audio problem, need help please.

blk_diesel wrote on 10/8/2005, 4:34 PM

I recorded a concert with a gl-2 and the DM-50 directional mic. The concert was pretty loud so I manually set the input low enough to stay out of the red. Well, the sound is terrible! There is a distorted rumble in places and breathing noise. Is there a way to undue source problems. I know I can use the noise reduction plug-in to get rid of the bladent noise, but what about the bass rumble and distorted sounds?

Comments

trock wrote on 10/8/2005, 4:45 PM

Breathing noise is usually associated with overdriving the AGC or a compressor somewhere in the chain but you say you set the levels manually. Are you sure the AGC wasn't on?

Bass rumble is usually fairly easy to remove with notch filters but distortion is one of the hardest things to get rid of. There are declipping fliters but they vary in their effectiveness based on the condition of the source. I'd have to hear a bit of the audio you're describing to be able to better advise.

blk_diesel wrote on 10/8/2005, 5:04 PM

Here is a short mp3 sample.

http://tinyurl.com/bhubp

trock wrote on 10/9/2005, 6:41 AM

Thanks for the sample. Since your manual input was turned down, if the bass guitar wasn't that distorted at the source, I'm guessing that the volume of mainly the bass frequencies overloaded the input of one or both of the mics and that they couldn't take the sound pressure level.

The distortion on the bass is kind of strange - it almost sounds like a cross between a blown speaker and a fuzz bass.

Unfortunately I'm not familiar with tools that can effectively clean up this kind of bass distortion. Perhaps someone else is?

blk_diesel wrote on 10/9/2005, 6:49 AM

Thanks for your help. I thought it was very strange, I've recorded concerts before and never had this problem. It was pretty loud, but to my ear, it was clear and lacked the fuzz and buzz of the final product.

ibliss wrote on 10/9/2005, 6:54 AM

mp3 link doesn't work for me.

musicvid10 wrote on 10/9/2005, 4:05 PM

You've got room resonance at 129 hz and 345 hz, the latter has a rather strong harmonic at 1035 hz.

Use your eyes (spectrum analysis), ears, and basic math to smooth out the bumps. I prefer a series of notch filters to smooth out the bumps rather than a shotgun approach. About 10 min of playing with your file gave me
Good luck!