Hi all,

Due to some home improvements, I am losing the quiet room I was using for recording voice-overs. What I am looking for is ideas to help avoid extraneous noise and keep echo to a minimum.

I know regular noise like fridges and computer fans can be removed quite successfully using audio suites like Audacity, but not so irregular noises like bangs, passing vehicles or aircraft noise.

I have tried close mikeing with low gain and it's quite effective at reducing the extraneous noise, but not good enough and not effective for echo or loud noises.

A sound proof recording studio would be ideal but hey, I'm an amateur! I can't sit in the car, I don't have one during the day. Anything I use would need to be able to be packed away when not in use.

Dave

I know regular noise like fridges and computer fans can be removed quite successfully using audio suites like Audacity,
I strongly disagree with this theory. Firstly, unless you spend an obscene amount of $$$$ on premium software, the "noise reduction" function of most ordinary consumer software causes significant trauma to the remaining audio and renders it sub-par for even decent amateur recording.

Second, reducing these kinds of steady-state noises should be within reasonable reach of even temporary, amateur setups.

but not so irregular noises like bangs, passing vehicles or aircraft noise.
Many people wait until the middle of the night or very early morning hours when the neighborhood is quietest.

I have tried close mikeing with low gain and it's quite effective at reducing the extraneous noise, but not good enough and not effective for echo or loud noises.
A sound proof recording studio would be ideal but hey, I'm an amateur! I can't sit in the car, I don't have one during the day. Anything I use would need to be able to be packed away when not in use.

You don't mention the frequency or length of your recording sessions. Some people who need to do even broadcast-quality voice-overs in hotel rooms, etc. find it useful to use bedding materials and/or go into the clothes closet with lots of sound-absorbing materials hanging around at close range.

Also, as you say, using a headset type microphone (or any technique that gets the microphone a very few inches away from your mouth) greatly improves the SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) where "noise" includes both random sounds (traffic, gunshots, etc.) as well as ambient acoustic problems like near reflections, etc.

I agree with Richard: the sorts of filtering and affecting you are talking about should be only used for emergencies and not as an anticipated part of your everyday setup.

Intelligible voiceover audio is (to me) the single most important part of a narrated video. I've actually outsourced nearly all of my voiceovers to a trusted professional colleague to record now that I've heard the difference. I USED to record my own v/o talent in my live-work space after hanging some sound-deadening materials and once I heard the difference that the right room with the right acoustics and a superb operator brought to the production, I started adding his fees to my budget proposals.

Just my 2 cents.

I concur, noise reduction should not used as part of the 'recording chain'.

"I have tried close mikeing with low gain"
- Close mic'ing is common and generally a good practice, however reducing the gain 'seemingly' lowers the noise, (along with the good sound) but actually make things worse. The recording will be at a reduced resolution and has to be brought back up later.. which now includes more system noise from post gain make-up as well as the low resolution audio
They are many low cost ways to lower extraneous noise w/o resorting to artifact generating noise reduction..

Closets full of clothes can be great, as Richard wrote.

Lots of other tricks for this, like:
Auralex MudGuard Microphone Isolation Shield MUDGUARD B&H Photo

But all this is for controlling reverberation. You absolutely need isolation from external noise. As others noted, post noise reduction is for fixes to location sound, not VO, because it adds artifacts and detracts from those nice qualities we're trying to get.

Build a $21 Portable Vocal Booth - O'Reilly Digital Media Blog (http://blogs.oreilly.com/digitalmedia/2008/02/build-a-portable-vocal-booth.html)

I built myself a small enclosure for my NT2-A using acoustic foam and plywood. Check this thread: http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/all-things-audio/514262-tips-voice-over-recording-3.html#post1782273

It works well at eliminating external noise. I find that male voices get a bit "boomy" (for lack of a better word) but a bit of tweaking in post cleans it up nicely. I've been told the mic has some frequency cut-off settings that may help also, but I haven't experimented yet.

Mic type can also be a big factor when you close mic. Directional mics close up can give you a VOG ("Voice Of God") by boosting lower frequencies due to proximity effect. If you want to sound authoritative you might like it. But it might also sound "boomy" to some.

Thank you all for your input, there is a lot of information I need to digest.

I like the idea of the mini booth, I will have a look around and see what materials are available this side of the pond.

These recording sessions are quite short, an hour, maybe two until I get it right and infrequent, once or twice a year, so maybe the middle of the night is do-able.

I have yet to try noise removal, I'd prefer not to use it, but if I do it will be as a last resort.

Dave

For news voice overs we used to record inside a car, it works pretty well.

Thanks Brian,

If I record in the middle of the night, that is possible as well.

Dave

For post ADR, I built a 5 ft by 5ft frame from PVC pipe, and had my wife sew moving blankets purchased from Harbor Freight to create a tent with flap door. I can set it up in my living room, and hang a mic and run a monitor into the tent and repeat the shot over and over again in Vegas to allow the actor several shots at synching. Using a Rode M3 mic, I can get pretty decent isolation.

Hey Chris,

That's an excellent idea. I guess I was being a little pretentious in asking for ideas for a studio, but that's pretty much what you have provided. Thanks.

Now it's decision time.

Dave

Hey Dave

All you really need as already mentioned is a booth and not an entire studio (which would be great of course) ...A simple DIY booth made from MDF board (cheaper than plywood) and on a work light stand worked well for me. My secret was to glue egg boxes inside the panels on all sides...the ones that hold 30 eggs are the nicest and the shape kills just about all noise. I bought some from a packaging company as I wasn't going to try and eat 500 eggs in one sitting. Great sound deadening material and light too!!

Chris

Hi Chris,

I hadn't thought of egg boxes. I am going to start with a cardboard box (free) and some best quality carpet offcuts which we are about to chuck out (so also free), working up from there. Sadly I will have to buy some adhesive!

One thing is for sure, nothing I do will stop the noise of those F15s from RAF Lakenheath!

Dave

I thought the egg-box solution vanished about 20 years ago. Egg boxes do a nice job of attenuating the top end, but lower frequencies pass straight through. To the ears, they seem to work nicely, but unless you only need audio control right at the top, they're terrible things. If you look at the foam products sold by people like can ford and studiospares in the UK, you'll see that the thicker the foam, the better the performance down below - but even the thickest are quite poor at the bottom end - so can't cope with the boomy resonance so many rooms seem to have. A bass guitar, for example passes through an egg box virtually untouched, while a piccolo does get quieter. Things like shakers and triangles get attenuated quite usefully. Egg boxes are the equivalent of sticking cotton wool in your ears - the sound just gets muffled, but it's still there.

Egg cartons and other noise 'deadening' materials do little to stop extraneous noise from getting in (or out) of an area. STL Solid materials are the best choice. Lead sheeting, double/triple wallboard (and walls) sand filled blocks, ect. Read about building recording studios for more info. It can get very expensive, especially with structural renovations.
My first music recording studio was 'outfitted' with egg-crates (the cardboard fiber kind) in the early '70s along w/ a Teac 4-track R-R.

I took 1/2 of a closet in my office and added about $100 worth of acoustic foam and sound blankets to make a very passable sound booth. If the vacuum cleaner is running, I wouldn't bother using it, but you don't hear the hum of the fridge, A/C or the occasional dog bark from the neighbors yard. Overall, I'm very happy with it. The sliding closet door is also lined with foam, but you can hang a heavy-duty moving blanket (doubled up even) from floor to ceiling to help attenuate external noise.
If you have enough space, you can even build sound-absorbing frames using 2x8's and rockwool insulation. I have those panels hanging on my walls to abosorb the natural echos in the room.

Check Craigslist for acoustic foam, I got mine for about 1/2 the price of retail.

Mass Loaded Vinyl sheeting is great stuff - it's really heavy - feels like the stuff the dentist puts on your lap at X-ray time.

Change of materials is really effective - basically creating impedance at transition points. Lining a plywood box with a layer of vinyl, then a layer of wallboard, then the vinyl, then wallboard will make a really dead space. Much better than egg cartons.

We used a layer of the vinyl under wallboard when we did a bathroom remodel (maybe a bit off topic) and it really made a difference in what you could hear on the other side of the wall.

Or something like the SE Electronics Reflexion unit - haven't tried one myself but have heard some good things. They claim to use 9 layers of material. Same principle as above.

sE Electronics Reflexion Filter Pro: The Original Portable Vocal Booth (http://www.seelectronics.com/reflexion-filter-pro)

Close miking is obviously the biggest factor.

Inexpensive limits you to absorbing reflections to control the reverb, rather than sealing out external noise (which requires lots of mass in the walls).

I often find myself in homes being used as film sets, needing to record a few lines of wild dialog while the rest of the crew is setting up for another shot.

If the rest of the crew can't be silenced, then I'll look for a filled walk-in closet because the contents provide both absorption and sealing, and the small size of the room makes reflections fall under the haas zone where they are annoying.

If I have a bit more time and/or space I will try throwing sound blankets on furniture in a larger room, or even using C stands to make a "room within a room" of sound blankets. That can be even more effective.

The sE reflexion and it's ilk are useful just because it's easier to set up if you do this often, but for bang for buck nothing beats a sound blanket hung behind the speaker. Unless you are using a figure 8 mic it makes more sense to be absorbing reflections that are on-mic rather than off axis reflections from an absorber behind the mic where most people misplace it.

I am, and shall have to remain, a long way from a purpose built studio. However, with the information you have given me, I feel I am now able to make the best of the situation.

I shall have to work around most of the surrounding noise. I can't control the traffic and almost nothing will stop the noise and vibration of F15s taking off from the local air base, but I can switch off fridges, fans and other household items for a short time if necessary. With a sound absorbing mike box and close miking, working when external noise is at its minimum, I am hoping I can produce acceptable, even if not perfect, voice-overs for the odd times I need to and I can always add Chris Barcellos' tent idea if needed.

All your replies are much appreciated. Thank you.

Dave