I think a YouTube performer I like uses one of those.
so that’s probably why the ffffff sound is so much more pronounced.
Nope. The fffff sound is coming from inside the Scarlett. That’s the sound the microphone electronics and processing inside the Scarlett makes.
It’s fixed. Can’t change it. It’s difficult to get across how tiny microphone signals are, but they compete with the molecular activity inside transistors, semiconductors and other electronic parts. That’s why people advertise their sound mixers by bragging how quiet and well-behaved their microphone amplifiers are.
Our Signal Spritzer Mixer now comes with patented Xenix Preamps!!!
I recently bought a UM2 for my microphone testing and it has a “Xenix Preamp” inside (attached—actual ad).
The Only Option is to make your voice loud enough so the fffff noise doesn’t matter…or try to fix it in post production. A louder microphone is an option. We’ll see how the AT2035 microphone does. I know from comparison tests that the knock-off design of the popular Shure SM58 rock band microphone has higher volume than the original.
You have the advantage that your room apparently doesn’t do anything wrong. That leaves you with juggling your recording equipment. Piece of cake. People with bad or noisy rooms have a nightmare ahead of them.
I would wait for the Audio-Technica A2035. Too many people have good luck with those. That microphone requires your 48v Phantom Power to be turned on. Read the instructions.
The Scarlett Solo sports the legendary Focusrite preamp
See? I have no idea what that is, but it’s legendary.
Your raw supplied clip has very good ffff noise. The problem is your voice volume is about 18dB too quiet. Sound goes double and half every 6dB. It’s a serious volume problem. How far away from the microphone are you? When I did my test, my microphone was about 6" in front and a little up. The up part helps keep P popping out of the monologue. When Sarah turns around, that’s about where she’s going to be.
Seems so easy to just fix a noisy room issue.
You should probably carpet the room, drape the glass and move that freeway…
Ian, the guy who wanted to record audiobooks from his apartment? He lives a block away from Venice and La Brea in Los Angeles. He waits for late evening to record.
Yes, I’ve heard/read great things about it. I was actually aware that I’d have to turn on the 48v Phantom Power. I’ve been learning a lot of extraneous info as I read and research. Hopefully I’ll remember everything well enough to actually make a difference. ha!
The Scarlett Solo sports the legendary Focusrite preamp
See? I have no idea what that is, but it’s legendary.
lol
Your raw supplied clip has very good ffff noise. The problem is your voice volume is about 18dB too quiet. Sound goes double and half every 6dB. It’s a serious volume problem. How far away from the microphone are you? When I did my test, my microphone was about 6" in front and a little up. The up part helps keep P popping out of the monologue. When Sarah turns around, that’s about where she’s going to be.
I’m just a little farther away than the distance my hand makes with all the fingers splayed open (I have a small hand) - and it’s directly in front of me, which I realize I probably need to fix by raising it up a bit higher to help with plosives. Yeah, I know … that volume is way too low. I think that’s a consequence of using the dynamic mic. I was reading about some things that could be used to help with that (I think) - Cloudlifter and Fethead. But that would involve plunking down another $150+ or so and since I already have the AT2035 on the way it seems pointless.
You should probably carpet the room, drape the glass and move that freeway…
Ian, the guy who wanted to record audiobooks from his apartment? He lives a block away from Venice and La Brea in Los Angeles. He waits for late evening to record.
I get your point. Maybe I’ve been spoiled somewhat by the fact that I don’t live in a busy city.
Looks like it is. But some of their models look so similar it’s hard for me to tell for sure. I thought about getting the AT2020 at first (I also researched several others) but ended up going with the AT2035 because of its overwhelmingly solid and positive reviews.
You can probably afford to get a little closer still.
“Cardioid” microphones are “semi-directional”. (The word “cardioid” means “heart shaped”, which alludes to the shape of the “pickup-pattern” of the microphone, which has greater sensitivity at the front). One feature of cardioid mics is that the amount of bass increases as you get really close to the mic. (this is called the “proximity effect”). This characteristic can help to add depth and warmth to the voice, but if too close it can become boomy. Your voice does not sound at all boomy in your test recording so I’d say that you are certainly not too close. Another feature of cardioid (and most other) mics, is the the signal strength increases as you get closer to the mic, but not in a linear way. The difference between 30 cm and 25 cm is only just noticeable, but the difference between 10 cm and 5 cm is doubling the signal level. For the same sound level, halving the distance to the mic will double the signal level, so at 2.5 cm, the signal level will be about 4 times greater than at 10 cm. A bigger signal is generally a good thing, because it makes the noise proportionally less.
One think to remember when using the mic closer - don’t talk more quietly. You’re not talking to the mic, you’re talking to the imaginary person on the other side of the table (on the far side of the vocal booth if you have one).
That is a great point. I record in a 10’ x 12’ room with 8’ ceilings. It is not good for acoustics at all. That is one reason I moved to the face shield, just to make the audio sound as dead as I could. This is a great explanation of how room size can effect audio. I am not affiliated with them, I just like the way they explain it. Steps To Designing Your Recording Studio | Features Articles
A measurement mic should be part of your toolbox. Learning how to use REW, ARTA or FuzzMeasure is worth it, as it will show you the little things that matter. I lend a hand to treating a well-equipped home studio recently and without measuring, you’re guessing. And as long as you are comparing to the previous measurement, any decent condenser pencil mic will do to.
Just some examples: after treatment, we still had a -5 dB dip at 120 Hz. The cause was that the mixer had two side panels and the monitors reflected off those. Just moving the monitors 20 cm closer fixed it. Another dip was caused by the wooden desk under the mixer. We eliminated the table by putting the mixer on it’s own feet.
Measuring is only 30 sec or so. Moving stuff around takes far longer.
I have subscribed to this thread but I just received an e-mail about the ongoing conversation. Sorry about that. To answer your question about having something on top, the answer is no. As with any Audio Face Shield, all you want is for your voice to hit the mic, then be absorbed before it has a chance to re-verb through the rest of the surrounding area. Think of it as a “Voice Trap”. If the sound gets trapped inside the 300 degree audio foam, it has no way of bouncing off any wall. It is 99% as effective as walking into a sound booth. Remember, the purpose of the sound booth is two fold.
First and foremost, it is to keep sound from the outside, from coming in. Second, it is to keep the sound inside, from reverberating off the walls, floor and ceiling, from the room it self. So, as you speak, your voice is picked up by the mic, then ABSORBED by the foam. You can listen to Sarah’s audio here. You will hear her talking about her little studio in the first part of the audio.
Your recording is around 22dbs to low. I did a short 8 min screen cast to show you how to correct this. I also added a little statement about having your audio at a -16LUFS. If you do not understand this, do not worry. That is why they make programs to get your audio where it needs to be. I have also uploaded your original test file as well as your test file after I cleaned the background noise, adjusted the dbs and rendered it at a -16LUFS and converted it to a mp3.
Keep your volume the same and play both files. You will see a great difference between the two. You can view the screen cast here. https://youtu.be/Ef42vaa-htY
OK, so I watched the video and have a question - how did my waveform look so big in your video? On my screen it looks small (much smaller than it should) - maybe some sort of display setting in Audacity I haven’t figured out yet.
Also, I did do noise reduction initially (on the audiobook session files I’ve been working on), but after running the compressor (compress dynamics) and normalization (using -3.1), the background buzzz was much louder than how it sounds in the Test1 file you made (where it sounds very soft in comparison) … yet it still passed the ACX Check plugin test.
You can probably go out to fifteen seconds or so (mono, not stereo) before the forum refuses to post it. I don’t remember where the exact limit is.
“Testing One Two Three” is grand, but nothing like a selection of actual words and sounds. You really do need to freeze during the silent room tone portion. In the 1-2-3 clip, we can hear you moving around in your seat. That’s the kind of thing that can confuse Noise Reduction.
It looks bigger in my video because I raised the volume of your original file by 22dbs. It has nothing to do with the display size. The higher the dbs, the larger the wave form. As far as running the “Noise Reduction”, always do that first before you do ANYTHING! Then after you amplafy, do it again if needed. As with all things audio, you need to do things in a certain order. If you run a De-sesser plugin first, then run a eq plugin, the eq plugin can take the settings from the De-sesser and put them back to their original state. So, run eq first, then De-sesser. This is just an example of how one plugin / filter will over ride another plugin / filter.
