Just wondering what's an "acceptable" amount of noise in a room for recording... As in, when you record the sound of the empty room, how many decibals is a realistic goal? I just got a quiet power supply and processor cooler, which has significantly quieted my room, but my computer is still not *noiseless," so I still pick up some sound. know there's not such thing as perfect silence, but I'm just curious as to how quiet I should be striving for. As it stands, I have to gate everything below -45db if I dont' want noise creeping in... I've never had formal training in recording, so I don't know if this is a good level or not... Thanks, chris.
> know there's not such thing as perfect > silence, but I'm just curious as to how quiet I should be striving for. When you're doing a mix, and it's sounding so cool, do you still find yourself thinking, "Damn that fan noise! If not for that..." or "Damn that 60 Hz hum! If not for that..."? I have a friend who gates _everything_. He's a great musician and very well- versed in electronics. And he's meticulous. I have never heard the slightest bit of noise in his recordings. To his credit, I have never been able to hear the gate working, either. I suspect that he doesn't need the gate, though. You seem to be doing the best you can with what you have. But you seem to want a number. Because you do, the only acceptable Quiet Number is zero. Sorry 'bout that.
On 7-Feb-2004, "alabaster" <> grabbed their box of multicolored crayolas and wrote: > Just wondering what's an "acceptable" amount of noise in a room for > recording... As in, when you record the sound of the empty room, how many > decibals is a realistic goal? Are we talking a home studio? Or a pro-studio? It really depends on the music you're recording. If you're doing a classical quartet it should be very quiet. If you're recording a "Start" through and old Bassman rig then the hum off the amp will drown out everything else. This is not scientific but I just pulled out made Rat Shack db meter and my Drum/Iso booth is less than 50 db which is a low as the meter will go. I opened up a mic in the room AT4033 with the channel strip on my Mackie set at nominal and I recorded a noise floor at -66 and -62 (according to Sound Forge) when the A/C was running. My control room environment hovers at 50 db. A little sniff of the nose generated a 52 db reading. I honestly don't know if these levels are anywhere close to being decent but I tried very hard to build my home studio right. But it eventually boils down to practicality. I floated the floor in the booth but the control room is on the slab with the house. When I have both doors closed to the studio my band can practice at mid 90s to 100 db levels without disturbing the rest of the family. -- Mod Bod http://web.tampabay.rr.com/cmodiset/webpage/Index.html http://www.soundclick.com/bands/5/davemodisettemusic.htm www.soundclick.com/frenz4fr (**Christian Content**)
"ModBod" <> so articulated news:vBfVb.47223$: > My control room environment hovers at 50 db. A little sniff of the nose > generated a 52 db reading. > I agree. I think -45 is a little noisy. The thing about -45 is that it's just loud enough to be heard on one track, but once you start adding in several tracks, the room noise may become evident in the mix itself, even though you have a gate set for silent parts of each track. I mean, -45 is JUST noisy enough, in my opinion. I'd aim for -50, so you're curretnly not too far off, at least for my own desires for noise suppression. I think... Dave
On 7-Feb-2004, jddj <> grabbed their box of multicolored crayolas and wrote: > I agree. I think -45 is a little noisy. The thing about -45 is that > it's just loud enough to be heard on one track, but once you start adding > in several tracks, the room noise may become evident in the mix itself, > even though you have a gate set for silent parts of each track. > > I mean, -45 is JUST noisy enough, in my opinion. I'd aim for -50, so > you're curretnly not too far off, at least for my own desires for noise > suppression. > > I think... The 50 db is the lowest that the decibel meter will record and that was with a noisy PC running. The majority of my stuff is direct so the noise is more of a nuisance than anything. Fact is, it is a home and there's only so much you can do with it. I probably get more noise off my board than I get from the noise floor. -- Mod Bod http://web.tampabay.rr.com/cmodiset/webpage/Index.html http://www.soundclick.com/bands/5/davemodisettemusic.htm www.soundclick.com/frenz4fr (**Christian Content**)
"ModBod" <> wrote in news:fshVb.86895$: > I probably get more noise off my board than I get from the noise > floor. I probably don't know what I'm talking about... Dave
On Sat, 07 Feb 2004 23:16:18 GMT, "alabaster" <> wrote: >Just wondering what's an "acceptable" amount of noise in a room for >recording... As in, when you record the sound of the empty room, how many >decibals is a realistic goal? Decibels are relative. There are many, many different decibel scales. (Named as a tenth of a Bell, as in Alexander Graham Bell). It is technically incorrect to talk about decibels without talking about what they are relative to. Your -45 dB on your DAW is really 45dB down from 0 dB Full Scale, which is simply the biggest number you can fit into a word of your DAW. Be it 16 or 24 bits. On the usual cheap Radio Shack meter, using the dbA or dbB scales, you are not likely to read lower than 50dB in a quiet home, even if the meter went lower. Professional studios aim for 30 to 35 dB on those scale. It takes serious money to get that quiet. Money that makes zero sense in a project studio world. Not at least until you had got serious bass traps, high frequency flutter controls, seriously good monitors, etc. Which means it never makes sense in an amateur studio, unless you are a working pro, and you have a project studio to record Bob Dylan when he drops by. Pat http://www.pfarrell.com/prc/
Chris.... we had the same problem. The answer is to put the computers in a different room.... you only need extensions for the Mouse/Keyboard, and the Video for the Monitor. Been working fine for us for a long time, and we shut the windows and turn off the fridge when tracking. Bob "alabaster" <> wrote in message news:6leVb.25936$... > Just wondering what's an "acceptable" amount of noise in a room for > recording... As in, when you record the sound of the empty room, how many > decibals is a realistic goal? > > I just got a quiet power supply and processor cooler, which has > significantly quieted my room, but my computer is still not *noiseless," so > I still pick up some sound. know there's not such thing as perfect silence, > but I'm just curious as to how quiet I should be striving for. > > As it stands, I have to gate everything below -45db if I dont' want noise > creeping in... I've never had formal training in recording, so I don't know > if this is a good level or not... > > Thanks, > chris. > > >
On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 05:09:59 GMT, "BlackHawk" <> wrote: >Chris.... we had the same problem. The answer is to put the computers in a >different room.... you only need extensions for the Mouse/Keyboard, and the >Video for the Monitor. If that is what Chris is really asking, then this is the best answer. See http://www.pfarrell.com/prc/cafaq.html#quietpc Pat http://www.pfarrell.com/prc/
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't ZEROdb impossible with any mic? A mic has it's own level of self noise if I'm not mistaken. I've got a Neumann TLM103, and the biggest bragging thing about it(according to the ads), is it's SUPER LOW self noise of only 7db. "The quietest on the market today". I've never actually tried to measure it, so I could be completely wrong. I was just wondering. I have no basis for my opinion other than what the ads say. "Steven Myers" <> wrote in message news:Xns9488C73B3CF16tididitearthlinknet@207.69.154.204... > > know there's not such thing as perfect > > silence, but I'm just curious as to how quiet I should be striving for. > > When you're doing a mix, and it's sounding so cool, do you still find > yourself thinking, "Damn that fan noise! If not for that..." or "Damn that 60 > Hz hum! If not for that..."? > > I have a friend who gates _everything_. He's a great musician and very well- > versed in electronics. And he's meticulous. I have never heard the slightest > bit of noise in his recordings. To his credit, I have never been able to hear > the gate working, either. I suspect that he doesn't need the gate, though. > > > You seem to be doing the best you can with what you have. But you seem to > want a number. Because you do, the only acceptable Quiet Number is zero. > Sorry 'bout that. >
Yes, zero is impossible. But you wanted THE number. Are your present noise levels giving you real problems? Anthony wrote: > Correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't ZEROdb impossible with any mic? >> You seem to be doing the best you can with what you have. But you seem >> to want a number. Because you do, the only acceptable Quiet Number is >> zero. Sorry 'bout that.
"Steven Myers" <> wrote in message news:Xns9488C73B3CF16tididitearthlinknet@207.69.154.204... > > know there's not such thing as perfect > > silence, but I'm just curious as to how quiet I should be striving for. > > When you're doing a mix, and it's sounding so cool, do you still find > yourself thinking, "Damn that fan noise! If not for that..." or "Damn that 60 > Hz hum! If not for that..."? I put out a CD a few years back that made me enough money to rebuild the studio to what it is today. On one particular song, if you isolate one vocal track, you can faintly hear "Borderline" by Madonna playing in the background(which was playing in an adjacent room at the time, but I didn't give a sh*t). That noise made no difference in the sales of the CD....actually, maybe it helped<g> IMHO, if you are doing acoustic material, put the puter in another room. I did. And it made a big difference. If you'r doing head banging matterial, it won't matter unless you have a lot of vocal/acoustic tracks. Then the noise would certainly add up. Poly
>> > know there's not such thing as perfect >> > silence, but I'm just curious as to how quiet I should be striving >> > for. >> >> When you're doing a mix, and it's sounding so cool, do you still find >> yourself thinking, "Damn that fan noise! If not for that..." or "Damn >> that > 60 >> Hz hum! If not for that..."? > IMHO, if you are doing acoustic material, put the puter in another room. > I did. And it made a big difference. If you'r doing head banging > matterial, it won't matter unless you have a lot of vocal/acoustic > tracks. Then the noise would certainly add up. You made my point better than I did. Are we tackling a real problem here, or are we just chasing numbers?
>Which means it never makes sense in an amateur studio, unless you are a working >pro, and you have a project studio to record Bob Dylan when he drops by. Will room noise actually degrade the voice of Bob Dylan? or will it enhance his recording experience? Max Arwood
On 8-Feb-2004, "Max Arwood" <> grabbed their box of multicolored crayolas and wrote: > >Which means it never makes sense in an amateur studio, unless you are a > working > >pro, and you have a project studio to record Bob Dylan when he drops by. > > > Will room noise actually degrade the voice of Bob Dylan? or will it enhance > his recording experience? Funny, I've often wondered if I would recognize and capture the unique character of his style or try to correct what I thought was a weakness and make him something totally ordinary. -- Mod Bod http://web.tampabay.rr.com/cmodiset/webpage/Index.html http://www.soundclick.com/bands/5/davemodisettemusic.htm www.soundclick.com/frenz4fr (**Christian Content**)
"polymod" <> wrote in message news:mDtVb.36037$... > > On one particular song, if you isolate one vocal > track, you can faintly hear "Borderline" by Madonna playing in the > background(which was playing in an adjacent room at the time, but I didn't > give a sh*t). That noise made no difference in the sales of the > CD....actually, maybe it helped<g> I'm calling the RIAA!
"Steven Myers" <> wrote in message news:Xns94897E9898628tididitearthlinknet@207.69.154.201... > > You made my point better than I did. Are we tackling a real problem here, or > are we just chasing numbers? > Right. I spent many a wasted hour in that area (much more than I'm willing to admit). Switching from reel-to-reel to computer was my biggest time waster (all the endless tweaking I mean). I had to make sure I had that last ounce of usage, even though I really wasn't recording all that much because I was always tweaking the darn computer! And whatever power I did gain was outweighed by my chops getting so rusty from lack of use.
"ModBod" <> wrote in message news:hMxVb.80857$... > > Funny, I've often wondered if I would recognize and capture the unique > character of his style or try to correct what I thought was a weakness and make > him something totally ordinary. > Hopefully, you'd do the former. But the status quo (at least in commercial music) seems to be the latter.
On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 00:09:59 -0500, BlackHawk wrote: > Chris.... we had the same problem. The answer is to put the computers in > a different room.... you only need extensions for the Mouse/Keyboard, > and the Video for the Monitor. > > Been working fine for us for a long time, and we shut the windows and > turn off the fridge when tracking. > > Bob Hi Bob, We bought a KVM extender too and found it makes a huge difference... and we shut the fridge, freezer and close the windows when we record too. That can make for some pretty hot recording sessions in the summer time but it does work well. Recording at night when everyone's asleep and there are no lawn mowers (or snow blowers in the winter time) helps too. Some day we'll build a proper studio with all the isolation we need - I long for the day! Nick =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= http://www.songbirdofswing.com Nick Busigin Visit Our Indie Jazz CD Construction Project! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
