In a professionally isolated very quite recording studio...

[Rudolf von Hagenwil]

How high is the noise floor recorded in the interspace between singing in your studio?

 

The singer's lips are at a distance of circa 10 inch to the microphone. I used a Neumann U-87 into an Avalon M5 microphone pre-amp at minimal gain of +22 dB. The singer is in a isolation booth. When the isolation booth is empty, the recorded noise floor is circa -72 dB peak. I suspect that in this studio the recording chain is producing a too high noise floor.

 

The measured noise on the recorded tracks, the selected interspace between two lyrics see picture below, is is at -36.5 dB max. peak:

 

 

 

The mic pre-amp I used. No filter, no pad, just the Microphone knob at -22:

 

[Dean Roddey]

-72dB is pretty good I think. I mean count your blessings. It's more like -35'ish in my apartment. I cut all of the 'silence' out by hand to get rid of it. But still, I won't be doing any Bohemian Rhapsody type vocal layering since it would be so enormously noisy even during the singing that it would be a mess. I try to record fairly hot and close mic'd, so the volume can be reduced after tracking and the noise pushed further down while keeping as many good bits as possible.

[BlueStrat]

Could you rephrase that in English for us dummies?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kurdy]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is considered to be a reasonable db level for the noise floor? Is there a "standard"?

 

For all practical purposes, I think as long as it isn't audible enough as to be a distraction, it should be OK. As DR says, you can always edit the silent parts out.

[UstadKhanAli]

 

Forgive my ignorance, but what is considered to be a reasonable db level for the noise floor? Is there a "standard"? For all practical purposes, I think as long as it isn't audible enough as to be a distraction, it should be OK. As DR says, you can always edit the silent parts out.

 

 

I think you're right.

 

I record in a house, so it's really not all that quiet. Better than an apartment, most likely, but rumbling trucks, lawnmowers, an airport a couple of miles away, etc. don't make for a super quiet studio. If I'm doing rock, it doesn't matter much. Quiet acoustic folk? Yeah, it matters.

[Dean Roddey]

BTW, I wish I hadn't seen a picture of that M5. I'd never seen one before. That's yet another a sexy piece of equipment that I can't afford.

[philbo]

Try doing a spectral analysis on the noise.

 

If it is hiss (broad spectrum, such as pink, white or brown noise) or hum (peaks at multiples of your power line frequency (50 Hz probably), it is very likely the origin of the noise is electronic.

 

Another test you can do: plug a shorting plug into the input of your audio interface and record the level. Then repeat, adding the preamp, then the mic cord, then the mic without phantom power turned on. This should give you a clue where the major source of noise is.

[MrKnobs]

If it is hiss (broad spectrum, such as pink, white or brown noise) or hum (peaks at multiples of your power line frequency (50 Hz probably), it is very likely the origin of the noise is electronic.

 

Or just listen to it.

 

Terry D.

[Phil O'Keefe]

A reasonably quiet studio is probably going to be in the 20 - 30 dB SPL range. Most of the time, electronic noise and fidgety musicians are going to be a be a greater concern than background noise levels in the room... at least in my studio. But I have a concrete outer shell and mega-interior walls at my place, and YMMV.

[Jedanor]

This is debatable but an "acceptable" design level of background noise in a studio environment is an NC rating ranging between NC-15 and NC-20 (NC-25 max for close mic applications). NC stands for Noise Criterion and the rating is based upon a set of frequency weighted curves which "rate" the noise. The lower NC curves prescribe a quieter noise environment. For reference, sanctuaries typically are designed to an NC-25 - NC-35 spec, general offices up to NC-40, lobbies to NC-45, etc. To relate to a previous post, a general rule of thumb is that the difference between the average A-weighted sound level in a space and the NC rating is approximately 5. That is, if one were to measure a 30 dBA overall level in a space a good "guesstimate" of the NC rating would be NC-25. This does not always hold true but can give you an idea of the background noise if you only have access to a rudimentary sound level meter that does not offer filters to segregate the noise into octave frequency bands.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Jed

[philbo]

Or just listen to it. Terry D.

 

Yeah, that'd work... but it wouldn't be as techo-geek cool, would it?

[blue2blue]

I think you're right. I record in a house, so it's really not all that quiet. Better than an apartment, most likely, but rumbling trucks, lawnmowers, an airport a couple of miles away, etc. don't make for a super quiet studio. If I'm doing rock, it doesn't matter much. Quiet acoustic folk? Yeah, it matters.

 

I never let that stop me for my acoustic podcast/blog. And, heck, I even put one tune up on my soundclick page that (aside from some egregious timing problems ) has the sound of the wind off the beach coming in through a crack in my window and clattering my (thoroughly annoying) vertical blinds.

 

That said, I'd be hugely embarrassed to hand that to a client...