I put together a simple mic holder instead of buying a couple of mic stands.Its made of wood and allows for a second mic to be placed above the primary
mic about 8 inches above it. If I plug in 2 mics for a stereo recording will a second mic volume icon appear to control volume separately on the second mic?? If not; is it a problem that the second mic will be less volume in??? Do the 2 mics have to be the exact same volume??
How do you intend to connect the microphones to the computer?
That and what’s the job? Stereo has two identical microphones placed side by side and plugged into a stereo interface such as a Behringer UMC202.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/UMC202HD--behringer-u-phoria-umc202hd
Audacity can only connect to one device at a time.
How were you going to do it?
Koz
IF you can record in stereo you can always adjust the left & right volume separately AFTER recording.
The “mic input” on most computers is mono and if you do have a stereo connection you’d have to rig-up some adapters to get the stereo connection with two mics. (You MIGHT find a stereo computer mic, but of course the left & right elements won’t be 8 inches apart.)
Or, any audio interface (such as the one Koz linked to) with two (or more) mic inputs will have separate recording-level knobs for each input. You could also use a Mixer with a USB connection. Of course, a mixer will also have a level control for each input as well as a master level control. And, with two mics you don’t have to “mix”… You can pan one channel fully-left and the other fully-right.
Note that audio interfaces & mixers work with stage/studio mics and these are not interchangeable with “computer mics”.
i have the RT2 interface. 2 AKG mics. old ones. so it will show up as 2 tracks and I just adjust the gain to get a good looking waveform…,no?
RT2
Steinberg UR-RT2 You shouldn’t abbreviate when you’re in diagnosis.
Yes, that should work fine. If you split Stereo after you capture the stereo show, that will allow you to make corrections to one side independent of the other. You should record the assembly as close to perfectly as possible. There is such a thing as one of the two microphones being so loud or so quiet that the sound is trash.
Making your own microphone mount comes with it’s own design constraints. If you smack the mount with a pencil, does it have a “woody” sound like smacking two pieces of two by four together? How are you isolating the microphones from either the wooden mount, or the table? It may be an odd experiment, but you still have to pay attention to basic recording rules.
Anything flat in the near field of the microphone will affect the sound. If you do it just right, you can use this effect for “free gain” in the capture.
If you don’t do it right, you can get horrendous comb filter effects (talking into a wine glass).
I’ve made and used microphone mounts before. Plastic pipes are good because they’re stiff, mostly dead and non-resonant as long as you cap all the free ends.
Koz
what do you think of this…pic
ignore the water jug …when its bolted properly it will be just the mount…the base will be clamped to whatever its sitting on…
Cool. X-Y configuration.
Which tea is that?
I guess technically, they should be matched microphones for this to work exactly right, but that should get really close. They’re the same model, right, even though they’re different colors.
I’ve never used X-Y other than the one that comes with my Zoom H4. What problem are we solving with this? From very fuzzy memory, the sensitive elements should be lined up at the cross so the transition time between the front grill and the element cancels out. I gotta look that one up.
It’s a terrific floor and I like the colors, but it makes my skin crawl. Chances of getting a clean sound recording of any type in that room are zero point zero. I bet if you clap loudly and go to lunch, the clap is still bouncing around when you get back.
Who designed the wooden mount?
Koz
You had me when It looks like the second or third job that wood has been put to. When I get done with a piece of wood it’s trash and sawdust.
Koz
they are same mics,pair. AKG. The wood is red oak flooring scraps and I use it for little projects. No hardwoods growing around here. I just took the crossbeam down to the jig saw and cut off extra wood and contoured it and rounded the corners. That should help a little on sound bouncing back from the wood.
I guess I will just try and learn as I go. I can make a metal mount if needed that has a less reflective profile.I can move the mount fixed to a stool
to any room …now I need a Mac…have to wait a few paychecks for that…and they need to fix that T2 chip crap thats going on…I like a dual boot OS with Ubuntu and the T2 is screwing that up. And Cubase that comes with the RT2 needs a Mac.But Audacity is good for learning,no?
That should help a little on sound bouncing back from the wood.
Your sound problems are not going to come from the wood, at least not the wood holding the microphones up.
You have poor isolation between the microphones and the mount currently sitting on the floor. If you clamp the assembly to a stool or other furniture, you have a hardware path to floor noise or noise from the apartment below. I don’t know a good way around that. You don’t have any problem if the floor has no noise, but you will not be able to move while performing like tapping your foot.
Do you know what a mechanic’s stethoscope is? You jam the blunt handle of a large screwdriver against your ear and the other end against the engine to try and locate tiny noises. That’s what you built.
What is the show? It might be good to know that.
You can put microphone vibration isolation anywhere. In your case, you clamp the assembly to a stool for use, but park the stool on top of several layers of folded over towels or furniture moving pads. Break the hard connection between the stand and the floor.
And speaking of moving pads. How are you going to get rid of recording in a bathroom sound from that floor? Or will you not record in that room?
Koz
Break the hard connection between the stand and the floor.
I’ve done this. A 30" square of 1/2" plywood is part of a microphone system. I sat it on several layers of Duvetyne (Heavy Felt) and parked the whole thing in the middle of a conference room table. I got all the conversations around the room and no pencil or finger tapping on the table sounds.
Set the stool on a plywood square and sandwich towels or furniture moving pads between that and the floor.
Koz