Recording subtle noise outside from inside a house.

[amiz]

Hi, I'm an art student and have a project in my mind.

I want to record subtle distant noise outside you can hear when you are in a quiet room. i.e. cars driving away, rain hitting roof, wind in the trees etc.
I want to capture as you can hear indoor, so don't wan to put mic by the road etc., and so when I listen to the soundtrack with headphones, it sounds as if I am in that room.

I have gears from school, Marantz pmd 661, and mics, dynamic mic (whale shaped), shotgun mic (comes with plastic casing + fluffy) and small condenser mic (approx 10cm long x 2.5 cm diameter).

I would like some advice which mic is best for this purpose. and any recording and set up tips will be appreciated.

Also, if you know any other kind of mic you think better for this project, product name etc. will be also appreciated! I have limited budget, but will definitely look into it, and can request school to buy one!

I talked to the school technicians, but they have minimal knowledge about sound recording gears, so hope you can help me!!!

Thanks!!!

 

[xaudia]

Hi Amiz,

I think you just have to try it!

I would go with the condenser and the shotgun first, and see how they work. Listen with a pair of headphones whilst you move the mic around - that will help you get the best position.

Good luck!

Stewart

 

[Steenamaroo]

Hi Amiz,

I think you just have to try it!

I would go with the condenser and the shotgun first, and see how they work. Listen with a pair of headphones whilst you move the mic around - that will help you get the best position.

Good luck!

Stewart

What he said, plus pay some attention to any noise in the room.
If possible, turn of any fluorescent lighting, and dimmers, fans, computers, things like that.
It's amazing how loud and clear the little day to day noises can come through.

 

[Lt. Bob]

I'm gonna go against the grain here and suggest that it might be hard to get low level sounds recorded well. Perhaps record them outside and then EQ it to simulate the attentuation you'd get in a room (more in the highs, less in the bass) and add a room sound with a 'verb unit.

 

[aaronmcoleman]

Yeah I was going to say record them close (ie outside) to get a nice signal. Then use EQ, volume, and a room verb to create an indoor space.

I'm not or an expert in this, but I think that's how tv and movies do it.

 

[Bobbsy]

The "try it and see" advice is probably the best, but a few thoughts:

First, you're going to be up against some psycho-acoustic effects here so, unless you're lucky with the room, I suspect that your recording won't sound like what you perceive when you're in the room. Unless the room in question has lots of soft furnishings, curtains, carpets etc., the mic will likely pick up some hollow, echoey room ambience. Listening live, your brain filters this out. Listening to a recording, it will sound artificial.

If, after you experiment, this is the case, I'd second the previous advice of recording outside then playing with levels and a bit of EQ to match the recorded sound to your memory of what you hear indoors.

A compromise I've used in the past is to record indoors but with the mics poking out an open window or door. I did this the first time when I wanted to record rain and thunder but didn't have a weather proof cover for my mics--but I liked the sound well enough that I've used the technique for other things too.

For the rain you mention, something like a patio or conservatory roof might be a good compromise.

If you do end up recording indoors, you'll need absolute silent or things like motor noise from the recorder, air conditioning, etc. etc. will probably compete with the very subtle outdoor sounds you want. Longer mic cables and putting your gear in a different room might be needed.

Now, a big issue. You mention headphones. If you want a natural sound in headphones, you MUST record in stereo and it sounds like they've only given you a collection of mono mics. Ideally, you'd have the right gear for some kind of binaural head recording but, assuming that's not possible, ask your technicians about a matched pair of condensers and arrange them in an X-Y coincident pair (easy to do--just Google for a picture of how it works). A single mono track on headphones has a really freaky "sound in the middle of your head" feeling.

Hope some of this helps.

 

[Steenamaroo]

I'm gonna go against the grain here and suggest that it might be hard to get low level sounds recorded well. Perhaps record them outside and then EQ it to simulate the attentuation you'd get in a room (more in the highs, less in the bass) and add a room sound with a 'verb unit.

Fair play. Can't fault that.

 

[moresound]

I would resort back to the old radio sound effects days and experiment within that sound stage.