Step 2: Record & Master
Now all the boring bits are
done, your ready to go, again the following steps have screen shot, so be
patient as they may take a while to load!
Some tips before you start:
- Do not
attempt to do all 59 samples straight away, do some tests with some of the
longer commands, like "You have arrived at your destination", then play
it back, it will give a good representation as to if you've got the
right volume setting, as this will give you
the opportunity to raise or lower the input volume beforehand, or move the voice-ee.
The blue wave representation marks should reach the limits of the preview
window, but not exceed it. Too
quiet and it won't be loud enough, too loud and it will cause clipping
(distortion),
here is some examples of what the blue marks should look like:
too quiet >
too loud >
ahhh, just right! > 
- Try and
leave a silence gap before and after each sample, to avoid accidentally
cutting off part of the sample, we will cut the sample down later on.
- Always read
the samples in order of my
recommendation text file, as this will help later on.
1.) Cue the voice-ee,
hit record ( )
and starting from the top, cue the voice-ee to speak each command,
hitting stop after each sample. When you hit the record
button, Audacity will automatically start on a new sample window,
which makes things quicker and easier! When they complete each
line, hit the stop button
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2.) Repeat step 1 for
each of the 59 voice commands, ensuring you leave a small gap before
and after each clip, they should look something like this (This was
an example of "You have reached your destination) |
3.) Once that is
complete, it should look something like this.
TIP: You may like to
play back some of the clips, to do this you must click 'solo'
on the sample you wish to play back and then hit play, otherwise they will ALL PLAY
together and that's just scary,
and loud! Use the scroll bar on the right hand side to view
all the samples. |
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4.)
Before you do anything else record
one more sample, about 5 seconds of nothing but any background noise and static that
may be around, this sample will be used to profile and remove the
background noise from your other clips, neato! |
 5.) Next you will
profile the background noise. To do this click on the
information pane (Where it says 'Mono, 22050Hz etc.) of the last
'background noise' sample you just made, or by clicking and
drag-selecting it using the 'selection tool' |
6.) Select Effect >
Noise Removal... and click on the 'Get noise profile' button, this
will analyze the sample, and it will happen very quickly, so don't
think it hasn't worked, it will automatically close the 'Noise
Removal..' window and return you to the main screen.
TIP: do
not remove the 'background noise' sample just yet!
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 7.) Now you can apply
the noise removal to all you samples. Do this by pressing CTRL+A,
you will notice this will highlight all the samples.
Then go back into 'Noise Removal..' and hit the 'Remove Noise'
button.
TIP: you may find you want to move the
less/more slider. However be careful, too less and you'll still here
background noise, too much and the voice will sound 'muffled'.
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8.) Once
the task has finished, you will noticed the 'gaps' before and after
the sample will now look more like a straight line than jagged one, this
will indicate the 'noise removal' has worked. Now you can delete the
'background noise' sample by clicking on the 'X' on the top left
hand side of the sample window. |
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9.) Next
you will cut down each clip by removing the unwanted gaps before and
after each sample.
This will probably be the most difficult
bit to
get right, as it's important to leave just enough gap after each
sample to that it will sound natural when on the road.
It you leave too much
gap it will sounds like the person is having a nap between each part
of the command
(After.............100...............yards...............keep
left!). On the flipside if you cut too much, it will all sound
like a racetrack (After100yardskeepleft!).
I achieved this my
clipping as closely before the clip as possible, and leaving an
specific
amount afterwards. On top of this, it's important to remember
certain samples will require more gaps afterwards than another.
For example, the sample "After" will require more gap
afterwards than "100" as in normal speech you would pause, for
example "After, 200 yards". Below is a screenshot of about how much I
recommend should be left. But this is a rough guide.
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| Once you
repeating step 9 for all 59 samples, you have completed this section
of the guide. Now you are ready to convert and save each
sample. You should now have a list of 59 samples in order of how
they are listed on the guide sheet, they should all be free of any
background noise, and should be cut so that there are no big
gaps are before or after each sample.
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Click on the following link to proceed
to the next step......
Can't find what
you're looking for? I'm sure google can!
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