As we live in an ultra quiet rural area and have a poor sounding rehersal
room, i'd like to know if anyone has tried recording vocals outdoors, or in
a big tent, etc?
I assume there'd be no verb, ambience, etc captured?

Cheers,
Enda

Enda Hayden wrote:
As we live in an ultra quiet rural area and have a poor sounding rehersal
room, i'd like to know if anyone has tried recording vocals outdoors, or in
a big tent, etc?
I assume there'd be no verb, ambience, etc captured?

Outside in a field it's very dry, with no ambience to speak of. This can
be useful, but you will absolutely have to add some fake reverb even to
make it sound like a realistic dry vocal.

In a big tent it is VERY live, and it's a very bad ambience too with lots
of slapback. A big canvas tent is about the worst possible acoustic I
can think of, and a very popular one for festivals.
--scott

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

I've done such recording extensively. TREES! They are so loud!
But they never blended into the tape hiss we used to have. Now
they really stand out. TENTS! They flap like birds. BIRDS!

Was it Laurel or Hardy that used to say, "HORNS! Horns!."

I've also captured small planes and a motor boat without
knowing it till later. And RAIN! ...... Shocking!

I say record environments where they naturally occur.
Most musicians live indoors.

But have fun whatever you do.

Ken in Dallas

Enda Hayden wrote:
As we live in an ultra quiet rural area and have a poor sounding rehersal
room, i'd like to know if anyone has tried recording vocals outdoors, or in
a big tent, etc?

You may not realize just how much ambient noise there is in an ultra
quiet rural area. Set a mic outside and record for about an hour, then
play back the reocrding ot see what you're really dealing with.
Remember that there will probalby be some wind noise.

Tents are bad places for sound.

On Wed, 23 Nov 2005 22:06:29 -0500, Enda Hayden wrote
(in article ):

As we live in an ultra quiet rural area and have a poor sounding rehersal
room, i'd like to know if anyone has tried recording vocals outdoors, or in
a big tent, etc?
I assume there'd be no verb, ambience, etc captured?

Cheers,
Enda



Are you in Antarctica?

I don't think there is an outdoor noiseless area of the US.

Ty Ford



-- Ty Ford's equipment reviews, audio samples, rates and other audiocentric
stuff are at www.tyford.com

"Ty Ford" wrote ...
Are you in Antarctica?

I don't think there is an outdoor noiseless area of the US.

Even if you could find a location 100 miles from any
human-created noise, there is still the random air-
movement "rumble" to deal with. Not worth it IMHO.

"Enda Hayden" wrote in
message

As we live in an ultra quiet rural area and have a poor
sounding rehersal room, i'd like to know if anyone has
tried recording vocals outdoors, or in a big tent, etc?

I've never recorded outside, but I've done some SR work
outside.

If you're working out on the lawn, think big anechoic
chamber.

Worry about wind noise.

I assume there'd be no verb, ambience, etc captured?

Agreed. You can use the exteriors of buildings to add some
near reflections.

Seems like a good opportunity to use classic 1950s-1960s
high end vocal micing techniques - LD mics without pop
filters positioned several feet from the vocalist.

Scott Dorsey wrote:

Enda Hayden wrote:

As we live in an ultra quiet rural area and have a poor sounding rehersal
room, i'd like to know if anyone has tried recording vocals outdoors, or in
a big tent, etc?
I assume there'd be no verb, ambience, etc captured?

Outside in a field it's very dry, with no ambience to speak of. This can
be useful, but you will absolutely have to add some fake reverb even to
make it sound like a realistic dry vocal.

In a big tent it is VERY live, and it's a very bad ambience too with lots
of slapback. A big canvas tent is about the worst possible acoustic I
can think of, and a very popular one for festivals.

It's amazing how even a crafts fair shade canopy can screw up the sound.
Back in August at the litle festival I produced I covered the stage with
military surplus camo shade netting. That made all the photos look
funny, but it provided some cover and didn't mess up the sound.

--
ha

Mike Rivers wrote:

Enda Hayden wrote:
As we live in an ultra quiet rural area and have a poor sounding rehersal
room, i'd like to know if anyone has tried recording vocals outdoors, or in
a big tent, etc?

You may not realize just how much ambient noise there is in an ultra
quiet rural area. Set a mic outside and record for about an hour, then
play back the reocrding ot see what you're really dealing with.
Remember that there will probalby be some wind noise.

Just a little air motion outdoors puts a lot of racket into the mics.
And yes, even in rural areas there are noises one often overlooks until
hearing them in playback.

That's not always bad. Once I was recording a cowboy singer and during
the fade out after one of his songs one of our horses whinnied. Perfect.
No extra charge.

Tents are bad places for sound.

Amen.

--
ha

In a big tent it is VERY live, and it's a very bad ambience too with lots
of slapback. A big canvas tent is about the worst possible acoustic I
can think of, and a very popular one for festivals.
--scott

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

I did a 5.1 channel recording of the Danbury Symphony in one of those
canvase 'band shells' that opens up for performance and folds down into the
back of the platform for storage. That 'shell' had nasty slap back. It was a
matter of placing the mics in a location where none of the mid to upper
range instruments were on a direct reflection path with any part of the
canvas.
The recording turned out fine, with barely any evidence of acoustical
problems. I used cardioide patterns, which drastically reduced unwanted
sounds and that reduced the ambient noise and traffic sounds very
effectively. I remember comparing the mix to our on-camera mics which are
omnis and the ambient noise difference was like night and day!


--
Best Regards,

Mark A. Weiss, P.E.
www.mwcomms.com
-

Scott Dorsey wrote:

Enda Hayden wrote:
As we live in an ultra quiet rural area and have a poor sounding rehersal
room, i'd like to know if anyone has tried recording vocals outdoors, or in
a big tent, etc?
I assume there'd be no verb, ambience, etc captured?

There might be an echo from nearby buildings, a hillside or a belt of
trees.


Outside in a field it's very dry, with no ambience to speak of. This can
be useful, but you will absolutely have to add some fake reverb even to
make it sound like a realistic dry vocal.

In a big tent it is VERY live, and it's a very bad ambience too with lots
of slapback. A big canvas tent is about the worst possible acoustic I
can think of, and a very popular one for festivals.

Nope! A big plastic tent is far, far worse (and they're becoming more
common in the UK).

--
~ Adrian Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk

On Thu, 24 Nov 2005 18:03:30 GMT, (hank alrich)
wrote:

Mike Rivers wrote:

Enda Hayden wrote:
As we live in an ultra quiet rural area and have a poor sounding rehersal
room, i'd like to know if anyone has tried recording vocals outdoors, or in
a big tent, etc?

You may not realize just how much ambient noise there is in an ultra
quiet rural area. Set a mic outside and record for about an hour, then
play back the reocrding ot see what you're really dealing with.
Remember that there will probalby be some wind noise.

Just a little air motion outdoors puts a lot of racket into the mics.
And yes, even in rural areas there are noises one often overlooks until
hearing them in playback.

This time of year in the Northern Hemisphere it's late Autumn, and
(at least where I am) there are lots of leaves on the ground that will
rustle with a light breeze, and will make noise with any person or
animal walking through them. Free Foley.
Further north I understand they're getting snow, which IIRC is a
sound absorber, resulting in a dryer, quieter recording. OTOH, the
sound of an avalance might be very dramatic. Watch those levels when
the snow hits the mic.


That's not always bad. Once I was recording a cowboy singer and during
the fade out after one of his songs one of our horses whinnied. Perfect.
No extra charge.

Tents are bad places for sound.

Amen.

Arny Krueger wrote:

Seems like a good opportunity to use classic 1950s-1960s
high end vocal micing techniques - LD mics without pop
filters positioned several feet from the vocalist.

Any air motion at all and you're hosed with that approach.

--
ha

"Enda Hayden" wrote in message
...
As we live in an ultra quiet rural area and have a poor sounding rehersal
room, i'd like to know if anyone has tried recording vocals outdoors, or
in
a big tent, etc?
I assume there'd be no verb, ambience, etc captured?

Cheers,
Enda


I've done it, I liked it. The clients enjoyed it. Rock bands.

As long as the music is without quiet, a capella parts, ambient noises of a
quiet rural area like mine shouldn't be a problem. I didn't mind the
occasional bird singing. The wind noise is certain to be a problem so a wind
filter is a must. Nothing fancy, just a simple foam filter on a cardioid
mike.

Predrag