Cue “More” tag…

Link to the mp3 file:  http://soundcloud.com/gojoego/musical_interview

I actually had a lot of issues with this assignment — longer than necessary pauses, unnecessary bits of audio from me, and really radical differences in volume when comparing myself to some of the clips I used.  Thankfully, Audacity provides methods for changing the loudness of sounds (Effects -> Amplify) and for cutting out unnecessary or unwanted portions of audio (highlight segment of audion with the Selection Tool, then Ctrl+k).  I purchased all of the music used in this assignment, so fair use should cover my ass on this one.  I’m also citing the true authors at the end using the metadata from the mp3s, so there.

As a side-note, I recorded my voice with a $19 webcam I bought yesterday from Wal-Mart:  A Logitec c160m.  Took about 10 – 15 minutes to install everything for it, and it was an almost entirely automated process.  The noise reduction is pretty decent, and I was Skyping with a friend last night in a room with one light source.  The auto-balancing features of the camera are really nice.  My only complaints are due to my poor internet connection (use LAN whenever possible for video chat — wireless causes delay issues), my processor (AMD Anthlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processor TK-53 1.70 Ghz), and the strange BSoD that happened near the end of my call.  I either tapped out my CPU, overdrew my system resources, or my CPU overheated.

For the curious, some devices only record with one channel (mono), and Audacity usually makes an output file have two channels (stereo).  But in case you want to do it yourself, just open your file, do Edit -> Duplicate, click the upper sound file’s little down arrow next to the beginning of the histogram for the file, and click “Left Channel”.  Do the same for the lower file, but instead of “Left Channel”, click “Right Channel”.  Now, click the top arrow again and click “Make Stereo Track”.  That’s all there is to it.

Also, as another side-note, please export your files as mp3 if you can.  You have to download LAME for Audacity – Here’s how to do it:  A product of a simple Google search.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=install&i=lame-mp3

If you can’t find the directories mentioned in the tutorial, search for it online.  Other people have the answers.

Citations:

The stuff with my voice is mine.  If I have to cite myself for using something I JUST recorded, then something is broken in the applicable laws.

“My Name Is”

Artist: Eminem

Album:  The Slim Shady LP

Label(s):  Aftermath, Interscope

Producer:  Dr. Dre

“Master of the House”

Artist:  Les Miserables

Album:  Les Miserables 10th Anniversary Concert

Copyright:  1996 Exallshow Ltd.

“Bye Bye Love”

Artist:  The Everly Brothers;

Album:  The Very Best Of The Rock N’ Roll Years (digital)

Publisher:  Rhino

Composers:  Boudleaux Bryant, Felice Bryant

“Gangsta Gangsta [Featuring Lil Jon] (Main Version) [Explicit]”

Artist:  Lil Scrappy

Album:  Gangsta Gangsta [Explicit]

Publisher:  Reprise

Composers:  C.P. Love; J. Smith; L. Jefferson; Richardson, D. II; W. Holmes