Found it. This technique uses an odd microphone trick “fake pressure zone.”
The microphone is actually sitting in a little hole in the plywood, so it doesn’t roll around. It is an actual SM58 rock band microphone because in this case, the panel is bumped up against a wall and had to carry an entire meeting room from there. True, the microphone fidelity wasn’t perfect, but it was OK … and the volume doubles.
Casting my mind back. I think that was 3/4" furniture grade plywood. Not 1/2"
I bring this up, because if you have a reasonable recording environment, you can do a very credible job with a small, personal recorder, book and towel. No computer, no cables, no Audacity, no nothing. It’s yet another option not available to you if you have to constantly find out if anyone wants to “super size that.”
I’ll start to do a more serious evaluation. The towels in the van are a bit thin, so I’ll dig out a better one, and try some comparisons later. In the meantime, here is some info about the environment. It’s a McDonalds restaurant at 6am on a Sunday, so it would normally be a lot busier. Also the sound is usually a lot louder.
Here is a pic of the restaurant
This is where thinking like the microphone is handy. Cardioid (kidney) pattern means there’s one magic place behind the microphone where it doesn’t listen to anything.
The other areas are a little broad and sloppy (that’s looking down from on top and that’s a rock-band microphone, but you get the idea). You should also know if you aim the microphone toward your head, it will also pick up directly behind you. So no glass walls back there.
Figure of 8 pattern has two broad sensitive regions and two dead zones. There is a slippery specification. There are microphones such as ribbons which naturally act this way, and we’re done. But if the Yeti got there by “making” figure of 8 out of clever manipulation, it may not be as stable as you’d like.
Obsessing and projecting is fun, but you should get close using the rules you know, shoot something and see what happens.
There was a recent posting from someone who wanted to do what you’re doing, but in a cafe in France. I told them there’s nothing wrong with background sounds in a cafe intrview, but some cafes are designed so you have to lean into your friend just to hear what they’re saying. Those are not good candidates.
In Starbucks we learn to look for the ceiling speakers…and sit somewhere else.
I didn’t know about the glass, thanks for mentioning that. I tend to slouch in the corner next to the glass. I suppose I will have to sit up properly at the table from now on.
You should just pay attention. If your whole world is a series of “recording in the bathroom” echoes, then that may limit your ability to shoot like this.
There’s nothing like getting one shoot under your belt. Analyze forever over strong coffee/tea.
You are going to have some odd theatrical problems. Even background voice-under, there’s just no better way to lose control of your show than having one of voices describing their personal reproductive acts.
There’s a reason the movie people hire out a MacDonalds for the day and stock it with their own technicians and actors.
See. Now we’re getting into the weeds. Glass in the background is not automatically deadly. Figure out where the reflections are going to go. If it’s decorative and broken up into multiple surfaces and odd angles, you’re probably fine. If it’s one sheet and the reflection is going back to the microphone, I’d probably move.
There was a sound room at work whose major soundproofing was that none of the walls, ceiling or floor were parallel or square. It looked like a normal room—unless you measured the walls. No quilting on the walls or super heavy carpets or any of that usual stuff. It worked remarkably well. Many sound shoots went through that room.
At the moment I’m just learning.
The first project is to sit down with an old farmer (86) and talk about some of the vintage stuff he owns. No probs there. The recording is just a notebook for me, and will be done in a barn ( no animals ). The McD part comes later, and is part of a much broader project.
I’m tempted to make some political comments about the Brexit vote though, and that is obviously short term.
You should know participation of the forum isn’t open ended. We don’t do surveillance, sub-rosa recording, legal production or any other controversial editing and presentation. So if you need voice tracks to prove someone is doing something illegal, you’ll be doing that yourself. Similarly, we may find it difficult to help you produce your Brexit rant.
I’m not sure I understand this posting. A Blue Yeti hitched onto a notebook computer is hardly the equipment for covert surveillance. All of my production will be legal, and I don’t understand why this should be controversial. Nothing that I do is illegal, and I don’t associate with people indulging in illegal activities, and that includes copyright infringement.
Why do you assume my comments about Brexit will be a “rant”. I agree that the campaign so far has been filled with lies,obfuscation, and mis-representation, but that doesn’t mean that my comments are likely to follow this pattern.
You have mentioned that I should give something back to this forum, and I am happy to do this. You will be aware that my current level of knowledge is minimal ( with regard to audio matters anyway ), so I don’t think my opinions and ideas will be of great value at the moment. If you can suggest a way that I can be of value to the forum, then I will be pleased to help.
Most people that post on this forum, get their answers, then we never hear from them again (unless they have another question). A very few, hang around longer, and may come across someone’s question and think “oh, I know how to do that” and post a reply. That is one way that Audacity users can contribute - by helping their fellow Audacity users. It’s also a great way to increase one’s knowledge about Audacity - there will be other questions where you think, “oh, that’s interesting, but I don’t know how to do that”, and then you can follow that thread to see how it is resolved. Even as a relative newcomer to Audacity, there will be some questions posted where you know the answer. Feel free to post a reply when you come across such questions. To see the most recent forum posts, there are links for “View active topics” and “View new posts” on the index page: http://forum.audacityteam.org/index.php
I hope to produce a guide about recording in fast food restaurants, but I’m a long way off knowing enought to attempt that. There are some issues with the free WiFi for example.
Another problem results from the fact that I bought Sony MDR-XB950 headphones to listen to political and medical videos on your tube. I didn’t realise that they contained some fancy neo-dymium magnets to accentuate the bass. I’m having to use a graphic equaliser to compensate for this. But that’s a topic for a different thread.
Tutorials are good. Tutorials that fall outside of ‘mainstream’ usage of Audacity may be published on the Audacity wiki. The wiki is a bit of a mish-mash at the moment as we’ve pulled out a lot of stuff and moved it to the manual, but I hope that we can get it in better shape over time. The main constraint is time as we are just a few volunteers and there is always much to do, but it can be an interesting challenge
It looks as if I’ve got another problem. My partner tells me that I have a problem with aspirated plosives. I did a bit of research about this, and it looks as if I will have to make a pop filter out of a pair of tights on a coat hanger. That will certainly kill any covert surveillance in McDonalds.
Given the location of your recording, two things that I’d suggest:
Try different mic positions. Having the mic just a little to one side, or a little higher or lower will make little difference to the sound of your voice, but can make a big difference to how much plosives are picked up. Direct air blasts from mouth and nose are the main culprits here. As an experiment (at home), wet your hand and place it a few inches away from your face, then talk. You should be able to feel the air blasts.
Is there a foam windshield available for your mic? I don’t generally recommend these as they are a lot less effective than the “pair of tights” version, but they are quick and easy to use, are less obtrusive than the “tights” version, and may be enough for the job.
If the ‘plosives’ are mild, you may be able to fix it ‘in post’ by using the “Low roll-of for speech” filter (That may not be included in the current release version. If not, it’s available in the “default curves” here: Missing features - Audacity Support)
I’ve noticed tha mike position does indeed make a big difference. I seem to get least interference with the mike angled downwards, and the back pointing directly at the ceiling mounted speaker - this is with the cardioid setting enabled of course. I haven’t experimented with side positioning yet, but I can see that that would make a difference. I’m not too bothered about the image of using a pair of tights on a clothes hanger. They already think I’m a bit peculiar here anyway.
You may be about to experience a lesser known “Yeti Curse.” everybody knows professional microphones are bright, crisp and forward, so some of the lower end microphones are made bright, crisp and forward and you can’t stop them. I notice that nobody complains about this when they use slightly older dynamic (moving coil) microphones.
That’s Rush Limbaugh and his “golden Electro-Voice RE-20 (dynamic) microphone.”
Both of my sound tests were with Dynamic microphones. Great sound, no p-popping, good volume, out the door and go home.
You will have positional problems with the Yeti because it uses its own base. You can fly one, but it’s just harder. If you do fly one, you can usually only get one performer in the right place at a time.
Sara Keonig is not using a pop and blast filter but her micropone is at eye level, not nose or mouth level.
I thought I had better report in.
The project isn’t dead, but I’ve been experimenting with Wordpress and a few other things. I’ll probably put together an audio blog, and start posting some recordings there.
Which version? Last time I mucked about with it, you could use them as the host and server, or they were perfectly happy to supply you all the parts and you could do it yourself. I never got that far, but isn’t it the case the server system is where they actually get to charge you money?
