procedure was correct of course but please allow me to ask if the DVR has an option to fit or attach an external mic rather than use the onboard one as it were?

[tstanford]

yes apparently it does.it is a sony icd-bx112

[Wolfeymole]

Very well then I would suggest buying a high quality mic and use that when recording things of this nature.

I mean look at the broadcast sound guys with the muffler mics when they are interviewing some obscure MP and the traffic is passing by.

[tstanford]

i will not be recording again. the recording i want to clean up a little is a one time deal. Thank you very much for your time and diligence but I think i am not going to be able to do what i need.

[Wolfeymole]

You're more than welcome mate.

[GKW]

Hi tstanford!
Have you tried to record your voice using other software?
Since you are looking for a one time deal, you could install a trial version of another software to record your voice and then you can edit in Audacity!
Doing a quick google search, i found these software that you could probably use to record your voice -->

http://www.nch.com.au/recordpad/index.html
http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/index.html

Also to reduce extra noise while recording you can reduce your Microphone boost settings to 0.
To do this:-
1) Right click on the volume button in your tray.
2) Select "Recording Devices"
3) Under Recording devices, select you active microphone. (Just speak into your microphone and see which of the microphones show activity).
4) Select your active microphone, double click on it and go to the "Levels" tab.
5) Over there you can adjust your Microphone boost settings.
Though after reducing your boost you may have to speak a bit louder into the microphone.

Also, while using audio recording software i suggest you save it in .wav format, work/edit the .wav file and when done, then convert to mp3.
Hope it works for you! Best of luck!