ADR in office room

[Jamie Havill]

Hi guys,

We're having to do our ADR/looping sessions for our short film in what amounts to a very quiet office.

We've already done one session in there and the results were definitely usable with some noise reduction, but there is some background noise here and there, and also there is a window that leaks sound. We also have a PC that needs to be running to loop the footage, but we are setting up the PC in the next room and running the cabling under the wooden door to drown out fan noise, and I've silenced it as much as possible now and removed all unneccesary fans.

I know it's not ideal, but I'm just looking for a few tips on how to make the most of the room within reason. What are cheap and efficient ways to dampen the room?

Also, what's the best positioning for the mics in order to silence any potential little sounds, and fan noise? We're recording children who talk very delicatly which doesn't help matters!

FYI we're using a Senn. 416p and an 816t through a sound devices mixer & disk recorder.

Thanks and all the best,
Jamie

 

[Robert Frank]

If you can get some portable sound walls like these --> MAX Wall it would help.

Or like many old school budget recordings, use a lot of moving (sound) blankets to reduce unwanted early reflections. You can always add ambience in post. I use Audioease Altiverb for that.

 

[Joel Jameson]

Get a hyper-cardioid (Octavia or Schoeps MK41 as examples) instead of those shotguns for interior work. Put a small blimp or foam on them to keep the boom movement wind noise out. Get it in close (a foot or so) and lower the gain to kill the ambient. Not sure if your booming or static?

If you can't, get the shotguns in close (about a foot to 18") and lower the gain and have an amazing boom op to keep up. This setup however won't work well for multiple talent talking at the same time from your descriptions.

 

[Brian Petrie]

If you are near your home mattresses can work as sounds walls in a bind just cover so they don't look quite as ghetto. When recording something real short at my house once I didn't have anything so I thought of them and they worked alright.

 

[Noah Kadner]

If you can swing a few dollars- the Portabooth is shockingly effective:

http://voiceoveressentials.com/content/porta-booth-pro.htm

Noah

 

[Robert Frank]

If you can swing a few dollars- the Portabooth is shockingly effective:

http://voiceoveressentials.com/content/porta-booth-pro.htm

Noah

That Portabooth looks great Noah!

I have a Reflexion, that cost $300. Same but different maybe? Although the Portabooth being able to collapse and store in a bag is a big advantage.

 

[Alex MacLean]

If you can swing a few dollars- the Portabooth is shockingly effective:

http://voiceoveressentials.com/content/porta-booth-pro.htm

Noah

I heard these are great! I've been wanting one for a while, but haven't had a use for one yet.

 

[Sam Eilertsen]

The ultra-low-budget solution is to throw a blanket over your talent's head, or erect a little tent of blankets. This takes care of reverb and helps a little with the background noise.

Don't use "noise reduction" tools -- they will usually make your talent sound like they are under water. Instead, look at your spectrum and use an equalizer to cut the extreme highs and lows and manually dampen areas of the spectrum that have noise. Then use a multipressor, expander, or noise gate to cut out more of the background.

 

[Michael Romano]

C-Stands, Furni Blankets and Grip Clips will fix you right up.

Assemble a little tent of them out of the quietest corner. Multiple layers will have an even greater impact of dB reduction.

Put down shag carpet beneath the actor and fill the room with clutter. Big opposing walls will increase unwanted reflection so clothes hanging from stands or even piles of boxes strewn about will help.

You may have to add room reflections later but getting it clean is the best bet.

Noise reduction is at best noticeable, at worst, unusable. I have several tools for it from iZotope and Digidesign and they're only effective on VERY faint hums/hisses. When you push it, the whole thing goes to pot.

Noise gates can work, but it really depends on the material. I would use them more if I was trying to fix production dialog. If you've already consigned yourself to a re-record, just make the room right and remember to let them out for air during the session!

 

[Marc Wielage]

And kill all air conditioning, fans, heaters, overhead fluorescents, refrigerators... anything that makes noise. Sound blankets on C-stands can get rid of 90% of the bad stuff.