Avoiding mic handling noise

[kgallen]

In this video clip of Paloma Faith performing a song for Chris Evans on Radio 2 last week, she's constantly adjusting the mic position. Some of the movements are quite jerky, but there doesn't appear to be any handling noise breakthrough.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk...rammes/p05qgrcq

 

So how is the sound tech avoiding all of the handling noise? A decent mic with good inherent isolation, and some steep low pass (oops!) cut roll-off. Anything else? When the guy joins her on a bit of a duet, he's very low in the mix, so maybe there is some tight EQ to her vocal range which is also helping a lot with rolling off the low frequency handling noise?

 

Thanks for any insight from those much more knowledgeable in this field!

 

Kevin

[stagemanagement]

With such a delicate touch, as Paloma is demonstrating, and no rings on those fingers, then any handling noise should be extremely minimal.

For those of us who have to work with mere mortals, they handle the mic like a cricket bat and usually have a clunky ring on their mic hand, leading to the inevitable door knocking noise we are so familiar with in our mix...

[GaryNattrass]

A high pass filter either on the mic or at the desk end, it looks like a Neuman condenser mic so there is probably one at the mic end which will be in circuit between the capsule and the mic amp, the may also be a -10 db in circuit too which will also prevent overload from the capsule. As she is a female vocalist there is probably little below 150hz but high end vocal mic's have a lot more mechanical isolation than your average SM58 etc.

 

I am always amazed to hear some PA guys have vocals and pop's coming out of the sub bass speakers as there should be very little below around 120hz.

 

Some bands and I recall touring with Dire Straits in the 80's actually have a PA rig just for the vocals and when you hear it on it's own you think wow that sounds very narrow band with little below 150hz but then once it is run with the full system with the rest of the band it works.

 

When I was a dubbing mixer I also used to bandwidth limit the dialogue tracks so that they cut through and sometimes had a high pass filter all the way up to around 150hz but would add some EQ at around 250 to warm things us again. In cinema the sub bass speaker is known as an LFE (low frequency effects) and is only used for effects so dialogue tends to be kept well away from it so any high pass filtering actually helps with mix rather than hinder it.

 

Good mic choice as condensers tend to be better on female vocals: https://www.gear4mus...l-Mic-Black/T0L

 

Can't see an on board high pass or attenuator so would guess the tech is rolling it off at around 120hz.

[kgallen]

Ah, wonderful insight - thanks Gary for the detail on the likely EQ - I'll be sure to steal some of that! Good spot on the Neuman badge too! I'm surprised that mic you link is so "cheap" for a Neuman condenser - well out of my range though of course!

 

Thanks guys!

 

Kevin

 

ETA: Interesting that mic is described "features an extended bass frequency response tailored for female vocals." which confuses me a little...!

[GaryNattrass]

Interesting that mic is described "features an extended bass frequency response tailored for female vocals." which confuses me a little...! <br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px;">

Probably has a lift at around the 250hz I mentioned to save you doing it on the desk? Human voice especially female has very little useable LF content below 120hz.

As a side note the Sennheiser 6000 and 9000 digital radio mic's I mentioned on another thread have far superior handling noise to the analogue versions and you can also get the Neuman capsules for them too.

[revbobuk]

Interesting that mic is described "features an extended bass frequency response tailored for female vocals." which confuses me a little...! <br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px;">

Probably has a lift at around the 250hz I mentioned to save you doing it on the desk? Human voice especially female has very little useable LF content below 120hz.

As a side note the Sennheiser 6000 and 9000 digital radio mic's I mentioned on another thread have far superior handling noise to the analogue versions and you can also get the Neuman capsules for them too.

 

If you look at the frequency response for that mic, it extends quite low - don't know which vocalist is singing down there!. And the proximity effect centres around 100Hz, and is nearly all gone by 250. So I think it's mostly just advertising hype. chart here if you want to have a look.