VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

kgenus · Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:27 pm Post subject:

Get a booth. End of story.

ONE of my demos was recorded with a 416. I do believe it sounds the best. Can you tell which it is? Probably not. HOW it is processed afterwards is all that matters so there use to beating yourself up, but without a booth, you're swimming uphill looking for a miracle of sorts.

Note: For many people, gates are not the answer. You can still hear the noise behind the vo.
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Yoda117 · Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:56 pm Post subject:

even better, gates can be easily spotted due to their intrusive nature.

much like compression, they should be used cautiously.

Hey Kev, have you had a sibilance issue with the 416? I noticed it with Rich's clips from his 416 (sounded much nicer with his AK47).
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richgates · Guest

Thanks Kevin, the booth is planned someday, but not until I can find a pretty permanent spot. Plus I'm almost 7 feet tall, so I will need a custom booth more than likely.

kgenus · Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 4:51 pm Post subject:

richgates · Guest

I'm assuming you're talking about another Rich. Because I don't have an AK-47. Smile

Yoda117 · Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 5:42 pm Post subject:

yep

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ronphi · Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 11:14 am Post subject:

Thanks for all the replies. I know a booth is the ultimate solution but it is not in the cards for a while. I ran a recording w/o voice through the EQ on my Sound Forge software. I found that there is no single frequency band involved. I had to turn all the EQ completely down in order to remove the noise. This won't work on a recording w/voice.

I also tried gating but I can still hear the noise under the voice, plus gating sounds artificial. I can tell it is there. Another thing I tried was using the noise canceling feature in Audacity. I sampled the noise and added it back via the noise canceling tool but that didn't work either.

As for the room treatment aspect. I thought the various panels and traps were for reflected sound. I really don't have a problem with that. I use some open cell foam in the corner of what is my recording area. I also surround myself with fleece blankets. Seems to take care of reflections pretty well. I also build one of the portable studio boxes out of a cardboard copy paper box lined with 1" of foam on the sides and 2" behind the mic.

I guess I will have to live with the noise and let it be masked with music and FX until the budget and space allow for a real booth.

Has anyone tried the Adobe Soundbooth application. There is a graphical noise canceling tool that looks good in their demo. Unfortunately I wasn't able to download a copy of the Beta version. Now they seem to be in the mode of taking pre-orders for the production version.
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Yoda117 · Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 12:07 pm Post subject:

well, depending on budget, either a clearsonic or one of the DIY gobo enclosures might be what you need to deal with this (and just to cover bases, we're all certain that it's room noise?)

Clearsonic enclosures are about $600 and up, but good for VO (they are NOT SOUND BOOTHS).

the DIY gobo cnclosure is about $200. A lot of folks have built them and really liked the outcome. As always, YMMV
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Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

Garry O · Guest

I'm surprised nobody mentioned a walk-in closet full of clothes. You probably wouldn't want other people recording there, but that's what I use and it's perfect. Along with a small unnoticeable amount of gate from my Symetrix 528e, I have no problems with noise. (Not counting the jets that are flying over my neighborhood now that the FAA has changed the flight paths.)

Garry O'Neal
www.neonsound.com

Yoda117 · Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 1:38 pm Post subject:

if we're going that route, why not pull out all the stops and pick out one of the best acoustical chambers that nearly everyone has...

their car.

Seriously, a lot of folks use the interior cabin of their car for recording due to their acoustical properties.
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Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

ronphi · Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 2:03 pm Post subject:

Garry, I have tried every room and closet within mic cable distance and still have the same level of noise.

Yoda, I had never thought of the car. I will run some AC out to the garage for my mixer and try it. What a novel idea.
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Ron Phillips

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"
David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urging for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

Bill Campbell · DC Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 621

Ron, are you sure your noise isn't from the mic, pre, mixer, or soundcard?
What's your set-up?
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ronphi · Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 4:48 pm Post subject:

Bill, I have a Rode NT1A going into an Alesis Multimix 8 USB mixer into a USB 2.0 connection on the computer. I can hear the noise through my headphones out of the mixer and also through phones and speakers after recording. I tried the same combo on my wife's laptop. Since I can hear it using both computers and directly out of the mixer I think I can eliminate the sound card (I chose the USB mixer in order to bypass the standard sound card). It may be the preamp in the mixer but others on the board are using the same mixer with no problems. Also the noise has been there since I bought the mixer new. I would hate to think the problems are due to a bad preamp on a new mixer, but I know stranger things have happened.
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Ron Phillips

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"
David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urging for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

Deirdre · Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 5:17 pm Post subject:

I don't think the problem is your room.

What happens when you do a full-tilt troubleshoot?

Unplug everything and record 5-10 seconds of each part of your mic chain.
Start with nothing at all, nothing plugged into your computer at all.
No printer, no mouse, nothing.
Listen.
no noise?
plug in your USB cable. Record 5-10 seconds.
Listen.
No noise?
Plug in your Alesis, etc.

It could bloody well be a cable.
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sdelgo · Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 6:07 pm Post subject:

Maybe a few samples would help us figure it out.

Steve
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