NTG-2 Audio Unusable. Any way to fix?

E

etrust

Well-known member
Hi Guys,

yesterday I was in a Live Concert. I used there my Rode NTG-2 and Fostex Audio Recorder. I setup the level very low to avoid distortion. I imported the audi to sony vegas. The Waves are very small and I can not see any distortion buy the sound of the bass is orrible and unusable. What did I wrong and can I fix my audio :=( ?
 
Hey E,

Bass or Low frequencies travel a lot further than other frequencies and will reach your mics capsule cleanly. I think 1 Hz = 1 meter, I can't remember if that's correct but think of it like this and you will understand why the bass is booming more at a distance than the higher frequencies. Unfortunately you are just doing to have to go at the audio with EQ... but chances are you are a bit screwed here.

If you had permission to record the audio then taking the board mix is a good option, as well as setting up live mics where ever sounds best.

Lesson of the day: monitoring.
 
What model Fostex and how was the NTG-2 connected? Where was the microphone placed in reference to the source? If the waveform is not overmodulated on the display in vegas, then it was likely the microphone that was clipping. The NTG-2 is rated at 131db at 1k and my guess it that at lower frequencies the spl required to clip the mic is less than 131. The other obvious question is what did the bass sound like live. Far too often, especially with lower tier acts, the bass is extremely distorted.

Mitch, not sure what you're getting at, especially with the 1 hz=1 meter thing. The wavelength of a 1hz sine wave is 5.46 meters. But the more important aspect is the reduction in directivity of sound radiators at lower frequencies. In addition, higher frequencies are prone to absorpsion and diffusion whereas lower frequencies are more impervious to absorpsion.


As Mitch pointed out, monitoring is vital.
 
All I was getting at was if he was recording far back by the board, the bass will reach the mic easier than the higher frequencies. I was pretty out of it this morning, sorry for any confusion.
 
Mitch.Kear said:
All I was getting at was if he was recording far back by the board, the bass will reach the mic easier than the higher frequencies. I was pretty out of it this morning, sorry for any confusion.
Click to expand...

I think what your getting at is that higher frequencies are far more directional so depending on where you are you could be missing significant highs where low frequencies are essentially omnidirectional.
 
And maybe a bigger question is why on earth would you record a concert with a shotgun?
 
Noiz2 said:
And maybe a bigger question is why on earth would you record a concert with a shotgun?
Click to expand...

That's what I was wondering - I recorded loud rock show with my DR100's built in mics (couldn't get a board feed) with it sitting right in front of the sound man & it actually sounded pretty decent.

 
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