Advice on audio

N

n1c02

Well-known member
I took this small clip that we recorded the other day.. and want advice, what you think?//// anything..

We are using a azden sgm-1x on a boom here going into my mixer and out of the mixer into the DVX100a channel 2 with both channels set to channel 2.

I didnt do anything to the audio yet. i jsut wanted to sample to raw sound from waht I have and see what you guys think.. It was a pretty windy/cold day but had the diy cover for it.. seemed to work descent..

 
Voices very mushy, especially on the guy, and I can hear lots of hiss. Some EQ and noise reduction in post might help but my main impression is that the mic was too far away or never really pointed at the male actor. Wind noise does seem pretty much under control; the noise I hear is at higher frequencies and I think electronic in origin.

- Greg
 
thanks.. we were really concerned about getting the female voice at the time to test the noise levels. The mic was pointed at her. My battery power system died before we could go any further and do tests on both.
But do you believe based on the female part that the noise level is something that is workable in post or should I try something differant?

Thanks
Terry
 
The noise was pretty bad. How close was that mic? Sounds like you had turn the gain up way too high to get the voices in there, which raised the noise floor with it.
 
using all taht we have available right now... have the azden sgm-1x going into a Behringer1202 mixer the mic in on a boom with the blimp and wind muff... ... going from the mic into channel one on the mixer and from the cntrl room out and also have tried main out of the mixer into channel 2 of the DVX100a and have both channels recording onto channel 2 so that I get 2 tracks... seen taht somewhere on the boards here...... anyway. i do believe the sound guy couldve had the mic ALOT closer to her since i was framed in as close as I was. the settings on the channel one on the board are

gain is 3
EQ settings
going from dead center 0 --
Highs are at 3
mid is at 5
lows are at 3
Level goes from -00 to +15 so I would say it is at -5
 
doing this on a really no budget and trying to get the best results possible so any help advice will be appreciated... I also jsut got the Sterling Audio st31 for inside shots.. i know not what everyone here would use but its what we can afford right now.
 
It depends what frequency the low cut is set at. Certainly recording with low cut can help out in taking out some of the infrasonic frequencies out. Not sure I would record with the EQ settings you mentioned though. I would only apply a low cut to the recording rather than permanently applying an EQ curve with a Behringer mixer. It might do more damage than good. Who knows where the fixed Q is or how Behringer defines "High" "Mid" and "Low". I would've left those knobs at "0" or no EQ applied.
 
OK, you're going through a multi-stage gain structure, and if you're unfamiliar with gainstaging a mixer, it's easy to add a lot of noise to your signal. Now, I'm specifically not addressing micing/booming issues here, but...

1. Set all gains on the mixer to unity (0), sometimes marked "U". Make sure there are no pads switched on on the mixer or mic.
2. Set the gains on the DVX to 0 (noon).
3. Make sure the DVX is set for LINE input and the mixer set to LINE output (if the mixer has a mic/line setting).
4. Don't use the control-room outs of the mixer, use the mains. Set them for +4 if they're +4/-10 switchable.
5. With proper mic placement and cooperative actors delivering their lines at the right levels, set the gain for the mic using only the gain control on the mixer channel you're feeding. If the level readings are low on the mixer but OK on the DVX, that's OK. All you care about are the DVX meters UNLESS (and this is unlikely) levels are too high on the mixer but not too high on the DVX.

This should give you the cleanest gain.

(Also make sure the mic is properly powered?)
 
One other thing. If I read your post correctly you are boosting every part of the EQ. Set them all back to the middle position and don't boost anything. You may want to cut the lows a bit, maybe, but leave the rest for post.

Experienced mixers hardly ever do on set EQ. You are not an experienced mixer so you really should pretend the EQ doesn't exist. You can always play with it in post but anything you do now can't be undone later.

And as a pointer cutting almost always sounds better than boosting. I suspect that the boost is part of your noise problem.
 
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