Outside Noise

[seeger01]

Hey!

I am recording acoustic guitar at home, using a Rode-NT1A plugged direct into my Zoom MRS-802. The room is not spectacular, but its not bad either.
I have both my noise reduction filter and my expander turned all the way up, which cancels out any unwanted noises in the room (unwanted fret noise, heavy breathing like a perv' etc) Despite this I am still getting the sound of cars passing in the street, or the occasional rumblings of a counstruction site about 150 yards down the road.

Its really bugging me so if anyone has any ideas of how I can cancel this out it would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Kingofpain678]

throw blankets, sheets, pillows, cushions, old clothes, towels, carpet, anything like that over/in front of/inside of your window. try to do tightly packed layers if at all possible. the thicker, tighter, heaver the material is the better.

oh and welcome to the board

 

[seeger01]

throw blankets, sheets, pillows, cushions, old clothes, towels, carpet, anything like that over/in front of/inside of your window. try to do tightly packed layers if at all possible. the thicker, tighter, heaver the material is the better.

oh and welcome to the board

Wow thanks for the welcome and quick reply!

I have the day off work today so I'll give that a try. However, the room is an attic room. The side facing the road has no windows, and the skylights on the otherside are facing a load of fields. Could it be the walls are too thin, its a really old house?

Thanks

 

[Kingofpain678]

Wow thanks for the welcome and quick reply!

I have the day off work today so I'll give that a try. However, the room is an attic room. The side facing the road has no windows, and the skylights on the otherside are facing a load of fields. Could it be the walls are too thin, its a really old house?

Thanks

no problem.
has the attic been finished or is it just bare structure?

 

[seeger01]

I really have no idea. I live in England and its an old Victorian house I think. I couldn't say what work had been done to it before I lived here.
Its baffling me how I can keep out the louder noises in the room but not the queiter ones outside. Something to do with the lower frequencies perhaps?

 

[Kingofpain678]

I really have no idea. I live in England and its an old Victorian house I think. I couldn't say what work had been done to it before I lived here.
Its baffling me how I can keep out the louder noises in the room but not the queiter ones outside. Something to do with the lower frequencies perhaps?

maybe. if it were problems with the lower frequencies that means that your having standing waves which means you have frequencies that are just bouncing back and forth and not really doing any good. you need to dissipate the frequencies with acoustic treatment. thats where the clothes and sheets and blankets come into play, they dont let the vibrations through so you dont hear them.

you could even go so far as to layer sheets of drywall to achieve a little bit of isolation from the outside world.

i dont know much about acoustics so i cant really guide you towards a specific action to take so hopefully someone who knows more than me about this will put in their word.

 

[seeger01]

Yeah I know I've read so many things about acoustic treatment, sound dampening and all that stuff and I can't get my head or wallet around it all. But I'll have a go at the blanket method. Thanks for the tips.

Thanks

 

[Kingofpain678]

best of luck to you.

you might wanna check out the studio building and display section of this site and use the search function. theres tons of threads on DIY acoustic that wont take a very big bite out of your wallet.

and dont be afraid to ask questions

 

[RAMI]

If bass frequencies are the problem, all the blankets in the world won't help you. (well, maybe ALL the blankets in the WORLD will) You need proper bass trapping. It's not just a matter of throwing pillows, blankets, and laundry all over the room.

you might wanna check out the studio building and display section of this site

Now THAT'S the best advice you've given him.

 

[Kingofpain678]

If bass frequencies are the problem, all the blankets in the world won't help you. (well, maybe ALL the blankets in the WORLD will) You need proper bass trapping. It's not just a matter of throwing pillows, blankets, and laundry all over the room.

Now THAT'S the best advice you've given him.

I definitely try.

 

[Bristol Posse]

In a noisy environment you might get better results recording with a dynamic mic instead of a condensor mic. They're less sensetive and reject much more of the room and outside noises than a condensor mic will

 

[antichef]

Are you using a shock mount for the mic? If not, using a good one might help with the rumblings if they're coming through the ground and floor - setting the mic stand on something like a folded blanket might help -- the blanket won't stop low frequency coming through the air, but might help buffer it if it's being conducted up from the floor.

 

[seeger01]

Well I did used to use a SM58, but it just didn't pick up the guitar very well. But yeah it did pick up a lot less noise. I'm really happy with the NT1A though, it's good for me. I've just got to figure out how to keep out those sounds.

 

[seeger01]

Yeah I use a shockmount. The sounds seem to be coming more through the wall than up through the floor.

 

[dastrick]

You may already be doing it, but make sure that the null of the mic is facing the wall where the unwanted noise is coming from. It might help...then again, it might not.

 

[Tim Gillett]

1. How close are you placing the mic to the guitar? In a noisy environment the closer the better (within reason). The mic now hears the guitar louder than the background noise. Then you can turn your gain down and hey presto the background noise goes down with it.

2. The NT 1A picks up low frequencies down to 20 hz or so, but your acoustic guitar's lowest note would not even be as low as 80hz. In a way the NT 1A is "too good" for the application as it picks up two full octaves of sounds your guitar cant even produce.
Forget noise gates, expanders etc. Instead, filter out everything below 80hz. If you cant do it ahead of the recorder, do it in the software later on. No point in reproducing frequencies your guitar is not even making.

Cheers Tim

 

[Dani Pace]

One of the simple (likely to be the most simple) things you can do is to record at a time when outside noise is at it's lowest. This may mean loosing a little sleep so you can record at 2:00 A. M. but it may be your only alternative for the time being. Lowering your input signal (don't try recording hot) can help to reduce background noise but may not be enough if there is a lot of outside noise getting in. Stopping outside noise requires adding mass to the walls, ceiling, floor, wherever the sound is getting in. Adding mass to older structures can be quite expensive. Skylights, like all windows are almost like having a hole (sonicly speaking) in your roof and it is nearly impossible to prevent sound passing through them. Layers of padding may help reduce some of the high and mid frequency noise but wont do much at all to stop low frequency sounds like construction noise, traffic, or blasting stereos from getting in, only mass will stop those. My studio is located in an older house too so I get to work around outside noise too sometimes. I feel for you, I know how frustrating is is to lay down a really good track then discover right in the middle you hear a loud truck rumble through.

 

[seeger01]

Thanks Tim that sounds like an idea I've not yet tried, on my MRS I have gain and frequency for the low eq, is it just a case of cutting these down?

Dani I've also waited up many a night for peace! but it's hard to do now with the job I have. My only other option is my bedroom, which doesn't pick up much outside noise, but its a big floorboarded room which sounds pretty bad.

Thanks peeps

 

[Tim Gillett]

Thanks Tim that sounds like an idea I've not yet tried, on my MRS I have gain and frequency for the low eq, is it just a case of cutting these down?

Thanks peeps

The idea is to cut everything below the lowest note your guitar plays (bottom E which I think is about 84 hz) as sharply as possible.

I dont know what eq software you have but you probably need to use a fairly steep slope high pass filter. Maybe you could get a plug in that has more control if there's not much on offer in your DAW.

Again, dont be afraid to close mic the guitar if it gives you better noise rejection. It may not be the ideal distance but an evil necessity in your case.

Cheers Tim.

 

[leobluesy]

noise

I have similar problems being located on the edge of the city.... road directly out front and 4 mainline railtracks 100feet from rear of my house.... the condenser mic fails regularly and always at peak times....the dynamic is my only alternative.