META: My Audio Setup

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Tech Tangents

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Published on February 3, 2018 2:59:05 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjlQ65Ywot4

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I have a strange way of recording audio for my videos. Here is a walk through of some new modifications I made today.

Firstly, I went with a single shot video to differentiate this as a META video. This wont be a common type of video.

I've found this setup to give me good results and be very reliable. The equalizer profile I'm using really brings out the best in these microphones.

So here is the wiring with part numbers:

Recording Audio in order
- 2x MX391/C Card
- 2x Rolls MP13 Mini Pre-Amp
- Optimus 31-2025 Graphic Equalizer & Spectrum Analyzer
- Realistic 32-1100A Stereo Mixer

Output Audio in order
- Desktop PC / Audio Technica LP-120USB
- Reatistic 32-1200B
- Yamaha RX-V365 Receiver / Teac EQA-10 Graphic Equalizer & Spectrum Analyzer
- to recording mixer

I am not using the graphic equalizer for my output audio, just the spectrum analyzer.

With this setup now I can very easily add new audio sources to the mixer to get direct sound. So I could connect the output of a PC into the mixer for instance.

I'm really not knowledgeable about XLR(balanced/unbalanced?) and connecting it to regular line level. I think I have it right but my levels are all over the place so it's hard to tell. It works right now, that's all I know.

Now, the background noise. I try to remove it when I reasonably can in videos. But it's not always easy. Every component in that stack is adding a hiss. And they all add together. The spectrum analyzer could be working right now, but I found that not going positive on the graphic equalizer reduces the hiss by just a tiny bit. I've tried to make every change I can to eliminate it in hardware but this is as good as I can make it. I have a script using `sox` that automatically uses the last second as a sample to remove noise from the whole video. But it reduces the quality noticeably. At least to me, but I obsess over this.