Help make this section useful (tips for riffing)

[Indomitus]

I use an XLR cable

A good idea- all my mics are XLR too- even though the kind of setup it takes to use it is probably too much cost for most iRiffers.
For the laypersons, XLR cables have extra shielding and an extra ground line going through it (3 or so instead of 2) which serves, through some manner of technological magic, to balance and cancel most noise the cable might pick up passing by electrical equipment or over longer distances.
And now you know.

[stansimpson]

I use an XLR cable

A good idea- all my mics are XLR too- even though the kind of setup it takes to use it is probably too much cost for most iRiffers.
For the laypersons, XLR cables have extra shielding and an extra ground line going through it (3 or so instead of 2) which serves, through some manner of technological magic, to balance and cancel most noise the cable might pick up passing by electrical equipment or over longer distances.
And now you know.

And knowing is half of, um... something.  I forgot.  Maybe it's half a cup of sugar.

[SJP]

I use an XLR cable

A good idea- all my mics are XLR too- even though the kind of setup it takes to use it is probably too much cost for most iRiffers.
For the laypersons, XLR cables have extra shielding and an extra ground line going through it (3 or so instead of 2) which serves, through some manner of technological magic, to balance and cancel most noise the cable might pick up passing by electrical equipment or over longer distances.
And now you know.

And knowing is half of, um... something.  I forgot.  Maybe it's half a cup of sugar.

I was going to make that joke, but I assumed horrible, horrible beatings would follow, so I refrained.  Nice save with the sugar.  _{G.I. Joe.}



AAAAAGGHHH!

[fireyf]

I use an XLR cable

A good idea- all my mics are XLR too- even though the kind of setup it takes to use it is probably too much cost for most iRiffers.
For the laypersons, XLR cables have extra shielding and an extra ground line going through it (3 or so instead of 2) which serves, through some manner of technological magic, to balance and cancel most noise the cable might pick up passing by electrical equipment or over longer distances.
And now you know.

And knowing is half of, um... something.  I forgot.  Maybe it's half a cup of sugar.

I was going to make that joke, but I assumed horrible, horrible beatings would follow, so I refrained.  Nice save with the sugar.  _{G.I. Joe.}



AAAAAGGHHH!

Yeah, avoiding that static noise is nice if you can do it.  I had a Logitech headset thinking it would be good since Logitech is supposed to be a quality brand.  Well that thing had plenty of static but I figured that's just what you get with that price range and I learned to live with it.  Then the chinsy thing broke on me and I had to get a new one.  I was upset about it breaking until I got my new headset and it was 100% better.  It's a Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000 for about $42 and ya know what, no static sound in recording.  It's fantastic!  I never expected such high quality recording in something so inexpensive.  So if you need a good mic but don't have a lot to spend this is a good one.  Oh, and did I mention this is with an onboard sound card.  Who have figured huh?

[tygerbug]

  It really doesn't have to be expensive.

  A big part of it is post work.  I always do noise reduction on my stuff in Audacity ....

   Just a quick noise reduction pass.

  Not as complicated for this as for my feature films, which I'm very careful about .... in the features sound quality is much more important so I very carefully mix a noise reduced version together with a not noise reduced version. I also do the noise reduction several times in several different ways to minimize the electronic weirdness when I mix all the versions together.

   The goal is to make every line of your work loud and clear to hear, without noise.

   Thankfully Rifftrax are just one guy in a room, so noise reduction is straightforward and generally works a treat right away.

[Indomitus]

And knowing is half of, um... something.  I forgot.  Maybe it's half a cup of sugar.

YOOOOO, JIM!
...wait, that didn't sound quite right somehow.

[carlin]

I was wondering what is the best software to use if you have a Mac. I know you could use Boot Camp to run windows based software, but I'd really like to find Mac software that has the capacity to do everything I need to in order to riff. As a young, first time riffer, any help would be appreciated.

[carlin]

Is Final Cut Express 4 good for riffing? Also, can you record the audio on a program like Final Cut Express 4 without using a separate audio creation program like Audition or Logic Express? That is what I'm most stuck on. Do you record your commentary before syncing it to a video? That sounds like it would be hard to do. Please help. I'm stuck and I don't know how to get any further. I REALLY WANT TO RIFF!!!

[k1]

I was wondering what is the best software to use if you have a Mac. I know you could use Boot Camp to run windows based software, but I'd really like to find Mac software that has the capacity to do everything I need to in order to riff. As a young, first time riffer, any help would be appreciated.

We use GarageBand 09.  You can import your video into it and create a "video podcast" so to speak if you're doing a VOD.  That way you can see the video while you're recording it.  The only thing to keep in mind is that when you export it, it will treat the original movie audio and the riffing audio as separate tracks, so you'll want to burn your project to DVD and then rip it using Handbrake into the correct format (which also will save you the transcoding step on upload.)

If you're not doing a VOD, just delete the video and movie audio track before you export the riffing to mp3.

[carlin]

Oh, that's cool to know. I actually have Garageband '09. If it's not to much, could you tell me exactly how to do it? So you pop a DVD into your drive and import it to your podcast project. Is there a time limit on the podcast or can it run as long as you want? I just got my Mac so I'm a complete neophyte when it comes to this stuff.

[k1]

Oh, that's cool to know. I actually have Garageband '09. If it's not to much, could you tell me exactly how to do it? So you pop a DVD into your drive and import it to your podcast project. Is there a time limit on the podcast or can it run as long as you want? I just got my Mac so I'm a complete neophyte when it comes to this stuff.

You'll want to rip it using Handbrake into a format that Garageband will be happy with.  I'm assuming the Quicktime setting should do the trick.

Once you do that you can drag & drop the file into GarageBand.  (Or import it.  Either way works.)  To get the video screen to pop up, just click on the little thumbnail of the video on the left side of the Video track.  I can get more in depth if you want me to, but not sure when I'll get to it.  I'm wrangling 2 kids while daycare is closed for the next 2 weeks. 

Just let me know.

[carlin]

Thanks! I'll try it and see if it works.

[carlin]

Hey, where would you choose the Quicktime format? Would it be under a different format like MP4, MKV, OGM, or AVI? I'm thinking MP4...what do you think?

[k1]

On the version of handbrake I have there's a bunch of quick settings on the right and one of them is quicktime.  You can always check the help section of garageband to see what formats it'll take.

[carlin]

ok. It's been encoding for a while now, so I'll see what happens. I hope it turns out ok...