Hi John,

Thanks for coming back on this. It's a topic I'm pretty clueless about.

My first step after posting this morning was to go looking for the little desk stand that I vaguely recall coming with the mic.  You can see it here on page 25:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3011kroe5t2qz9h/AKG%20Perception%20120%20USB%20Guide.pdf?dl=0

Darned if I can find it though! So I'm thinking about ordering one. Or, as this is apparently a discontinued range, do you think this is a standard, universal  type of stand, so that I could easily find one to suit. After half an hour googling for targets like 'microphone stands' etc I'm baffled by the enormous range of widely different types. AKG suppliers are rarish and the couple I've phoned are closed.

I see another type in use further down that page. Do you know how that would be attached to the mic. The Perception 120 USB has no threading, so any adapater must be a clamp or a slide-on thing of some sort, yes?

I have a little flexible tripod with the standard ¼" thread that I occasionally use for my camera. What sort of adapter would I need to buy to use that for this purpose? (If indeed it woud be sturdy enough for this heavy mic).

All this might be irrelevant anyway, as the mic is clearly meant to be held too, so the intermittent hum may have other causes. I'll try your tip about the plugs/sockets. The cable snakes close to my monitor, passes the bass speaker about  15 cm away and 10 cm past the base of a desk lamp to my PC. But that's a fixed arrangement and I'd have expected to get the same level of hum for every recording if that was the cause.

Hi Terry

. . . . the intermittent hum may have other causes. I'll try your tip about the plugs/sockets. The cable snakes close to my monitor, passes the bass speaker about  15 cm away and 10 cm past the base of a desk lamp to my PC. But that's a fixed arrangement and I'd have expected to get the same level of hum for every recording if that was the cause. . . . .

Only when they are switched on - magnetic fields are generated only when current is passing through the device.

That is another thing to check - switch of all unecessary electrical equipment in the vicinity and the try recording a recording session and switch them on one by one to see if hum occurs.

HTH

John EB

Hi Terry

Depending on the microphones sensitivity to handling, knocks etc if you use a rigid microphone stand you may need to provide mechanical isolation and support of the AKG ie something like this or this.

HTH

John EB

Thanks John. They sure look complicated!

Hi Terry,

My plumbing job is to replace the upstairs bathroom rusty piping with new copper piping. So I have holes in the walls and ceiling of the living. Trying to get the old piping out whilst limiting the mess is difficult.

For hum, watch out for external hard disks. I have an old one that pulsates, so I turn it off during voice recording. The cable can also add in some interference.

As for normalizing, it's up to you. I usually switch on normalize after recording, but sometimes I forget between sessions. Another way, it to wait until the end, then do a mixdown of your voice track(s) only and then normalize that. Then you can automate the volume curve where needed and add effects to the entire mixed down track. Note that mixing down (Shift+D) or Compile Audio as the call it, will replace your original audio material. One way to keep the original material is to do an undo and then import the mixed down wav file that was created. Then you can select it an edit it externally in Music Editor 3 (Alt+Z). I prefer the tools in Music Editor to those in Audio cleaning. Of course the best is Audio & Music Lab 2014 or 2016 Premium.

Another thought, if you use Audio cleaning, Noise removal, Advanced, don't forget to turn off Remove camera noise only under Step 2 (right-hand side).

"The other cause of hum is worn or faulty connectors..."

Morning John,

I think that's it! I spent a few seconds using a small piece of sandpaper shining up the outer (earth) sections of both USB plugs. So far - no hum.

Thanks a bunch, that's really been irking me!

To be strictly objective, I've also altered the routing of the cable, moving it further from the central (woofer) speaker on this crowded desk. So it's possible that may be part or all of the explanation for the improvement. But I'm happy, so not tempting fate by moving it back again.

"My plumbing job..."

Hi John,

Thanks for those tips, which I'll try. But see the good news in my reply to John EB.

I don't fully understand normalising to be honest. Sometimes I can't detect any difference.

My goal is to find a simple routine that will let me do the following:

1. Add narrative at some places on my timeline. If necessary, use the features discussed to improve the quality.

2. These recorded narrative clips may vary in recorded volume. (Heard on immediate playback.) I'd like them all to be roughly equal in volume before I proceed.

3. Add a music track, or several, to the entire timeline.

4. On each recorded clip, use Right click > Volume reduction to reduce the music at that point by 12 dB. (In practice I speed this up with a macro that does it for all recorded clips on that track.)

Hi Terry

. . . . These recorded narrative clips may vary in recorded volume. (Heard on immediate playback.) I'd like them all to be roughly equal in volume before I proceed. . . . .

That is what normalising is for - it detects the average audio level and the applies the appropriate amount of gain to increase the level to a predetermined preset usually 0dB but can be lower eg -3dB or -6dB.

If you apply this to all audio it gives you an even playing field to adjust the relative levels of eg music, video and narration consistently.

I then use the MDynamic Equaliser compressor VST plugin ( thanks John CB ) in the Master control in the Mixer to bring the overall audio level down to -6dB.  I find this gives a better volume level on playback - especially on DVD and BD where at 0dB or -3dB everyone grabs for the remote control..

HTH

John EB

Hi Terry

. . . . These recorded narrative clips may vary in recorded volume. (Heard on immediate playback.) I'd like them all to be roughly equal in volume before I proceed. . . . .

That is what normalising is for - it detects the average audio level and the applies the appropriate amount of gain to increase the level to a predetermined preset usually 0dB but can be lower eg -3dB or -6dB.

Thanks John. So if I understand you correctly, I should enable Normalize after recording?

But surely that just works within a clip? It doesn't make all the clips the same. I just tried a couple and the second was much louder than the first. Because I spoke louder and held the mic closer. To compensate for the fact that some clips were recorded too loud or quiet, for whatever reason, surely I cannot escape inspecting each one individually and using Set volume to get them all to the same level?

If you apply this to all audio it gives you an even playing field to adjust the relative levels of eg music, video and narration consistently.

I then use the MDynamic Equaliser compressor VST plugin ( thanks John CB ) in the Master control in the Mixer to bring the overall audio level down to -6dB.  I find this gives a better volume level on playback - especially on DVD and BD where at 0dB or -3dB everyone grabs for the remote control..

HTH

John EB

Hi Terry

. . . . I should enable Normalize after recording? . . . .

Yes, this raises the volume level while ensuring that the maximum peak level does not exceed 0dB, AFAICS the normalisation method in MEP is using peak detection and not average level detection.

. . . . But surely that just works within a clip? . . . .

Yes.

. . . . It doesn't make all the clips the same. I just tried a couple and the second was much louder than the first. Because I spoke louder and held the mic closer. . . . .

That is correct, if the louder clips are already peaking 0dB or more than normailsation will do nothing, if the normalisation process used averaging then you may see a change in the louder clips if the averrage sound level was lower.

. . . . To compensate for the fact that some clips were recorded too loud or quiet, for whatever reason, surely I cannot escape inspecting each one individually and using Set volume to get them all to the same level? . . . .

That is true however, here is an example of how I use normalisation and compression, the video is in three sections

1. two clips - no adjustments - audio is as recorded
    
2. same two clips - normalised
    
3. same clips normalised and compressed

Warning the fist clip is loud - adjust your volume before starting the video - hopefully you will hear a big difference - it is very apparent using headphones.

Added:  Uploading to forum appears to have changed the audio - original copy is here

HTH

I don't do narration / commentary - I don't have a mic that suits my voice, though I have used an expensive Shure moving coil dynamic mic that was superb - however I will not pay over £500 for one just to do narration and I definitely do not sing !!!!

John EB

Hi Terry,

Good cartoon, with my initials even!

John EB did a good job there. This stuff is not easy to understand; I have been trying for 2 years to understand it all and haven't gotten there yet.

Here is a bit more on Music Editor 3. It is a stripped down version of ACL. You can activate it as a standalone or as the external editor within MEP. The file selected has to be a wav or the effect will not show up on the menu. Since your audio recordings are all wave files, you can select 1 and edit it in ME3. Upon exiting ME3, just press the upper right close X button, it will ask if you want to save the file. Yes. This simply saves the modified file and that is what comes back into MEP, replacing the old file.

I found a way to adjust the loudness of all audio clips, but it is a bit labourious. Open ME3 as a standalone and import the clips. There will be an automatic 2s gap. Then do a normalize but you will get the following dialogue screen.

Under options, select Unified normalization of all objects.

Select Effects, Adjust volume (Shift+N) and you will see the following dialogue box.

Adjust the parameters. I didn't touch the parameters and you can see the result in the above screen. My the waves of my 4 clips are now quite similar.

Below is a shot of the original files, so you can see the difference, especially in the second file.

I then did some cleaning, saved the project, exported to separate files, and imported these into MEP under the original clips. Each has a new name. Note that the gap is added to the end of the clips, so it has to be trimmed.

I still have some problem with the audio as I deliberately moved from directly in front of the mic to off to the side in a couple of the clips. The volume decreased, so I would have to do some volume automation anyways to raise the gain when my voice fades off a bit. Have you tried volume automation from the Mixer?

Or just modified the volume curve (which could also be done in ME3)?

Back to the plumbing. I think that I should film some of this pipework.

I should have added the result to the last post. The treated clips are selected. You can see the difference in the waves between Tracks 3 and 4.

For better clarity.

I can't get even close by only normalizing each clip within MEP.

Hey, thanks both, lots to study there! Very much appreciate your taking the time to expound on the detail. I won't say I'm there yet, but I'm beginning to grasp the basics..

@John CB: Hope that dog of yours is getting credits at the end of your videos - sure gets featured in these demos a lot!

@John EB: Maybe we should resume the karaoke discussion...?