QC Setup
Hi there,
I'd like to work with a longstanding QC reviewer to establish some optimum parameters for recording? My equipment setup is as follows (It has not changed over the years).
Setup
Scarlett 2i2 interface
NT1A Rode condenser mic
Booth is padded with Procell pyramid acoustic foam.
Adobe Audition CC
The past QC rejections have been for "boxiness" and "white noise".
I'm going to kick things off by adding a track. The first half is normalized to -3db. The second half has added parametric EQ running a generic high pass filter.
Thank for your help,
Sam
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lhKQtc96OtBDCYav8Y9tU80xduo-DReB/view?usp=sharing
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Guys, I say this with love, is anyone actually going to help me out on this?
Hi Sam,
Thank you for reaching out to us!
I have just listened to the audio you provided above, what a charming voice you have!
Regarding the quality of the audio.
In the first half, there is a lot of loud noise present. You can hear it whenever you are speaking. This could be down to having the pre-amp gain too high. A lot of the time, the pre-amp being turned up too high is the main cause for white noise. Also, it does sound 'boxy'. This may be down to having hard surfaces/windows in the recording booth?
I'm sure you may have already seen this article, but it supplies great tips to help manage problems like this: https://bit.ly/2MrNsSV.
As for the second half of the recording. It sounds the better of the two!
There is white noise still present, but you predominantly hear it in the parts where you are not speaking. This should be an easy fix, which can be rectified with the use of editing/fading to silence.
The 'boxiness' is still heard here, not as loud in the first half. But it's still quite distracting.
It might be worth seeing where the problem could lie.
Would you be kind enough to show me pictures of your recording booth?
Look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
Samantha
Thanks for getting back to me Samantha. Really appreciate it. I've added a pic of my booth below.
I've added a duvet beneath my feet now to see if it helps. Yeah, the boxiness is getting me down. It is a tight space. I'm adding another two takes below to see if has made any difference.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n-MzUN8ad57VAP1O3C5giMiKA7Qk4aVK/view?usp=sharing
The white noise that you "hear it in the parts where you are not speaking" is slightly concerning. Do you mean between words or between sentences? I always edit silences i.e. there is no signal at all in those parts.
Out of interest, are you listening using over the ear headphones or monitors? I'm using AKG K240 Mkii - hoping mine aren't faulty or anything.
Thanks again,
Sam
Hello again Sam,
Firstly, I must apologise. Upon listening to them both again, there is no white noise present between each sentence. This is my error. I foolishly still had another track playing along side yours in my DAW, which wasn't muted. Sorry about that - Your headphones are definitely not broken!
Thank you for providing a picture of your set up. I think I see where the 'boxiness' problem could be coming from.
Can you try repositioning your microphone and tripod, so it's not in the corner of your booth, and it isn't resting against a wall? Try having it still on the righthand side, but in the middle of the righthand wall. (Hope that makes sense).
And if you could upload a new recording with the new positioned microphone here that would be great!
Best wishes,
Samantha
Thank you Samantha,
Yes, my mic generally is in the centre of the booth - I just had it leaning for a sec before I set it in place. This take has some more padding and the second part cuts out some of the low signal.
Thanks for patiently walking me through all this.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ulO1wTJVO9D8c98TVQ7qnHm6JUd9wBqc/view?usp=sharing
Ah, I see, glad to hear you don't leave your mic in the corner of the booth when recording!
Sam, the second half has certainly tackled this boxiness problem!
Thank you for all your proactive adjustments.
Don't hesitate to contact me if there is anything else I can help you with.
Hope you have a wonderful week.
Very best wishes,
Samantha
Ah, good to hear!
Before I get back to work, I was wondering if you could weigh in on one last version? I've added some minimal processing for presentation.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ynzngawc1pxaGhIu2hh1o-tUtkmKsg0x/view?usp=sharing
Otherwise, I'll stick to the approved second half above.
Thanks for everything,
Sam
Hi Sam,
The previous (second half) recording is the better one. This last take sounds like too much of the low frequencies have been stripped from the audio. With some parts suffering from sibilance.
Best wishes,
Samantha
Gotcha - thanks!