Your AWESOME Recording "Studio" (What do you have?)

My set-up includes a USB podcasting mic that has served me so well. I actually use Cool Edit software, which I believe was swallowed whole by Adobe and later became Audition.

For noise reduction, there are a few things you can try to get that "studio" sound.

I found a canvas screen - like a room divider - and I put it up on the back of my desk, folding the ends forward so they were on the sides of the desk - made basically a little canvas booth. I've found this makes the sound a lot richer.

There's another technique used by indie movie producers where you hang a bunch of comforter's up in the bathroom and record in the tub (sans water of course) but that's a little complicated. The canvas trick works really well.

Always, always record at least 10 seconds of silence. This will give you a good selection of your ambient background noise. So, turn the mic on, wait ten seconds or more and then begin speaking.

When you're done, select that ten second space, and use that to build your noise reduction profile. This will make a huge difference in the final audio product. The key is really finding that perfect amount of noise reduction where the background noise is muffled, but you don't sound tinny.

Hope that helps!
CS

I also record the background/theme music using Garageband. And I use IMovie to create and edit my DVD's, Toast Titanium to burn them.

My studio? It's a green flannel sheet hung in front of my file cabinets. With one light to the side, two lights in front and slightly right, and daylight [I only tape on sunny days] on my other side.

I set my laptop on a heavy-duty music stand, adjust the height and tape using my Mac's built-in camera and mic.

Works so far,
Dot