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[Gcunplugged]

Hi Gang,

Aside from better playing, does anyone have suggestions on how to improve this recording:

http://gc-unplugged.com/personal/AGF...dio%20Clip.wav

I'm using a Zoom Q3 camera, but the sound is coming from a Zoom H4n connected to the line-in on the camera. You can see the video from the link below, which will show you the mic positioning. I've pointed it at the bridge since this guitar has non-traditional soundholes, and I didn't want to point the mic at the body-neck joint.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOcpCmD8Vx0

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Gary

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Gcunplugged

Hi Gang,

Aside from better playing, does anyone have suggestions on how to improve this recording:

http://gc-unplugged.com/personal/AGF...dio%20Clip.wav

I'm using a Zoom Q3 camera, but the sound is coming from a Zoom H4n connected to the line-in on the camera. You can see the video from the link below, which will show you the mic positioning. I've pointed it at the bridge since this guitar has non-traditional soundholes, and I didn't want to point the mic at the body-neck joint.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOcpCmD8Vx0

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Gary

It sounds like you have auto-compression on? I'd turn that off as a first step. I'm not sure about chaining the zoom to the camera. You might check the sound of the audio directly in the Zoom and see if you like that better. If so, it's easy to sync the video/audio afterwards.

[smorgdonkey]

The first thing that I would do is put the mic about 10 inches away from the top pointing directly about 4 inches behind the bridge.

Not knowing what that guitar sounds like in the room, what I would be wanting to achieve by this is reducing the 'string talk' that is being picked up in your video and also reducing the brassiness of the high end. Compression may also be exacerbating this so as the previous poster said 'turn off auto compress' if it is on.

This should also cut down a bit on the picking noise and create a generally warmer sound.

If that wasn't successful, I would point the mic at the back of the guitar about 6 inches away. Yes, I would. You (and many) would be surprised at how that can clean things up.

Experimenting with position and distance can be the biggest learning experience.

[Gcunplugged]

Thanks both for the replies,

I'm traveling for holidays, but will try additional mic positions when I get home. Also, no, I don't have auto-compression on, and I don't even recall if the Q3-HD has auto compression. It is a point well taken though and I will take a second look.

Perhaps the H4n has compression and it is on by accident.

Lastly, been meaning to try a separate audio recording, and use the H4 as it was intended, rather than the pass thru mode I'm using. Time to bite the bullet and learn how to sync separate audio/video...

Thanks again for the suggestions,
Gary

[Pokiehat]

This is a nice performance on a nice sounding guitar. The noise floor is very high though. I'm seeing hiss at 35dB below peak which is alot.

This could be due to any number of reasons. You might be driving the mic pre too hard. All preamps have self noise that becomes evident when you turn the gain up. You might be using a mic that is particularly noisy. It may not be helped by the recording environment either but I think alot of the noise here is electronic.

Check out some foley recording forums for advice on mic pres and mics for low noise recording since this is massively important for foley work, but its also important if you are recording solo acoustic guitar, where the silence between notes is as important as the notes themselves. One of the things you may notice is that foley artists frequently record with low noise shotgun mics like Rode NT1as. These are cardiod mics and are designed to reject sound from the rear and sides.

Think about gain structure too - the kind of signal level you are recording into your line input. These days, most people on forums like this will be recording into a computer soundcard and mixing using DAW software or a wave editor. These will have full scale dB meters which are deceiving when you recording analogue sources. Full scale dB meters sort of encourage you to record at levels way higher than what line level gear is designed to operate at, which is +4dBu (or 0 VU). So you need to be recording around 0 VU into your line input.

I think if you record in a very quiet environment, with a close miced, low noise cardiod condenser and proper gain staging, you can get the hiss way down. I can hear breathing/coughing on the youtube clip. Perhaps use a windscreen on the mic. Cardiod or super cardiod is highly directional so you can point the mic at the soundholes but angle it so that is not facing your mouth.

The hiss is the only unfixable problem. You can't remove it with a noise gate or an expander (I tried).