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Recording Speech with GarageBand 2009
After burning some time to play around with GarageBand 2009, I got a new skill to share with you all in this article: recording speech.
Although it sounds simple, there are many hidden tricks to get clean and nice recorded speech. Hope this article can help you in your future speech recording.
Switching to Audio Line-In Port
By using Audio Line-In Port, you will be able to record the sound right from the microphone, reducing most of noise from environment.
Here are the steps to switch to line-in port:
- Open System Preferences…
- Click on the speaker icon to go inside Sound Preferences Pane
- Choose the Input tab and switch the device for sound input to Line In
- You can check the changes by connecting microphone to your Mac and observe the input level (sound will be taken in only if you speak to the mic)
Recording with GarageBand
Upon launching GarageBand, you will be asked to choose what type of recording you want to make. In the case of recording speech, choosing Voice from the menu will be the most suitable.
Since we are not going to record a song, you can choose anything for the tempo.
After going into the Editor Window, these things are essential to record speech with GarageBand (instead of recording song):
- Turn off Metronome (command-u)
- Switch to record with No Effects from Track Info Pane on the right side of the window
- Change Input Source accordingly. For my MacBook, it's Mono 1 (Built-in Input)
- Enable Automatic Level Control by ticking the checkbox
- Display Timer in LCD instead of Measures by choosing Control → Show Time in LCD (command-shift-f)
After setting up all the essentials, you can start the recording by pressing R to record and Space to pause.
Consider the recording has finished here, let's move on to next step.
Enhancing the Result
Though we have done many preventions to omit the noise, some may still be present in our speech recording. Thus, we need to add some effects to make our speech recording crystal clear.
To add a new effect, open Track Info Pane, go to Edit tab and Click on the empty spot that says, "Click here to add an effect".
Speech Enhancer
This effect is very useful in reducing noise. Not only it has the preset to suit female/male voice, but also it can be stacked in the case of having loud noise.
To manually set the effect, just click on the icon and a new pane will appear right in front of you.
Bandpass Filter
Some people might have annoying high-pitch voice; Some might have boring low-pitch voice. You can adjust it with GarageBand by using AUBandpass.
For this, it's essential to use manual adjustment: use your hearing ability and adjust the slider of center frequency. Note that I usually use around 600Hz (different speakers use different center frequency).
Until this point, you should be able to remove most of unwanted noise. And the next step is to export the recording.
Exporting to MP3 Format
To save your recording in MP3 format, choose Menu Bar → Share → Send Song to iTunes.
In the appearing pane, use MP3 Encoder as the compressor and Good Quality is the most suitable for speech recording.
Sorry for my long writing, hope you don't mind reading it. If you've something to express it, feel free to drop it on the comment box provided.
Categories:
Audio
Tags:
Audio,
garageband,
GarageBand,
Speech
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20 Comments
notiv
Nice post! Thanks!
Moeppy
Nice tutorial. Thanks for the effort.
Ajan
good one!
Ruth
Hello, thanks for the post. Very basic newbie question here. I want to record an interview that I'm conducting by phone. No need for any kind of quality, it just needs to be audible enough for me to transcribe. If I have my cell phone set on speaker and placed near the Mac's internal mic will I get away without purchasing any further equipment?
Wendy
Hi Ruth, yes you can do that, but remember to change the sound input to built-in Internal Microphone and make your environment as quiet as possible (cause all sound will be recorded in also).
mitzi
Hiya Thanks for a fab post. I will try it out later. I wonder if you can offer me some advice as a real newbie here. I'm interviewing some nurses and their patients - wanting to capture stories that really highlight best practice in nursing. This will then be made available to nurses in my areas as they drive between different villages visiting patients. I also have various interviews already done (video interviews actually) that i'd like to incorporate. Many of the nurses won't use iphones or similar so these are simply going to be copied onto CD. Where will I find an 'idiot's guide' to doing this... the tutorials are usually for those wanting to create music, but mine will have the feel of a radio programme for nurses that I hope to update once a month. I'm not even sure of what quality mike I'll need - I will be taking my macbook pro with me. I also have an Olympus digital voice recorder which is good quality. Sorry to be so vague, but any pointers really appreciated.!
tom
Nice post! Just what I was looking for!! :) Am familiar with Audacity on PC and tried on MAC but the damn input level slider kept snapping back to zero! GRR! This is perfect. Have bookmarked it for future reference.
Barbara
I'm a professional voice over artist currently doing voice overs in a studio. I don't want to get into ordering Pro Tools software, an Mbox, and headphones since I have a brand new iMac with Garage Band. To set up a small studio in my home, can I get "TV and radio ready segment recordings" for my clients with Garage Band, a good mic and a portable baffle wall? If so, what mic do you recommend? Thanks, Barbara
jim brady
This was really terrific. As a new garageband user I found this very helpful. Thanks for taking the time for presenting this in a very well thought out manner.
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Nice guide. Thanks a lot. I'm a begginer Mac user, so your lessons are very helpful for me.
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Many of the nurses won't use iphones or similar so these are simply going to be copied onto CD. Where will I find an 'idiot's guide' to doing this... the tutorials are usually for those wanting to create music, but mine will have the feel of a radio programme for nurses that I hope to update once a month. I'm not even sure of what quality mike I'll need - I will be taking my macbook pro with me. I also have an Olympus digital voice recorder which is good quality. If I have my cell phone set on speaker and placed near the Mac's internal mic will I get away without purchasing any further equipment?
hee7
Thank you so much for making this! I've been dying for a tutorial with all the crazy Speech Enhancers available (what do they meeeean!) and this is the best so far. Thank you!
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Rosie
AWESOME to the point tutorial! Loved it! Thanks so much!!!!!
Shannon
I am a VoiceOver professional using GarageBand with a snowball Mic and macbookpro. I am getting noises but it's not the MacBook fan. Could it be wires next to each other? Has anyone had the same issue? I double checked all settings with apple. Also, when I remove the laptop from the booth, it sounds like I am way too far away from the mic when I haven't changed the distance at all. ( its at the same distance as when the laptop was in the booth with me) any suggestions ate welcomed! Thanks!
isalartiste
FAbulous! Still need to understand for female speech recording of text what is the number of Hz for calm deep pleasant listening? My recordings seems a bit on the too bright side - I want to tune it down a bit - Thank you - Presentation SO clear!
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