noisy

bunnyfunk

New member
being fairly new at recording, some of these questions and problems may seem stupid, please be forgiving. heres my problem. When recording I am getting alot of the background noise comeing through my mic. I realize that I need some sort of noise gate. But what would best suit my needs? I currently have a sony minidisk 4 trak, and am using a sm57 to record with. I plan on getting a rhode nt1 and pre amp very soon, but am guessing that that will even pick up more noise. I also have an alesis nano compressor.... so, I want to gradually collect better equipment. Do I go with some sort of cheap noise gate, or do I get one of these master effects type of things, with eq, compressor, and gates. I also noticed that the berringer composer seems popular, but since I have a nano compressor already, would I be wasting my money? Thank you for putting up with this long post, any opinions appreciated.
 
LOL......I doubt that you would be wasting money upgrading your nano compressor to a Composer. I think the waste was buying a nano compressor in the first place.

Does your minidisk offer any editing functions? If so, why not go in and silence the noise between vocal parts. I use mute automation on my console to do this same thing, but once I get the whole Alesis card thing working right, I can just fly the track into the computer and do it there. Still will use the mute automation but I won't need to do it so tight.

Anyway, if you do have editing functions, go that route as opposed to putting a box inline to get rid of background noise. Remember, the shortest least complicated signal path will produce the best sound. Only use boxes and processors when absolutely needed.

If you are in the market for a Noise Gate, Behringer also happens to make an excellent gate, the Multigate. Four gates with good control. They also have key circuits so you can use external triggers on them. Very nice feature on a gate that cost's less than $300. I have compared them to much bigger brand gates and can assure you that it works every bit as good. Mine has also had no problems at all.

Good luck
Ed
 
Hey Gearless!

I may be playing Friday night down in your neck of the woods at the Mt.Bachelor Pub. I am sitting in on bass for Atom Sane. Have you heard of them?

Ed
 
If you are getting backround noise then you will get even more with the Rode mic.

One of the good things about a SM57 is that it picks up great from the front but behind and somewhat on the sides it does a good job of ignoring ( not totaly ) sounds.

Of course a gate will help in between your singing but when you sing, the backround noise will be heard gate or no gate. That is why I would use in a noisy room a SM57.

As for the compressor - if your dealer deals in Alesis goods, perhaps he would let you exchange the Nano for the Alesis 3630 which has a gate and a dual compressor.
Although you will find better compresors but for it's budget price it will fit your home studio well.

[This message has been edited by Shailat (edited 01-22-2000).]
 
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