View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
DougVox The Gates of Troy
Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 1705 Location: Miami
|
Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 8:27 am Post subject: |
|
|
But seriously, that's about as unfunny a bit as I've seen in a long time.
(Admittedly, the 'adoption' comment turned me off right away, but still...) _________________ Doug Turkel (tur-KELL)
Voiceover UNnouncer®
UNnouncer.com |
|
Back to top |
|
|
paulstefano Backstage Pass
Joined: 22 Sep 2015 Posts: 411 Location: Baltimore, MD
|
Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2015 8:12 am Post subject: |
|
|
Jason Huggins wrote: | 2nd floor is even tougher IMO. . |
If you'll humor me for further discussion.
I was talking about being on the 2nd floor of my 2 story house, while the "herd" roams around below on the main floor. We really are only upstairs while everyone is sleeping. I don't think much vibration come up through the floor. It's all transferred below. So, while being in the basement would be the most ideal situation I think I could get by with being upstairs. _________________ http://www.paulstefano.com |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Mike Harrison M&M
Joined: 03 Nov 2007 Posts: 2029 Location: Equidistant from New York City and Philadelphia, along the NJ Shore
|
Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2015 8:59 am Post subject: |
|
|
That MAY yield somewhat better results, but do keep in mind that footsteps (especially when running) are impacts that create structural vibration. And, in a typical home, that vibration travels extremely easily from the floor on which the footsteps are impacting to the walls... and including everything – downward and, yes, even upward – connected to them. Low frequencies travel much further than high frequencies, especially through connected structures.
These structural vibrations are the reason professional studios often have floating floors and walls: they are either not connected to each other at all, or are isolated from each other using dampening devices made of rubber, etc.
But go ahead and make some test recordings upstairs to see. Maybe we'll all be pleasantly surprised. _________________ Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
paulstefano Backstage Pass
Joined: 22 Sep 2015 Posts: 411 Location: Baltimore, MD
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Mandy Nelson MMD
Joined: 07 Aug 2008 Posts: 2900 Location: Wicked Mainah
|
Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2015 6:25 pm Post subject: |
|
|
scottnilsen wrote: | Keeping the kids in there while I was recording really improved the quality of my recordings. Clients noticed the difference right away. |
Frank F wrote: | The real question is how can you keep your kids corralled into the booth for long periods of time?
FF |
Speaking as a person with kids and as one who has recorded on the second floor, the second floor is crap when it comes to running. My kids learned early, since I've had this job long before they came around, that not only did they have to be quiet, they also couldn't run or stomp or drop damn Legos. They were as little as one year old when they learned this. Running, walking, giggling, screaming at your sister - they all carry up through the walls and floors.
Now my booth - a wonderful, hand made bit of beauty - sits on the concrete floor in the barn. It doesn't keep all of the noise out but I don't hear anything when the kids wander through the barn to head upstairs to their playroom. A rug in the playroom helps and they know they still have to be fairly quiet but at 9 & 11 they are pros. How they keep managing to drop the Lego pieces on the non-rug part of the floor I don't know!
Also, when they were little and not in school I didn't often get a chance to record the long stuff. That would have to wait until they were asleep. It wasn't always easy but it was worth it.
Full disclosure, I haven't listened to the audio files yet. We are in the middle of a sleep over movie. They haven't noticed I'm on the computer yet.
_________________ 006 member of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Mic. Bonded by sound.
Manfillappsoc: The Mandy and Philip mutual appreciation Society. Who's in your network?
Have you seen my mic closet? ~ me to my future husband |
|
Back to top |
|
|
SkinnyJohnny Backstage Pass
Joined: 12 Aug 2007 Posts: 462 Location: Asheville, NC
|
Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 8:19 am Post subject: |
|
|
The kids aren't as loud when you're upstairs, but there's some "electrical" noise issue up there. I think you'll need to correct that before making a decision. _________________ John Weeks Voice Overs
www.johnweeksvoiceovers.com |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Mike Harrison M&M
Joined: 03 Nov 2007 Posts: 2029 Location: Equidistant from New York City and Philadelphia, along the NJ Shore
|
Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 9:33 am Post subject: |
|
|
What John said.
To me, that "electrical noise" sounded as though the recording was being made through a software plugin that was altering what the mic was picking up. Whatever it is, even without the footsteps, the noise present in that recording needs to be identified and considerably mitigated for any serious recordings.
The screen grab below (from Adobe Audition) shows – apart from frequent momentary spikes that reach well into the higher frequencies (although not very loud) – pretty much constant noise covering from 20 Hz to about 150 Hz, where it begins a slow ramp down, finally ending as high as 2 kHz. From about 50 Hz to that point is well within the range of the human voice, so attempts to filter the noise out will also affect the sound of your voice.
_________________ Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
paulstefano Backstage Pass
Joined: 22 Sep 2015 Posts: 411 Location: Baltimore, MD
|
Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 10:47 am Post subject: |
|
|
Thanks for the replies. I don't know where that electronic noise came from. Its never there in my normal recordings. I'm going to try again to see if I can post a clean file with just the floor bumjps of the running kids. _________________ http://www.paulstefano.com |
|
Back to top |
|
|
paulstefano Backstage Pass
Joined: 22 Sep 2015 Posts: 411 Location: Baltimore, MD
|
Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 3:44 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Here's new file without the electronic noise. Not sure what that was all about first time I've heard that.
I'm upstairs and all 3 kids are running around downstairs and yelling. The vibrations from the footsteps don't seem that bad. I'd appreciate any thoughts on whether you think its possible to stop them from getting into to booth options, like Whisper Room, Clearsonic, or DrumPerfect.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jr49roqiv8h4oe5/noise%20upstairs.mp3?dl=0
BTW, if anybody want to buy an Audiometric Booth, there's one for sale on Craigslist NJ. I am still considering it myself, but its the tiniest model, pretty much a coffin. 33 by 23 inches.
thanks again
Paul _________________ http://www.paulstefano.com |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Mike Harrison M&M
Joined: 03 Nov 2007 Posts: 2029 Location: Equidistant from New York City and Philadelphia, along the NJ Shore
|
Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 4:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
It really is hard to say whether a Whisper Room will completely stop the footsteps from getting inside. Because it would be sitting on the floor, any vibrations in the floor will travel to the booth, unless there is sufficient dampening material to isolate it well enough from the floor.
Footsteps aside for the moment, you should do another test upstairs. This time, when it is quiet downstairs, record yourself reading some text as you normally would. There is still pretty constant noise of some sort, from 2 kHz and below. In the display behind the graph in the screen grab, the brightest colors show the highest and the darker colors the lowest amplitude (loudness). The yellow portions are the footsteps. The purple-ish portions mostly seen above 2 kHz are the higher frequencies of the kids' voices getting to the mic. But the rest of what is seen – the almost continuous red – is what's unknown. If it's not room ambience of some sort, then something in your audio chain is generating it and recording your voice without the noise from downstairs will enable us to determine whether it will require attention, too. (a bit more text under the screen grab)
Again, the Clearsonic and Drum Perfect (and even the Whisper Room) are not designed to keep outside sounds from getting within; they are to minimize (not prevent) the escape of sound created within. _________________ Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
paulstefano Backstage Pass
Joined: 22 Sep 2015 Posts: 411 Location: Baltimore, MD
|
Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 4:52 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Thanks for looking again. That constant noise in interesting. This was my backup mic, a cheap condenser that came with my focuserite 2i2. I appreciate the effort but I can't move my at2020 right now. It's setup in my recording space and tuned just right at the moment. I'm in the middle of an audio book and I am hesitant to change anything until I'm done.
Maybe I can revisit in a week or so before I go and buy something
Thanks again _________________ http://www.paulstefano.com |
|
Back to top |
|
|
vkuehn DC
Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 688 Location: Vernon now calls Wisconsin home
|
Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 9:46 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Here is another graphic that gives you some idea of the frequency distribution of your studio noise:
***Sorry: I'm too thick-in-the-head to get the image to display on it's own. if you will right-click the little tiny box, it will give the opportunity to "view the image"***
This curve is rather typical of this graphic view of sound as measured and displayed by Adobe Audition.
Assuming you made this recording at your normal gain settings, this noise is somewhere around -50 dB. It would not take heroic noise reduction process (via software) to get rid of most it.... maybe get rid of enough that the recording would be useable.
Here is the good news: It does not take construction akin to building a bank vaults to get your studio noise down by 10 to 15 dB. An extra later of drywall stuck to the walls of a closet or small room and the back side of the door might give you 6 to 9 dB of loss. Maybe a similar effort in the space where the children play could give you 3 to 6 dB of noise loss on the other end of this transaction. This is something you can do with materials from Home Depot or Lowes... no need for two tons of some foreign object called a 'recording booth'. And you don't have to use a shoe-horn to get inside a coffin-sized/shaped abomination.
ADDENDUM: I went back and looked at a graphic of the noise level and there are peaks when the children "shriek" where the level gets up to -32. That is a little tougher to isolate than the -45 to -50 dB steady noise between the 7 or so peaks. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
paulstefano Backstage Pass
Joined: 22 Sep 2015 Posts: 411 Location: Baltimore, MD
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
|