Hi! I’ve been trying to make a Youtube clip with myself playing the whistle, with incredibly bad luck. The built-in microphone on my laptop picks up all kinds of weird hissing and whatnot, and I have a cheapo Logitech mic which is fine for strings, vocals, and even kazoo but doesn’t do well with the whistle (or indeed any flute-like instrument, from bansuri to sälgflöjt.)
Unfortunately, my recording-equipment budget isn’t all that big. Can anyone giive me recording advice?
Hard to tell without hearing an example. Maybe you’re not miking close enough?
Microphone position and distance can make a big difference with whistle. I usually record with the mike within 6 inches (15 cm) of the whistle, pointing just north of the fipple window. And I set the recording level accordingly - usually fairly low, and I adjust upward in postprocessing.
OTOH, if your mike works OK for vocals, it should be OK for whistles (and other winds), too. Especially if you want room ambience.
Here’s a possibility. Whistles and winds can sound very different to a listener (or microphone) a few feet away than they sound to you, the player, a few inches away. Could it be that your recordings are accurate, and you’re just not used to hearing it like that?
Here’s a clip, using my current microphone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fdLhAmSu5o
The mic is maybe a foot away from the instrument. I think the problem is mainly the hardware, as it’s an 8.99 Logitech microphone, I forget the model number, that’s probably designed for use with a webcam. And had I used the built-in mic on my laptop, it would have sounded like I was playing a steam calliope through an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi distortion pedal and a Leslie speaker…
I can’t find a way to adjust recording levels in the video program that I use, alas; but perhaps that’s what I get for using a program that came free with the computer…
And there probably is an element of “player’s ears vs. listener’s ears” involved, as well; although if you listen to that clip the hardware does seem to be the main issue. I just dug out the mic I used to use for my harmonica a few years back, and if I can find a jack adaptor I’ll probably try that. It’s still pretty cheapo but might be better suited for music.
Oh man, that is WAAAAY too loud. Painful. Flat-top distortion like crazy, way over 0 dB.
Use your operating system’s audio Control Panel to cut the recording level. Put the mike as far away from you as possible. Or both. First try recording into an audio editor, and check the waveform for 3-6 dB of headroom. Yikes.
Your microphone is probably fine.
Audacity is a good free audio editor!
Second that. Audacity also has background sound removal that gets rid of much of the ambient noise present in any non-studio room.
Just remember to record some silence along with your music. You select a few seconds of what should be silence, indicate that it’s noise not signal, and then select a block of music that audacity will scrub for the noise. As with (nearly) everything, a light touch sounds best - too much noise reduction suddenly sounds creepy.