Mic bleed and recording with two USB microphones

[Johnabruzzi]

i don't know if this is possible, but is there anyway that while using two USB microphones I can somehow use them both to pick up recording for the two different speakers in the podcast. I haven't been able do what I mentioned above so I did it in another format so I just used my apple device  for one way to record and my laptop for voice recorder for another. But this process is quite time consuming and hopefully there is a way (or close to a way) that you could help me resolve this issue. Secondly, in terms of mic bleed I have a large issue with that in addition. Which also leads to finally, I don't know how you can accurately line up the clips so they play together In unison and have no delay. Hopefully this is enough detail for my request but I will put it into simple:

q1- how to record on audition with two usb mics (using a laptop and no audio interface) (laptop has 3 usb slots)

q2- Mic bleed (and how to solve even when two people talk at same time)

q3- how to line up the clips in unison (from previously when I would have had to manually import them from other devices)

With the limited equipment I have I don't expect for all of these questions to be answered)

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

You haven't said whether this is a PC or a Mac. On a PC, you have to use the ASIO4ALL driver (it's free) to create an aggregated sound source of both mics, and because their digitising clocks aren't synchronised, ASIO4ALL has to resample one of them to synchronise it with the other. It works, but it's an almighty kludge, quite frankly, and isn't to be recommended. Generally two normal mics and a small mixer will give you altogether better results. As for what happens on a  Mac, I'm not sure. It aggregates all available audio sources anyway, but I don't know how or whether it can cope with two USB mics.

If you have two mics in the same room, and it hasn't been treated to take account of this (ie, it's not a purpose-designed studio) then bleed between them is inevitable - it's caused by both mics picking up sound bounced back from the walls from both contributors.

As far as lining up results goes, you're back to the two USB mic problem - the apple device (whatever that is) and the laptop aren't synchronised, so you will inevitably find that even if the starts are lined up, over time they will drift out of sync anyway. You might get away with lining both tracks up in Multitrack view, synchronising the start, and then dragging the end of one of the clips (turn stretch on in Properties) so that it lines up with the sound from the other. Because there's more latitude than most people realise in clock specifications (which is entirely what this is about), they often seem surprised when over an hour, the whole thing has drifted out by a couple of seconds - but I can assure you that this is quite normal.

So in summary, the answers to your questions amount to this: sell the USB mics and get a couple of normal ones and a small mixer with an interface, and do some acoustic treatment in the room you're using. It's not for nothing that this is how normal radio studios operate... 😉

[Johnabruzzi]

Thank you very much, and in terms of using an audio interface, if I ever use one, I don't know what settings or levels I should use to decrease mic bleed. Could you maybe recommend Any not too expensive but good quality audio interfaces? And if so when I record in my windows laptop how will I monitor the settings to change the channels to the two microphones?

thanks, JohnAbruzzi

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

At present, the bargain mixer with a USB interface to go for is the Behringer Xenyx Q1202USB. It has four mic inputs, but don't let that bother you - it's still available at a very cheap price. The only way you will decrease the level of bleed is to get people closer to the mics, talking more quietly, and keep the mic levels appropriately lower. The issue here really doesn't have anything to do with equipment settings - it's purely down to the acoustics, and the aim of getting closer is to increase the level of direct sound from the voice relative to what's coming back from the room. If you don't fix the room acoustics though, then there's a very distinct limit to what you can achieve.

Setting up the mixer is relatively straightforward - you plug headphones into it, and you'll soon find out whether it's balanced correctly. But in a way it doesn't matter - you have two mics, you pan one hard left and the other hard right, and sort the absolute levels out afterwards.

[Johnabruzzi]

So does that mean if I can treat my room with sound cancelling and a better noise then even with two USB mics and an audio interface I can nearly eliminate mic bleed? And previously you said I should try to  sell my mics for a Normal one. Is that still the case even if I get an audio interface with usb slots (of the one you previously mentioned?)

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

The more room sound you can keep out of a mic, the less that the room sound there is will interfere with it. So reducing the room sound itself is important. But also the closer you get to a mic, the less room sound relative to the level of your voice gets in. So both factors are important factors in reducing crosstalk.

If you are trying to use more than one mic, then USB is never a good idea. Period.

The way it works with the mixer is that it has a single USB connection to your PC, and that's a stereo feed. But in Audition, if you want you can treat the two signals as being separate if you want, so that they get recorded on a track each. In the mixer, to achieve this you have to pan one mic hard left, and the other hard right. You record the left on one track, and the right on another. But, this does not alter the bleed situation - that's purely an acoustic phenomenon; You are still likely to get some - even in expensively treated studios, you get some - it's an unavoidable fact of life.

There is a processing trick you can do - if you have each mic on a separate track, but it isn't easy to set up, and I don't think it's worth it, personally, for one particular reason. You can auto-duck one channel with the other, and if you do this to both tracks you can reduce the sound of the other one when the first one's talking. But it goes wrong when, even for a moment, both people talk at the same time - you get nothing! And this alone is a very good reason for not even attempting to do it.

Don't get hung up about it - it's not worth it.

[Johnabruzzi]

Thank you very Much, I understand and will take that into account. 

maybe you could recommend some good microphones or other equipment which could fully optimize the sound quality, if that's ok. I know this question may seem out of the barrier of this sub-topic of adobe audition, but if it is relatable to any of your expertees, I am all ears to any suggestions

thanks again, JohnAbruzzi

[Johnabruzzi]

I use a pc