[B11]

This groups has a wealth of knowledge and I am fortunate to have found
this group to get help for many of my questions.

I use digital sounds (such as sound samples/fonts/files) in my music
projects, such as piano, bass, sitar, etc. I use goldwave to add some
effects like reverb, etc. But still, I feel the final results are not
like the "real" studio-recorded sounds.

So, I am wondering if I can play the sounds in a speaker, record with
a condenser mic and use the recorded audio file. Would this be more
"realistic"?

I presume many may have tried this, so any inputs will be helpful and
appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

--B11

[Scott Dorsey]

B11 wrote:
This groups has a wealth of knowledge and I am fortunate to have found
this group to get help for many of my questions.

I use digital sounds (such as sound samples/fonts/files) in my music
projects, such as piano, bass, sitar, etc. I use goldwave to add some
effects like reverb, etc. But still, I feel the final results are not
like the "real" studio-recorded sounds.

So, I am wondering if I can play the sounds in a speaker, record with
a condenser mic and use the recorded audio file. Would this be more
"realistic"?

It will sound different, and it will have the sound of the room and very
realistic reverb.

The problem is that a piano, for instance, produces a lot of different
sounds that come from different directions. Get under the piano and listen,
then listen on either side, and it sounds different in all the places. The
room blends all those sounds together.

If you put a speaker in the room, the speaker won't have the same radiation
pattern as the piano, and that kills much of the benefit of ambient miking.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Arny Krueger]

"B11" wrote in message


I use digital sounds (such as sound samples/fonts/files)
in my music projects, such as piano, bass, sitar, etc. I
use goldwave to add some effects like reverb, etc. But
still, I feel the final results are not like the "real"
studio-recorded sounds.

They aren't even close, unless you somehow include the effects of the
studio's acoustics to your recording.

As close as you are coming to that would be the reverb you add with
Goldwave. AFAIK, Goldwave is nothing like a SOTA tool for adding acoustical
effects. SOTA tools convolve the impulse response of the desired acoustic
with the music. Does Goldwave do that? Do you have a library of implulse
responses for rooms with the acoustical properties of the rooms you want to
simulate?

So, I am wondering if I can play the sounds in a speaker,
record with a condenser mic and use the recorded audio
file. Would this be more "realistic"?

It could be, if you do it the right way in the right room. But I suspect you
don't have the right room at your disposal.

I presume many may have tried this, so any inputs will be
helpful and appreciated.

If you google on convolve impulse response room you will find a list of
references. One of the best is at an apparently now-defunct web site named
impulseresponse.com . Ask for the google archived copy.

Also check out:

freeverb3.sourceforge.net

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convolution_reverb

and generally google around.

Also consider what Scott said about the fact that musical instruments and
performers do not radiate the same sound in all directions, but have
directional effects just like a speaker. Total realism is therefore highly
impractical, but it can probably be approximated better than what you are
doing now.

[Tobiah[_3_]]

So, I am wondering if I can play the sounds in a speaker, record with
a condenser mic and use the recorded audio file. Would this be more
"realistic"?

Somewhere in the early 80's, I had a four track cassette recorder,
and bought the Roland TR606 dubbed 'Drumatix'. I wanted to pipe
it right into the cassette recorder (The killer Yamaha portable
at the time) but despite all adjustments, the cymbals and Hi Hat
sounded distorted and unnatural. I found that I could play the
drum machine through my electric guitar amp, and mic that. The
difference was palpable. Part of this may have been due to the
probable attenuation of the high end, but some of it had to do
with allowing the sound to exist in the air and the room, plus
whatever the $20 radio shack omni did to it.

Try it out. It may not sound better, but it might sound a little
more 'real'.

Tobiah


--
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[Laurence Payne[_2_]]

On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:52:14 -0700, Tobiah wrote:

Somewhere in the early 80's, I had a four track cassette recorder,
and bought the Roland TR606 dubbed 'Drumatix'. I wanted to pipe
it right into the cassette recorder (The killer Yamaha portable
at the time) but despite all adjustments, the cymbals and Hi Hat
sounded distorted and unnatural. I found that I could play the
drum machine through my electric guitar amp, and mic that. The
difference was palpable. Part of this may have been due to the
probable attenuation of the high end, but some of it had to do
with allowing the sound to exist in the air and the room, plus
whatever the $20 radio shack omni did to it.

Try it out. It may not sound better, but it might sound a little
more 'real'.

Yeah. Unless you have a really good source, it can be better to
record it badly :-)

[Mike Rivers]

On Mar 26, 10:52 pm, Tobiah wrote:

Somewhere in the early 80's, I had a four track cassette recorder,
and bought the Roland TR606 dubbed 'Drumatix'. I wanted to pipe
it right into the cassette recorder (The killer Yamaha portable
at the time) but despite all adjustments, the cymbals and Hi Hat
sounded distorted and unnatural.

I don't know where the TR606 stands in today's music, but ten years
ago people were killing (and paying killer prices) for that spitty,
distorted sound. Today you can get it as a VST plug-in.

Playing it through your guitar amplifier took off the top end where
most of the distortion products lie. Good use of your ears and
equipment at hand. People should do more of that.

[Laurence Payne[_2_]]

On Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:36:32 -0700 (PDT), Mike Rivers
wrote:

I don't know where the TR606 stands in today's music, but ten years
ago people were killing (and paying killer prices) for that spitty,
distorted sound. Today you can get it as a VST plug-in.

And I was SO happy when I traded mine in for a Yamaha box that
actually sounded a bit like drums :-)

[Mike Rivers]

On Mar 27, 7:41 am, Laurence Payne wrote:

And I was SO happy when I traded mine in for a Yamaha box that
actually sounded a bit like drums :-)

Drums that sound like drums are just so booorrrrrring, so fifties.