Stephen Muir
Forum Replies Created
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You may be dealing with two issues, here: connecting a balanced XLR mic to an unbalanced 1/8″ input, and powering the mic.
If memory serves, the SGM 1x can operate from either phantom power or an internal battery, so you’ll need to pop a battery in there.
To connect a balanced mic to an unbalanced input, you’ll need either an adapter box (eg. beachtek) or a simple adapter cable.
Also, check that the laptop’s soundcard software is set to accept a “mic” input rather than a “line” input.
The recording setup you describe may be awfully noisey for voiceover work. There are a variety of inexpensive USB audio interfaces that would dramatically improve your results.
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The “scratches” SoundSoap is looking for are more like the kind you would find on an old record or optical recording. The noise of a lav scraping clothing is another beast altogether.
In a perfect world, I would say dump the lav and use the boom mic. However, I assume that the scratchy lav is the only mic on that particular subject.
If you have enough outtakes and the noise is infrequent and short, you may be able to piece together clean takes by replacing the noisey lines or phoenems. Otherwise, you could be looking at a great deal of ADR.
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Noise-cancellation headphones can have very unpredictable results. Its one thing to use them to listen to music in an airplane. If, on the other hand, you were trying to record dialogue on that airplane, the headphones would likely play havoc with what you’re actually hearing.
If conventional monitoring headphones (eg. Sony MDR-7506) aren’t giving you enough isolation, check out the Remote Audio HN-7506. With them, you know exactly what you’re hearing: no fancy phase cancellation or realtime audio processing, just big-honkin isolation baffles. I picked up a pair to record heavy machinery, and they’ve since become my `phones of choice for field recording.
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Check your tracks for mute automation. If you unwittingly recorded mute automation, the mute status will follow it as soon as you start playback.
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It sounds like you’re looking for a compressor or a limiter.
Here’s an article about these handy devices: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_level_compression
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I’m using PT LE (M-box), and I find the DV toolkit to be almost indispensable. The last time I checked, M-powered did not support the DV Toolkit, which seems reason enough to spend the extra money for full-bore LE.
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Sorry, Rodney, I misread your post.
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I’m not sure that a slap echo with a 3-frame travel time will really convey the accoustic space of an empty flat.
A combination of reverb processing and subtle EQing would be the simplest in-studio method of adding perspective to dry ADR. Of course, your success will largely depend on the quality of your reverb plugin. Cheap reverb algorhythms tend to draw attention to themselves, so consider investing in a good impulse reverb plugin.
“Worldizing” (ie. re-recording the ADR played back in an accoustically live space) is another option, although you’ll need a very accurate playback and recording combination to avoid your tracks sounding like they were re-recorded. Worldizing is generally better suited to those situations where the colouration of the playback system is a part of the desired sound (eg. car stereos, telephones, PA systems).
Its unfortunate that ADR is rarely recorded with appropriate accoustic perspective.
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I believe the Denecke TS-1/2 is designed for one-handed use. It’s timecode, though, so I doubt its exactly what your looking for.
What about a “Bloop” slate? It may not fit in your pants’ pocket, but a trip to Home Depot will get you a belt pouch that’ll work nicely.
You could make your own compact DIY bloop state to suit your needs. All you really need is a simple battery-opperated device where a push-button switch simultaneously activates a lamp and a piezo-electric buzzer. A volume control would probably make a nice addition, too.
With a bit of ingenuity, you could probably make something that resembles a small, noisy flashlight.
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I’m not familiar with the ME-80, but some mics have higher output levels than others. Dynamic mics, for example, tend do be much quieter than condensor mics.
If you’re not getting enough level out of your camera’s mic preamps, consider using a portable mixer such as a Sound Devices MixPre or SD 302 and going line level into the camera. A good portable mixer will give you plenty of clean gain for even relatively insensitive dynamic mics.