Vaun,
OK, so, here's the deal. I don't know much about these mikes, I'm not going
to sit here and act like a know-it-all. Truth is, I don't hardly know
anything. However, that said, I do have a suggestion for you.
I understand that this may be a little work, but trust me. In the long run,
you will thank yourself e-freaking-mensely! for this! Try to learn about E
Q. Especially, I'd like you to focus on learning about the queue control
within an EQ. Learn about what it means when we speak of a symetrical, vs.
an A-symetrical curve.
Without going into much detail, what is probably happenning is, you're
probably getting what is called bleedover. This is where one of two things
are probably occuring, and there's even a possibility that both may be in
the works.
Firstly, you may be getting some noise from the electrical power of the mike
itself. This shouldn't be very much, if any, but it's possible. I mean, it
is electrically ran. Be it by a battery or not, digital or not, the point
is, there will be a slight bit of noise. Generally, it's not enough to
notice, but sometimes it can creep through. With some editting, and audio
track clean up on your part, and maybe with a little bit of confing, this
can be somewhat, though probably not entirely avoided. It's just the nature
of the beast.
Also, a compressor might help a bit, though you want to be very careful with
that front, as too little compression, it'll not fix the problem. Too much,
and you'll squash it to the point that it sounds terrible.
Here is a workflow I like using for getting rid of noise.
I start with everything totally raw. Just record your drums, your vocal,
whatever you need miked. If you have a hardware EQ, or pre, etc. just set
everything straight dead up the center. Just put everything neutral at
12:00. Make sure you're coming in on your input at around no more than
say, -10DB. I've gone as high as -8, but I try to stay away from minus
single digits as much as I can. It's not to the point of clipping, but
remember. When you get to your final masterring phase, all your tracks put
together will add up for the final level, which you do not want going over
0, regardless.
The next thing I'll do is to do one thing that a lot of people don't. I!
personally say, mix? in, mono! I know, that sounds maybe a little weird,
but I'm telling you. Try it! There're plugins out there that'll do it.
Route everything through an AUX track, and make a submix. On that track,
flip everything to mono. You'll get rid of this plug in the longrun, but
just for mixing sake...
I then go back and this is where I think your mike noise can be fixed. I'd
go on to the offending tracks. Not the AUX track, but the actual audio
track itself. On insert B, not A. B. I have my reasons. Pop a
compressor, but only? do so, if you feel it's needed.
Once you have your compressor tweaked and sounding good, then it's time to
get rid of that noise. pop an EQ on insert A.
The reason I told you to flip everything to mono is because naturally,
though totally boring, hearing it this way will help you identify where the
problem lies. The truth is, I can't tell you how many times, I thought
something was noise related, only to find that I started reaching for EQ's,
or maybe for compression, etc. I got it sounding fine, but then when I
brought in the rest of the mix, the whole session totally fell apart.
You have to think backwards. This isn't always easy to do, but using mono
will help you to hear if something may just simply be out of phase. You'd
be shocked at how a very teeny phase issue can be all it takes to give your
mix stuff you don't need.
Now, on insert A, remember, we've used B. On A, pop an EQ. I'm not going
to bore everyone on list with how I EQ things, but let me give you a little
tip. Don't? add! You heard me right. Don't? add!
A lot of people think, oh, this sounds too boomy, or there's a hum, there is
background noise, be it electrical, be it phasing, be it unneeded
reflections, whatever. So they reach for the EQ, and they start cranking up
the mids, or even more, the highs. They think if they can just turn those
way up, it'll compensate. The truth is, and trust me. I had to learn this
the hard way. It actually makes it way worse! I look at it from the angle
of, there's noise. Where is it? Let's killit. So, what I'll do is, I'll
find that frequency, by means of setting a fairly narrow queue. This way,
I'm homing in more accurately on a low range of frequencies. Then, I will
turn the gain of that band way way down. And I do mean, way! wayyyyyyy!
down. It sounds God aweful, trust me, but I'm not done. I over-exagerate
it bigtime for a reason. Then, I start moving the frequency control. I
can't tell you move it higher, or lower. You're just going to have to use
your ears. It's tedious work, but the more you do it, the better and
quicker you'll get at it, trust me. Eventually, you'll hear the hum or
whatever you don't want get real real real overly exagerated quiet. Once
this happens, you know you've hit the frequency. Now, go back to your gain
on that band, and start very very slowly bringing it back up to an
acceptable level. If you feel it's killing part of it, but not all of it,
then widen your queue a bit, but go? easy! Don't overdo it.
Think of E Q as a chizzle. Not a bucket. You don't want to add things.
The goal should be to get rid of what you don't need. Our ears hear things
more when we add, not when we subtract. And, you definitely when mixing
don't want your listeners to be able to hear your E Q. You want to give
them a very natural feel in the spectrom.
So, yeah, I'd start with E Q, and work your way out. Remember though. Take
away! Don't add! Kill the offending noise, don't try compensating for it.
The other thing is, check your mike cable. Is it possible you may have a
short in it?
Chris.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vaughn Brown" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2016 7:48 PM
Subject: Powered Microphones
Hello folks,
As I am preparing my studio for professional recording I’ve noticed that the
powered microphones are giving me trouble. Even when the input knobs are all
the way off the microphones still is picking up sound during the recording.
When I have them at the lowest setting it seems to be clipping on the hi-hat
and crash.
The other microphones, none-powered, are working as they should. I
understand the bleeding is typical but these powered microphones are picking
up way too much information. I do not want them to pick up the entire drum
kit but rather focus on the hi-hat and crash. Should I switch over and
purchase none-powered microphones for maximum control? Or is there a way I
can address these powered microphones.
I am not sure what kind they are. They are shaped long and narrow and are
meant for drums and percussion.
Thank you for your insight.
Vaughn
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