Help make this section useful (tips for riffing)

[Father Time]

After watching a lot of MST3k and Rifftrax, I'm devising a guideline for joke writing:

No reference is too obscure.

Literally speaking, that's probably not true. But for the most part I think it's a good one to go by. If you think, for example, a certain pop culture reference is too obscure and very few people will get the joke, throw it in anyway. The people who WILL get the joke will appreciate the reference that much more.

In my riff I plan on putting in a reference to a REALLY obscure website that's now dead (and by that I mean it's no longer updating and it has no forum or guest book or whatever). The joke is funny on it's own but if in the 1,000,000/1 chance you get the reference it will be even funnier.

[stansimpson]

Is this the thread where somebody suggested turning to forum members for a particularly difficult joke?  (I spent like a whole night just reading tips and forgot where I read that).  Anyway, right now, there are 3 absolutely golden opportunities that we're stuck on for "Lost In Space."  They're probably the 3 worst lines in the first 40 minutes.  We're beating ourselves up coming up with stuff knowing there's better stuff out there.  It's one thing to riff average stuff.  It's another when they just serve it up to you on a smoking hot silver platter, winks and then says "Please!  I'm asking for it!"

[Tripe]

And the cues are?

[stansimpson]

Sorry... shoulda just started a new thread about this.  ::sheepish grin::
http://forum.rifftrax.com/index.php/topic,13825.msg421853.html#msg421853

[Father Time]

ok this may have been answered before but when I record there is this weird electronic noise in the background that is not caused by anything in the environment I'm recording it. I'm not sure if this is audactiy or the crappy mic my roommate let me have for free but is there any way to make it go away or do I need to shell out for a good mic?

[Indomitus]

ok this may have been answered before but when I record there is this weird electronic noise in the background that is not caused by anything in the environment I'm recording it. I'm not sure if this is audactiy or the crappy mic my roommate let me have for free but is there any way to make it go away or do I need to shell out for a good mic?

Make sure the mic's cable isn't passing too close to a TV or the computer's hard drive, or any other strong electrical devices, because it will pick up the electric field and give you a hum in the sound.  The problem gets worse the longer the cord is.

[Father Time]

oh wonderful, my cord is longer than I am tall. Any suggestions, since I don't have any other mics.

[RoninFox]

If you have to use that long a cord, try and lay it as straight as you can get it, don't loop it on the floor or anything, and try and keep it away from anything else electronic when possible.  In the end, you may have to just use the "remove noise" option on you recording software.

[Father Time]

Ok I tried backing away from my computer to make the cord go straight, that helped but the noise is not gone, so does anyone know how to use noise cancellation on audacity?

By the way I can't even recognize my own voice when I record, is this a problem for anyone else?

[RoninFox]

Your voice will never sound the same to you on a recording compared to how you hear it in your head, and everyone I know of has to get used to it.

As for noise reduction, step one is to highlight a section of audio that's supposed to be just silence then select "noise profile" from the effects dropdown menu.  Then highlight a larger section (or the whole thing) and select noise reduction from the same menu.  There's some setting on the menu that you might have to experiment with, use too much and you might distort your voice.  Always save before you try it.

[Piobman]

If you have money, adobe audition does an awesome job of noise reduction.

[Father Time]

thanks for the tips.

[stansimpson]

Sync lines:

Is every 10 minutes fine for sync lines?  I put 3 leading up to the 10 minute mark and then carry it every 10 minutes until 10 mins before the movie ends.

[RoninFox]

Sync lines:

Is every 10 minutes fine for sync lines?  I put 3 leading up to the 10 minute mark and then carry it every 10 minutes until 10 mins before the movie ends.

That's about what I shoot for myself.

[tygerbug]

  When I was using MiniDV and Digital8 camcorders (made by Sony, in the good old 60i days), I found that a ridiculous electronic buzzing would appear on the soundtrack if I tried to record with my microphone while the camera was plugged in. Using the battery was fine.

  So just be careful about electrical thingies.

   My current setup, I use an XLR cable and two batteries which I'm probably wearing out since I never plug the thing in, just use the batteries ...