Sample WAV file evaluation requested

[kozikowski]

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AT2035

You could use the field operator's techniques. Before you move it back or turn it, put a handkerchief, bandanna or other cloth over it while you listen on headphones to the quality. Change it out. Stop when enough of the crisp edge goes away.

I was eating lunch here (large picture)....

http://kozco.com/pix/Cathay-Pacific.jpg

...that's not a trick photo. Also known as The Worse Place On Earth To Shoot Sound.

The guy in the next table over was shooting a simple interview. I think he actually stopped when an Air France went over rattling the windows. I asked him after the shoot how he would handle high wind normally at that location. LAX is two blocks away from Docweiler Beach. I was expecting him to impart some magic gleaned from years of shooting sound in difficult circumstances.

He said throw a towel over the microphone.

This is me writing that down.

Koz

[SheilaQ]

Good morning Koz,

Thanks so much for the info and pics you included in your previous post about the microphones, mixers, etc. Sounds like you've maybe been in the "recording" business for a while and have accumulated some nice toys. And OMG! on the plane thing!!! That HAS to be incredibly loud!! I'm sure that makes for a really great, relaxing time at the beach! LOL!

I'll give your bandana thing a try. I also have an open side to my recording area still (to my right), so I think I'll plug that up some too. Here's one for you, and DON'T LAUGH AT THIS (ha! ha! ha!), but I was doing some research on some other voice over websites and found one where someone said that if you rubber band a pencil down the middle of the sensitive part of your mic, that the hisses in your S's will "split" - thus, reducing or eliminating the hiss. Then again, my thought is, well . . . won't everything else split as well?? But, for grins, I'm going to try it. But, I'll try your recommendation first.

Well . . . I've had a tough morning of getting out to watch the sun rise at the lake and fish this morning. But, hey, somebody has to do it! Ha! Ha! Is going to be hot again, so will be a good day to putz around with trying to tweak my microphone some more. I'm learning that this whole process can become a bit obsessive. Then again, it may just be my personality. LOL! I'm having fun with it though, but it will be more fun once I get a good foundation set and can get serious about pursuing some real recording.

Hey, have a super day! Thanks so much again for all your help!

Sheila

[kozikowski]

really great, relaxing time at the beach!

At the beach they're just annoying, but even with all that, the airport has certain advantages. It's the only portion of public beach that allows open campfires.

The newer jets are efficient and relatively quiet, but some airlines are still driving the older 747 series with the four loud engines. You have to stop what you're doing when they come in. They're loud enough to shake the tables.

if you rubber band a pencil down the middle of the sensitive part of your mic, that the hisses in your S's will "split" - thus, reducing or eliminating the hiss.

Or as I would guess, the rubber band is doing all the work and you can probably leave the pencil home.

You're in magic zone now. Try different materials between you and the microphone. Many microphones come with an optional foam wind sock and in addition to suppressing wind noise, it also muffles the sound slightly.

Screen Shot 2016-07-24 at 09.21.30.png (35.52 KiB) Viewed 692 times

This thing is officially a news-gathering microphone. Walk up to someone and stick a microphone in their face. That's why the case is so long. Since it's used outside, the windsock is more or less required.


I've been known to go to the fabric store and feel different foams and fabrics—and listen through them—to get an idea of how much muffling I could get if I made a windsock out of them. Or wind break with no muffling. You can get that with quilt stuffing or batting.

The store ladies got used to me.

Koz

[SheilaQ]

Good morning Koz,

Hey, hope you are doing well today and thanks for your last post and info. I'm a pretty visual person, so I can picture you wandering through the fabric store. That was still an amazing shot of how close the planes come in over where you were eating!

I tried some new things yesterday and got close, but . . . well, maybe it's that OCD thing kicking in and I want to get even closer/better! I tried the pencil thing and that was bunk (ha! ha!). However, I did wrap a lightweight fabric napkin around it . . . and sure enough, I think it helped with my hissing. I was able to nail everything but consistently being in the acceptable RMS level range. Usually still just barely off.

I decided to splurge and get some more toys. Maybe they will help, maybe not. I did some research and found a Auray RF-5P-B Reflection Filter that has gotten quite a few good reviews. Found a great price on it at B&H Photo -- surprised, it was much cheaper than Amazon! Then, something took me off on the toot of looking for moving blankets (I think it was from the ACX blog where they showed a home studio that one of the Audible Certified folks use -- and she had used packing blankets.). Well, one thing led to another (as is usually the case for me - ha! ha!) and I discovered that the US Cargo Control folks have very recently introduced a "sound blanket". I called and spoke with a guy who was very helpful. They are working on getting a NCR rating for them. In the meantime, they are so new that they don't have any reviews for them either. So, I asked if he'd pay for the shipping and send me 4. So he agreed and at $24/each. Figured what the heck . . . maybe they will provide me more consistency in my "surrounding" recording area . . . and I told him I'd be happy to write a review and share with him what I think. And, if they end up being junk, I don't have a lot invested in them.

Oh gosh! My post is getting really lonnnnng! Sorry. Hope you have a super day. I may do some more test runs/recordings, but I may wait until I get my reflection filter too. I might have it Wednesday . . . and the panels likely by Thursday or Friday. Will let you know how they both work out. I might also revisit your comment about the rubber band likely being what would actually "split" my hisses . . . and put it back on my mic.

Have a super day and week and hope the ash didn't blow in on you! Take care!

Sheila

[kozikowski]

hope the ash didn't blow in on you!

No ash this time; blue skies are back. One really bad fire about a couple of years ago did dump fine, white ash all over everything.

Don't breathe the air.

That was still an amazing shot of how close the planes come in over where you were eating!

There's a lot of good lines there. The tables are a quarter block away from a public park that has two of the approach lights. You know those flashing blue strobes the planes line up on to land? You can walk over and touch two of them, look straight up at the belly of an L1011. I'm still fascinated they let us do that.
This is a joke picture, but very real. They're moving too fast for auto-focus to keep up.

http://kozco.com/pix/TouristJetPicture.jpg

she had used packing blankets.

Like these?
http://kozco.com/pix/oneWallKit.jpg
http://kozco.com/pix/partiallyConstructedWall.jpg
http://www.kozco.com/pictures/boothFini ... op-mic.jpg

I'd be happy to write a review and share with him what I think.

And with us. Remember Audacity Forum. Users sharing experiences.

This is me writing down the pencil thing. Try putting the rubber band or two around the middle of the sensitive part of the microphone. There is an effect where people swear they hear a sound effect which is completely in their imagination. Alternately, the effect is real for their exact version and model of microphone. It gets posted as a generic solution for all microphones.

Auray RF-5P-B Reflection Filter

It has to say the right maker and model. You can get really cheap acoustic foam blocks for your studio walls, but look-alike packing foam doesn't work.

If you shine a powerful flashlight just right, can you see the little silver-doller or quarter size round thing inside the microphone? That's the metal disk your voice is vibrating when you speak.

Koz

[kozikowski]

Missed a step.

If you put the bandanna over the microphone and the sound lost a little of its crispness, you should also have been able to make RMS easier to hit. That's one of the reasons we're doing this.

The crisp sound creates the sharp, tall peaks which mess up the peak/RMS relationship. If the peaks go down, the RMS can be amplified without violating any standards.

Koz

[SheilaQ]

Hi Koz!

As always, thanks for your feedback. Firstly, glad to hear you missed the ash! Secondly, I have to agree with you on the runway light thing -- and the pic was amazing. Good thing people can't throw stuff out the plane window at that location . . . and better yet, hope they never "dump" their tanks -- if you know what I mean! Ha! Ha! Ha!

The packing blanket thing . . . you can go to the following link on one of ACX's blog posts and scroll down to see Kate Udall's setup (Is the pic you sent me of your setup?):

https://blog.acx.com/tag/recording/

Yeah, the rubber band thing was grabbing at straws, wasn't it? Ha! Ha! That's OK . . . it didn't cost me anything. I still played around with my recording setup that I have in place TODAY and eventually got several raw recordings that passed the ACX Check test! Woo Hoo! I ended up switching a switch on my mic that was pre-set when I received it. I forget which one I changed, but it appeared to beef up the sound what seemed like somewhat considerably. I was also able to raise the gain on my audio interface (still with the bandana effect) -- which also brought my RMS levels into range. So, I just kept playing with the gain knob and found a nice position -- at least one that worked today.

I'm kinda anxious to get my new toys to see how they work out. Figure at that point, I'll likely change my entire setup. That's OK . . . baby steps. I'm having a good time learning.

Well, that's it for my testing today. I'll keep you posted. Thanks again for all your help. And, by all means, I'll be MORE THAN HAPPY to leave a review for the Audacity Forum -- will have to snoop around and see where to do that! I honestly cannot tell you how helpful you have been to me and how much I appreciate your time . . . and patience. Take good care and have a great rest of your day and evening! I know we'll be in touch.

Sheila

[kozikowski]

You have a PAD control. That's used in the face of somebody playing a trumpet or trying to record jets at the airport (not that I would ever want to do that). It reduces the volume of the microphone 10dB, somewhere between 1/2 and 1/4. Sound goes double and half every 6dB. This could prevent overload during loud performances. Overload is Very Bad. It's clearly audible and permanent.

hope they never "dump" their tanks

They frown on openings in the hull at 600 MPH.

I'll be MORE THAN HAPPY to leave a review for the Audacity Forum

I don't know we need a formal review. Your user comments here are good. It's not unusual for us to make suggestions and we assume they succeeded because we never hear from the poster again.

The picture with the music stand and microphone was an actual voice sound shoot. The whole thing knocks down into a pile in the garage. Plus, if I never need to move any furniture.......

Koz

[SheilaQ]

Hi Koz!

Hey, hope you are doing well. I know I've been offline for a few days, but I was busy building my little "recording studio". It seems to be just perfect! The sound blankets I purchased from U.S. Cargo Control seem to be doing their job. I no longer have noise floor issues -- unless the neighbor decides to cut grass. I've attached a pic of my new setup. Only really tried it out today as I had some changes to make to the stand that holds my shield and microphone. But, I'm happy to say that I got numerous ACX Check test passes in raw form!! Woo hoo! I still occasionally have the RMS levels off -- but I've noticed that when I do, they are consistently between -23.1 and -23.5 -- nothing horrible, but enough to keep pushing me to get them in range.

So, my little recording area is built out of a PVC frame, the sound blankets on the sides and a cheap-o eggcrate-like mattress pad from my first go-around, so I put it on the top with a blanket over it. I can now leave the room light on -- and I have a small LED-bulb light inside. It is 4'W X 5'L X 6'H - so I can either sit or stand. I can even leave the back sound blanket open a little and the door to the room, so I no longer suffocate.

Now I need to get serious about practicing a LOT more and learning the software/editing, etc. process. I'm also working on how I physically pronounce my "Ssss". I found a YouTube video (of course! ha! ha!) that had a woman who is a speech therapist illustrate how to speak words with the sharp S's and C's to curb the "sibilance"? Anyway, it seems to work, I just need to practice it more. Once again, it's that effort to correct things and make them as close to perfect from the get-go rather than fixing later. So, we'll see -- it's a work in progress.

I do hope you are having a fantastic weekend. I got a giggle from your comment about the plane and "dumping" as they fly over the beach/restaurants. I'm sure I'll be in touch with you as I move forward on my practicing. As always . . . thanks so much for all of your input and recommendations! Take good care!

Until later . . .
Sheila

[SheilaQ]

Hi Koz,

Oooops! Remembered something I forgot to add to my other message. Are there any not-so-hugely-expensive, but still decent, headphones you can recommend that I get? I'm just using some that came with my Walkman years ago. Would really appreciate your recommendation. Thanks a bunch!

Sheila