Sens/Input, low cut/pad, gain/normalize, spikes

[gongchime]

I was trying to use an overly reflective isolation chamber to eliminate the wind, the crickets, the frogs, the water, the cans set up to bang when the wind blows, the screaming children, the barking dogs, the big kites with huge, fat rubber strips stretched across the fronts and back so as to whir in order to scare birds. There's often one directly over my house all night and it's LOUD.I had thought about going into the rice fields to record the mini windmills that bang the soup and coffee cans because their arhythmic crossrhythms are interesting. Of course you'd need to be able to pan each one to get the full stereo effect as if standing in the rice field. I don't have a portable, battery powered recording unit though. But I certainly don't want those sounds on every recording I make although they could be good on the one I'm working on now. Anyway, I still need to come up with a solution for the isolation chamber. On my BR1180 which I'm using as a mic pre amp, I've got both the sens and the Input set at 75% each. a) Where SHOULD those be normally if you're in a good room? b) And where should they be for my crappy isolation chamber aka which knob should be higher than the other? c) On the mic there's a low cut switch and a Pad switch at 0 and -10 decibels. When should I use them? d) After recording in my sound editing software WaveLab do I use the "Change Gain", the "Normalize" function, both or neither to bring the volume up? e) If you've got a single spikey event how do you bring it down? More compression than the rest of the tune only in that spot?Engineering 101 but still a bit clueless.

[mewman]

Hi GregThere is a great reference manual available called the Sound Reinforcement Handbook written by Gary Davis and Ralph Jones for Yamaha. It's published by Hal Leonard Corporation, ISBN 0-88188-900-8It will answer all your engineering 101 questions and much more. Knowing you as I do from these boards, you'll eat it up!Mewman

[gongchime]

You mean buy something? With actual money? You're a card!!! That's hillarious. I could order it on the net by going into debt and when it arrived, my dog would eat it since the mailman here in Indonesia, just throws stuff over the gate. However, I had a unique experience two nights ago. When I came home with my girlfriend, my dog was sitting next to the new Recording Magazine. Even my girlfriend commented. "Wow, he's not eating it." Either it means he loves me more or he has too much stress to bother with eating it.

[frodo]

Aug 27, 2008, 3:54am, gongchime wrote:I was trying to use an overly reflective isolation chamber to eliminate the wind, the crickets, the frogs, the water, the cans set up to bang when the wind blows, the screaming children, the barking dogs, the big kites with huge, fat rubber strips stretched across the fronts and back so as to whir in order to scare birds. There's often one directly over my house all night and it's LOUD.I had thought about going into the rice fields to record the mini windmills that bang the soup and coffee cans because their arhythmic crossrhythms are interesting. Of course you'd need to be able to pan each one to get the full stereo effect as if standing in the rice field. I don't have a portable, battery powered recording unit though. But I certainly don't want those sounds on every recording I make although they could be good on the one I'm working on now. Anyway, I still need to come up with a solution for the isolation chamber. On my BR1180 which I'm using as a mic pre amp, I've got both the sens and the Input set at 75% each. a) Where SHOULD those be normally if you're in a good room? b) And where should they be for my crappy isolation chamber aka which knob should be higher than the other? c) On the mic there's a low cut switch and a Pad switch at 0 and -10 decibels. When should I use them? d) After recording in my sound editing software WaveLab do I use the "Change Gain", the "Normalize" function, both or neither to bring the volume up? e) If you've got a single spikey event how do you bring it down? More compression than the rest of the tune only in that spot?Engineering 101 but still a bit clueless.Hi Gongchime,First thing to do, – don't leave it out in the rain with that cake! Your questions:>> I've got both the sens and the Input set at 75% each. >>a) Where SHOULD those be normally if you're in a good room? Sens should be a little before the red light starts, that is, a little before overloading.Input should be to the level where you get an output at about minus ten with the track fader and master fader at 0.for b), see answer to a)>>d) After recording in my sound editing software WaveLab do I >>use the "Change Gain", the >>"Normalize" function, both or neither to bring the volume up? Neither, you shouldn't have to use any of those to get the volume up, if it's to low you've set the levels wrong in stage a).Use a limiter on the master after recording everything, and get the overall level up that way.>>c) On the mic there's a low cut switch and a Pad switch at 0 >>and -10 decibels. When should I use them? Use the low cut if you want to cut the low end of the recording before the signal reaches your equipment, use the Pad switch if recording something that is so loud you can't get the sense buttom low enough.>>e) If you've got a single spikey event how do you bring it >>down? More compression than the rest of the tune only in that >>spot?For a single spikey event, use volume automation, or mark that area in the editor, and do a gain change to a lower level.Ohh, and – don't leave it out in the rain with the cake!!! – until next timefrodo*edited for spelling*

[gongchime]

Thanks for that valuable free information. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you in lieu of cash. So, can I assume I would use the low cut with female vocals since there isn't any low end in a high voice? The average male vocals also don't go into the bass register. Would I use low cut then too? I don't know where the cut off is. Just checking that I would not need it to record a bass guitar. Right?Also, don't leave your mixing board in the rain. I don't think that I could take it. Kuz it took so long to ship it and they'll never make that model agaaaaaain. Oh noooooooooo.

[mojobone]

IMO, you should use the low cut most of the time, unless recording kick drum, bass or some other source with lots of low-frequency energy: Taiko, frame drum, bodhran, etc. Usually, a low-cut switch will be somewhere between 75-100hz. It's probably a must for any outdoor recording, where wind can cause rumble. (foam windscreens can also be helpful outdoors)I, too, strongly recommend the Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook, it's the live sound engineer's bible, and nearly all of it applies to recording as well. Get it used from Amazon or Ebay, if you must. A suggestion: order in some ground cayenne pepper (mail it to yourself in a chewable container) It's a nasty trick to play on a dog, but he's gotta learn sometime...

[frodo]

Aug 28, 2008, 6:03pm, gongchime wrote:Thanks for that valuable free information. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you in lieu of cash. So, can I assume I would use the low cut with female vocals since there isn't any low end in a high voice? The average male vocals also don't go into the bass register. Would I use low cut then too? I don't know where the cut off is. Just checking that I would not need it to record a bass guitar. Right?Also, don't leave your mixing board in the rain. I don't think that I could take it. Kuz it took so long to ship it and they'll never make that model agaaaaaain. Oh noooooooooo.Hi Gongchime,There's no point in doing a low cut.Meaning; why would you like to filter out frequencies when recording at all?Record as many frequencies as your microphone is capable of, that's my advice.The only reason I can think of for using the low-cut when recording, is if you have a source with excess low-end, so much it overpowers everything, and you need to cut it somewhat for getting a good level on the rest of the frequencies.Or, if doing live sound, if you have a very-fresh soundman and singing very close to the mic or playing an instrument with only hi-end, like wind-chimes, close to someone playing djembe.Why cut when recording?If you record to the best of the abilities of the microphone, you get the most alternatives for creating and altering the sound afterwards, inside your computer or recording/editing device.So, – don't use the low-cut. Thanks for the tips about the mixer and the rain, – I've made a note of it and hung it up on my wall, just to remind me! – until next timefrodo

[mojobone]

One might wish to use the low cut when a singer is very close to the mic to reduce pops from "P" and "B"consonants, breath noise can also be bothersome with cardioid mics at close range. Perhaps it's a difference of recording philosophy, but I'd rather keep that stuff out of my recordings to begin with than repair the damage later.

[matthoggard]

Some mics low cut just softens certain freq's, some of them (My CAD) for example really chop them. It depends really on the sound your trying to capture. Experiment a little. Youll find a nice balance.