Resources

Here are some recommendations for software and hardware to get you started.

Software:

Where possible, download a demo version of any software that you’re interested in. You’ll usually get a 30 day period to try the programme out, which should be enough to get a basic idea of how it works. Make sure you feel comfortable using it, and that it does everything you want.
This is, of course, a bit difficult in the beginning, as you’re unlikely to be familiar enough with the basic concepts to know if something is missing! So here are some things to look for, that I think are really important:

• cross fade editing – when you cut something out of an audio recording, you can sometimes get a noticeable change in the sound where the bits of remaining audio join together. A cross-fade smooths out the join and makes it (mostly) un-noticeable.
• comes with some basic plug-ins, especially compression, limiting, and eq (equalisation or tone controls),
• easy to zoom right in and out of the waveform. This is really important when you’re trying to find the right place to edit. Some programmes make this quite fiddly, and it’s something that you’re going to be doing a lot of so it needs to be quick and easy.

Multitrack recording:

Reaper is a full featured audio recording programme, but you can use it as a basic recorder and editor as well. Why would you want to do that? Because as you get better and more familiar with recording and editing, you’ll quickly find yourself outgrowing a more simple programme. This one gives you room to grow! And it’s very inexpensive for home use.

Stereo recorder/editor:

If you are completely sure that you’re only going to be doing voice recording and editing (ie, not adding sound effects or music links), then a simple stereo recorder/editor may well be sufficient to your needs

On the Mac, there’s a basic entry level version of the professional software Peak available  , as well as the simpler Fission and Wiretap Studio.
On the PC, have a look at  Acoustica , which looks like a very good application, and perhaps SoundRecorder .

Editing/mastering:

The following programmes are primarily for editing and mastering stereo audio. You won’t need these when you start out (and in fact you may never need them!), but I’ve included them here for reference.

Mac – Peak. There are several versions of Peak, entry level and full featured ; Wave Editor takes a somewhat different approach. If you”re thinking of buying either of these, try them out to see which approach you prefer.

PC - WaveLab and Sound Forge

Cross-platform – Adobe Soundbooth CS4

Plugins:

Plug-ins are small programmes that live inside your main audio editor, that add lots of different functionality. Your software will probably include a range of different effects such as compressors, equalisers, delays and reverb. When you’re ready to move up to something more sophisticated, I highly recommend iZotope’s software. There’s Alloy and Ozone for improving the sound, and RX for getting rid of background noises and so on.

Hardware:

The simplest method of recording your voice is to use a USB microphone, which plugs directly into one of the USB slots on your computer. The disadvantage of this is that only one will work at once (at least on the Apple Mac) – this means that if you want to do an interview, you both have to sit fairly close to the one mic.

USB mics:

Blue Snowball,  Samson G-Track , SE Electronics USB 1000A are all good (and get progessively more expensive). A lot of people use the Blue, and are very happy with it – it also looks cool!

The alternative is to use an audio interface. There are various ways of connecting these (USB, FireWire, sound card), but the simplest for the beginner is probably a USB interface such as the PreSonus AudioBox USB Portable 2×2 USB Recording System

Presonus also make very high end interfaces, and so the technology trickles down to the entry level products. Their microphone pre-amplifiers (a very important part of the input chain) are renowned for their quality, and I’ve found their software drivers (the little programmes that connect the interface to your computer software) are very reliable.

Mobile Recording:

At some point, you may want to record away from home. The easiest way to do this is to use a pocket recorder. I wouldn’t recommend using the kind of recorder that business people use for taking voice memos and recording meetings. Get a prosumer device such as the Edirol R-09HR or the Samson Zoom H4 (or H2).