Living Room recording question

3 months ago by ThePJN to c/budgetaudiophile

I’m pretty sure I know the answer already and I can foresee the other comments incoming already. (Eg; “Why are you recording in the living room in the first place? 🤪)

But here we go. My partner is recording audio occasionally while on the couch in the living room; while I work from home in an adjacent office. They are using a Blue Yeti on a cheapo $40 mic arm, bolted to a side table next to the couch.

Since we have hardwood floors in an ancient house, there’s some creaking being picked up in the recordings. Which is probably me adjusting my weight in my chair in the other room every now and then.

Question is, do we:

Get a shock mount?
Put carpet (or something) under the side table?
Switch the mic stand to a sits on the desktop weighted one we also have and also put a pad o’ fabric or foam under that?
All of the above?
Additional crap?

Alright. Give us hell folks! Hehe.

khannie 5 points 3 months ago

I'd recommend getting in someone to get rid of the creak for what it's worth. We had a guy replace the carpet on our stairs and he spent quite a while nailing stuff down so it wouldn't creak and I'm forever thankful to him.

Mostly he just added extra nails but he took his time with it.

Have you bare floorboards or laminate / similar on top?

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ThePJN 2 points 3 months ago

No carpet. Just floorboards.

That sounds like a good idea but I can see that leading to a “You have to replace the entire floor” situation. Most folks brought in for estimates on things end up suggesting that when they see what’s up with the thing in question. (Old house, multiple half assed additions done over the years.) 😬

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khannie 2 points 3 months ago

Ah yeah the old switcheroo. I would just cut that off in advance by saying you don't have the money for any new boards before they quote because you're spot on, that's a fine way to get your wallet emptied.

Plain floorboards are ideal for just getting nailed / tacked to remove the creaks. I'd say one day of a contractor/ handyman would be the absolute max. Quiet floorboards for life too. Our stairs is still silent ten years later.

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ThePJN 2 points 3 months ago

Gotcha. Sounds about right yeah.

Good advice in general. 👍 Something else to add to the house repair list. Hehe. Thanks!

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JayleneSlide 2 points 3 months ago

Your situation is going to require a whole bunch of mitigations. There are already some solid suggestions here. If repairing your wood floors isn't immediately within reach, a quick fix I've used when recording in spaces with old floors is talcum powder. It's a bit more difficult to source talcum powder these days, but it's definitely out there.

Identify the squeaky locations. Vacuum the joints thoroughly. Sprinkle rails of the powder over the joints. Walk over the areas that were creaking; this flexion helps the powder to work into the joint. The talc acts as a dry lubricant and gives you temporary relief from creaky floorboards.

Edit: replied at the wrong level; I meant to reply to OP

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ThePJN 1 point 3 months ago

Ah interesting. Now we’re talking. Wacky solutions! Yes!

Might give this a try after locking down the pets. Thx!

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JeSuisUnHombre 5 points 3 months ago

Make sure the polar pattern on the mic is set to cardioid and maybe hang a heavy blanket behind the couch where the recording is happening

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ThePJN 1 point 3 months ago

Pretty sure it is but will confirm next session and will see about blankies. Thx!

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imeansurewhynot 4 points 3 months ago

Isolation is key for recording audio.

As lomg as the creaks are there, and the mic is nearby, the mic will pick them up.

They can try to lower the mic gain, maybe get lucky. dense pads or airfoams won't do anything as vibrations will travel straight through them, and won't make a difference for creaks traveling through the air.

The most effective thing will be you or them working in a different area.

The farthest room from your creaking is ideal with doors and walls in between. Getting comforters from the thrift store and hanging them around the mic will help mitigate ambient noise as well.

mics are built to be ultra-sensitive and pick up vibrations, so acoustic isolation is necessary for decent audio.

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ThePJN 2 points 3 months ago

But the living room is so coooozy!

I mean sure I could move my work PC into the room upstairs but then it would be next to my personal computer for not work. Eww.

(But yeah… Yeah…. 🤪)

Thx!

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Kichae 4 points 3 months ago

This is less budget, but the best solution is to switch to a dynamic mic. The Yeti is a condenser microphone, and condensers are very sensitive. They'll pick up every little noise. Dynamic mics generally have a more restricted pickup zone, and are much, much less sensitive.

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ThePJN 1 point 3 months ago

Solid point. Thanks!

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wizardbeard 4 points 3 months ago

Why would doing anything to the mic mount stop your moving from creaking the floor? Could you also not just select the frequency the creaks are making sounds at and cut the volume of just those when they occur in the recording?

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LetThereBeNick 3 points 3 months ago

Because they have a stethoscope on the floor

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ThePJN 1 point 3 months ago

Thank you! Nick gets it!

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ThePJN 1 point 3 months ago

🤷‍♂️ Shock mount might help a little.

Yeah working on that in post as best as we can. It works okay for most cases. Just prompting some zany brainstorming with the initial question mostly. Hehe.

Thx!

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haverholm 3 points 3 months ago

I'm no audio engineer, but I've done a fair bit of recording in my living room, and editing other people's ambient house noises out of their recordings. Like others commenting, I don't think the issue is your partner's micriphone mount.

Unless that is, you think the boards creaking in the next room are transported through the structure of the house into the side table and mic arm. Could happen, may have minor effect, but the main thing would be just ...the sound. Airborne, if you will.

So if you really want to be rid of environment noises, my best suggestion is to get some movable dampening screens. Either wall panel sized or the kind of "open box" frame that covers three sides around the microphone and speaker. Those should filter out or at least mute most unwanted sounds.

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ThePJN 2 points 3 months ago

More padding would definitely help but yeah from what we’re hearing it’s the sound transferring through the boards in one room, along the boards into the living room and then the table itself. The floor in the 120 year old house is… Let’s use the word “malleable”. Oh and it also has minimal insulation underneath! And under that? Unfinished concrete basement! Hell yeah!

Will look into hanging or tossing stray comforters/towels around though. Thx!

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haverholm 2 points 3 months ago

Oh, I didn't account for an old house carrying sound so transparently. Well, if it is a matter of isolating the microphone and stand from those structural vibrations, I'm with the commenter suggesting sorbothane feet under the table legs.

Sorbothane is also used by HiFi enthusiasts to cheaply isolate turntables, speakers, and other equipment susceptible to (or emitting) vibrations. If you want to get fancy, look for vibration dampening of absorbant feet for stereo equipment. But like everything else marketed at audiophiles, they get pricey fast 🤑

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ThePJN 2 points 3 months ago

No worries. There’s a ton of variables, I forgot to mention that one in better detail.

We’ll look into feets and other stuffs. Might as well just to see what’s out there at least.

But yeah ultimately one of use is probably just going to have to switch rooms. 😋

Thanks for the tips!

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Zachariah 3 points 3 months ago

Get some feet made out of this and put them under the legs of the table:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorbothane

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ThePJN 2 points 3 months ago

Interesting. Dunno how feasible that is but it sounds cool! Thx!

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Zachariah 2 points 3 months ago

They sell the feet various places online. People use these feet for record turntables.

If it won’t work on the table, it might work on the mount for the mic.

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ThePJN 2 points 3 months ago

Ahh good point. That would be cheaper with less feets involved too. Good call.

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Shellbeach 3 points 3 months ago

When I was recording with my blue yeti in my living room, I would put it on my couch flanked by 2 big pillows and would record sitting on the floor. Not the best for long session but the couch would absorb a bunch of vibrations. Probably not enough to avoid picking up no cracking though

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ThePJN 2 points 3 months ago

Worth a shot! Thx!

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not_woody_shaw 2 points 3 months ago

Put a seal around the door, so the sound can't get thru the air around it.

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ThePJN 1 point 3 months ago

A good idea. Wall off doorway with sheets/towels. ☑️ Thx!

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