How can i get rid of "room" noise coming from the mic?

[astrozombie]

Ive been using a shure sm57 for recording guitars, but i hate that weird frequency that sounds in the background, its... the sound of nothing! :laugh2:

how can i get rid of it?

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: How can i get rid of "room" noise coming from the mic?

PM J Moose or one of the other studio guys
They are plenty knowledgeable on this thing!

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: How can i get rid of "room" noise coming from the mic?

Record nothing at all and look at a spectral analyzer (sounds more technical than it is, these are built in to a lot of software) to see what frequencies are present.

You can attenuate these frequencies with an equalizer.

Try removing air vent heads to reduce the velocity of air moving in the room.

Turn off anything with a silicon controlled rectifier (a dimmer :laughing or anything electronic. GSM cell phones are a culprit here too. Even with balanced audio transmission, you'll get noise induced in your cable between your guitar and amp.

Cross cables at right angles.

 

[J Moose]

Re: How can i get rid of "room" noise coming from the mic?

Noise?

There's about 1500 different types of noise...

Preamp hiss, room rumble, RFI, EFI... ground... HF splatter from an AC power supply filter that's failing...

Can you post a high-res example like a 320kbps MP3 or, better yet a wav file?

Otherwise it's a shot in the dark...

 

[astrozombie]

Re: How can i get rid of "room" noise coming from the mic?

the light in this room is controlled by a dimmer.

thats creating noise?

 

[astrozombie]

Re: How can i get rid of "room" noise coming from the mic?

http://media.putfile.com/Noises-85

 

[astrozombie]

Re: How can i get rid of "room" noise coming from the mic?

Could it be the cable? i only have one available to me right now, its kind of...old looking.

 

[Mike M.]

Re: How can i get rid of "room" noise coming from the mic?

I put my 1X12 cabinet in a box along with a mic pointing at the speaker, put some padding in there as well, close the box up......no "room noise" what so ever.

It's about as lame of a setup as you can get but the end result is pretty good.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: How can i get rid of "room" noise coming from the mic?

Record nothing at all and look at a spectral analyzer (sounds more technical than it is, these are built in to a lot of software) to see what frequencies are present.

You can attenuate these frequencies with an equalizer.

Try removing air vent heads to reduce the velocity of air moving in the room.

Turn off anything with a silicon controlled rectifier (a dimmer :laughing or anything electronic. GSM cell phones are a culprit here too. Even with balanced audio transmission, you'll get noise induced in your cable between your guitar and amp.

Cross cables at right angles.

Wouldnt lowering those frecuencies also (im going by logic here) affect the guitar being recorded?

 

[astrozombie]

Re: How can i get rid of "room" noise coming from the mic?

I put my 1X12 cabinet in a box along with a mic pointing at the speaker, put some padding in there as well, close the box up......no "room noise" what so ever.

It's about as lame of a setup as you can get but the end result is pretty good.

thats a good idea, DIY iso.

 

[J Moose]

Re: How can i get rid of "room" noise coming from the mic?

http://media.putfile.com/Noises-85

That's the noise?

Wow.

Only got a sec. here while doing email...

That's broadband... not a bad cable.

Dodgy cables can add some...

Dimmers create line noise as well... coming in the AC side and generating 'hash' that can show up in lots of places...

Not so much the case here.

That's mostly "electronic" noise... guess you have the gain on the micamp turned waaaaaaaaaay up?

SM57, or any dynamic mic really isn't the best thing for recording acoustic guitar & vocals in even a quiet room, let alone the average house...

What's the 57 plugged into and how?

 

[Mike M.]

Re: How can i get rid of "room" noise coming from the mic?

thats a good idea, DIY iso.

Again, if you saw what I use you'd laugh. My 1X12 is roughly the same size as a Peavey Classic 30. I've got the cabinet inside a big, heavy duty cardboard box (yes, carboard), got some carpet remnants along the insides, threw an old pillow in there to boot and got it sitting at the end of the hallway in my house! (I live alone so it doesn't bother me). It's not totally soundproof (how could it be when hooked up to a DSL 50?) but even at 3:00 in the morning my neighbors on either side of me said they've never heard a thing.

So what if it's not a "pro" way of doing things? It works for me and for my needs I've learned to get a good sound from it.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: How can i get rid of "room" noise coming from the mic?

That's the noise?

Wow.

Only got a sec. here while doing email...

That's broadband... not a bad cable.

Dodgy cables can add some...

Dimmers create line noise as well... coming in the AC side and generating 'hash' that can show up in lots of places...

Not so much the case here.

That's mostly "electronic" noise... guess you have the gain on the micamp turned waaaaaaaaaay up?

SM57, or any dynamic mic really isn't the best thing for recording acoustic guitar & vocals in even a quiet room, let alone the average house...

What's the 57 plugged into and how?

its plugged into a line6 guitar port.

its the first time its happened, i remembered earlier that i had accidentally tappped the mic agaisnt a desk, thats when THAT noise started, the other noise i was saying isnt even on the recording (go figure).

thanks for taking the time to help.

i had a bad cable, a dimmer and a phone nearby :biglaugh: :laugh2:

i guess it all adds up... but i recorded with another mic earlier and no noise whatsoever, i guess its the sm57. any idea what might be wrong?

i didnt try a newer cable though..

 

[J Moose]

Re: How can i get rid of "room" noise coming from the mic?

I don't know what the Guitar Ports about... is it an XLR "mic level" input?

Dimmers tend to throw out noise that single coil pickups love... But if your recording gear is on the same circuit as the lighting then anything lower then "full on" will generate the hash... a light sizzle that changes pitch depending on where the dimmer is at.

Computers can throw noise back into recording... Firewire is esp. prone to that if the interface is buss powered. More hash... sizzle & buzz with pops.

I also maintain a hardcore rule of "no cell phones" near recording gear while tracking. Gotta be AT LEAST 10-15 feet away... Cingular/AT&T seems to be the worst, it's about frequency & bandwith... but that's a really obvious noise and sparse... not consistent.

It IS possible to break a 57... but when that happens usually the bottom end drops out and it sounds thin & scratchy, or you get nothing at all.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: How can i get rid of "room" noise coming from the mic?

I don't know what the Guitar Ports about... is it an XLR "mic level" input?

Dimmers tend to throw out noise that single coil pickups love... But if your recording gear is on the same circuit as the lighting then anything lower then "full on" will generate the hash... a light sizzle that changes pitch depending on where the dimmer is at.

Computers can throw noise back into recording... Firewire is esp. prone to that if the interface is buss powered. More hash... sizzle & buzz with pops.

I also maintain a hardcore rule of "no cell phones" near recording gear while tracking. Gotta be AT LEAST 10-15 feet away... Cingular/AT&T seems to be the worst, it's about frequency & bandwith... but that's a really obvious noise and sparse... not consistent.

It IS possible to break a 57... but when that happens usually the bottom end drops out and it sounds thin & scratchy, or you get nothing at all.

What would you say that noise going on in the recording while I talked/sang is then?