Audio Research Cambridge

Music Making Stream

Finished composing the main idea of the music
- Need to complete to the correct length
- Successfully attempted to create Studio Ghibli-type music
  - Analysis on songs reminiscent of the Waltz
Discovered a new plugin because of the limitations of my old ones
- BBC Symphonic Orchestra, Spitfire Audio - Free

Ghibli Analysis

What I’ve learnt:

When looking around at other field recording videos, I noticed that I prefer setups that included 2 mics in a stereo configuration, but looking at the price of the mics that are recommended they seem to be really expensive and not affordable at all. This led me to think if it were cheaper to build my own with parts as I have a soldering kit at home (Parts I have enquired) But with further thought and discussions with my lecture, buying all the part will still be too expensive for this project. Another drawback of building the mics is that the quality of it may be questionable as the cheaper the parts are the quality usually gets worse so it is better off using what we’ve got.
- - I looked online to see if there are ways to make said configurations cheaper and I stumbled on this video
  - “Cheap Mic Booster Clippy! Are They Good Enough for Your Next Recording?” - Free to use sounds
    - During this time, my lecturer suggested that we could use lav mics to record but as I was trying to record the ambience it didn’t make sense to use them.
    - But I thought maybe if we had 2 of them attached to the sides of my bag facing outwards then I can put them stereo using the portable recorder which can simulate the stereo effect I am looking for.

Luckily we had 2 (Audio-Technica ATR3350) Lav mics in the store cupboard to use so I will not need to purchase any extra equipment.
- Both of them had a standard 3.5mm jack which was not ideal as the H4n only had one 3.5mm port and 2 XLR full-size TRS combo ports so to be able to use both of them I had to grab 2 3.5mm to Fullsize Jack converters.
  - Plugging it in we thought we had to change the batteries for the Lav mics as the Field recorder was not picking up the mics.
    - But even though that's the case the recorder still wasn’t able to pick up the mics.

Jack to XLR cables:
- Because Jack connections expect a significantly higher voltage we thought that was the reason why we weren’t getting any signal from the Field recorder. So instead we thought to make a Jack to XLR connector.
- After connecting everything up we finally were able to get a signal from the microphones, however, the signal was significantly low compared to the included microphones even when the volume is increased to 100%. And then the audio had a significant amount of static noise when monitoring it.
- Also when using Phantom power, it seemed to automatically crash the H4n as seen in the video.
Changing Field recorders:
- We thought it was the fault of the H4n because it had troubles with loading time and also crashed a couple of times when Phantom power was on so we thought to change it to the TASCAM DR-40 recorder.

Conclusion:

Even after changing the field recorders the signal actually was worse as the mic didn’t even pick up the microphones.
As a last-ditch effort we tried not using the Jack to XLR adapters just to see if they weren’t the problem but nothing seems to change.
So in conclusion, As much as this may improve the immersion of the short films, I will have to stick to recording with the field recorder on the top of my backpack.
Although this is the case, I will be using the TASCAM DR-40 to see if there is a difference in the recording quality.
- I have chosen to do this because the microphones are able to be positioned outwards. (As seen in the video)

Windkiller research

As I set off to find the best solution to elimiating wind from the audio, I had a look at a range of pop filters and windkillers that may fit the Zoom H4n. I stumbled across a brand called BubbleBee industries which sold a windkiller spesifically fit portable recorders just like the Hs4 and costed around £42 which I wasn’t in my price range.
- I talked to my Leacturer to see if we can resolve this and it turns out that he has a similar one that works the same as the Windkiller and is willing to let me borrow it.
- Unfortunatly, I will not be able to use it until the next project because the research was done on thursday and my lecturer isn’t going to be in on Friday.
  - Because this is the case, I will instead focus on any other techiques others have does to negate the wind.

What I’ve Learnt: