It's insane what they are doing here in Portugal with highways for trucks a=
nd transportation of goods to Europe from the port of Sines. We have a trai=
n line to Spain but the lines are not matched between the two countries, an=
d they have opted for another payed highway with trucks (TIR).
Ten kilometers away, the noise of the trucks are there in my recording=
s.
At the same time near the new highway there is a Roman Villa "S Cucufa=
te" where the romans made olive oil,bread and wine and the legions from Afr=
ica came to camp and rest! and they have no money to preserve the Vila and =
reconstruct it after centuryes of abandon from the state and vandalism from=
the polulation. A much better solution wold be transportation by train, an=
d even better: cancel the highway and reconstruct the Vila.
regards,
Jos=E9
--- In "Avocet" <> wrote:
>
> > How have others dealt with this frustration? How have you worked
> around it? Anybody have an airplane noise canceling microphone?!
> Should we be hoping the price of oil goes through the roof?
>
> John,
>
> When I was a Film Recordist, engine noise was the worst single
> problem. The Production team seemed to send out deaf folk
> to choose period locations. A favourite for Victorian dramas was Syon
> House which is beautiful with sweeping parkland and in the
> London area. Unfortunately it is also in line with one of the Heathrow
> runways and they alternated these on a two hourly basis. You could
> just cope with the other runway but not with an easterly wind and
> planes taking off over you once a minute.
>
> The problem is that engine noise is simply part of out environment and
> we can only minimise it, not eliminate it. Minimising noise was part
> of my job description, but it was never explained how this should be
> done so it was up to us to work that one out.
>
> Directional mics are important and also knowing where their side lobes
> are. That's why I use MKH-416's and 816's. M-S rigs give an excellent
> front stereo image, but are essentially omni so you need quiet
> locations for them. Cardioid mics have a very active pickup
> vertically, so don't help with overhead noise or ground reflections.
> All types of mic will often benefit by being used low, especially if a
> bank or rise blocks off a source off engine noise as from a road. Look
> for any feature which could blank off a noise source and listen as you
> move the mics around.
>
> This won't help with overhead aircraft, but they will be too loud
> anyway, but putting a hill between you and a distant flight lane can
> help. While you are listening for noise sources, don't forget surfaces
> which can produce echoes, like buldings.
>
> However, the main method is simply to wait for quiet periods, or
> record long and select later. It's a matter of living on your wits and
> being inventive. By experienc you can judge what noises can be reduced
> by filtering or masked by wind or other natural noises.
>
> Filtering:
>
> I use a bass roll-off on my SQN mixer as standard, but I have an
> "antidote" equalisation if I want to put the full bass back in. This
> avoids LF modulation and "blocking off" on the original recording.
>
> With much birdsong, you don't really need the bass background noises
> and I use a gently curved high pass filter at 6dB per octave. It
> starts rolling off at 800 Hz, but is inaudible at 400 Hz, and
> increasingly sloping below that.
>
> As a warning about filter curves, any change in slope greater than 6dB
> per octave will cause ringing at the turnover frequency which can
> produce messy artefacts. A sharp kink produces ringing at about the
> turnover frequency, but with a gentle curve, even a steep filter will
> produce less audible artifacts. In any case, a steep bass cutoff
> filter will make a recording sound very thin and nasty. Much better is
> to use a smooth filter more than once.
>
> I've got Audacity scripts for EQ curves on:
> http://www.stowford.org/sounds/eqcurvesadd.txt
>
> There is a graim mill about a mile away from here which produces a
> single frequency whine around 770Hz which the wind sometimes blows in.
> I've got a fine exactly tuned notch filter which reduces this by about
> 6dB without affecting the wildlife sounds.
>
> I also sometimes use the Audacity noise reduction routine on HF noise
> from the quietist parts of a recording. All noise reduction produces
> artifacts, but if you keep to high frequencies only, these are
> inaudible. Again I check that this is not affecting the wanted sounds,
> but a 6dB reduction in HF white noise makes the recording more
> pleasant. Any equalisation reducing the higher frequencies usually
> sounds bad, especially with birds going up to the limit of hearing.
>
> David
>
> David Brinicombe
> North Devon, UK
> Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum - Ambrose Bierce
>
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