VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

Sean211 · Joined: 23 May 2014 Posts: 10

I have a 416 and both a dbx 286s and a Symetrix 528e (which was gifted to me). I'm in my home studio which has, of course, a noisy heat/ac vent. Both the dbx and 528e are fantastic at killing the vent noise.

Right now I'm using the 528e and running it in to the Apollo Twin Duo and then into Pro Tools. I read a post where George said it doesn't matter about room noise going IN to your DAW. That you can, with more precision, do everything either one of these can do and better.

I know I'd be better served running my 416 directly through the Apollo Twin, room noise and all, and surgically killing the room with plugins inside Pro Tools (I use the Platinum bundle).

I've tried but I'm finding the plugin gating and/or expansion tricky vs. turning the expander threshold up until the room goes away on the 528e. For example, I'm trying to use the Renaissance Channel and can't get it from sounding "ragged" and "raspy" when I take a breath.

Love to hear what you all think.

DenaliDave · Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 9:45 am Post subject:

Since it sounds like you have Waves Central already on your computer, give NS1 a try. It has only one simple slider and it goes 1-100. Don't go crazy, less is more. You'll probably find that you only need to use 2/100.

If you were, say, operating a boom mic outdoors with wind noise and other things you might actually have to crank NS1 up to 20 or 30. For indoor rooms that are already quiet (but not *quite* quiet enough) NS1 is simple, effective, and doesn't cause a gating effect. Gating can be tricky to setup properly so it doesn't sound funny.

NS1 can be run live or offline (on an already recorded track). I don't like to run ANY kind of plugins when recording though. I'd rather have a clean, raw recording for myself or clients to edit/master.

Oh...There's also Waves WNS which is a bit more complex and has more features. Honestly, for me that just means more to fool with and waste time with.

Most of these types of plugins are used to heavily by people and then they run around shouting how horrible they make everything sound. While ideally you would want the perfect acoustic environment before even getting started there will always be a place for these types of tools.
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Jason Huggins · Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 10:14 am Post subject:

While I agree with the record raw and then process as needed philosophy, if you are working with a client live and they are recording (whether ISDN or Source Connect or ipDTL or whatever) you don't have the chance to process in post. If your noise floor isn't good enough for you (or them) then some expansion might be useful.

If, however, you don't do live sessions like that then it wouldn't make any difference.

Have you tried any of the UAD Plugins? There are multiple channel strips as well as the Valley People Dyna-mite plugin that have an expander that can be dialed in. You want to stay away from a gate, but a well tuned expander in a room that is consistently noisy can clean up your sound.

Is the expander taking anything other than noise out of your sound? Is there ever a time where you can mess up a recording because you had the expander? If the answer to that is YES it would make sense to record raw and dial in your processing to suit. I personally use a DBX 286a for a little bit of expansion and HPF because it sounds cleaner and doesn't affect my overall sound much.

In my situation though, I live close to a freeway and the rumble comes through my house so I'm just getting rid of very consistent low rumble and I'm only reducing it a little bit. I do a lot of live sessions so I want to send clean audio. It also saves time in post because I would always process every bit of audio the same way.

Just don't mess up your settings or you'll be kicking yourself when you have to re-record a project.

Jason Huggins · Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 10:17 am Post subject:

Oh ya. You will probably get a noticeable increase in overall sound quality if you ditch the hardware strips and use the Apollo Twin. I know the 268 affects the 416 in a less than desirable way (not sure about the 528e). I would ditch the 286a in a heartbeat if I didn't have to deal with the low rumble. I am planning on picking up an Apollo Twin and demoing plugins to find the best expander solution. My old iMac only had one TB port that I used as an external monitor so I was waiting to switch over from the iD22 until I upgraded my iMac and had multiple TB ports. Just upgraded the iMac so next is the interface.

Dayo · Cinquecento Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 544 Location: UK

Sean211 · Joined: 23 May 2014 Posts: 10

Rob Ellis · M&M Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 2385 Location: Detroit

If the vent is your only main issue, aren't there vent silencers or mufflers of some sort out there? Seems like I have seen such contraptions.

DenaliDave · Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 5:09 pm Post subject: Re: Mic Channel Strip question

georgethetech · Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 9:09 am Post subject:

Mr. Tosh here Wink

The main reason I tell people not to process on the way in is that if it's not done right it will ruin the recording permanently. There's no undo on front-end processing. If you use an expander on the front end and don't set your gain properly, it's very easy to lose bits of words on a softer delivery. If you have good engineering skills, then by all means use front-end processing!

You've got an Apollo Twin, so why aren't you using a UAD plugin? Ditch the cruddy signal path of those pieces of outboard and use the API Vision channel strip, which has a fantastic high-pass filter and downward expander (and a lot of other stuff to get you in trouble). Insert it in the Unity slot for best possible results. You can also try the Neve 88RS as an alternative. Use in Demo mode until you are satisfied, then pull the trigger.
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Ed Fisher · Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 7:37 pm Post subject:

Sean211 · Joined: 23 May 2014 Posts: 10

Jack Daniel · Cinquecento Joined: 23 Jun 2016 Posts: 577 Location: SoCal

Agree with Rob about doing what you can to fix the noise source. I know a guy near me who had a noisy AC into his large booth. Dan Lenard came over and helped him build a baffle box that suppresses the noise wonderfully and still allows him (and his clients, as he also records others) to remain comfortable on those hot Hollywood days.

And as George says, the API Vision Unison plugin is an amazing but dangerous tool. (NB: I also have been called a dangerous tool, but in completely different circumstances.) A light touch on the HPF and expander/gate and you can squelch what remains of your vent noise--AFTER you've reduced it via baffling.

Jack
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Lance Blair · M&M Joined: 03 Jun 2007 Posts: 2279 Location: Atlanta

My thermostat has a great plug in where if I set it to off the noise goes away.
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JohnV · Posted: Tue May 23, 2017 7:14 am Post subject:

are we talking
A- noise of air whooshing through the vent?
answer is either/both:
- get a vent that doesn;t whoosh (they make them)
- increase the duct diameter to reduce the air speed thru the vent
- move the vent to the floor area

B- noise of blower/mechanicals rumbling down the ducts and heard through the vent?
answer:
get baffle boxes built and installed along the ducts to eliminate it.
sometimes you can add a long working path of extra insulated flexible duct zigzaging around above the cieling providing similar results

You want quality at the microphone and (CEDAR notwithstnding) no band-aid is better than no-problem in the first place.

(and yeah, the HVAC-FAN-SWITCH manual plug-in is always a go-to!)
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