Good enough for the movies?

[MC Blind]

I made a recording yesterday outside and I'm wondering if any of you professionals could listen to it and tell me if you think the quality of the recording is good enough for the movies or "professional" quality level.

[mgoorevich]

Too me it sounds pretty good.
I think regarding atmos it's not the question if it's good enough but the question where and how you use it. It's all the "noises" in the end.
Since it's a mono recording it usualy will/may be paired with some stereo or surround atmoses. May be there is some hiss and at the same time some lack of high frequency. But again, thats okay when you use it together with other BG.
However this track may be the one you want to use in certain situation.
Was it recorded with MKH416 or 60?
I often prefer atmos recorded with good omni's mics, though MS may sound very well too.
I always take my Sony PCM-D1 in mybackpack with me whereever I go.
And when I hear it in the studio and compare the quality or recordins made with my DPA Omni's or MKH8020 pair or some MS (MKH 30/60) I did...well it's difficult to compare.
But I often found myself using PCM-D1 recording in the sessions demanding this specific sounds.
So for me it's not only the question of quality but more about the traget it should achieve.

[MC Blind]

Hi mgoorevich, thanks for commenting. You have good ears! I used a very quite pre amp though, I don't really hear any hiss but I do hear background ambience. Of course because of the laws of physics I'm sure there is some noise but I find it indistinguishable from the background noise and ambience. Of course if you look at it on a spectrum analyzer you will see "noise" which is indistinguishable from "background ambience."

You are right, it is all about context in a video or film production. Thanks again for checking it out and commenting.

[MC Blind]

Ok, so I listened to the clip that I posted on my NHT monitors and now I do hear the noise that you mentioned mgoorevich. For some reason on my HD 280 headphones it didn't stand out really. Like I said, you indeed do have great ears! You where also right about the mic, this recording was made with a Sennheiser MKH 416 P48.

I addressed the noise issue using the Denoise plug in, in Wavelab 6, I also used the IK Linear Phase EQ to cut lows and boost just a little specific area in the mids and the overall highs slightly. I basically adjusted it until it sounded, "real."

I would like to offer up any part of this sound clip to anyone who wants to use it. I have it up for you as a full quality 24 bit, 48 KHz wave file. All that I ask is if you do use it to give me credit for the clip and let me know where it was used.

Thanks and have a great day everyone!

Outdoors Birds Truck Coming 24 48 Wavelab 6 Denoise IK Linear Phase EQ Ozone DC Offset Apogee UV22 HR Dither.wav

[bizzle]

Its certainly a useable sound, I would suggest a couple things however:

In general it is preferable to have exterior background SFX recorded in stereo. Second, you should try and familiarize yourself with the keywords and descriptions in various sound effect libraries. There are some very loose conventions such as "Truck By", "Exterior Day Residential", "Distant Cows", "Through Puddle", etc. that will make it much easier to search for a particular sound effect. I suggest names and descriptions that begin with the general and end with the specific, if you catch my drift. Bonus points for backgrounds that don't have occasional close up specific type sounds. For example, in your recording there is a car/truck by through a puddle, but its a daytime bird ambience, if I were to use this sound effect, I likely would have to edit out the puddle splash sound. (Even if the scene I am cutting happens to have a puddle splash in it, because we usually want separate mixing control over the background vs. the foreground.) Imagine a client sitting behind you and they say, "I love the background, but can you lower the splash sound 90% ?" On a mixing stage I would not want these sounds combined. Anyway, keep recording!!



&e

[MC Blind]

Thanks for listening and the advice Andy.