Trying to find the quietest solution

[Milkman]

Hey Everyone,

I just got my first condenser for Christmas...a Rode NT-1a. Now I'm trying to find the quietest location to use this as it is far more sensitive than any other mics I have owned (all dynamics).

The attachments (first and last) show the recording area I have to work with.

Also available is the closet under the stairs (showed in the second attachment) and also an adjacent room.

Recording in the same room as my computer with the condenser picks up way too much noise. Not only does it pick up house noise, so I will have to record only when there is silence, but it picks up a lot of computer noise. In this main room the noise floor in Cool Edit hovers around -42 dB. I can get it down to -54 dB in the adjacent room which has a door.

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions of how to get the quietest recording possible, like if there's any way of treating the closet under the stairs to pick up as little noise as possible (aside from the recording source). From what I've read here it isn't possible to gain good sound isolation without some major construction.

Thanks.

 

[kbgunn]

Hello,

Until recently, I used analog mixers and ADATS or Mackie HD2496. I hated the Mackie because of the fan noise. I figured that I would never get into the DAW process because it was just too noisy to be used in a professional situation.

My mind was changed recently. I bought an Apple iBook G4 1.2 gig and a neptune 7200 firewire HD for storing the music files from Digital Performer 4.51. In addition to my KRK V8's, I added the Alesis 5.1 system for surround mixing. The system is interfaced by a MOTU 828 mk ll firewire unit and it is absolutely silent. No fans, ultra quiet HD's. I can record right next to the system with no concern about noise floor other than room ambience. The sonic results far surpass the Mackie.

It is my suggestion that anyone troubled by your current circumstance consider such a system to mitigate the problem. It is also an amazing on location system, extremely portable with quick setup and breakdown. This is helpful when recording in church services which I often do.

I have 8 preamps and numerous mics that I saved from my large system. I plan on adding an 8 channel ADAT connecting preamp such as a Digimax for a total of 18 I/O and a Tranzport by Frontier Designs (released next month). This unit is going to be amazing.

www.frontierdesign.com/products/tranzmain.html

Old style equipment and standard PC's are obsolete. This new setup represents the future of recording.

Regards

KB Gunn
Vision Outreach Recordings

www.visionoutreach.net