I will say it now: Audacity actually looks fairly complicated. Lots of buttons, and lots of moving parts. But after reading some instructional guides, and of course the ever helpful Google, I managed to find out how to edit out background noise and just overall cleaning up audio recordings.
I chose to interview my younger brother. Unfortunately, due to opposing work schedules, we were only in the actual vicinity of each other after midnight on Friday night, so apologies. I opted for a fairly informal interview, since we have a tendency to riff off of each other rather well I figured it would help to make the flow of conversation and the questions feel a bit more organic than just a back and forth Q&A.
My brother, Roy, is currently 18. He is the type of kid who wore socks with Adidas flip-flops, so not exactly a fashionista. But he is pretty opinionated and we share a rather sarcastic sense of humor, so I figured he would make a comfortable choice for a fairly snappy back and forth on 80’s fashion. (Plus we both enjoy poking fun at our parents and how ridiculous they looked as teenagers, so this was pretty much perfect.)
What ensued was roughly 16 minutes total of my brother and I just flipping through some pictures of the 1980’s and making various comments. Not exactly intellectually groundbreaking conversation, but fun all the same.
Glad Audacity cooperated with you. I couldn’t always hear your brother clearly. I appreciate him supporting you in this endeavor, though. Dr. Brown
What did you use to record your audio? There is just a little bit of background noise but I’m sure there is a way to reduce that in Audacity. I just haven’t found out how yet. Also, I love the banter between you and your brother, especially where he says “Brittney Spears” and you reply with “Not Brittney Spears” back and forth for a few seconds. It was very authentic to sibling relationships and made me laugh. Plus, smart move bringing out those photos and talking about your parents’ fashion in the ’80s. I wish I thought of that.
I know money isn’t a thing that exists, but I have (or used to have, Lord knows where it is now) a crappy little microphone and it helps isolate the sounds a little more so it’s easier to ditch background noise. Honestly quality here is pretty good, I would just speak up.
Also “the 80s was such a fashion disaster” and “this should never see the light of day again” are words to LIVE by.
I really enjoyed how you did this interview. I know that schedules are hard but this came out very well. I am glad you got it all to work out well for you.