• Audio

  Audio Interference? (With pics and audio!)

  Posted by Mary Hazuka on April 18, 2019 at 1:13 am

  Hi! So I work with a campus ministry chaplain. He will record his sermons on Sunday, as well as a class that he teaches during the week. We use a Sennheiser E2 mic that is attached into this XLR adapter: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/387918-REG/Sennheiser_MZA900P_MZA_900_P.html

  That adapter is then plugged into a Tascam DR100-MKII audio recorder.

  We have been having issues as of late with a lot of plosives and some other noise that I can’t quite identify. Have a listen:
  13280_clip2.wav.zip
  13282_clip3.wav.zip
  13283_clip5.wav.zip
  13284_clip6.wav.zip

  Here is the mic placement. We have tried it here (a different mic is shown, but same placement):
  

  We have also tried it here (a little lower than the previous pic:
  

  Any thoughts on what the issue could be and how to improve it?

  Ty Ford replied 7 years ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Richard Crowley

  April 19, 2019 at 1:14 pm

  I listened to all of your samples.
  In one of them I heard no artifacts at all, so it is not clear what is the issue?
  In the other samples, I heard “rustling” noise from clothing.
  The microphone is far enough away from his mouth that it would be extraordinary to hear plosives.

  If there were a problem with plosives, then popular solutions include windscreens (foam or fur)..
  And if you look carefully at most TV newsreaders (“anchors”) on local and national news,
  you will see that they often have the microphone clipped on “upside-down”
  Since the microphones are typically omnidirectional the still pick up the sound properly,.
  But if they are upside down, they are more protected from the stream of air coming out of the mouth.

  However, I do NOT hear plosive or related artifacts your examples.
  If you just casually clip a microphone in a random place without checking, you are vulnerable to those artifacts.
  You must be more intentional about WHERE you clip the mic, and how the cord is supported along its length.
  I usually monitor the sound from the recorder with headphones and have the subject move his arms and body around vigorously to listen for those kind of noises from clothing.
  Remember that the cord itself picks up noise and mechanically conducts it back to the microphone head.

  ———————————————————————————
  Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.
• 

  Ty Ford

  April 19, 2019 at 2:45 pm

  Hello Mary and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum,

  After listening (and thanks for braving the challenging upload rigamarole here) I agree with Richard.

  Plosives are pops caused by breaths. I don’t hear any on any of these recordings.

  What I do hear is cable and or mic clip wiggles. It’s pretty standard to use gaffers tape on the cable to hold the cable in place after placing the mic. I also use the tried and true method of making a small 1″ to 1.5″ loop in the cable and taping it to the inside of the shirt to eliminate or lessen this noise caused by the cable moving on the fabric as the person speaks.

  Here’s a video that should give you some new ideas.

  https://www.google.com/search?q=using+gafers+tape+on+a+lav&oq=using+gafers+tape+on+a+lav&aqs=chrome..69i57.8627j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=1

  Regards,

  Ty Ford
  Cow Audio Forum Leader

  Want better production audio?: Ty Ford\’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
  Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford\’s Blog

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