Fixing The Sound ?

[MDnewuser]

I do testrecordings sometimes and experiment with diffrent settings. Since i havent tried line-in before i did a test at a loud concert this weekend, got around 3 bars.

Its no problem recording it to my computer and normalize it, but when it comes to sound, i thought it sounded a bit noisy. What is the best way to clean noise from a recording ?.

When i also listen to it i have became used to using enchancers in Winamp which uses change EQ and also might add surround effect to your recording which i think sound much better. I know some vinycleaning programs can do it for me, but its easier with presets. Any hints/tips ?

I listen a lot to peoples examples here at the forum and i wonder, how do you do it to sound so good ?. Practically noisefree some of the stuff. Used a Sony MZ-R410 this weekend + a small binaural mono mic with 3V batterypowersupply. Could the noise have come from my gear ?

Edited May 2, 2005 by MDnewuser

[greenmachine]

Sony's level meters usually have 9 bars, where the distribution would be approximately as follows:

1st: -40 dB (or less, on some units it's always on)

2nd: -30 dB

3rd: -20 dB

4th: -12 dB

5th: -6 dB (first mark/dot, try to peak at this one if you don't know the absolute peak level of the source)

6th: -4 dB

7th: -2 dB

8th: 0 dB (peak at this one if you know the absolute peak level of the source)

9th: over (second mark/dot, avoid this one at any price!)

If it only hit the 3rd bar, you could have gone up to 20 dB higher. A too low level usually means increased noise (after normalizing).

Additional noise could be introduced by analog transfer to the computer. Are you transferring digitally?

The best method to clean noise from the recording would be a sustraction [(signal+noise)-noise=signal], but you need a signal-free passage from your recording, which contains only the noise of your equipment.

Adobe Audition for example can perform this noise substraction and has some decent delay effects.

Edited May 3, 2005 by greenmachine

[greenmachine]

Maybe a level discussion should be added to the important topics, since this question seems to be brought up pretty often...

What is a binaural mono mic by the way?

Edited May 3, 2005 by greenmachine

[MDnewuser]

Greenmachine: Thanks for the info, i recorded line-in using 30/30 couldnt had done more, & as said it was more of a testrecording. I transferred them analog so that might explain more noise on it, i do have a Hi-MD unit though but i guess i cant use old discs to upload ?

Havent tested Adobes products but it might be better than Soundforge. Denoiser works but makes the sound a bit hissy, cymbals get another sound.

A binaural mic takes up sound from around much like the human ear

BTW: After the show there were fireworks, they got up to 4 bars :-).

[greenmachine]

A binaural mic takes up sound from around much like the human ear

←

I know, Im using these as well, but what is a binaural MONO mic?

I transferred them analog so that might explain more noise on it, i do have a Hi-MD unit though but i guess i cant use old discs to upload ?

Not if you recorded it with a non-Hi-MD unit, what you obviously did. But if you have a MD deck with digital out (optical/coaxial) and a soundcard with digital in, you could transfer it digitally in realtime.

I do testrecordings sometimes and experiment with diffrent settings. Since i havent tried line-in before i did a test at a loud concert this weekend, got around 3 bars (at 30/30).

By the way, we must have a largely different perception of loud, since I got about 4 bars at 20/30 through line-in with not too sensitive microphones at a loud concert...

Edited May 3, 2005 by greenmachine

[MDnewuser]

Greenmachine: It looks like this http://www.clasohlson.se/images/products/S.../326995_Xw2.jpg. And as seen its driven by a small batterysource with a SR44 inside which supplies 1,5 V to the mic. Can it be a voltage issue we get diffrent levels using line in ?.

Will buy a more serious mic later from Soundproffesionals since i cant get them here unfortunatly. I have ordered a Boostbox from Reactive to start with

Edited May 3, 2005 by MDnewuser

[greenmachine]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but I thought the basic idea of BInaural recording would be to use two channels/mircrophones as described here for example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural

I've tested my microphones, which are normally supplied with 9 V, with just 1.5 volts. It still works with such an underpowering, but with some drawbacks like a lower sensitivity, early distortions (unable to handle high SPL's) and 'thinner' sound (don't know how to describe it, maybe the frequency range is narrowed).

I really encourage you to move up to the world of stereo recording, it's a whole different world if done properly.

Edited May 3, 2005 by greenmachine

[MDnewuser]

Greenmachine:OK, wrong of me, omnidirectional is a better description :-). I do own a stereomic too, but i dont got any powersource for it though, well see when the Boostbox arrives. It will work as a batterybox too.

Then i will look into buying a good mic, since it cant be bought over here, most of them lack full frequency range.

[greenmachine]

As soon as you will be able to capture and reproduce signals accurately, if it sounds 'as if you were there', you propably don't feel the necessity to add artificial surround effects to the signal anymore, at least I don't.

[deadwing]

As soon as you will be able to capture and reproduce signals accurately, if it sounds 'as if you were there', you propably don't feel the necessity to add artificial surround effects to the signal anymore, at least I don't.

←

One thing I always try and steer clear of is recordings that someone-and not always the orginal taper- has decided needs 'Remastering'.

OK, if there are repairable flaws in a recording, SBE errors, gapping on tracks, by all means fix that, but anything beyond a slight volume boost is, to me, a complete no-no. I've never understood why people put so much store into getting a 'non-lossy' version of a show, then EQ the life out of it to such a degree it sounds like a low rate MP3-or worse!!

Look at it this way, if you've got the recording of how it sounded in it's original state then the listener can tailor it to his individual tastes quite easily with a bit of EQ-ing, but if the EQ-ing is done BEFORE you get it, you can never get it back to that original state, and as we all have our own personal tastes, then surely, the first way is better.

In other words one is destructive, one isn't.

Edited May 5, 2005 by deadwing

[zerodB]

Just a point for all those newbie tapers - Your manual will guide you specifically, but generally, on Sony units, full bit (0dB) will occur when the 2nd last level indicator lights up. Not all units have the same number of indicators.

Edited May 5, 2005 by zerodB

[greenmachine]

@ deadwing:

Thank you for finding the right words, exactly what i wanted to say, sometimes i feel like i can't express myself...