Recording Audio Narration in Noisy Environments

michaellanfield

New member
I have a question and issue. I have recorded some narration, but it is not that great. My Zoom H6 mic pics up a lot of background noise even with my windows and doors closed as my house is located on a pretty busy street. I don't have the budget to go to recording studios. Any advice to record my voice professionally using this Zoom H6 mic? Thank you.

Note: Someone mentioned recording curtains and create a booth or tent? I have no idea about this.

Update: For recording narration is it recommend getting a mic that records from one direction (in front of it - cardioid) or one that picks up sounds from all corners of the room (omnidirectional)? Becuase the H6 tends to pick up all the sounds from the room as well as any noise from outside. So maybe I should buy another cardioid mic for recording narration? Would that help remove most of the slight ambient noise from elsewhere around the room and from outside?

Update 2: I found out that I was using the wrong capsule. I should have used x/y capsule that came with the zoom for more of an unidirectional mic.
 
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An X/y capsule is intended to give stereo recordings. It may be fortuitous that the X/Y has cardiod capsules which are better for recording vocals anyway.
 
An X/y capsule is intended to give stereo recordings. It may be fortuitous that the X/Y has cardiod capsules which are better for recording vocals anyway.

Thank you gecko zzed. Yes that is the only cheap solution for now without having to buy another microphone. I am a newbie, so should I be recording narration in mono or stereo? I am confused.
 
Thank you gecko zzed. Yes that is the only cheap solution for now without having to buy another microphone. I am a newbie, so should I be recording narration in mono or stereo? I am confused.

Generally, vocals are recorded in mono. However, it depends in part on what is going to happen next. You say you are recording narration, but how is that narration to be disseminated?
 
Generally, vocals are recorded in mono. However, it depends in part on what is going to happen next. You say you are recording narration, but how is that narration to be disseminated?

I will use the narration in an audiobook, from my written book The Lost Love. I basically will add the narration to a file with music and blend the two together. So far I recorded all the narration in stereo and it sounds great with the music. But what do you actually mean it depends on what you are going to do with it? :) thanks.
 
So my understanding is that mono comes out of one speaker and not both the left and right. So when you record narration don't you want the sound to come out of both left and right speakers? This is where I am confused. Why mono?
 
This is going to sound weird, but...

I've recorded numerous narrations for news stories in noisy hotel rooms--including with gunfire and the occasional cruise missile outside--and the standard solution is for the reporter to sit on the floor with the duvet (or multiple blankets) off the bed over his head and down to the floor. Typically we'd use either a dynamic mic or a clipped on lav nice and high up near the mouth.

Elegant? No. But you've listened to sound recorded this way on the BBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, etc. etc.

Just to prove my point, here's a well known BBC correspondent (who better remain nameless) doing a live 2-way interview with London.

Blanket-VO_zpsllvoswcd.jpg
 
So my understanding is that mono comes out of one speaker and not both the left and right. So when you record narration don't you want the sound to come out of both left and right speakers? This is where I am confused. Why mono?
Your narration needs to come out both left and right speakers. A mono recording of your voice will appear out of both speakers if you mix it with your other audio accordingly.

When I asked what you were going to do with the narration, you have answered basically by saying "I basically will add the narration to a file with music and blend the two together."
 
I don't know any DAWS that don't let you copy one side of a stereo track and make it into a single mono track though. True, I've not tried every DAW but I'd be very wary of any that couldn't do basic stuff like this.
 
Don't forget that with an X/Y setup, recording in stereo, your mouth, close in to get the best signal to noise - MUST remain in exactly the same position, or it starts to move left and right. With a zoom, why not just point one of the capsules at your mouth, and ignore the other, then simply use this channel only, and treat it as a mono source, discarding the other, as if you just had one mic. Forget stereo, because your voice will be off-axis to both unless you control it very carefully.
 
^^^^

Agreed.

Speak directly into one of the two mics (you will likely need to improvise some kind of windshield if you're up close) and just ignore the other one.

Once you're editing just take the single good side of the stereo track and convert it to a mono track.
 
Nice mic, very common in the broadcast (radio) realm, particularly in the USA. It's also better at isolation than a condenser mic with a similar pick up pattern.

However, don't forget that in the broadcast world, they don't just rely on the mic and put the announcer in the middle of a noisy office. The studios are acoustically treated and, in all but the most basic community station, have some form of sound proofing.
 
I came to this late but you'll figure out why.

For my wife's funeral I recorded her obituary on my Tascam DR-40. Eve though the dining room where I made the recording, was quiet, the DR-40 picked up the sound of the refrigerator running in the background.

I recorded paragraphs as separate files, re-recording if necessary.

Then, using Reaper, I combined them, did some EQ work to make my voice sound a bit better and used the ReaFIR tool to subtract the refrigerator noise.

It worked perfectly and it allowed me to make my speech (via the CD player in the facility) at her funeral without the risk of trying to do something so emotional in real time.
 
^^^^

Agreed.

Speak directly into one of the two mics (you will likely need to improvise some kind of windshield if you're up close) and just ignore the other one.

Once you're editing just take the single good side of the stereo track and convert it to a mono track.

Or, record into one side (up close, with a foam windscreen) and mix the other side in with inverted polarity.
 
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