How does this sound?

[Kathy Smith]

This is what I would consider my good or best audio recording. Can someone tell me if there is anything wrong with this. For example, does it seem flat, muffled, not clean, noise? I want to get the best audio recording I can but my ear is not trained to hear as well as others so I would appreciate any help. This audio is raw straight from my camera.

Thanks

[Bruce Watson]

Originally Posted by Kathy Smith

This is what I would consider my good or best audio recording. Can someone tell me if there is anything wrong with this. For example, does it seem flat, muffled, not clean, noise?

Sounds like the mic is too far away from the speaker. There's a lot of low frequency roll off, which may be intentional, IDK. But there's a fair amount of high frequency roll off too, which effects the speaker's sibilants and makes it somewhat more difficult to discriminate (understand the words). OTOH, not much in the way of quick reflections, suggesting a fairly large room. Levels are fairly low which also may be intentional, or may just be lost in translation in all the squeezing and moving that has to be done to move the audio over the 'net.

Not a bad first effort, but you can do better. And you will. The more you do, the better you get. I wish my first efforts had been as good.

Wait until you get more opinions before you tell us anything about how you did it. See if any of us guess correctly.

[Allan Black]

From that sample it sounds Ok Kathy, a tad sibilant (ssss) but that sounds like your talent. When you become much more experienced, with the same voice try repositioning your COS-11D lav.

With your current experience you should leave it, but for practise, you could try notching it down with equalisation, narrow band at about 5Kh. but very slightly.

Be careful you don't get caught in the syndrome of trying to 'improve' audio, that's already satisfactory for your video.

Cheers.

[Kathy Smith]

Thank you both.
Question. So it seems like you both think the mic wasn't placed in the right spot. It was right on the second button of his shirt. Is that too low?
What does it mean "high frequency roll off" Roll off, specifically? The room was fairly large. It was recorded too low? Well it was peaking sometimes so I didn't want to record it any hotter. I was told it's better to record lower than clip it. Looking at the levels on the camera it seemed right to me, how else should i be judging audio levels?

[Brian P. Reynolds]

What brand of mic was it...... cheapy or a better quality mic?

[Kathy Smith]

Originally Posted by Brian P. Reynolds

What brand of mic was it...... cheapy or a better quality mic?

Sanken COS-11D. I think it is regarded as a better quality mic.

[Kathy Smith]

I am trying to figure out what else could be causing my low quality audio recordings. I am recording directly to Canon C100. I just checked audio input settings and I don't have anything anything turned on such as Mic Att. or Limiter or Mic trimming. Is there anything else I could possibly have turned on on the camera that would cause the audio to sound like that?
For comparison's sake you can hear Matt Davis' recording to the same camera, using the same mic. Third recording down
https://soundcloud.com/mdmatv

Thanks

[Rick Reineke]

The levels in the 'Jon.wav ' clip are OK, but it certainly does sound muffled, noisy and distant. Without actually seeing the setup it's difficult to say with the problem is. I'm not familiar with the Canon C100, but generally, digital cine cameras have very poor audio quality. Even the REDs suck, despite their 48k/24bit capability.
I would test using a high quality external preamp/ recorder to start.

[Kathy Smith]

Originally Posted by Rick Reineke

The levels in the 'Jon.wav ' clip are OK, but it certainly does sound muffled, noisy and distant. Without actually seeing the setup it's difficult to say with the problem is. I'm not familiar with the Canon C100, but generally, digital cine cameras have very poor audio quality. Even the REDs suck, despite their 48k/24bit capability.
I would test using a high quality external preamp/ recorder to start.

Rick,
Did you listen to Matt's recording I posted? How does that sound to you?

[Kathy Smith]

Could it be my wireless receiver? I've noticed that there is audio output gain control on a side. Could it be causing the audio to sound distant?

[Rick Reineke]

The Soundcloud clip sounds.. 'OK'. Assuming I'm listening to the right one; "One hen, one C100 - Sanken COS-11 into C100 and PIX220" .. BTW, the PIX220 is a Sound Devices product with (naturally) premium audio components so I suspect that audio was not recorded on the C100.

A wireless receiver would not normally make something 'sound distant' per se, but a wireless system COULD affect the quality. (audio frequency bandwidth, ect). As could an improperly wired mic, for a specific transmitter.
BTW, what wireless system are you using?

[Kathy Smith]

Originally Posted by Rick Reineke

The Soundcloud clip sounds.. 'OK'. Assuming I'm listening to the right one; "One hen, one C100 - Sanken COS-11 into C100 and PIX220" .. BTW, the PIX220 is a Sound Devices product with (naturally) premium audio components so I suspect that audio was not recorded on the C100.

A wireless receiver would not normally make something 'sound distant' per se, but a wireless system COULD affect the quality. (audio frequency bandwidth, ect). As could an improperly wired mic, for a specific transmitter.
BTW, what wireless system are you using?

I am using Shure SLX series.

[Rick Reineke]

I would try recording to a known good sounding recorder. If that exhibits the same sound characteristics, the mic, mic placement and/or wireless, wireless interface is the issue.
I have no hands-on experience with the Shure SLX series.. it's not top-shelf, but assume it should work OK. A few years ago I worked with a client's Shure PGX wireless, that sucked big time.\

As I previously stated, confirm the TA4 connector is wired correctly for the COS-11/ Shure combo.
Wiring schematics for the mic/transmitter are here. (assuming your using the SLX-1 bodypack transmitter)
SANKEN MICROPHONE CO .,LTD. | Q & A [ For SHURE ]

[Kathy Smith]

Originally Posted by Rick Reineke

I would try recording to a known good sounding recorder. If that exhibits the same sound characteristics, the mic, mic placement and/or wireless, wireless interface is the issue.
I have no hands-on experience with the Shure SLX series.. it's not top-shelf, but assume it should work OK. A few years ago I worked with a client's Shure PGX wireless, that sucked big time.\

As I previously stated, confirm the TA4 connector is wired correctly for the COS-11/ Shure combo.
Wiring schematics for the mic/transmitter are here. (assuming your using the SLX-1 bodypack transmitter)
SANKEN MICROPHONE CO .,LTD. | Q & A [ For SHURE ]

I bought the mic already wired for Shure SLX. I didn't wire it myself.
I just ran a bunch of tests and I am going to evaluate them soon. I did test my mic with my wireless setup to an external recorder (but I don't have a good one, I just have a little Zoom H2N). I will report back when I listen to my test recordings.

[Jon Fairhurst]

The Shure SLX is the weak link in the chain. I have an SLX kit here at work. It's so-so for live applications and inadequate for video applications, IMO.

It's been some time since I've used it. As I recall, the noise was high and it has a very poor high frequency response.

I also have the COS-11D mic, which sounds excellent. I've never put it through the SLX though.