snowkilts Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 I have been recording myself playing bagpipes for some time, with generally excellent results, however I usually get a strange background noise. It sounds like wind blowing across the microphone, although I am in a closed room (my garage), so there is no possiblility of air moving. The mic has wind socks anyway. I am also at least 20 ft from the unit, so I know I'm not causing it. I've tried varying the recording level, which helps a bit when I lower it. I've also tried separating the mic from the MD with a cable, which had no effect. Can anybody tell me what this might be and what I can do about it? I was thinking next of getting a battery box and running into the line input instead of the mic input. FYI: Bagpipes fall in the category of VERY LOUD, especially in a closed room. I am using a Sharp MD-MT190 recorder, with your basic T-mic, I think it's a Sound Professionals SP-SPSM-1. Thanks! Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raintheory Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 The sounds might be tripping up the ATRAC encoding. I had a similar thing happen while I was recording a combination of tibetan singing bowls, and a detuned acoustic 12-string guitar being played with an electric drill (some of my more experiemental stuff). I am going to do a test with similar sounds using Hi-MD PCM recording -vs- Hi-SP/Hi-LP ATRAC+, or MD SP/LP2/LP4. The original recordings with the weird sounds were done on an N707. It was more noticeable on the right channel, which was odd... Just a thought, could be something completely different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 Perhaps it is an ATRAC artifact, bagpipes do have all kinds of overtones. Are you recording at the highest possible bitrate--SP in regular MD, PCM in HI-MD. Other possibilities: Is that closed room quiet? Does it have a heater, water runninng nearby, etc.? Sometimes a mic will pick up those sounds even if your ears unconsciously tune them out. Ruling that out, if it's a constant sound I'd guess it comes from the electronics--either your mic or the MD's preamp. What do you get if you record with no sound in the room? Is the whoosh/hiss still there? Or is it the MD responding to the sound level? Can you borrow a different mic and see if you still get the same problem? It could be a noisy mic, though I doubt that if it's from Sound Pros. If you also get the same problem with different mics, then bypassing the preamp by using a battery box to line-in might also help. And by the way, bagpipes sound strange anyway... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowkilts Posted January 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 Thanks for the feedback. I am recording in SP, which is the highest bitrate my unit is capable of. The room does have a heater, which I have listened for, but I don't hear it. Anyway, the sound I am hearing is not consistent. It sounds more like gusts of wind wistling across the mike -- with a period of 3 seconds or so. The sound does not occur in portions of the recordings when I am not actually playing the pipes. I have also tried another microphone, and got the same results. I have ordered a battery box from Sound Professionals, and I will give that a try. A friend of mine is also buying a new HI-MD recorder -- I'll borrow that as well. Thanks, Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 Two thoughts: 1 - bagpipes are -loud-. It's possible that you're overloading the mic preamp. Try recording with manual levels and with them turned all theor nearly all the way down. 2 - the MDs I've used [and the HiMD I own] have no filtration before their A/D converter - when you put a frequency -in- that is over 22.05kHz, it generally ends up converted as a harmonic that is equally below 22.05kHz as the original tone was above it [i.e. simplified though not absolutely correct - 30kHz gives an audible harmonic at 10kHz]. It's possible that your bagpipes are causing audible distortion because the mic / MD are picking up and attempting to record sounds that it produces -above- your range of hearing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditroiamusic Posted January 21, 2005 Report Share Posted January 21, 2005 The strange sound you hear might be.....bagpipes! I am completely kidding of course. I love the sound of both bagpipes and Uilean pipes. I just couldn't pass up a chance to use my dry, terrible sense of humor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.