How do you record voices for your animations? And no, "A Microphone" won't cut it for an answer :). Do you have a cheapie radio shack mic plugged into your sound card? Or do you have some sort of mixer that you plug your mic into and then plug the mixer into the card? I am looking for the best quality for the cheapest amount. What do you suggest and what do you use?

Well I usually try to config the mic so it will have almost zero noise (I have an altec that I bought at some PC shop). I keep the mic at "chin-level" so it won't get the strange sound produced by the P's and T's. I also try to keep the recording volume low. A while ago we used one of those big headed microphones plugged into the sound card and the result came out pretty good. The thing is that my recorded voice is not so beautifully sounding as I'd like so I also find Sound Forge very useful to change the pitch and stuff like that. <---signature---> Free your Maya Opaque3D http://www.digital-opaque.net

For best recording, using a mixer lets you have the best control over your sound, and, more importantly, lets you bring the sound into your computer at 'line' level instead of 'mic' level. (Mic level is VERY low compared to line level. Your VHS has an 'audio' jack. That jack is at line level. Your mic is usually about 40-50 times lower in level and has to be boosted by this much to get up to line level. Higher level going into a computer helps for keeping the noise down.) Nemirc's sugestion about keeping the mic away from your mouth is a good one, but I would suggest off to one side instead of just below your lips at chin level. Most sound comes out of your mouth with a slight down angle, and if your reading of a script, you have a tendency to look down as you do so. Slightly off to one side allows for the extra air of the popping P's and T's to stay away from your mics diaphram. (The part of the mic that wiggles to the sounds in the room.) There is a VAST amount of additional knowledge in this area that can help. Do a google search on audio recording for computer and you'll be amazed at how deep this subject goes! :D Hope this helps!

Ahhhh, this is more where my background is. My setup is indeed overkill for basic voiceover recording, I've actually got an entire home recording studio that I've used to cut CDs. I have a tube driven large diaphram condenser mic feeding into a tube driven pre-amp (I like tubes) feeding into a digital mixer that is plugged into my computer via fiberoptic cables. This is way way more than you need to get good voices recorded, so here are some tips for you... First of all, DON'T USE A STANDARD COMPUTER MIC!!! I've seen some absolutely gorgeous animations that made me cringe as soon as somebody spoke due to the crappy sound of a computer mic. Remember that the sound is half of the experience. A $30 radioshack mic and a cheep mixer or preamp plugged into your sound blaster will give you noticably better results. You can also find some nice freeware and shareware software for cleaning it up. EQ and especially compression makes the biggest difference. As tempting as it is, try to stay away from echo and reverb unless it's for a special effect. The main thing is to just keep playing around with it and expirimenting until you find how to get something you're happy with.

Currently Im using a Sure rs230. It came from Radio Shack. For 30 dollars it works fine, its not a pro mic but it seems to do the job. Make sure that you stay with in the two inch pick up zone. The second thing on you equipment list is a boom mic stand. Something that can reach over a computer desk is real handy. If you have more than one computer, most animators do, pick the quietest for sound recording and shut off all the others. Dale

Anyone have any advice about The Rolls GCI404 I saw this on ebay and looked up the manual online but I'd like to hear from someone who has used it.

I never had to bother about the technicalities of the actual recording, but I have had some pretty bland voicetracks I had to do the animation for. The one tip I can give you - don't have your voice actors read their lines aloud sitting on a chair - they need to actually ACT OUT the scenes. body language and all, to come up with a believable delivery of the dialogue, with all of the necessary accents and pauses for the animation - and believe me, there is a huge difference between the two methods. If you hit the good and clear accents in the dialogue with fitting head and body accents half of the job is already done; the pauses in the dialogue are vital for showing the character's thought proces; most characters think before they speak, unless they are forced to think something up on the fly. Show the thought process by animating the matching facial expressions, preferably during the pauses in the dialogue - but you can only do that if the voice recording leaves room for that sort of stuff.