VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

kitstern · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 11:43 am Post subject: First Session w/AudioTX!

It went without a hitch. The session was also for my first national gig, so I was a bit stressed out. But the producer and I had a trial run yesterday and it went fine, then today we were all ready to go.

Whew!! Now to market, to market........

Hope you're all having a great day!
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johnbailey · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 12:29 pm Post subject:

Kitzie,

Congrats! Can you describe your ISDN setup? Is your computer in the same room with you when you're recording? And did the engineer say anything about the fan noise from the computer? Was this a spot or an industrial?
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Joe Whistler · Guest

Sounds terrific! I guess that means you got your mic and pre working working properly?

kitstern · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:45 pm Post subject:

Joe,

The mic pre was a non-issue as I've disconnected it. I'm still considering returning it, but haven't yet.

I'm assuming the producer had a pre on his end, as I didn't record anything here. The audio went directly into their recording setup.

I have the AudioTx software running on a separate PC, as AudioTx recommends. I don't know how Charlie has his set up, Charlie maybe you could chime in here. The question of noise didn't seem to be an issue, although I'll email the producer and see what he thinks now that we've done a session. I'm trying to assess whether a vocal booth is a priority (like buy tomorrow instead of waiting until the summer). I have both computers muffled with quilts (be careful of this one though, you could overheat your HD and then you'd be ............... you know). There is some ambient noise in the room, and I'm trying to figure out how to filter that out in ProTools. A friend sent me instructions how to do it in Cool Edit, but there doesn't seem to be a corresponding set of instructions in ProTools. Any thoughts?
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Charlie Channel · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 2:24 pm Post subject:

Congrat's, Kitzie.

I run AudioTX in the same box as my DAW. So, my workstation truly is a workstation with all the bells and whistles. No problem, so far. And, I have a spare box in the event of a computer hardware failure. My computer is branded Medion, obtained from Best Buy. My production mic is inside a VocalBooth iso booth. The Medion is very quite, relatively.

Incidentally, I use a Shure SM-58 outside of the iso booth to record demo's. It's abouit 3 feet from the Medion and, because it's very directional, I have no problems with it picking up fan noise.

As for minimizing the noise of room tone, the technique is to use an equalizer and roll-off the lower frequencies (or pass higher frequencies), probably below around 75 hz (aka, "cycles per second"). Intelligibility is actually from 300 - 3,000 Hz and although there is 'voice' content below 100 Hz, it doesn't contribute to intelligibility. So, with the Digidesign 002-Rack, there's a little button that's right on the front of the hardware that's used to cut the low frequencies. It's a high pass filter that passes frequencies above 75 Hz and attenuates frequenxcies below 75 Hz. That minimizes 60 Hz hum and rumble.

Kitzie, for the M-box, there's a plug-in that comes with Pro Tools called the Essential Noise Meter. I used it to isolatethe source of noise in my home-studio with great effectiveness. I found, for example, that the low frequency noise from my computer's fan was actually being amplified by the computer case. I was able to stuff sound proofing material around the case that effectively eliminted a lot of unwanted equipment noise.

There are also other PT plug-in's provided for equalization. You have two choices. One is to use a plug-in on the AudioSuite. That's used, real time as you're recording. Insert plug-ins may be used during play back. The AudioSuite plug-ins, if used during playback, are useful to destrcutively changing the wave. "Gain", for example, can be used to increase or decrease the volume (amplitude) of a recorded region, without playing it back using the AudioSuite plug-in.

Often, that sort of noise (low frequency rumble) is taken care of in post production mix-down.

CC

kitstern · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:46 pm Post subject:

Charlie, re: the MBox plug-in. I can only find "SoundSoap2" at the Digidesign website http://www.digidesign.com, scroll down on the MBox plugins page. It's $99.

Has anyone used an Earthworks mic pre? I
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Guest · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 5:30 pm Post subject:

The plug-in for equalization is free with Pro Tools. The plug-in's are on the install CD.

You should have the following bundled plug-ins with LE 6.1 or 6.4:

* Bomb Factory BF76 Compressor

* BF Essential Clip Remover

* BF Essential Correlation Meter

* BF Essential Meter Bridge

* BF Essential Noise Meter

* BF Essential Tuner

* Funk Logic Mastererizer

And, as a part of the regular PT's install, (even 5.3 LE) the following plug-ins are available and standard:

Equalization: 1 Band Eq II

4 Band Eq II

Dynamics: Compressor

Limiter

Expander

De-Esser

Reverb: D-Verb

Delay: Short, Medium, Long, Extra Long Delay

Other: Dither

Click

These plug-ins (used on Inserts) come standard. You should check your install CD and install them.

By the way, which version of PT's are you running?

On the AudioSuite side (it's a menu in the Edit Window), you should already have:

Pitch Shift

Chorus

Flanger

Invert

Duplicate

Normalize

Gain

Reverse

DC Offset Removal

Time Compression

I use (for VO) "Gain" when I screw up a level and need to boost it a bit. It can really save you.

With PT, you can have up to 5 inserts per track. That means you can add both a compressor and a limiter and an equalizer on a track, to get that 'punch' you're looking for. When you play back or bounce to disk, the plug-ins work for you.

CC

Charlie Channel · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 5:38 pm Post subject:

You'll find that software has been written to work with Pro Tools that can eliminate the need for purchasing hardware. That's the beauty, and sometimes the curse, of the digital world.

Anyway, another thought:

In Pro Tools, find and check out your "Inserts" -- because you probably have many plug-in's already installed. javascript:emoticon(' cool

')

Cool

CC
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Charlie

kitstern · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 9:13 pm Post subject:

I guess I wasn't being clear. This is what my friend sent me about a voice file I sent him. He cleaned it up for me doing the following in Cool Edit. What I need to know is if I can do this in ProTools?

kgenus · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 12:22 am Post subject:

Out of the box, DigiDesign does not supply that type of noise reduction, however, there are plugins from Waves, Inc., specifically the broadcast plugins, that do this exceedingly well.

Kevin
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Charlie Channel · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 12:38 am Post subject:

Oh! I see.

"CoolEdit's noise reduction feature works by analyzing the frequency content of a sample of audio that you select. Once it "learns" the noise, then it will remove a percentage of the noise from the sections that you select.".

That's what's happening.

- CC

Deirdre · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:41 am Post subject:

kitstern · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 9:10 am Post subject:

Darn! So here's the deal. I think I need to buy a vocal booth. But my room isn't all that noisy, mostly low frequency rumble from passing cars & trucks. I've bought a shock mount for the Gefell mic that is supposed to be good at reducing that. If I can find a plugin that will filter out the ambient noise and the other sounds that occur, maybe a vocal booth won't be necessary? But don't want to spend a lot of money, I may as well buy the booth in that case. Perhaps the plugin I mentioned above (SoundSoap2) will provide the answer, and it's only $99.

I don't want to spend money on anything, of course! But I just bought (I think) a pretty good preamp on Ebay. An Earthworks LAB101. Gear, gear, gear.......will it never end (she says as she prepares to explore the Waves site that kevin just sent).
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Enjoy life, this is not a rehearsal.

http://www.kitziestern.com/

kgenus · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 10:33 am Post subject:

Charlie Channel · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 10:36 am Post subject:

Hi Kriste,

Here's the story: Low frequency sounds are the most difficult to control. My booth sits in a spare bedroom, and I can still "see" vibes on my monitor in PT when I walk around. That doesn't mean there's a problem, though.

I was told that even the atmosphere (air) has measurable low frequency sounds from molecules banging around that a mic picks up. Thus, the hi pass filter is used to attenuate those low frequencies.

Think of the iso booth more in terms of a device that functions to make undersirable sound attenuated and desirable sound enhanced. The booth will attenuate sound, which means the mic won't necessarily respond to the sound in a way that's audible. It will enhance your voice by eliminating undesired reverberations and echo.

If the choice is between a plug-in that minimizes noise and a booth, go for the booth, especially with your mic. Also, the plug-in will likely not result in a clean recording of content void of the noise. It will be a part of the signal. To the extent you attempt to filter out the noise, the desired audio will also be affected.

I'd feel pretty comfortable saying that if you record in a booth, you can use the equalizer to filter out low frequency rumble. And, of course, the equalizer is free.

- CC
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