For some reason my XR500/MKE440 setup while records good audio, there seems to be a slight boost in the bass and treble, regardless of gain settings.
I tried to record some audio from my home stereo placed in the sweet spot, and I want to record a flat response, it's almost a very slight loudness setting.
Anything I can change in the camera or post processing to achieve a flat response?
With the XR500, I tried low and normal, and with the mic, I tried -20, 0, +20 db....some results.
Thanks.
How do you know that there is a slight boost in bass and treble? Gain settings won't make any different to the frequency response of the audio recordings. The best way is to leave everything as is for a good recording level and use EQ during the editing process to adjust the final audio sound as necessary.
I'm actually trying to get some good audio clips of the 2ch stereo with regards to documenting upgrades.
I can easily distinguish the tonal change with a few upgrades using the external Sony ECM-HQP1.
I switched to the Sennheiser which sounds much better, but the audio in the clip is clearly more bass heavy and brighter than what's heard in the room.
It's a good chance the mic is picking up reflections that my ears won't pick up...I just need to get the recordings as true as possible to what's coming from the speakers.
@ryclark … +1
@dka56 … Are you sure that the XR500 - assuming you are referring to Treblab earphones which cost around $29 - are of reference quality sufficient to accurately judge frequency response. And what's to say that your audio speakers are providing a completely flat frequency response, something that only gets close to occurring in high-end audio systems.
Also, is there no way that you can import audio from your stereo into your computer via a cheap audio interface? Even in the 1960s/70s, I tapped into the speaker terminals of my TV (with a suitable resister in line) to record TV audio to a tape recorder. Unless you are recording audio for news-gathering purposes only, I would not have thought that recording audio from a home stereo system via a room-based microphone would, these days, ever result in a quality recording. Unless of course you have had your listening room fitted out with acoustic fittings such as bass traps and other acoustic treatments.
If the intended audience of your production will be wearing earphones, then the EQ plugins within Vegas Pro will assist you in achieving your desired sound.
Edi: All microphones have different tonal characteristics from the least expensive to the most expensive.
"the audio in the clip is clearly more bass heavy and brighter than what's heard in the room."
Getting recorded audio to sound exactly like what you hear (or think you hear) just ain't gonna happen. This has been an issue since Thomas Edison's 1927 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' recording. There are many ear/brain factors in this.
You will just have to EQ what you already have. Otherwise experiment with mic placement and acoustical room treatment.
Actually the sound quality is quite good, surprisingly good. I was just curious if there is a plug-in or if it's even an issue with post-processing audio from the AVCHD file if anyone needed to address microphone peaks or valleys.
The room is well treated, probably could use some corner bass traps. I want to speculate the mic is more sensitive to the lower frequencies than my ears. The difference is not substantial, I pretty much need to drop the low freq from 50-250 Hz just a small amount.
The microphone is a Sennheiser MKE-440, my headphones are Audio-Technica ATH-M50, I also tried my Hyper-X gaming headphones which are quite good for what they are but both pairs provide similar results.
I've been into audio for most of my life, never really tried to get true recordings like this and again, the results are very close to what I'm actually hearing from the speakers...I just don't know if there's a way to "calibrate" the post processing to a flat response from maybe a test clip.
"You will just have to EQ what you already have. Otherwise experiment with mic placement and acoustical room treatment."
Yeah, I agree. I will experiment and report my findings.
Thanks.
Also remember that headphones (however expensive) will always sound different from what you will hear on the final product listened to on loudspeakers in a room acoustic. The final judgement should be to listen on decent speakers in several different environments.