I love Neumann... I've used mostly all Neumann mics... I love the silk soft high end.. I've owned U47's U67's, U69's. U87's, TLM 102 and 103's (All matched pairs). And we had bunches more in the studio where I worked... I recognize anything recorded with a Neumann... Congrats on the partnership.. It's a good one!
I recorded many jazz concerts at NTU that used multiple mics, but were 95% captured by a matched pair of 103s. I love the highs too, particularly on drums. It didn't hurt that the players were great musicians.
Great video! Timingly, I am exploring in miking my Boss Katana mk2 100 solid state amp. I'm using Shure SM57 and connect it to my Behringer UMC404HD audio interface. I hear the noise when I'm pushing the gain knob of the audio interface at around 3 o'clock. If I back it down to 12nn, the noise isn't there but the signal suffers. Meaning, I'm getting low output from my amplifier to SM57. In this case, I tried gain staging the SM57 at around 1 to 2 o'clock and adjusting the volume of my amp and specific volumes/level of my overdrive pedals, until I can no long hear the noise or if I hear it in the mix, I can onlt hear it on the quiet parts of the track, which can be cut in editing from time to time. Also good to note that my small modest home studio isn't acoustically treated.
Slightly off topic question here - Recently I have heard of a recording method using two microphones attached to each other, but pointing in opposite directions in order to eliminate all noise coming from more than two feet away or so. It was called differential microphone. I would like to learn about that and I know no way other than intruding here ….
My noise problem isn’t inside the room, it’s outside, random noises like birds, sirens, motor cars. Condenser mics pick it all up, dynamics I get away with.
I have the same problem in my room - trash trucks, leaf blowers, etc. Condenser vs Dynamic isn't really the issue. Like I said, it's about polar pattern, proximity, and frequency response.
Similar here, too noisy where I live, and sound proofing/room treatment is not practical. All my Mics are gathering dust, as are my Monitoring Speakers. I do all guitar and keyboards recording direct/pickups/MIDI/Modeler to PC, and listen through Monitoring Headphones. I can do this as loud as I want any time of the day or night without anyone else hearing or being disturbed. Best solution for me, and requires minimal gear and expense. 😎
@@picksalot1 yep, me too, I went to all In line sounds for the home studio. I got a Friedman amp with a cabsim out, and an electric drum kit, all run through mixers and studio monitors or cans. Allows me to overdub with a perfect mix, because I have total control over the sound, no volume of the speaker cab in the room to contend with, or drums (and wife complaining). All done as quiet as a mouse if need be. Not top notch quality sound perhaps, but still pretty good and perfectly practical for the home.
Yes, this is ALL very important, especially the avoidance of digital clipping, because especially to an audiophile ear, that sound is extremely harsh and "grating", sometimes even rather painful to listen to, even for a split second! (Not to mention it's also terrible for your speakers, especially the tweeters!) Unfortunately though, many, maybe even most average everyday people, and even some less experienced "sound engineers" don't even REALLY know what digital clipping even sounds like, either because they haven't been taught what exact sound to listen for AND avoid, or else they just simply don't pay enough attention to the overall music or sound to even notice OR care in the first place! It really almost seems like a "lost art" nowadays in many modern recordings, to actually listen for AND AVOID digital distortion and clipping, because I hear it more and more often in many modern recordings, especially any of the ones who have been an unfortunate result of the "loudness wars", especially among more popular and mainstream music!... It's really actually kinda sad, that more recording engineers DON'T seem to pay enough attention to digital distortion and clipping, because it can pretty much totally ruin an otherwise amazing recording and/or music artist in any specific song(s) that have digital clipping in them, songs that, if it wasn't for the extreme levels of distortion, oftentimes even to a level of masking or totally destroying the clarity of the lyrics of the song itself, would otherwise be an absolutely amazing and awesomely beautiful track or song!... One example of that very unfortunate result of extreme distortion in the vocals is on the Billie Eilish album "When we all fall asleep, Where do we go?" I was thoroughly appalled by the audio quality in some of the songs on this album, and IF only it had been mastered better, with more attention to clarity, and watching the levels of extreme bass vs. the vocals, and NOT allowing all of the rather extreme digital clipping distortion to totally destroy her vocals in many spots, this album definitely COULD have been really awesome, because of her raw vocals and lyrics and unique music stylings, however, I personally just remember that album mainly as being one of the absolute WORST SOUND QUALITY albums I've EVER heard in my life, even though in every OTHER way, I really liked it! After hearing that album in it's entirety, I was just thinking to myself; "Damn, what a shame! If only it wasn't for that annoying extreme distortion in certain parts, this would be an absolutely awesome and amazing album!" It almost even makes me think that Finneas and/or Billie decided to make it sound that way ON PURPOSE, JUST to be "extreme" or "different" from the norm... But I still haven't heard about or found any conclusive evidence to that point, one way or another... And I would certainly like to believe that an otherwise quite good artist like her (and especially her brother/producer/Finneas!), knows better than to let the recording get saturated in the way that album experiences, but I'm not sure about that either... I guess IF I ever get to meet her in person then I can and probably will ask her about all that, but otherwise I can just hope for better sound quality from her in any of her future albums she may come out with!
Love this comment. I have some other recordings that I feel the same way about. They were either recorded too hot, mixed too hot or mastered too hot. In any case, they sound painful to listen to.
Well explained. Most of my recordings are outside a studio (like audio for my videos) and since I normally want to record accurately what's heard in real life as possible - background "noise" isn't a problem in most cases. But the importance of the noise floor of the recording device it self (the last step) shouldn't be underestimated for such recordings For highly dynamic sounds like fireworks, hammer strikes in a quiet environment or for example just a loud vehicle in a quiet environment where it start out close, then is recorded until it's so far away that the sound falls below the environment (where the gain is set low enough for the peaks to not clip while still getting all the quiet echoes and sounds from the environment without getting bothered by hiss from the AD-converter and/or analog circuitry of the recoding device it self), just the difference between a noise floor at for example -100 dB and -110 dB can be significant. Same applies for 16 bit vs 24 bit. Also electrical noise has been quite a bit of a challange as many of my recordings are in environements, such as close to power lines (mostly railway power lines when filming trains), high magnetic fields and (what have given me most head ache) somewhere with a cell phone base station nearby. Balanced inputs doesn't help very well against noise caused by pulsating microwaves from those either - it do help against relatively low frequency electric and magnetic noise, such as that coming from power lines - but for microwave problems (usually in the GHz range) the cable just act as the antenna and the part where it get modulated into unwanted audio, is in the microphone capsulea or audio circuitry it self (which act as a reciever). For example the small FET transistor used in condenser mics tend to modulate pulsating microwave signals into an audio signal. The only thing that helps angainst this, is heavy shielding of particularly the contacts and where the cables enter the microphone capsule/casing. Lucky for me, I have also built both my microphones my self (using Proimo EM273 capsules) and my preamp (I using the ADA4004-2 and a custom built DC/DC-converter to get dual voltage - so I can run it on just a 9 V battery) I finally managed to get rid of the problem using copper tape and aluminium foil in the right places. Thise one is pretty much impossible to get rid of, if not building or modifying the recording gear your self and I have heard that characteristic noise many times on other peoples recordings and even on stuff they record on TV
man i hope streamers and tubers find your video, as a consumer i have experience so much bad audio quality on mainly noticable on voices. your video sounds so much better as the majoirty of video's i watch
So it should, this guy is an expert! I always find it hilarious how people record their high end stereo systems on their phone and put them on UA-cam. Then it's even more hilarious when people comment how good they sound.
Hi Kyle. A good video about a meaningful issue on studio. I just note that maybe you should rethink the statement “While a cheap microphone can have a self-noise noise of around 17 dB-A or higher, a professional-quality microphone like the Neumann TLM 102 can have a self-noise of only 12 dB-A.” when some top Neumann expensive tube condenser mics have some higher self-noise levels (e.g. M49V Equivalent noise level, A-weighted, 21/20/19 dB-A; U67 21/17/20 dB-A (Omni/cardioid/8)), but their quality is notorious.
About mic positioning, what I learn by experience through the years is, if you deal with for example a kick, the wavelength in the air will easily reach 1 meter. So bringing your mic at the wider amplitude zone is very different than at a node. Therefore, it's not really by positioning a mic closer to the source that can reduce noise, but at the max amplitude of the wavelength of the source. Then you don't have to push the gain really high for a great input resulting in a low noise capture.
That same form of common mode protection is used in automotive communication circuits. Modules talk to each other on two wires, typically wound together, with opposite polarity. Interestingly they have a 120 ohm resistor at each end, so you can check circuit integrity with an ohmeter by showing the parallel resistance between lines is 60 ohms.
@@maxine_q Yes, with a similar goal of the classic impedance of a radio transmitter wire of infinite length. That topic is fascinating, relating to optimal impedance to prevent simple harmonic reflections at the radio wave level.
I have the SM7DB with a Mogami platinum cable and a solid-state logic audio interface. The preamps on that audio interface are OK. I love the platinum mogami cable because it has literally no noise at all. Just got the cable today and I was so shocked when I listened to the recording and there was no hissing at all at least not from the cable.
The part of the article you didn’t read says:buy the microphone that fits your budget!! Unless we’re talking harmonic distortion in for example a ribbon mic ; The electrical self noise (aka noise floor) produced by both condenser and dynamic mics will be no where near the volume level of the source material and the room noise combined. If the self noise is louder you either have a lemon or you’re recording a lemon. And if you’re trying to capture room tone, don’t. what’s in the box will sound 10 times better and cost 11 times less than the room tone you’re going to record in. If you gain the mic up to the source and you can see room tone in the waveform, the source is too quiet, probably get the mic closer . If you gain the mic up to the source and hear the noise floor, someone sold you a faulty mic, get your money back
You mention "long" cables a few times and I assume signal degradation is worse with a weaker signal. So from a practical view, when is a cable considered "long" in a mic / line / speaker connection? 1, 3, 5 meters as a typical (home) studio situation? 10-50 or more meters on a stage? I understand this depends from many factors, so the answer can´t be super precise. But from a practical point of view and your experience?
Great video as always. Like that you touched on dynamic range being one of the factors that determine the quality of a converter. Assessing the quality of different converters is very mysterious to me. I would love to see a video where you explain all the factors that go into what makes one converter better than another and how to read and interpret those specs, e.g. why is Lynx's conversion better than an Apollo's and an Apollo' better than a Scarlett's? PS Everyone get off his back about the Neumann sponsorship! It's still super thorough, high quality, and reliable free information and he deserves to make a living from the benefit he is providing to so many people! No other channel I am aware of that has this high quality of information. Neumann is a great company and he wouldnt be saying that stuff about their mics and interface if it wasnt true
That's a world that is very mysterious to me, too! Great suggestion. Also, thank you for saying this about sponsored Audio University content. I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with brands I believe in. And I ALWAYS do my best to deliver high-quality educational information that's helpful (with or without access to the sponsored gear). Thank you for seeing that and for supporting the channel.
To start with, you can't go by specs. There are no industry standards in place that all manufacturers have to use when measuring their gear. Each company measures their equipment however they see fit. Also, you can't tell how something sounds by looking at a spec sheet. Its impossible. If anyone tells you otherwise, offer to give them some specs on a component and see what they come up with. As for the rest of it, this is a huge topic and you could write a book going over all the details. I can give you some basic info, but if you want all the details, you need to look into each area individually. There are 3 main components in any dac. The digital section, the analog section and the power supply. Most people focus on the dac chip, but the bulk of your sound quality comes from the analog section and power supply. Design and parts quality are a huge factor. To really see what I'm talking about, do a search for some internal pics on an entry level dac like Focusrite, a mid level dac like Benchmark, and high end units like dCs. You don't need to be an electrical engineer to see where the money is going. The single most important component in the digital portion of the dac is the master clock. You should look up the terms jitter and galvanic isolation. Its also important to know the different types of balancing that are available. Most balancing is just point to point, but on higher end gear, quite often all the components in the signal path are doubled up so the extra signal on the 3rd pin doesn't have to be discarded and can stay balanced through the entire component. There are other connection options than SP/DIF over coax and Toslink. For fiber optic connections, ATT ST type glass is a very good connection. I2S over din and hdmi are also better options. This last bit will probably piss some people off. Its not just 1's and 0's. Digital connections are not really digital. You can't send 1's and 0's through a piece of copper wire. An analog representation of the digital signal is what's really traveling through your "digital" cable. That means the same things that can effect an analog signal in transmission can effect a "digital" signal. Care has to be taken when dealing with connection options. I know its a bunch of random stuff, but like I said above, there's just way too much information to put in a youtube post. Hopefully this will give you some ideas. I Probably missed a few things, so it wouldn't surprise me if some of the other posters add to my list.
@AT-wl9yq Dude thanks so much! That is all actually super helpful and definitely gives me a better start and direction into what to look into! I actually had never thought even just about the fact that digital connections transmit analog signals even though as soon as I read that it seemed so obvious. Thanks so much for taking the time to write that and I will definitely look into those things!
Well, I think for this information about noise. I am saving this to listen again. I truly understand why using cables of a quality cost is important. Have a great day.
my room has a bit of reflection, I want to get closer to the mic but I already have a naturally boomy voice and the closer I get, proximity effect exaggerates that boomyness and it doesn't sound right scooping out alot of low mids. waves clarity dereverb is pretty great but are there any other more natural solutions?
I have my whole band recording setup in my basement and even with the furnace, the washer and dryer, and a dehumidifier I still dont have any issue with noise. Lucky I guess.
It has to do with microphone proximity and the level of the sources. The furnace is A LOT quieter than the music from the microphone’s perspective. Nice job!
6dB is a doubling of a non-power value, such as sound pressure level or voltage. Check out this video: ua-cam.com/video/xSe7y9tYex8/v-deo.htmlsi=U8-JUMQ2B9moAgN2
Very informative! Thank you! Here’s a quandary I’ve been wondering lately, why do some boards have unbalanced ports? Shouldn’t everything be balanced? Is it just a cost thing? Is there any advantage to unbalanced besides saving a buck?
Useful when somebody comes in with a piece of domestic equipment that needs to be connected in a hurry. Historically it could have been something recorded on a Pro Walkman for example.
That’s a good question, Pat! It depends. I expect the biggest difference would be in the microphone preamp. With a USB mic, the preamp is built-in. That creates some limitations of space and power supply. So I always lean toward XLR mics and wall-powered preamps when trying to get the best quality.
They have a preamp and an analog-to-digital converter. The problem is that usually for the price you get a decent mic and a bad interface, a bad mic and a decent interface, or both are bad. The two exceptions to this are Rode's new NT-USB (I think) and - astonishingly - the $40 Fifine k669.
Hey Kyle, technical info spot on as always. I do hope you're not going to become too wrapped up in the sponsorship thing though... it introduces suspicions of bias?
Thanks for watching, David. Sponsorships help fund more, better content. The techniques and concepts I teach in my videos are true and relevant no matter what gear I demonstrate it with, so no need to suspect bias.
It's a whole different thing if you think about it. It's more like "controlled noise" as its the typically the top shelf sounding "noise" meant to invoke the nostalgic mystique of tape, records and old radio. However, it's crafted in a way so that the integrity of the samples or tracks aren't lost. It's like the differences between a pear of boyfriend jeans vs a pair of old, crappy jeans
Wow! I know you set up front that this video was sponsored by Neumann, but I didn't realize that the whole video was simply going to be an advertisement for their products.
Decent basic info wrapped in a Neumann ad. Pretty much if your gear is reasonable., even most budget stuff is really good lately, and you don't do something stupid with your gainstaging your gear really shouldn't be giving noise issues. It really comes down to your room and like the video says close mic'ing certainly can help a lot with that. Most audio interfaces have very decent micpreamps and digital conversion, just be careful of small handheld recorders as many still have fairly lousy micpreamps that can introduce noise especially with dynamic mics when uses on quiet or distant sources.
Thanks for watching! I agree - great gear won't make up for lack of skill or attention to detail. But, it does help when paired with skill and attention to detail.
(full disclosure i am a guy on the internet) Its interesting how we've seen a shift in advertising to be from so heavily sponsor focused, to an independant reviewers opinion and word of mouth, for better and worse. Now we think that any amount of money you have tied into something illegitimizes your opinion, which as we all know can be true, however inversely especially for more humble internet personalities (such as this channel), staking your income to a relevant source isn't actually a bad thing. We try to separate bias from advertising but in actuality i personally want a specific persons bias or opinion, that is whenever they aren't a paid actor who's reading a horribly out of touch script in a poor attempt for marketing. Essentially, i'm not against sponsorships or marketing, i'm dissinterested in lousy ones, and the top dogs in these fields like google for example are there not because they're quality, but rather because they've bent their way into profits (often shadily but even that being aside), the big dog isn't necessarily the skilled... Dog? And so of course everything influences us, which isn't necessarily bad it just can be weaponized, but unsure of the sponsor i certainly do appreciate the pitch, its relevant and presented in a good way in my opinion... I uhh... Don't normally don't say these things at all... And i think i'm rambling... But nevertheless those are my thoughts that are irrelevant 😛
...and it is NOT a myth that dynamic mics are better in noisy rooms than condenser ones. In mere practice it is so. If you go deep in scientifically, yes, then you can say it is not so straightforward. Otherwise, generally it is true.
Put a mic near a humming and buzzing guitar amp 🤔 I would have cranked up the guitar amp a bit instead. But ofcorse make a listening test to compare are nice......😊
Davinci resolve is a video editing software, so its mixing tools are (probably, I use Premiere so I’m assuming) comparatively simple. Learn how to use a compressor and eq, and you will be set there. Or, if you’re mixing for a film and are more serious about a detailed soundscape, edit your film in Resolve and then mix in a DAW of your choice once you have achieved picture lock.
@@idiotmcgee4870 i agree with you sir but on DaVinci résolve WE Can make small film édits, or a documentary now i asked if he could do a tutorial on mixing voices in DaVinci résolve for example how to use compressor, EQ fabfilter, delay etc. Thank you!
there is a difference btw reducti ad absurdi and myth. the dynamic=better for bad rooms thing is right except and yes in a million usecases there will be 3 where this is not true and two of them are rooted in the fact somebody wants to break out of usual. in 99%the cases the person mixing(is beginner) the person performing(also beginner) is the same person. a mic that fits without use of EQ will take one of the tasks from that person and from the cpu. if i take a joe and make him perform multiple dubs in a mic and then save and export the file, he will have way less problems with a dynamic. and yes, its more complicated but when one understands how much more complex it is, he no longer needs that crutch, while, tbh, most times i dont see any significant benefit from the condensor and the "easieness of mixing" makes the performinhg also more fun and i am more flowing and creating. it´s an provonking statement at best, a good meant starterhelp in my view but not a myth. youtubers buy condensors and then make "Not amping keyboard clicking" a qualityaspect. thats like using a flamethrower for lighting a cig and "not melting in the face" is now aspect of a good flamethrower. no ft is for burning and lighter is for precision to avoid burning. and not start about the aspect of holding a mic for the vocalist and the proximity effect. a dynamic mic is an instrument itself if used right and of course you can manipulate a condensir creativly like recording backings behind the mic to make em duller but really good lifevocalists still use only handheld dynamics. like you need a manual car for rallly. the act of shifting yourself makes you more precise in shifting.
Good video although I didn’t particularly connect with the Neumann sales pitch. I am betting that 90% of your viewers’ wallets won’t connect either. Just sayin’.
I'm glad you liked the video. Even if you (or others) don't currently have the budget for a Neumann mic, I believe it's still important to know about those types of brands. I encountered Neumann several times throughout my career BEFORE I ever owned one (gear that belonged to my school, commercial studios, and live sound companies).
Agreed. My school has a good selection of Neumann mics. Fortunately, my instructor is always touting underdog brands because he knows that most students can’t afford even one Neumann mic. No doubt Neumann makes great stuff but it’s out of touch for most of us. How about hooking up with Dave at Advanced Audio? His CM12 is an amazing mic at an amazing price. Thanks Kyle@@AudioUniversity
@@AudioUniversityyeah i feel you. neumann is key in the history of audio recording, and to this day what they do is very unique and essential to many studios. learning about it at the very least and understanding why this is is what i think is important though, not necessarily buying one which i think is where this guy is coming from
Even though I don't have the budget, I am grateful for pointing out what puts the Neumann in higher class. Unaware, I've picked a mic with quite high self noise and only now I notice why in some scenarios it isn't perfect.
@@AudioUniversity - Well, obviously everyone's circumstances can be different, so I'm sure everyone learns something from someone at some point. Personally, in my case, I have a few older microphones that have a buzz that's impossible to cure because the mics are pretty old. So my only real recourse is to scoop out any buzzes with a narrow band EQ. I simply ensure the Q value is really narrow, so that no other frequencies around the problem frequencies are effected. There's only a few pieces of hardware and software I know of that can do it correctly though, meaning, non-destructive. As for software, I always use Pro-Q because it's the most surgical one I know of. Any others that can get just as surgical might be of help, so if you know of any, that might be appreciated. As for hardware, whole other ball of wax..
What about active and passive DI boxes? Dont they clean the signal and reduce noise? And how about Noise gate pedals? dont they reduce noise as well? This just seems like a neuman ad.
DI boxes don’t clean the signal, they transform the impedance for connecting instruments and other sources to mic inputs. They also allow those signals to be sent over longer distances (using a balanced connection, as discussed in the video). Here’s a video to learn more about DI boxes: ua-cam.com/video/_xybjiuD9K0/v-deo.htmlsi=P_l9Y4BAlio9mksE Noise gates just turn off the signal when it dips below a specified level. There are noise reduction technologies like iZotope RX and CEDAR, but it’s always best to minimize the amount of noise reduction processing needed by using the best practices in this video. Thanks for watching!
I used to enjoy your channel for the useful, unbiased information you provided. It's too bad that you decided to go down the sponsorship rabbit hole and your channel has just become a rolling commercial☹️
Zzzzzz. Neumann makes AD’d Well Neumann ain’t even Neumann anymore. People buy cuz they heard the name. IMO all BS except for the new M49V Those TLM 102s and 103s are awful. The glory days of U47’s, M(50s, SM69s KM 53/5;4, 56s is long gone.
I love Neumann... I've used mostly all Neumann mics... I love the silk soft high end.. I've owned U47's U67's, U69's. U87's, TLM 102 and 103's (All matched pairs). And we had bunches more in the studio where I worked... I recognize anything recorded with a Neumann... Congrats on the partnership.. It's a good one!
I love the 103 & U87ai.
I recorded many jazz concerts at NTU that used multiple mics, but were 95% captured by a matched pair of 103s. I love the highs too, particularly on drums.
It didn't hurt that the players were great musicians.
Great video!
Timingly, I am exploring in miking my Boss Katana mk2 100 solid state amp. I'm using Shure SM57 and connect it to my Behringer UMC404HD audio interface. I hear the noise when I'm pushing the gain knob of the audio interface at around 3 o'clock. If I back it down to 12nn, the noise isn't there but the signal suffers. Meaning, I'm getting low output from my amplifier to SM57. In this case, I tried gain staging the SM57 at around 1 to 2 o'clock and adjusting the volume of my amp and specific volumes/level of my overdrive pedals, until I can no long hear the noise or if I hear it in the mix, I can onlt hear it on the quiet parts of the track, which can be cut in editing from time to time.
Also good to note that my small modest home studio isn't acoustically treated.
Slightly off topic question here - Recently I have heard of a recording method using two microphones attached to each other, but pointing in opposite directions in order to eliminate all noise coming from more than two feet away or so. It was called differential microphone. I would like to learn about that and I know no way other than intruding here ….
Congrats on the partnership with Neumann. That's a heavy hitter company.
My noise problem isn’t inside the room, it’s outside, random noises like birds, sirens, motor cars. Condenser mics pick it all up, dynamics I get away with.
I have the same problem in my room - trash trucks, leaf blowers, etc. Condenser vs Dynamic isn't really the issue. Like I said, it's about polar pattern, proximity, and frequency response.
Similar here, too noisy where I live, and sound proofing/room treatment is not practical. All my Mics are gathering dust, as are my Monitoring Speakers. I do all guitar and keyboards recording direct/pickups/MIDI/Modeler to PC, and listen through Monitoring Headphones. I can do this as loud as I want any time of the day or night without anyone else hearing or being disturbed. Best solution for me, and requires minimal gear and expense. 😎
@@picksalot1 yep, me too, I went to all In line sounds for the home studio. I got a Friedman amp with a cabsim out, and an electric drum kit, all run through mixers and studio monitors or cans. Allows me to overdub with a perfect mix, because I have total control over the sound, no volume of the speaker cab in the room to contend with, or drums (and wife complaining). All done as quiet as a mouse if need be. Not top notch quality sound perhaps, but still pretty good and perfectly practical for the home.
@@AudioUniversity yeah I hear you, true. Good video
I find 1am to 5am is the silent time,
Yes, this is ALL very important, especially the avoidance of digital clipping, because especially to an audiophile ear, that sound is extremely harsh and "grating", sometimes even rather painful to listen to, even for a split second! (Not to mention it's also terrible for your speakers, especially the tweeters!)
Unfortunately though, many, maybe even most average everyday people, and even some less experienced "sound engineers" don't even REALLY know what digital clipping even sounds like, either because they haven't been taught what exact sound to listen for AND avoid, or else they just simply don't pay enough attention to the overall music or sound to even notice OR care in the first place!
It really almost seems like a "lost art" nowadays in many modern recordings, to actually listen for AND AVOID digital distortion and clipping, because I hear it more and more often in many modern recordings, especially any of the ones who have been an unfortunate result of the "loudness wars", especially among more popular and mainstream music!...
It's really actually kinda sad, that more recording engineers DON'T seem to pay enough attention to digital distortion and clipping, because it can pretty much totally ruin an otherwise amazing recording and/or music artist in any specific song(s) that have digital clipping in them, songs that, if it wasn't for the extreme levels of distortion, oftentimes even to a level of masking or totally destroying the clarity of the lyrics of the song itself, would otherwise be an absolutely amazing and awesomely beautiful track or song!...
One example of that very unfortunate result of extreme distortion in the vocals is on the Billie Eilish album "When we all fall asleep, Where do we go?"
I was thoroughly appalled by the audio quality in some of the songs on this album, and IF only it had been mastered better, with more attention to clarity, and watching the levels of extreme bass vs. the vocals, and NOT allowing all of the rather extreme digital clipping distortion to totally destroy her vocals in many spots, this album definitely COULD have been really awesome, because of her raw vocals and lyrics and unique music stylings, however, I personally just remember that album mainly as being one of the absolute WORST SOUND QUALITY albums I've EVER heard in my life, even though in every OTHER way, I really liked it! After hearing that album in it's entirety, I was just thinking to myself; "Damn, what a shame! If only it wasn't for that annoying extreme distortion in certain parts, this would be an absolutely awesome and amazing album!"
It almost even makes me think that Finneas and/or Billie decided to make it sound that way ON PURPOSE, JUST to be "extreme" or "different" from the norm... But I still haven't heard about or found any conclusive evidence to that point, one way or another... And I would certainly like to believe that an otherwise quite good artist like her (and especially her brother/producer/Finneas!), knows better than to let the recording get saturated in the way that album experiences, but I'm not sure about that either... I guess IF I ever get to meet her in person then I can and probably will ask her about all that, but otherwise I can just hope for better sound quality from her in any of her future albums she may come out with!
Love this comment. I have some other recordings that I feel the same way about. They were either recorded too hot, mixed too hot or mastered too hot. In any case, they sound painful to listen to.
Well explained.
Most of my recordings are outside a studio (like audio for my videos) and since I normally want to record accurately what's heard in real life as possible - background "noise" isn't a problem in most cases.
But the importance of the noise floor of the recording device it self (the last step) shouldn't be underestimated for such recordings
For highly dynamic sounds like fireworks, hammer strikes in a quiet environment or for example just a loud vehicle in a quiet environment where it start out close, then is recorded until it's so far away that the sound falls below the environment (where the gain is set low enough for the peaks to not clip while still getting all the quiet echoes and sounds from the environment without getting bothered by hiss from the AD-converter and/or analog circuitry of the recoding device it self), just the difference between a noise floor at for example -100 dB and -110 dB can be significant. Same applies for 16 bit vs 24 bit.
Also electrical noise has been quite a bit of a challange as many of my recordings are in environements, such as close to power lines (mostly railway power lines when filming trains), high magnetic fields and (what have given me most head ache) somewhere with a cell phone base station nearby.
Balanced inputs doesn't help very well against noise caused by pulsating microwaves from those either
- it do help against relatively low frequency electric and magnetic noise, such as that coming from power lines
- but for microwave problems (usually in the GHz range) the cable just act as the antenna and the part where it get modulated into unwanted audio, is in the microphone capsulea or audio circuitry it self (which act as a reciever).
For example the small FET transistor used in condenser mics tend to modulate pulsating microwave signals into an audio signal.
The only thing that helps angainst this, is heavy shielding of particularly the contacts and where the cables enter the microphone capsule/casing. Lucky for me, I have also built both my microphones my self (using Proimo EM273 capsules) and my preamp (I using the ADA4004-2 and a custom built DC/DC-converter to get dual voltage - so I can run it on just a 9 V battery) I finally managed to get rid of the problem using copper tape and aluminium foil in the right places.
Thise one is pretty much impossible to get rid of, if not building or modifying the recording gear your self and I have heard that characteristic noise many times on other peoples recordings and even on stuff they record on TV
Thanks for watching and sharing your perspective!
man i hope streamers and tubers find your video, as a consumer i have experience so much bad audio quality on mainly noticable on voices. your video sounds so much better as the majoirty of video's i watch
So it should, this guy is an expert! I always find it hilarious how people record their high end stereo systems on their phone and put them on UA-cam. Then it's even more hilarious when people comment how good they sound.
Hi Kyle. A good video about a meaningful issue on studio. I just note that maybe you should rethink the statement “While a cheap microphone can have a self-noise noise of around 17 dB-A or higher, a professional-quality microphone like the Neumann TLM 102 can have a self-noise of only 12 dB-A.” when some top Neumann expensive tube condenser mics have some higher self-noise levels (e.g. M49V Equivalent noise level, A-weighted, 21/20/19 dB-A; U67 21/17/20 dB-A (Omni/cardioid/8)), but their quality is notorious.
About mic positioning, what I learn by experience through the years is, if you deal with for example a kick, the wavelength in the air will easily reach 1 meter. So bringing your mic at the wider amplitude zone is very different than at a node. Therefore, it's not really by positioning a mic closer to the source that can reduce noise, but at the max amplitude of the wavelength of the source. Then you don't have to push the gain really high for a great input resulting in a low noise capture.
That same form of common mode protection is used in automotive communication circuits. Modules talk to each other on two wires, typically wound together, with opposite polarity. Interestingly they have a 120 ohm resistor at each end, so you can check circuit integrity with an ohmeter by showing the parallel resistance between lines is 60 ohms.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing!
The line termination resistors at each end of the bus prevent the signal from being reflected back when it reaches the end of the transmission line.
@@maxine_q Yes, with a similar goal of the classic impedance of a radio transmitter wire of infinite length. That topic is fascinating, relating to optimal impedance to prevent simple harmonic reflections at the radio wave level.
Audio University - the best place to learn professional audio on the internet!
I have the SM7DB with a Mogami platinum cable and a solid-state logic audio interface. The preamps on that audio interface are OK. I love the platinum mogami cable because it has literally no noise at all. Just got the cable today and I was so shocked when I listened to the recording and there was no hissing at all at least not from the cable.
The part of the article you didn’t read says:buy the microphone that fits your budget!!
Unless we’re talking harmonic distortion in for example a ribbon mic ; The electrical self noise (aka noise floor) produced by both condenser and dynamic mics will be no where near the volume level of the source material and the room noise combined.
If the self noise is louder you either have a lemon or you’re recording a lemon. And if you’re trying to capture room tone, don’t. what’s in the box will sound 10 times better and cost 11 times less than the room tone you’re going to record in.
If you gain the mic up to the source and you can see room tone in the waveform, the source is too quiet, probably get the mic closer . If you gain the mic up to the source and hear the noise floor, someone sold you a faulty mic, get your money back
Concise as always thanks!
Glad you liked it! Thank you for watching!
We have a pair of KH310's and we *love* every moment we work with them !
You mention "long" cables a few times and I assume signal degradation is worse with a weaker signal. So from a practical view, when is a cable considered "long" in a mic / line / speaker connection? 1, 3, 5 meters as a typical (home) studio situation? 10-50 or more meters on a stage? I understand this depends from many factors, so the answer can´t be super precise. But from a practical point of view and your experience?
XLR connections can be 100 meters without much degradation.
@@AudioUniversity OK, I´m safe then :). What´s the length at which you think about switching from unbalanced TS to balanced/XLR/TRS connection?
Great video as always. Like that you touched on dynamic range being one of the factors that determine the quality of a converter. Assessing the quality of different converters is very mysterious to me. I would love to see a video where you explain all the factors that go into what makes one converter better than another and how to read and interpret those specs, e.g. why is Lynx's conversion better than an Apollo's and an Apollo' better than a Scarlett's?
PS Everyone get off his back about the Neumann sponsorship! It's still super thorough, high quality, and reliable free information and he deserves to make a living from the benefit he is providing to so many people! No other channel I am aware of that has this high quality of information. Neumann is a great company and he wouldnt be saying that stuff about their mics and interface if it wasnt true
That's a world that is very mysterious to me, too! Great suggestion.
Also, thank you for saying this about sponsored Audio University content. I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with brands I believe in. And I ALWAYS do my best to deliver high-quality educational information that's helpful (with or without access to the sponsored gear). Thank you for seeing that and for supporting the channel.
To start with, you can't go by specs. There are no industry standards in place that all manufacturers have to use when measuring their gear. Each company measures their equipment however they see fit. Also, you can't tell how something sounds by looking at a spec sheet. Its impossible. If anyone tells you otherwise, offer to give them some specs on a component and see what they come up with.
As for the rest of it, this is a huge topic and you could write a book going over all the details. I can give you some basic info, but if you want all the details, you need to look into each area individually.
There are 3 main components in any dac. The digital section, the analog section and the power supply. Most people focus on the dac chip, but the bulk of your sound quality comes from the analog section and power supply. Design and parts quality are a huge factor. To really see what I'm talking about, do a search for some internal pics on an entry level dac like Focusrite, a mid level dac like Benchmark, and high end units like dCs. You don't need to be an electrical engineer to see where the money is going.
The single most important component in the digital portion of the dac is the master clock. You should look up the terms jitter and galvanic isolation.
Its also important to know the different types of balancing that are available. Most balancing is just point to point, but on higher end gear, quite often all the components in the signal path are doubled up so the extra signal on the 3rd pin doesn't have to be discarded and can stay balanced through the entire component.
There are other connection options than SP/DIF over coax and Toslink. For fiber optic connections, ATT ST type glass is a very good connection. I2S over din and hdmi are also better options.
This last bit will probably piss some people off. Its not just 1's and 0's. Digital connections are not really digital. You can't send 1's and 0's through a piece of copper wire. An analog representation of the digital signal is what's really traveling through your "digital" cable. That means the same things that can effect an analog signal in transmission can effect a "digital" signal. Care has to be taken when dealing with connection options.
I know its a bunch of random stuff, but like I said above, there's just way too much information to put in a youtube post. Hopefully this will give you some ideas. I Probably missed a few things, so it wouldn't surprise me if some of the other posters add to my list.
@AT-wl9yq Dude thanks so much! That is all actually super helpful and definitely gives me a better start and direction into what to look into! I actually had never thought even just about the fact that digital connections transmit analog signals even though as soon as I read that it seemed so obvious. Thanks so much for taking the time to write that and I will definitely look into those things!
Well, I think for this information about noise. I am saving this to listen again. I truly understand why using cables of a quality cost is important. Have a great day.
Thanks for watching! Wishing you a great day, too!
my room has a bit of reflection, I want to get closer to the mic but I already have a naturally boomy voice and the closer I get, proximity effect exaggerates that boomyness and it doesn't sound right scooping out alot of low mids. waves clarity dereverb is pretty great but are there any other more natural solutions?
Check out this video: 3 Ways To Reduce Echo & Reverb (Without Spending Any Money)
ua-cam.com/video/bBWP7z4nm78/v-deo.html
@@AudioUniversity thank you
I have my whole band recording setup in my basement and even with the furnace, the washer and dryer, and a dehumidifier I still dont have any issue with noise. Lucky I guess.
It has to do with microphone proximity and the level of the sources. The furnace is A LOT quieter than the music from the microphone’s perspective. Nice job!
Sorry to ask, but you said 3dB is a doubling of power. I learned that a 6dB increase is a doubling in power... Or did I misunderstand what you said?
6dB is a doubling of a non-power value, such as sound pressure level or voltage. Check out this video: ua-cam.com/video/xSe7y9tYex8/v-deo.htmlsi=U8-JUMQ2B9moAgN2
I was missing a description of dithering, as this can seriously affect the perceived noise .... ?
My advice to new audio engineers is to let the music’s dynamic range breathe and avoid participating in the Loudness War
Excellent thank you!
Thanks for watching!
i made my purchase of a dynamic mic because of that "myth" that it's better for noisy/echoey rooms, as well as being passive.
For cheap microphones that's always true and dynamic will tend to be much better. For expensive ones it is the model that matters.
The magic thing to remember in sound to get good quality recordings is phase.
you always be helping the most bro 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼
Glad to hear that! Thank you for watching!
Very informative! Thank you! Here’s a quandary I’ve been wondering lately, why do some boards have unbalanced ports? Shouldn’t everything be balanced? Is it just a cost thing? Is there any advantage to unbalanced besides saving a buck?
Useful when somebody comes in with a piece of domestic equipment that needs to be connected in a hurry. Historically it could have been something recorded on a Pro Walkman for example.
@@garethonthetube thank you! I didn’t realize some “domestic” stuff can’t accept balanced signals. Good to know.
Would a USB Condenser mic have the same noise level as an XLR?
That’s a good question, Pat! It depends. I expect the biggest difference would be in the microphone preamp. With a USB mic, the preamp is built-in. That creates some limitations of space and power supply. So I always lean toward XLR mics and wall-powered preamps when trying to get the best quality.
@@AudioUniversitythanks
@@AudioUniversityI'm not sure usb condenser mics have in built pre-amps mate?? At least they never used to
They have a preamp and an analog-to-digital converter. The problem is that usually for the price you get a decent mic and a bad interface, a bad mic and a decent interface, or both are bad. The two exceptions to this are Rode's new NT-USB (I think) and - astonishingly - the $40 Fifine k669.
Hey Kyle, technical info spot on as always. I do hope you're not going to become too wrapped up in the sponsorship thing though... it introduces suspicions of bias?
Thanks for watching, David. Sponsorships help fund more, better content. The techniques and concepts I teach in my videos are true and relevant no matter what gear I demonstrate it with, so no need to suspect bias.
great content!
you really had to use lo-fi hip hop with artificial vinyl noise added in for the background music in a video about minimizing the noise floor huh
Yet, in lo-fi hip hop these noise is desireable. At least tasteful amount of them
It's a whole different thing if you think about it. It's more like "controlled noise" as its the typically the top shelf sounding "noise" meant to invoke the nostalgic mystique of tape, records and old radio. However, it's crafted in a way so that the integrity of the samples or tracks aren't lost. It's like the differences between a pear of boyfriend jeans vs a pair of old, crappy jeans
Wow! I know you set up front that this video was sponsored by Neumann, but I didn't realize that the whole video was simply going to be an advertisement for their products.
Decent basic info wrapped in a Neumann ad. Pretty much if your gear is reasonable., even most budget stuff is really good lately, and you don't do something stupid with your gainstaging your gear really shouldn't be giving noise issues.
It really comes down to your room and like the video says close mic'ing certainly can help a lot with that. Most audio interfaces have very decent micpreamps and digital conversion, just be careful of small handheld recorders as many still have fairly lousy micpreamps that can introduce noise especially with dynamic mics when uses on quiet or distant sources.
Thanks for watching! I agree - great gear won't make up for lack of skill or attention to detail. But, it does help when paired with skill and attention to detail.
(full disclosure i am a guy on the internet)
Its interesting how we've seen a shift in advertising to be from so heavily sponsor focused, to an independant reviewers opinion and word of mouth, for better and worse. Now we think that any amount of money you have tied into something illegitimizes your opinion, which as we all know can be true, however inversely especially for more humble internet personalities (such as this channel), staking your income to a relevant source isn't actually a bad thing. We try to separate bias from advertising but in actuality i personally want a specific persons bias or opinion, that is whenever they aren't a paid actor who's reading a horribly out of touch script in a poor attempt for marketing. Essentially, i'm not against sponsorships or marketing, i'm dissinterested in lousy ones, and the top dogs in these fields like google for example are there not because they're quality, but rather because they've bent their way into profits (often shadily but even that being aside), the big dog isn't necessarily the skilled... Dog? And so of course everything influences us, which isn't necessarily bad it just can be weaponized, but unsure of the sponsor i certainly do appreciate the pitch, its relevant and presented in a good way in my opinion... I uhh... Don't normally don't say these things at all... And i think i'm rambling... But nevertheless those are my thoughts that are irrelevant 😛
...and it is NOT a myth that dynamic mics are better in noisy rooms than condenser ones. In mere practice it is so. If you go deep in scientifically, yes, then you can say it is not so straightforward. Otherwise, generally it is true.
Put a mic near a humming and buzzing guitar amp 🤔 I would have cranked up the guitar amp a bit instead.
But ofcorse make a listening test to compare are nice......😊
Check this one for a really quiet microphone: "GRAS 40HF 1'' Lownoise Microphone System"
Thanks for the tutorial 🎉🎉🎉 but please you Can make a tutorial on the mixing vocal in DaVinci résolve please 🎉🎉🎉
Davinci resolve is a video editing software, so its mixing tools are (probably, I use Premiere so I’m assuming) comparatively simple. Learn how to use a compressor and eq, and you will be set there. Or, if you’re mixing for a film and are more serious about a detailed soundscape, edit your film in Resolve and then mix in a DAW of your choice once you have achieved picture lock.
Great answer @idiotmcgee4870! Thank you.
@@idiotmcgee4870 i agree with you sir but on DaVinci résolve WE Can make small film édits, or a documentary now i asked if he could do a tutorial on mixing voices in DaVinci résolve for example how to use compressor, EQ fabfilter, delay etc. Thank you!
8:45 no, six
I don’t mind noise... but I hate when tracks are over compressed...
there is a difference btw reducti ad absurdi and myth. the dynamic=better for bad rooms thing is right except and yes in a million usecases there will be 3 where this is not true and two of them are rooted in the fact somebody wants to break out of usual. in 99%the cases the person mixing(is beginner) the person performing(also beginner) is the same person. a mic that fits without use of EQ will take one of the tasks from that person and from the cpu. if i take a joe and make him perform multiple dubs in a mic and then save and export the file, he will have way less problems with a dynamic. and yes, its more complicated but when one understands how much more complex it is, he no longer needs that crutch, while, tbh, most times i dont see any significant benefit from the condensor and the "easieness of mixing" makes the performinhg also more fun and i am more flowing and creating. it´s an provonking statement at best, a good meant starterhelp in my view but not a myth. youtubers buy condensors and then make "Not amping keyboard clicking" a qualityaspect. thats like using a flamethrower for lighting a cig and "not melting in the face" is now aspect of a good flamethrower. no ft is for burning and lighter is for precision to avoid burning. and not start about the aspect of holding a mic for the vocalist and the proximity effect. a dynamic mic is an instrument itself if used right and of course you can manipulate a condensir creativly like recording backings behind the mic to make em duller but really good lifevocalists still use only handheld dynamics. like you need a manual car for rallly. the act of shifting yourself makes you more precise in shifting.
Good video although I didn’t particularly connect with the Neumann sales pitch. I am betting that 90% of your viewers’ wallets won’t connect either. Just sayin’.
I'm glad you liked the video. Even if you (or others) don't currently have the budget for a Neumann mic, I believe it's still important to know about those types of brands. I encountered Neumann several times throughout my career BEFORE I ever owned one (gear that belonged to my school, commercial studios, and live sound companies).
Agreed. My school has a good selection of Neumann mics. Fortunately, my instructor is always touting underdog brands because he knows that most students can’t afford even one Neumann mic. No doubt Neumann makes great stuff but it’s out of touch for most of us. How about hooking up with Dave at Advanced Audio? His CM12 is an amazing mic at an amazing price. Thanks Kyle@@AudioUniversity
@@AudioUniversityyeah i feel you. neumann is key in the history of audio recording, and to this day what they do is very unique and essential to many studios. learning about it at the very least and understanding why this is is what i think is important though, not necessarily buying one which i think is where this guy is coming from
people should know there are better things out there than the Shure SM7B
Even though I don't have the budget, I am grateful for pointing out what puts the Neumann in higher class. Unaware, I've picked a mic with quite high self noise and only now I notice why in some scenarios it isn't perfect.
Little bit of a joke that you talk about room noise while using a tlm 2 which picks up every little sound in a 1 km radius😂
"This" destroyed all my things
You’re talking about reducing noise using a microphone that doesn’t even come with a shockmount.
You get the shock mount in the Studio Set.
My room sounds like a hall and i record with blankets 🫣
Are they Neumann blankets?
@@puls3illegalmusic 😂😂
By far the longest Neumann marketing commercial I've seen... Nothing to see here
Hopefully you learned something about noise, Fred. Thanks for watching.
That's why it includes says paid promotion
Looks like a Neumann advertisement..
I hope you learned something about noise along the way!
@@AudioUniversity - Well, obviously everyone's circumstances can be different, so I'm sure everyone learns something from someone at some point. Personally, in my case, I have a few older microphones that have a buzz that's impossible to cure because the mics are pretty old. So my only real recourse is to scoop out any buzzes with a narrow band EQ. I simply ensure the Q value is really narrow, so that no other frequencies around the problem frequencies are effected. There's only a few pieces of hardware and software I know of that can do it correctly though, meaning, non-destructive. As for software, I always use Pro-Q because it's the most surgical one I know of. Any others that can get just as surgical might be of help, so if you know of any, that might be appreciated. As for hardware, whole other ball of wax..
advert
What about active and passive DI boxes? Dont they clean the signal and reduce noise? And how about Noise gate pedals? dont they reduce noise as well? This just seems like a neuman ad.
DI boxes don’t clean the signal, they transform the impedance for connecting instruments and other sources to mic inputs. They also allow those signals to be sent over longer distances (using a balanced connection, as discussed in the video). Here’s a video to learn more about DI boxes: ua-cam.com/video/_xybjiuD9K0/v-deo.htmlsi=P_l9Y4BAlio9mksE
Noise gates just turn off the signal when it dips below a specified level. There are noise reduction technologies like iZotope RX and CEDAR, but it’s always best to minimize the amount of noise reduction processing needed by using the best practices in this video.
Thanks for watching!
And don't record soft acoustic guitar parts with the flu, unless you want labored breathing in your mix.
I only have 3 mics but get by just fine with them for my simple aduio needs 😊
You've become a salesman..
I used to enjoy your channel for the useful, unbiased information you provided.
It's too bad that you decided to go down the sponsorship rabbit hole and your channel has just become a rolling commercial☹️
Jon - I'm sorry to hear that you feel this way. I hope you still found the educational value in this video that you've come to expect.
Hey I love Neumans ❤,have the TLM 103 ,Kim’s 84 love my Neuma s ,love your channel ❤keep up the amazing work ❤
P.S. Neumanns are the easiest to record with
Wow
Thanks for watching!
Shalom Thank you this was so helpful ,Yah bless
Happy to help!
This is too much of an ad for Neumann, however good they may be.
I hope you learned something!
Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Cheers.
Zzzzzz. Neumann makes AD’d
Well Neumann ain’t even Neumann anymore. People buy cuz they heard the name. IMO all BS except for the new M49V Those TLM 102s and 103s are awful. The glory days of U47’s, M(50s, SM69s KM 53/5;4, 56s is long gone.