We are looking for help with our LingQ family of Podcasts. Do you think you could record 10 minute natural conversations in your native language which we will transcribe and post on our podcasts? If so, send us a sample. We will reward you with 500 LingQ points for every podcast of yours that we publish.
We will require good quality audio and a short description of the file in your language. Use this forum for any questions or feedback and to discuss any production issues with other members.
I’ve recorded a Portuguese one with my husband, and I’ve sent it to Steve, but I had no answer about it. I suspect he didn’t like very much the sound quality… Probably this is a key issue, and not very easy to solve for an average user.
I intend to buy another microphone, but I’m a little lost about it, because there are so varied prices and models, and I wonder what I really need for achieving a reasonable level of sound quality without wasting a lot of money.
I haven’t heard your podcast but sound can be a tricky thing. Very often it’s not the microphone but the sound card on your computer that makes the difference. If you have a desktop computer, you are probably better off replacing the sound card than the microphone. I would ask the staff at the computer store what they recommend for recording good quality audio files. If you have a laptop, you are looking at external sound cards which don’t always work well. Hope this helps. Let us know what else you find out.
Ana
I have been in Japan and quite busy, I am sorry it did not get back to you. Yes the sound was not great. I am thinking of getting a separate thread going on this issue here so people can compare notes and help each other. I will be home tomorrow and will follow up at that time.
We don’t need a separate thread. That’s why I created this thread! 
Oh right. I will contact some of the other people to encourage them to talk about their experiences here.
Ana,
the best microphon I found for the USB-connection (and I heard this is the only one who works) is “The Snowball” - I had the tip from Steve.
Only my podcasts aren’t in a good sound quality. My podcast would be recordet by Skype and Powergramo - not on face to face!
So I think the cause is another and not the mic.
Irene
Mark, about the sound card, when I use audacity to record directly from something that is playing at the computer (like an online radio station, for example), the sound quality is quite good. So I strongly suspect the problem is indeed with my microphone.
Irene, I couldn’t find the snowball in brazilian stores. I found it at amazon, and I suspect that it would cost me over U$200 including our insane importation taxes and shipping fees…
hummmm… I suspect this will have to wait…
If your sound quality is good when you record off the radio, then I’m sure you’re right and it’s your microphone. That’s good!
Steve, don’t worry about this, I simply forgot that you went to Japan, and when Mark raised the question, I remembered about my recording and decided to comment on it to talk about the sound quality issue…
Mark, with the so called snowball costing so much, I’m not sure it is that good…
That is a drawback to the Snowball but if you are looking for a good quality usb multi-directional microphone, the Snowball is good although a little expensive.
http://www.thomann.de/de/blue_snowball.htm
and
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Snowball/
ana,
here I have two links but I never know exactly where I bought mine. The price was around 100 Euro
Hi, Irene,
thanks for trying to help me. Unfortunatelly, euros are yet more expensive to me…
I guess I won’t be able to contribute to the PortugueseLingQ for a while…
Hi anapaula, I don’t know, if this question is realy actual for you.
I have a “Labtec desktop microphone 534” and it works good enough I think. It costs only about 10 Euros. I use it for Skype and for Audacity.
There is a Link to a great german online seller: Elektronik & mehr online kaufen | ALTERNATE Online Shop where you can take a look.
This shop deliver only in Europe, but maybee you found a Job in your country.
Greetings form Germany
Hi Vera,
actually, I gave up on podcasts for a while… I have a relatively cheap headset that works fine for skype and even for recording my own voice in Audacity. But it doesn’t work very well for recording two people speaking at the same time… I guess that for doing this with the audio quality they expect here at LingQ, I’ll need something like the famous snowball… well, maybe later…
Thanks for trying to help, anyway.