Working with Sound: The purpose of this page is to collect information related to working with audio in Toon Boom Studio. Audio recording plays a key role in the production of animated cartoons. The actual source recording and sound preperation is done outside of TBS and therefore the variety of methods employed and tools utilized can vary widely. Hopefully over time we will build up a good resource here on the subject.

Recording and Processing Audio -- sourced from notes written by Peter Schwaiger

First of all, the quality of your recorded audio depends on every part of the signal chain it has to go through: voice, microphone, soundcard, software. Cheap components have a tendency to produce more noise ( undesirable sound ) than state-of-the-art products.

Second, whether you are using a condenser microphone or a dynamic one, in most cases a microphone signal has to be pre-amplified to get enough gain. This is what a pre-amplifier does; condenser microphones additionally need phantom power of 48V, which usually is also supplied by the amp; dynamic mics don't; but condenser mics mostly sound better and clearer on vocals than dynamic mics.

Next, you have to take into account the resolution of your sound card. Normally, 16 Bit should be enough (this is the resolution of an audio cd).

And last but not least, the signal has not only to be recorded to sound good, it also has to be processed. Vocals, whether spoken or sung, need to be compressed to be understandable when underlaid with music or other sounds. A compressor "compresses" the dynamic range of your audio - i.e. first reduces only the loudest parts of your audio, then makes the whole signal louder again. The loudest parts are now as loud as before. But everything underneath is now raised up, which gives the signal more overall loudness. (This is why you can hear a rock singer breath, though there's a drummer and tons of electric guitar there at the same time.)

And now the good news: there are some good and cheap condenser mics on the market. Personally I use an AKG C-1000 for quick vocal takes, but there a others, like the Samson C-1 etc. When it comes to soundcards, if you ever plan to buy another one, think about buying an external device. There are many so-called audio interfaces on the market now, some based on USB, some on firewire, many of them rather cheap - especially, if you only record vocals and therefore don't need many mixing inputs. These interfaces are kind of external "soundcards". (I would always prefer to convert my analoque audio signal to digital outside the humming box of my computer.) Most of them have microphone pre-amps (and phantom power) already built in - so you don't need any additional components.

Finally, I can't recommend any particular audio recording software, since this depends on your OS as well as personal taste. I use Apple Logic Studio and Garageband most of them time, since I do own a small recording studio, but there's lots of others.Please, don't compress your "dirty" signal - not only would you make the vocals louder, but also the unwanted noise. Credit -source Peter Schwaiger


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