VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Tom Test]

Hello there,

I'm helping a very talented VO pal set up her first home studio. She's a Mac and I'm a PC. I think here system is at least 2 years old, so I'm not sure what version OS she's using (I'll get that info later hopefully).

When I hooked up a USB mic to her Mac, I opened up Garage Band and could not for the life of me figure out how to get audio into it... (this IS what it is for, right? Pardon my naivete about Macland...).

So what are her inexpensive alternatives? Is there a newer version of GarageBand that will do? What about WavePad? Any other alternatives? I'm trying to keep this as cheap as possible... She is an experienced and very talented lady, not a newbie to the biz but very much so to home studio stuff.

(And FWIW if you're curious, I'm recommending the Marshall V88 and a MicPort Pro plus a HH Porta-Booth, Monster S-100 mic cable and Fostex T-20 headphones).
_________________
Best regards,
Tom Test
"The Voice You Trust"
www.tomtest.com

[Rob Ellis]

Define cheap, if you would Tom.

I have been trying out lots of software since my Mac switch.

You can go from Free(Audacity) to $199 for Logic Express or Adobe Soundbooth, or in the middle of the price range with Sound Studio, Twisted Wave, Bias Peak, etc.

I have tried to get friendly with Garage Band..... with little success!

[Tom Test]

Honestly Rob, if freeware works well enough for her to start, that's great! I know WavePad is free. (My research said that Audacity was PC-only - that's what download.com says. Otherwise I'm sure that would do for now).

IF she moves well enough along the learning curve to be able to record and edit herself (and I have some doubts about that, as she is not tech-savvy), she should make enough $$$ to graduate to a full version later down the road. This is a very talented lady. But for now money is a huge factor, so the cheaper the better. Under $50 if possible.
_________________
Best regards,
Tom Test
"The Voice You Trust"
www.tomtest.com

[Rob Ellis]

Audacity will work on a Mac. I have it on mine.

[Tom Test]

Great! Then we'll try that first. I have a little bit of experience using it. Rob, by chance do you have handy an online manual for using it, or some other resource? (If it's not handy, I'll try googling.).

Thanks very much!!
_________________
Best regards,
Tom Test
"The Voice You Trust"
www.tomtest.com

[bobsouer]

Tom,

Audacity download page is here.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/

And documentation is here.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/documentation

I hope that helps.
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

[Jeffers]

Hey Tom-
Try going into the system prefs and click on sound.
Click the input tab and pick the USB mic.
Should POP up in GB perfectly.

Audacity works great on a Mac, almost any flavor!

Good luck!

Jeffers

[David Swinehart]

Tom et al.:

In case it's helpful, here is a copy of a post I made to another forum recently with links to cheap/free audio utilities for the Mac platform:

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If you're making/recording music or audio on a Mac and are hard up for freebies, here are some legitimate places to find free software for recording, notation, synths, and plugins:


Audacity: Free Music Recording Software
LilyPond: Notation/Writing Software
Finale: Score Publisher
Free Alpha: Soft-Synth
Remedy: AU Based Soft-Synth
Drumatix: Mac-based Drum Programmer
Hydrogen: Intel-Mac Drum Programmer
ApulSoft: Free AU Plugins for Mac
TuxGuitar: Guitar Tablature Software
RiffWorks: Music Authoring Software

An online listing of these and other multi-media freeware is maintained at Simon Elliott's Open Source Mac Multimedia Page.
_________________
David Swinehart
an actual Dave
Kinetic Sound Labs

[InYourEars]

I'm a huge fan of Amadeus Pro - $40

http://www.hairersoft.com/AmadeusPro/AmadeusPro.html