Help improving from audition?
Hellow VB team!
I posted earlier on help removing room echo, and used the advice to take another crack at it. This time I changed mics to a (AT 2035) and put up a 4" corning panel on each wall (left, back, and ceiling). I attached some photos below so you can see my setup. Here is my latest take/submission.
https://soundcloud.com/aron-semle/vb-nofilters
Sadly I didn't make the cut but that's OK. I was declined for:
1- Hiss
2- over-processed audio
3- Improper acoustics/room echo
1. So on Hiss, what's a good db level to shoot for with a silent room?
2. The only thing I did in Audacity was raise the level to -3db, because for some reason -6db seems to be the peak when recording. So maybe this is something with my pre-amp? Not sure here.
3. Looks like I still need help with with echo. I'm traveling but I'll try and post some pics of my setup and see what you think.
Thanks again for all the help! I'm learning a bunch.
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Hi Aron,
Thanks for sharing your sample. The biggest issues I hear on this sample are hiss and distortion. May I ask what preamp are you using? The mic itself is great and we know a few talents who achieve great results with it. However, the preamp might be introducing hiss and the distortion sounds as if you're recording with too much gain. Try backing off the gain and make sure to edit the spaces in between words to remove mouth noises (we recommend replacing those spaces with room tone rather than silence).
I don't think you're far at all, just a little tweaking and you should be set.
I'm using a Behringer Xenyx 802 pre-amp and then I have a lexicon alpha for recording. Do you think this could be it? The gain is just below half way on the amp, but I'll try using less.
On the editing, is there a slick way in Audacity to do this or is it manual?
Thank you!
It's better to do it manually in my opinion, Aron, as you'll have the chance to put some room tone in between words, rather than muting it all together, as Sebastian's mentioned.
Have you tried bypassing the mixer and going directly into the interface?
Good idea! I did try turning the gain down and volume up, and that seemed to remove quite a bit of the hiss. But I'll use this technique to see if the amp is causing more noise.
Is there a db level to target for hiss/noise? For example, try and keep it below -60 db?
Here is my latest attempt, with less gain and manually editing the spaces in between with silence.
https://soundcloud.com/aron-semle/vb-submission
So close! I was not accepted for the following:
1- Too much silence at the start
2- Audio sounds over-processed
I messed up and didn't follow the guidelines on #1, so I can fix that. I'm stuck a bit on #2. So I am using the "Normalize" feature in Audacity to get the peak to -3db (from -6db). I wonder if this is causing the over-processed sound? Any advice?
Thank you!
Hello Aron.
I couldn't pick up hiss noise this time, which is great.
Regarding your last comments, I don't think it sounds particularly over-processed.
However, I heard some plosives throughout the recording (secs 07; 20; 41), so that over-processed feeling comes perhaps from giving it too much gain? Try talking a bit further from the mic to see if it helps with those harsh "P" sounds.