Over the past few weeks I have heard a number of recordings from students that have been problematic. Noise, distortion… or just weird sounding. When trying to suggest that the recordings could be significantly better, I have been met with myriad excuses as to why that is supposedly impossible. “The microphones aren’t good”, “the whisper rooms sound weird” etc etc. I’d like to take the opportunity to let everyone know that the resources are fine and shouldn’t be used as an excuse when turning in poorly recorded materials. It’s absolutely true that some spaces sound better than others but with the right technique you should be able to make adequate recordings in almost any reasonable location.
Below are six unprocessed recordings made in three different locations in the school. These were made using the exact same tools available to the students at the school, specifically a Marantz 661 and a Shure SM58 microphone. Feel free to listen to all of them and see if you can determine an appreciable difference between them. The poll is for fun… I’ll reveal the answers in a week or so!
Make sure to hit the vote button for EACH answer.
If you aren’t getting results as consistent as these when you are recording, please don’t blame the tools. Schedule an appointment with me so we can help find a way to get you better results when you are recording yourselves and others.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Three of the recordings were made by me. Three of the recordings were made by a school alumna on her own without any assistance.
Recording #1:
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