A few questions about Audio Recording Techniques

M

michaellanfield

New member
Hi. I am a newbie when it comes to audio recording and would appreciate some assistance and tips on home studio recording.

My Equipment:

Computer:
Macbook Pro (Late 2013 Retina, MacOS Sierra 10.12.2)

Video:
Logitech C930e webcam (sometimes I use my JVC GZ-E300BU HD camera for more professional video recordings).

Audio:
Focusrite Scarlette 2i2 (2nd Gen), Interface with CM25 MKII Condenser Mic and Nandy MPF-6 pop filter. Boom pole attached to an Auray mic stand.

Recording location:
My bedroom is not soundproof, but all windows and doors are closed. I live right next to a street, not very loud with slight traffic noise. The traffic noise is picked up by the mic when turning up the audio gain knob 3/4 of the way or more.

For voice narration
1. Where should I position the mic and how far should the pop filter be from my mouth when talking? At what audio level should the audio gain be set to?
2. I read in many places that I need to record my voice in mono, but will the recordings still come out of both the left and right audio channels (left and right speakers)? I thought mono means one channel?

For video recording
1. Logitech currently does not have an app or software support for my version (10.12.2) of MacOS, so I use Quicktime Player to record the video and audio. However, when I play back the recordings, they are only coming out of one audio channel/speaker. Why and how to fix this?
2. I would like the mic and pop filter to be out of the camera frame when recording most of my videos, however, in order to record great sound, I have to get close to the pop filter/mic. Because the microphone is far from my mouth, I need to turn up the gain almost all the way, and it creates tons of background noise. How to get the mic/pop filter out of the camera frame and still get good quality sound without much background noise? Is this even possible to achieve or does the mic and pop filter need to be in the camera frame to get good audio recording levels?

Thank you.
 
You should have the mike about 6 inches away from your lips. If you get closer, you may get a more bassy sound from the proximity effect, and you may get mouth noises and pops. The further away you get, you'll get more unwanted background noise. It doesn't matter much what level you set the gain at, so long as you get a reasonable signal. In the oast (when you using tape, for example), high gain was recommended to increase the signal-to-noise ratio, but that 'noise' was the noise of the recording system (e.g. tape hiss). You don't have that problem with the Focusrite. Background noise is your problem, and it will be present proportionally to the gain.

Generally voice is recorded in mono. Decent recording software will allow you to take the left or right channel of the Focusrite (whichever you have plugged the mike into) and record it as a mono channel that you can pan centre. You should look at something a bit more suited to recording than Quicktime.

If you want the mike out of shot, try positioning it above your head towards your mouth, than have the camera face you from under it.
 
Coming in sideways --

Mic -- If you're doing narration for video, you might consider a SM58 with a thick foam screen. Get right up on it. Background noise issues won't be anymore. Whoops -- Just re-read the post -- If you need to keep the mic out of the shot *and* avoid background noise, you're going to have to (seriously) treat the space. Other than that, a shotgun mic. Still, that's only going to do so much. You have to consider every recording "recording the space" -- In this case, you happen to be the highlighted source in that space. But you're recording everything in that space to some extent. Whether it's a singular source, outside noise, peaks, nulls, reflections, comb filtering, HVAC, etc.

Level -- Whatever it takes to peak at *maybe* -6dBFS (or lower. I generally shoot for peaks around -12dBFS, as I'm a whore for headroom). You can adjust the playback volume later.

Stereo -- [Mono = 1]. [1 source (mic) = 1]. The problem you're having is that you're recording a mono source to a stereo track. Stereo is the difference between left and right -- In this case, it's [a source] and [no source].
 
Certain softwares (e.g. Samplitude but not for macs) allows you to set a single source to record in both tracks in double mono giving a central image. Have a good hack through the menus.

If traffic noise is a problem you might have to record in the wee small hours (we did but that was mostly to avoid the wildlife!) or/and, since the bass boost of a close mic has been mentioned you could make a virtue of a necessity? Post recording, apply a decent amount of bass cut (aka, High Pass Filtering). Traffic noise is mainly LF and that will reduce with the bass vocal correction. This is the principle of the old Reslo noise cancelling lip mic.

Dave.
 
I know that Quicktime Player is not the best for recording, actually for audio recording I use Adobe Audition CC. However, because I am recording with my Logitech webcam most of the time, I need a program that can record mono on both left and right audio channels, and it seems the only program I know that can record video for Logitech, is Quicktime. When I playback the recording I only hear one side of my headphones. What to do about this?
 
If you haven't figured out your problem yet, you might considering this. Download Reaper, a free trial that is on the honor system, it is a far more flexible recording program that is pretty easy to learn to use. You will have to go to the Preferences menu by right clicking on the very top right corner, and enable your interface. And then you can just fly the audio after you have optimized it into whatever Mac has onboard for creating home video. Clap your hands a couple of times so that you have an audio/video sync cue, crude, but Hollywood used the same idea for a century. Reaper has fine Equalization options, and you can filter out low-end rumble and car sounds and there are other enhancements available. Once you have the audio how you like it, render it to a mix, panning the voice in the middle, and by using a limiter on the L'R master track, you can make sure that your audio is loud enough for end users, without digital overload. Then fly the video into your video program, and then fly the audio in, line it up with the claps, and then hit SAVE!!!! I use Logigtech , that magic eightball looking motorized webcam from yesteryear, and you can even choose to have the audio fed from your interface into their software but as I am on PC I use Windows Moviemaker and multitrack recording so I can process the audio . But I bet that the Mac program is just as easy, and probably even easier. Here is an example--- https://goo.gl/photos/1AvXyGJr45zLPd726
 
jjinvegas said:
If you haven't figured out your problem yet, you might considering this. Download Reaper, a free trial that is on the honor system, it is a far more flexible recording program that is pretty easy to learn to use. You will have to go to the Preferences menu by right clicking on the very top right corner, and enable your interface. And then you can just fly the audio after you have optimized it into whatever Mac has onboard for creating home video. Clap your hands a couple of times so that you have an audio/video sync cue, crude, but Hollywood used the same idea for a century. Reaper has fine Equalization options, and you can filter out low-end rumble and car sounds and there are other enhancements available. Once you have the audio how you like it, render it to a mix, panning the voice in the middle, and by using a limiter on the L'R master track, you can make sure that your audio is loud enough for end users, without digital overload. Then fly the video into your video program, and then fly the audio in, line it up with the claps, and then hit SAVE!!!! I use Logigtech , that magic eightball looking motorized webcam from yesteryear, and you can even choose to have the audio fed from your interface into their software but as I am on PC I use Windows Moviemaker and multitrack recording so I can process the audio . But I bet that the Mac program is just as easy, and probably even easier. Here is an example--- https://goo.gl/photos/1AvXyGJr45zLPd726
Click to expand...

Hi and thank you for your reply. I did figure it out, but thanks for the alternative method for others. What I was able to do was use Quicktime Player and after in Adobe Premiere Pro CC just change the audio channel to 2 mono. It is the easiest and best solution for me. :)
 
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