How to create different moods from similar recordings

[bouldersoundguy]

Ok, i'll attempt to do this on my next recording session. Do you think this will eliminate the noise in between vocal phrases, or is that something of an impossible feat?

No, it will just let you mix in the amount of noise you want. You could try gating the noise out between phrases, or you can edit it out.

 

[Armistice]

Maxwellll - I wouldn't save this advice for your next project, I'd go back and redo this track - I get what you're trying to do, but it's not really particularly listenable with that pumping going on - stop worrying about overall volume...

 

[Shadow_7]

I really wish I could appreciate your advice more but it is incredibly confusing. I have to apologize for being a bit hopeless.

It's a math thing. No real way to simplify it, outside of software that automagically does it. But per the previous, you're basically taking phase cancellation to it's extreme.

You take two matched mics, on the same source, in as close to the same location and orientation as possible. In theory when you phase invert one and mix them, it cancels out the content of the other. But the noise floor of your audio chain is not that consistent. So what you're left with is your noise floor. The advantage is that you can invert the noise floor and mix it with the original track(s). And the result is that you've used phase cancellation to remove just the noise floor. While leaving just the original content.

At least in theory, mics are not that matched (even "matched" pairs), and you can't physically occupy the same space, but enough to make a noticeable difference. Not to imply a usable result in some cases. But you can mix it back with the original track to get a better ratio of sorts. I guess I should make a youtube video on it. Having stepped gain preamps makes it more feasible I guess as gain and phase must match at the point of capture for it to work. Obviously not for everyone or every thing. And in terms of digital formats, very good odds of it not always working. Or at least fully working. And it does require two mics and a lot of processing to get one mono track.

And possibly OT, since it's not dual mic-ing in the traditional sense.

 

[Shadow_7]

A test of said technique. Not quite matched on my end. The inverted and mixed had some content left in it. But about a 2dB difference in headroom / gain available on the reduced / mixed track. Both added 16dB gain, after which the original had 2.6dB of headroom, the reduced one 4.4dB of headroom. Not the best of tests. Mics right in front of a sliding mirror closet door, some distance from the mics so room is a factor. But a difference none the less. On headphones it seems that some of the low end rumble went bye bye on the reduced one. Mic elements about an inch apart, since that's the width of the mics. Stacked vertically.

right original by Shadow_7 on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free
right noise cancelled by Shadow_7 on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

I probably should have looked at the waveforms in high zoom before just editing. It looks like left channel was lower gain wise than the right. The MR-1000 has gain knobs too, I guess I need to tweak them to match. Looks to be about 1.4dB(+/- 0.5dB) difference in gain between the tracks before the edit. Digital gain adjustment is an option, but not as accurate as on the analog side. i.e. lower resolution. Otherwise phase seemed to align well.