13
A webcam mic is going to be nowhere near good enough to record infrasound.
Most mics, good or bad, aim to capture sound between 20Hz & 20KHz [the approximate absolute limits of human hearing]. The cynic in me would say that roughly, the higher the price, the closer to achieving that they may get.
Then there are specialist mics - made by some very ...
10
IMO loud sounds require many channels of audio. Its very difficult to get a good recording of a loud sound with just two tracks because of how many parts a loud sound can be broken into (each requiring a different gain setting and mic perspective)
I typically try to evaluate and cover the following parts:
low end - how much low end is the sound generating ...
9
It matters less if all parts are being played in tune and on time, but in multitrack recording scenarios, this is rarely the case, so the logic is thus:
Record drums first to give all other parts a temporal and metric reference.
Record bass next because it typically plays on strong metric pulses, and because harmony is grounded in the lowest note in the ...
8
Threshold is the point set for when the compressor actually starts compressing once the volume of the program or track reaches above that level. Note that it's a static volume, so if you have a voice or instrument that is all over the place due to levels, you might want to do a pre-leveling with a fader/volume automation to even it out so it's always hitting ...
8
I'm stuck in San Francisco, but my wife commanded me to walk her through setting up my rig over Skype. Can't wait to hear what she records for me!
UPDATE: She chickened out :p
8
To reflect on your first question, Randy is referring to a psychoacoustic principle that falls under something called "scene analysis." I don't know that he's necessarily read a ton on psychoacoustics...but whether or not he has, the different effects are something that you begin to pick up on after a certain amount of experience. Basically, what's going on ...
8
What you are looking for are called "stems" or "raw tracks" and are generally only made available by artists who actively want to promote remixes of their works.
Some good sources are:
Weathervane Shaking Through
Real World Remixed
Nine Inch Nails Remixes
Mike Senior's multitrack downloads library
mixoff.org
8
Have done a few scenes like this before. Not sure what you mean by broken though, is that a state other than flickering? Most scenes like this seem to be variations of flickering.
It's definitely worth recording some as the 'plink' sound you get from them all is different, as is the buzz and and hum. For the long tubes you can use some worn out starters to ...
7
From my observations, these are the most used MS pairs in field recording:
Sennheiser MKH 40 or 50 (or 8040 or
8050) paired with an MKH 30 or MKH 800
Schoeps CMC bodies with MK4 or MK41 capsules paired with an MK8
Schoeps CCM4 or CCM41 paired with a
CCM8
Neumann KM100 bodies with AK40
or AK50 capsules paired with an AK20
There are also single stereo MS ...
7
Hi guys, well here's a tip for you. Ive been using a Nuemann KMR81i for 90% of foley recording. Been doing foley for more than 25 years, so have tried it all. The 416 was the standard many years ago but it does have a nasty kick around 3k which really bites with chains, keys or foot grit, the KMR 81i is much warmer. The 416 is what I use for location foley ...
7
I put up a bunch of recordings yesterday if you want to check some of them out. It was quite a night. http://sepulchra.com/blog/?p=1959
7
Deep and resonant with less sharpness sounds like you want to put the mic underneath the piano pointing up at the sound board. You'll probably want to move it around down there and experiment with how it sounds in different places pointed towards different parts of the sound board. I'd start off pointed toward the bridge in the middle of the board, ...
6
The first is that he said that one of his huge trade secrets in sound design are sounds that continually change in pitch just slightly. This way, they clash less with music and dialog and can be heard better through the mix because they're constantly changing. This makes a tone of sense and is genious. The question is...what would you use to do that?
I ...
6
By no means a canonical list, but what I've found has become most useful to me, in situations like yours (recording SFX in a controlled interior as opposed to field recording):
Know your polar patterns. Shotguns vs. cardioids vs. omnis, etc. etc. - they all have unique advantages and disadvantages that indoor conditions usually amplify.
Know your room. This ...
6
Hey Young George, emails aren't contracts. And getting someone to sign a contract is usual business practice, so go ahead and do it without feeling uneasy about it.
You can tell him it's how you always work, if you fear it will create distrust, but it never happened to me in the past. And if he doesn't want to sign it that's a huge red flag.
6
There are two main elements to this answer-
1) Room- This is VERY important. I recorded an actor screaming (should've brought my earplugs!) in a wardrobe room. The room was small but not too small and the hanging clothes worked pretty well for difusion. We checked out a few different rooms and found this one to be the best. Not too dead and not too ...
6
I wouldn't record using FX unless I was very sure about the end result I wanted and how it would sit in the mix, just to leave my options open since you can't go back and remove the FX. On the other hand, if the FX are an integral part of the performance then it might be a good idea to record after the FX. Sometimes the performer might hit a 'sweet spot'that'...
5
A couple of thoughts. Go to a trade show like AES or NAB. Many of the dealers have mics set up on the floor feeding a preamp with headphones. Also, a few dealers will lend out demo mics for you to check out.
That being said, field recording and sound design is such a niche field, that there is no way to check out all of the gear before you buy. I bought my ...
5
I have impulsed a number of ways. Balloon pops, belt snaps and tone sweeps through speakers.
I like the speaker sweeps the best. Sound Forge comes with acoustic mirror and you can find the tone sweeps on their site. Acoustic mirror can deconvolve after you record the sweep.
Voxengo deconvoler is another great one that you can even batch process. It can also ...
5
Think of it this way: what do others need to tell you before you let them into your house to perform an activity you have no clue about?
Surely it helps if they tell you it's for a non-profit project that helps someone in need / solves a problem / makes the world a better place? Or if they do something that might benefit you, or that is linked to something ...
5
I always have the limiters engaged on my recorders, no matter what I'm recording. But, it is absolutely essential with the loud stuff (guns, explos, jet bikes, car drops, etc). The hardest thing about recording a loud source is that you can't monitor while you record. Well, you can monitor, but you won't hear it well enough to get a feel for the ...
5
Michael Raphael (Rabbit Ears Audio) has been recording some stuff. He's even posted sounds already:
http://soundcloud.com/sepulchra/wind-hurricane-sandy-short
He also posted some pics of his DPA 4060's attached to his windows.
5
Actually you can do soundproofing without damaging the house. Using acoustic panels (expensive but provides the best result) works, however some well placed blankets using string and 3M adhesive hooks in a carpeted room can vastly change the sound of the recording because of reduced reverberation.
Picking a recording time that has the least amount of noise ...
5
If you want to save some money and do it yourself you might try suspending a membrane of some sort, like a piece of paper or plastic, and attaching an accelerometer to it. A quick search found the MMA8453Q made by Freescale Semiconductor. It costs a dollar, takes 10bit samples, and samples at a rate of up to 800Hz. The max sensitivity mode is 2g which ...
5
I would go with 2-4 goosenecked clip microphones positioned in top and bottom of each sound source, something like this:
The important thing here is that the mics stay at a fixed position, so you will not get varying levels as you play and move around, as with a mic on a stand.
The DPA 4099 series would be a good choice. They actually made an accordion ...
5
Those are DIN connectors. DIN line-level signals expect a different impedance than is usual for RCA or XLR connections. IIRC you can put a resistor in series to convert to RCA.
I'm not sure what signal level and impedance DIN microphones use. I'll see what I can dig up.
It looks like this is a dictation microphone. One of the connectors allows you to ...
4
It would help to know what kinds of bangs you are recording. Are these intended to be big metal clangs? Low-frequency impacts? Car crashes? What recording device are you using? Are you hearing the clipping or just seeing it on the meters?
In most cases, the key ingredients to a powerful and believable impact recording are multiple perspectives (layers), ...
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