Home recording in a nutshell... duh moment #501
 

Recorded in our family room which opens to the kitchen on one side and the computer room on the other. MXL 990/Rodes NT-5. No fans, no air conditioner, no tv, no people, etc.

Spectral view shows the background noise which shows up as a horizontal area going left to right in the middle of each track:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1830/...9ba6fda3_z.jpg


Recording in a spare room on the other side of the house with the door closed.

Oops. The "forgotten one" is nowhere to be heard.

The refrigerator.....

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/834/2...e1623c3d_z.jpg


Location, location, location

That’s interesting.

Now I'm wondering if that's what it really was, its odd that its where it is, but when I want to do a serious recording I'll use the spare room. I think I'm going to do recordings of silence in all my available rooms to see what is going on in each room.

Which room has the best sound? Find the room with the best sound and then find a way to stop any noise that you might not want.

Yeah, noise is only part of the equation. Noise pretty much comes with the territory with home recording, unfortunately. Even with my reasonably acoustic-treated room, if I want a really good recording, I try to do it when no one's home. I've gone as far as to throw the electrical breakers in every room but the studio, and it's astonishing to hear the difference. It's like "ah, that's what quiet sounds like!"

But noise, especially steady noise like fans etc, can be removed pretty easily. The "room sound" on a recording, the impact on your guitar's tone is something you're pretty stuck with. Have you tried seeing what your guitar sounds like (on a recording) in each of these rooms?

I was doing that yesterday. I found it very quiet and I'll be doing a lot of recording in the spare bedroom now.

Recording in apartments for years i always had to turn the fridge off to record. Be certain you turn it back on though.

I am glad I caught my mistake before the wife did! 😨

Yep, the perils of home recording right there.

One source that's easy to miss is the low rumble of a very remote blower if you have central HVAC. The newer variable speed units are easy to overlook until you're doing playback edits.

Also remember that a low speed overhead paddle fan will give you very distinct phasing effects if you forget to turn it off for tracking!

All sounds very familiar!! :)

My list:
Move clock from the dining room (click, click, click)
In winter and cold seasons, turn down thermostat so burner doesn't come on during the "perfect" take.
Head to the cellar and hit the circuit breaker for the fridge.
Assess what's going on outside with wind blowing against the house, birds chirping (crows especially!) which shoot straight through condenser mics.

(sigh).....and so it goes!!

Yep ambient noise is a huge factor in home recording there are some free SPL apps for smart phones, that can be very revealing to measure the ambient db level

The only practical way to know how much audible junk you've got going on in your space is to record some and then find a truly quiet space to listen to it in.

And I think it's healthy and sanity-preserving to ask yourself what your goal is. Is it to work out arrangements, or practice, or show people on a forum like this one something you've worked out? Or are you "making a record?"

And I agree that how any ambient noise might translate to the audible signal to noise ratio of a recording is a practical and very useful consideration also.
That said I disagree it's the "only practical method" for understanding the room noise you might be dealing with, and I still think an SPL meter app, is a very practical way to get an idea of how much ambient noise you have in your room.


No doubt one has to know and set priorities as to goal, and my post did not suggest otherwise.
As to the rest of the last paragraph I guess I don't really understand what point you are making because it seems to me that the level of me ambient noise is useful info no matter what the goal or goals

Apparently, messages here have to be at least 10 characters long, so...

..... Fine.

That background noise makes a beautiful waveform.