Opinions on my recording - Page 2

rdm321 · #16 10-02-2012, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anton

I can hear my iMac a bit when i sit across the room.

This surprises me. My iMac is dead quiet.

anton · #17 10-02-2012, 08:58 AM

Yea, mine was quiet when I first got it, about four years ago. Lately it seems that I can hear the fan more, not sure why.

moon · #18 10-02-2012, 09:23 AM

Quite a lot of dust often accumulates inside computers over time. This makes heatsinks less effective and forces fans to work harder if they're wired up to respond to temperature changes.

Open up the case apart and blow all the dust out - but try not to touch anything inside and don't use a vacuum cleaner. Static can trash your computer. Compressed air is best, or one of those puffer things you get for cleaning camera lenses.

rick-slo · #19 10-02-2012, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anton

Thanks Rick. I am happy with the sound as well. The previous recording had a capo at the second fret. I kind of forgot about it this time around.

I will have to work on mic placement a bit, I am not quite sure what a boxy sound means. Am I capturing a bit to much bass?
thanks
Anton

To elaborate more here is a clip of your clip, first time no equalization, the second time cutting around 3 decibels centered around about a frequency of 180 with a fairly low Q. It removes some of the congested sound that was probably from mic'ing close to the sound hole. To keep the sound natural I did not do too much, but see if you can hear a difference on your playback system.

http://dcoombsguitar.com/Guitar%20Mu...her/Anton2.wav

Doug Young · #20 10-02-2012, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anton

I might try the Zoom setup for the solo guitar tracks, and see what I can do about the ensemble tracks.

I think you'll find your room noise much less an issue when you have more going on. It's more obvious with solo guitar, tho this last track seems to be much quieter. So you might use the Zoom for solo stuff, or the base guitar tracks, then use Logic for ensemble stuff. I think you'll find the Zoom sounds just fine, and the benefits of portability and total silence can make up for the extra hassle of importing the audio into the computer.

anton · #21 10-07-2012, 12:59 AM

Thanks for doing the comparison with those two clips. I do a hear a difference in the second one, though its slight. Just a tad less bass and rumblings.

Experimented some more today, this time with ORTF using my ADK A6's. I had not given it a shot yet, and i figured if it worked it would be handy because i can both mics on one stereo. In my current situation I cant leave my recording setup all the time. Hopefully soon...

Here is the raw track, 24 inches away, gain set to the same level as all my other previous tracks.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/36952884/ortf24in.wav

My buddy William Bajzek then did a quick mix. Its a bit more reverb than I might want to use, but I think overall sounds pretty good.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/36952884/or...%20william.aif

I still need to hook up the mics to my Zoom, shut off the Mac, and see if that makes a difference in the room noise.

Overall I feel I am learning alot, and am becoming more consistent in getting a better recorded sound. Plus I am faster getting around in Logic Pro. Now if only this recording stuff didnt take so much time away from actual practice...

Anton

Doug Young · #22 10-07-2012, 01:36 AM

Nice sound and good stereo balance. A lot more noise this time. The biggest problem I hear is a peaky note that's really leaping out, 4th string, 3rd fret F, I believe, around 174Hz. We had some issue with this frequency range when recording your CD, if I recall, it may just be a rather hot spot on your guitar. Not sure what to suggest to avoid it, but maybe some different mic positioning may help. Here's a quick mix I did, with using a multi-band compressor to tame that peaky note, and I also widened the image a bit, which also helped open things up, I think and perhaps also help reduce that note. I may have overdone it, but I tried not to lose the warmth while taming that note. See what you think:

http://www.dougyoungguitar.com/mp3/anton_multiband.mp3

anton · #23 10-07-2012, 01:56 AM

Do you mean room/general noise Doug? I wonder why that would have more noise than the spaced pair. Guess I really need to get that part under control. Ill test with the Zoom tomorrow. If it ends up being computer noise hopefully i can fix that once i get my own recording space.

Anton

Doug Young · #24 10-07-2012, 02:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anton

Do you mean room/general noise Doug? I wonder why that would have more noise than the spaced pair.

Yeah, room noise, listen to the beginning and tail. Could just be the computer, but it sounds like something else. Room noise is hard in houses, you might even just have more traffic outside or something.

rick-slo · #25 10-07-2012, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anton

Do you mean room/general noise Doug? I wonder why that would have more noise than the spaced pair. Guess I really need to get that part under control. Ill test with the Zoom tomorrow. If it ends up being computer noise hopefully i can fix that once i get my own recording space.
Anton

The guitar was farther away and thus quieter than the rest of the room noise (perhaps preamp gain noise also) compared to the closer miked clip.

wbajzek · #26 10-08-2012, 06:35 PM

Hi everyone... I'm new here but I already know a few of you in real life.

I already mentioned this to Anton on gtalk, but I think the thing about cheap gear is that it's even more important to get the sound you want from the beginning, because in my experience any tweaking after the fact just magnifies the noise floor.

When working on mic placement, it's pretty easy to come up with something that sounds massive and great in our headphones, but will probably sound boomy and muffled anywhere else. I've found lately that 9/10 times, the sound I get through the mics is way more bassy than most pro recordings that sound good to me, but guess what... if I tone EQ down the bass, you're just going to notice the hiss from my pres more.

I'm somewhat pleased with the recordings I can make with my CAD m179s, at least compared to my past results, but I don't have decent pres yet. I'm kind of saving up for some unspecified gear-related goal right now, and I've had to talk myself out of order a new interface or pres, realizing that I'll probably waste more money gradually upgrading than if I just save up for something that is actually good.

Fran Guidry · #27 10-09-2012, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wbajzek

Hi everyone... I'm new here but I already know a few of you in real life.

I already mentioned this to Anton on gtalk, but I think the thing about cheap gear is that it's even more important to get the sound you want from the beginning, because in my experience any tweaking after the fact just magnifies the noise floor.

When working on mic placement, it's pretty easy to come up with something that sounds massive and great in our headphones, but will probably sound boomy and muffled anywhere else. I've found lately that 9/10 times, the sound I get through the mics is way more bassy than most pro recordings that sound good to me, but guess what... if I tone EQ down the bass, you're just going to notice the hiss from my pres more.

I'm somewhat pleased with the recordings I can make with my CAD m179s, at least compared to my past results, but I don't have decent pres yet. I'm kind of saving up for some unspecified gear-related goal right now, and I've had to talk myself out of order a new interface or pres, realizing that I'll probably waste more money gradually upgrading than if I just save up for something that is actually good.

I don't know what you have for a preamp, but it's worth determining if it's really the source of your noise before spending on a fix that doesn't fix things. The trick is to wire a low noise metal film 150 ohm resistor across the hot legs of an XLR plug and use that as your source, then crank your pre to the level you normally use. I was surprised to find that all the noise I thought my preamp was generating was actually in the room with me, and any preamp no matter what cost or spec would result in the same noise level at the same gain level.

Fran

wbajzek · #28 10-09-2012, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fran Guidry

I don't know what you have for a preamp, but it's worth determining if it's really the source of your noise before spending on a fix that doesn't fix things. The trick is to wire a low noise metal film 150 ohm resistor across the hot legs of an XLR plug and use that as your source, then crank your pre to the level you normally use. I was surprised to find that all the noise I thought my preamp was generating was actually in the room with me, and any preamp no matter what cost or spec would result in the same noise level at the same gain level.

Fran

That's a good suggestion. I think I have everything I need to do that.

My pres are what's built into my Yamaha MG10/2 mixer. I only ended up use it because it's better than the pre in my M-Audio Ozonic by a long shot.

But I think I switched to this setup because I made a recording this way that was by far the cleanest I've made yet. I still have it and it is far better than what I had accomplished before or since. The setup was one CAD m179 into the mixer, and then into my Edirol r09-HR. I have since replaced the Edirol with a Sony m10 which has a much better tone and lower noise floor when using its internal mics, but maybe it's line input is not as good?

I haven't been able to match the low noise floor on that recording, so maybe it is something in the house, or a gain staging issue.

Doug Young · #29 10-09-2012, 05:59 PM

Hi William, nice to see you here!

I think for most people recording at home, room noise dwarfs the self noise of any but the lowest quality mics and preamps. My old original R-09 is certainly an example of a piece of gear that produced plenty of noise, tho I thought the HR was supposed to have fixed that. Maybe not? But Fran's suggestion for isolating the noise is a great way to find out what the obstacle really is.

wbajzek · #30 10-09-2012, 06:23 PM

The R09-HR's mics was horrendously noisy by acoustic guitar standards. The Sony is much better. BUT, I think now, that Edirol's line input must have been better than the Sony's. Either that or I did something differently back then that I can't remember now. That old recording was mic'd about 4 feet away and the noise floor is nearly nonexistent. I can't get anything near that now with the Sony, it seems. I sold the Edirol so I can't compare directly now. I just couldn't get a good sounding recording with its internal mics, whereas with the Sony it is a piece of cake.