A Guide to Setting Gain for Field Recording: Tips and Tricks

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Setting the gain for field recording is an essential skill for any sound designer, musician, or filmmaker. Proper gain settings can help you capture clean, high-quality audio recordings without distortion or clipping. In this guide, we'll cover everything you need to know about how to set gain for field recording.
READ MORE ABOUT HOW TO SET GAIN FOR FIELD RECORDING ↓
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Опубликовано:

8 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 129

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Visit our Instagram account for more information, Behind The Scenes, and quick tutorials about Field Recording that you can't find on RU-vid. ► instagram.com/freetousesounds

@clipsonthespectrum 3 года назад

i gotta admit, yall are the reason i'm starting to do field recording to make foleys for my uni project, thank you for all the knowledge ♥

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Thats wonderful! :)

@RelaxIdentity 2 года назад

*I love the educational piece on setting Gains. Knowledge is powerful. Giving a hungry man fish is not as helpful as teaching him out to fish. Well, you just taught us how to fish. Many channels out there will instruct you on what to do without deeply explaining why. This will help improve the nature video recordings for my relaxation channel*

@FreeToUseSounds 2 года назад

Thank you so much and we greatly appreciate your comment and the quote as well.

@TommasoGobbo 3 года назад

Bomb! Would be cool a video where you share the mastering process for sound dx and long ambience recordings! Keep it up!

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Hi Tommaso! I only do light editing for my field recordings and never maste the tracks. If I do so I would take away a lot of parts that some sound engineers or music producers would like to have.

@tunjiakinsehinwa5006 Год назад

Great video tutorial! I literally learnt more about sound in 7 minutes than I have learnt reading numerous books and from other video tutorials

@anulaluna Месяц назад

Thank you for another great informational video!

@mintpillow 3 года назад

Exactly what I was looking for, perfect - and thanks!

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Ah you found it already! :)

@bugdozer 7 дней назад

Such great information. Thank you!

@keinpodcast4053 3 года назад

For me ambience recordings are always the most fun. Its like a surprise bag - you want to record a calm ambience in the forest and suddenly there's this old Lanz Bulldog tractor you would never find if you would search for it. And so you never know if you've set your levels right :)

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

So true and that actually happened to me in Croatia :)

@lyndonbaptiste 3 года назад

Love your work, man.

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Thank you Lynden!

@jaguarvssnake Год назад

Thank you for this - exactly the video I have been looking for!

@FreeToUseSounds Год назад

Thank you so much for watching!

@Expeditom 3 года назад

Yep, I was among the ones who asked you about setting the gain ;) Your tips are invaluable and improved my recordings a lot! thanks for putting the time into this :) Cheers Tom

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

That is so great to hear. Thank you for your feedback.

@andrewj10 3 года назад

Great advice on setting levels, appreciate your knowledge sharing.

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Glad it could help!

@benjaminlachenal2822 3 года назад

Thanks a lot for this very helpfull video. I wanted to ask you this question so now i have my answers 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 keep on with your great videos

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Glad it was helpful Benjamin!

@samiraguachalla Год назад

Today is my first day - field recording with H1n

@tybowesformerlygoat-x7760 Год назад

How're you going with it?

@GiancarloBiondi 3 года назад

Valuable advice Marcel! Right now I'm doing some tests with the Zoom H6 to determine if actually lowering the gain brings advantages or not: a video by Julian Kraus on the gain intrigued me. I always thought that using the gain at maximum or high values produced noise (the Zoom is not among the quietest from this point of view) but lowering the gain and then raising it in post I don't think it leads to obvious advantages. I try to pick up the sound source that interests me with the highest possible level leaving some headroom (as you have shown in the case of loud sound recordings). As always, you are a source of inspiration. Thank you

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Hi Giancarlo. I have to watch this video and thank you for watching as always. :)

@cryptotrader2779 Год назад

Enjoying your older videos again. That was very helpful for me, as it's something I do still struggle with sometimes. I guess I just need a bit more experience. Thanks Marcel.

@FreeToUseSounds Год назад

Heya! :) Yeah it's all about practice :) You got that.

@soundsoftheearth1 Год назад

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Could you Please make film about zoom h2n ( best ambient settings and best usage ) Thank you in advance 🙏

@trovegaming3960 3 года назад

Great video as always !!

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Thank you!!

@NRGRX 3 года назад

Thank you sir! You’re the best

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Thanks for watching!

@Lefteriskaroutsos 2 года назад

Thanks

@arthurbrown7501 3 года назад

I think it would be worth a mention that recording in 32bit float has changed the dynamics of how we can record.

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

True.

@yenra 3 года назад

Very helpful; thank you.

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Thank you for watching!

@enzo_wl 3 года назад

Very helpful, thank you!!

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Glad it was helpful! :)

@borerfly 2 года назад

Great video and explanation, thanks!

@FreeToUseSounds 2 года назад

Thank you so much for watching!

@chrisso1973 6 месяцев назад

Really helpful, thank you!!!!

@FreeToUseSounds 6 месяцев назад

Glad it was helpful!

@NRGRX 3 года назад

Very unique channel not many are doing, so this is helpful!

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Thank you and we're really glad you found this video helpful.

@maxthomson8167 3 года назад

Thanks! Very useful 👍

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Glad it was helpful! :)

@JustDavidMinistries 3 года назад

Thank you so much for this gold!

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Thank you for watching David!

@JustDavidMinistries 3 года назад

@@FreeToUseSounds Anytime!

@Echelon111999 3 года назад

Instantly liked the vid!

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Thank you :)

@patricedubus 3 года назад

Very helpful. This is a question I always have while recording birds with a parabola. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. Patrice

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

So glad I could help Patrice!

@dmreturns6485 3 года назад

Really great advice.

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Thank you!

@contemplasound Год назад

I started recording nature sounds after discovering the channel! Admire your work and that of your wife. Thank you for always bringing great content! You are amazing! I'm going to test these new ways to adjust the levels

@FreeToUseSounds Год назад

Thank you!!

@leandromiquet4820 3 года назад

So useful!

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Thank you for watching :)

@tennklo Год назад

when you describe the process of listening for internal noise, how do you set the headphone output volume for an accurate representation of what is being recorded?

@jarrahdrum 2 года назад

Thank you 🙏

@FreeToUseSounds 2 года назад

You’re welcome 😊

@dirkoberjasper7207 2 года назад

Wieder ein sehr informatives Video, danke Marcel! Ich liege in meinen Ambience-Aufnahmen etwa bei -40 dB durschnittlichem Pegel, das deckt sich in ruhigen Gegenden gut mit Deinen Best-Practice-Beispielen. Eine Frage: Auf was achtest Du beim Hochpegeln ganz genau, um Noise vom Ambience-Sound unterscheiden und dann vorsichtig zurückpegeln zu können? Danke, Gruß Dirk

@jeffmcc93 2 года назад

Would the H6 be good enough to record ambient sounds like restaurants and coffee shops and then like rain, river and ocean sounds?

@Energine1 3 года назад

Thanks Marcel

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

You're welcome Bob and thank you for watching!

@xcryosonx 7 дней назад

I'm curious to know how you would handle an auto level feature like that on the Zoom H1n, I defaulted when I got the device to using it because I liked the idea that it would adjust the gain for dynamic sounds on the fly, but I find it brings up a lot of the H1n's inherent noise floor into the recording, and based on how it adjusts the gain, I think it will constantly be listening for differences in perceived volume so I'm trying to think of a scenario where this feature might be more desirable.

@sachindave9 2 года назад

Im a new sound recordist and getting into the fiction films & documentary films. Using H8. Need help with best sync sound setting in the recorder and when tonuse the -20db pads

@robertsendra6520 3 года назад

Thanks this was one of my biggest questions is setting levels in field recordings and do I always adjust to -12db

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Hi Robert. Thank you so much for watching and I hope it helps.

@sumitino 2 месяца назад

when you say you listen to a environment like the forest and it is presenting to the recorder at -50 to -30 and you dont force the sound into the recorder by raising the gain. What levels are you set at when you do the initial listening? Are you operating at Unity gain first then just taking what the environment gives you and pushing record? Thanks.

@AndrewAliferis 2 года назад

Marcel, thank you for the tips. Do you use compression or limiting for field recording?

@FreeToUseSounds 2 года назад

Hi Andrew, I don't because I want to keep the recordings as original as possible because I'm not the end user.

@Justmino 3 года назад

The thing with turning down the gain until you no longer hear noise also depends on the volume of your monitoring. Preamps have their noise floor (choose a good one!) and so do microphones, so if you turn down the gain you're not just attenuating the noise, but also the signal (what you actually want in the recording). If you record too low and have to raise the volume later you'll end up with more noise in the end. You'll also get bad artifacts from the conversion. Of course if it's just a few dB you won't hear a difference but if you're raising 25dB in post this makes a difference. Of course it doesn't mean you should record everything as close to 0dB as possible, this will lower your headroom, maybe add inner sample peaks and clicks and probably activate a limiter (if the recorder has this function active) which you don't want. Hopefully this will be helpful to anyone.

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

That is true Mino and thank you for mentioned that. I normally have the volume of the headphone output at 100 and I never really raise the gain in post because of that what you have mentioned. With 32 bit its a little different now.

@Justmino 3 года назад

@@FreeToUseSounds oh yeah, 32 bits is amazing! :) Using always the same output volume is a great idea. It's like we do in post, calibrating the system and using always the same volume so you get used to the proper levels without having to look at the meters. Keep up the cool videos, you have great content.

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

@@Justmino Working on it :) Tomorrow we have a new video coming up.

@IamCurrentlyAscending Год назад

About how long should the samples be? Obviously a bird chirp is going to be shorter than a rainstorm, but what is typical for environmental sound?

@20steven10ja 3 года назад

Great video! I just bought my first sound recording setup and its so much fun learning from you! A video about how to edit SFX with free to use software (or lower priced one) would be awesome :) greetings from Austria!

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Hi! You can start with Reaper or Audacity. These are great programs to use.

@20steven10ja 3 года назад

@@FreeToUseSounds I've heard about them through your videos. I have audacity for now. But what I mean is what you options are when editing SFX. things you can improve (if there are any) :)

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Let me think about it :)

@24bicycle Год назад

Thanks, what is the best setting for the sound of the sea?

@FreeToUseSounds Год назад

Depends on the sea.

@Light_Camera_Story 3 года назад

This is a extremely important video. You guys are creating video that will be relative even 5 years later. Well done both of you.

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Thanks for saying that. We really love what we’re doing and it makes us happy knowing that it videos can help others.

@greek_otaku8379 3 года назад

I just bought a Zoom H5. I used it a lot during my studies for audio recording. I always had the problem of choosing how much gain to use for recording and how loud the headphones will be since you have to listen first a bit before start recording. Should I listen to 100% or less? What are you guys doing mostly?

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Oh yes I always have my headphones at 100%. Thank you for mention that and that's something I should have talked about in the video.

@miguelalexandresimoesneves8660 2 года назад

Thats a great question!

@erickwalterbutler2816 2 года назад

Not sure if someone already asked it, but it seems to be implied you don't like using a limiter because it sounds more natural? But instead set the levels so that unexpected peaks will not clip the audio - so in louder environments you might shoot for a lower peak of the audio around -12-16db so if an ambulance or motorbike go by there will be enough headroom without clipping? Do you ever use a limiter in super dynamic/unexpected situations so that it compresses these peaks rather than clipping?

@FreeToUseSounds 2 года назад

Hi Erick. That is correct when I use a 24 bit recorder but I have the F6, SD MixPre 6ii and the Tascam X8 which are all 32 bit. I don't have to worry about clipping.

@cjsamtab7 Год назад

I find that I had to tweak the level on my XY capsule to almost 10 to get gain level at -12; the resulting audio files I get from setting it between 6 to 8 are all too low when I import into Vegas Pro 17. What am I missing?

@FreeToUseSounds Год назад

Hi! What is your sound source?

@soundhole5498 3 года назад

Hey Marcel. I have a strange problem with my microphones. My Audio Technica 4022 cracks when recording outside. As soon as I'm at home, the microphones work completely without errors. Could it be that the microphones somehow contract when it's cold (-3 degrees Celsius) and that creates a crack. Have you already had a similar experience? i can not explain why the microphones do not crack with the same setup at home. ???? Need help :)

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Hi! I haven't experienced this issue myself but I heard about popping or muffling sounds when it either is too cold or to humid. Do you see anything weird in the spectrogram? Not sure if you're part of the field recording group on Facebook but I would join this group and ask if other field recordist's have the same issue.

@CobraPRIME99 2 года назад

How to keep from peaking when recording thunder?

@FreeToUseSounds 2 года назад

32 bit recorder or using a limiter.

@cjsamtab7 3 года назад

Hi. I find your videos very informative and I would like to know why I have to crank up the volume knob on my ZOOM H8 up to 9 just to see the level meter reach -12. It doesn't seem normal because my other recorders by Tascam, the H1, and Sony M10, are all very sensitive that 5 on the volume or gain dial, it's able to reach -12 or -6. Also I couldn't get any signal from my DEITY shotgun when I plug it into the capsule's external mic input. Your advice will be most appreciated.

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Hi C Jay. Yes I noticed that too that the H8 isn't as sensitive as other hand held recorders. It's better for recording loud sounds. Did you turn on phantom power on the H8 in order to get the signal?

@cjsamtab7 3 года назад

@@FreeToUseSounds , no because the DEITY has inbuilt rechargeable battery. I might need ta verify with the DEITY guys about this interface issue with H8 signal impedance

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

@@cjsamtab7 Is it the Video Mic Pro? Are you trying to use it with the adapter or mini Jack?

@cjsamtab7 3 года назад

@@FreeToUseSounds yea diety videoing pro 3 i think. TRS from the Rode Mic works on my DSLR but doesn't work on H8. I'm a nervous with impedance conflicts. Might fry one or both things.

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

@@cjsamtab7 Yeah just write Deity and they can check what's going on. I think it could be an H8 problem but you should be able to get a signal if you plug in the mini jack to the XY capsule?

@Marcus_R 3 года назад

Do you think the Zoom h4n pro with its internal xy mics is a well suited beginner's setup? I read that it has the same preamps as the h5 and h6.

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Hi Marcus. Oh yes the H4n is a good beginner recorder.

@Marcus_R 3 года назад

@@FreeToUseSounds thanks mate :)

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

@@Marcus_R You're welcome :)

@Marcus_R 3 года назад

@@FreeToUseSounds one last question: do you think the h2n gets the job done as good? Or does the h4n pro have major advantages in terms of internal mics and pres?

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

@@Marcus_R Well the H2n doesn't have XLR inputs so keep this in mind. Also it all depends what you would like to record.

@kurokid2441 3 года назад

Just purchased "All in one bundle", but confused about the net disk...that I could only download one piece at a time while there's an unpredictable waiting for the "calculating size"...OMG...

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

Hi! That’s because of the download browser restriction of 20 GB.It’s from a technical POV not possible to zip a large amount of files. If you have a problem with that you can send me an email and I refund you right away.

@kurokid2441 3 года назад

@@FreeToUseSounds Never mind yo. I've checked again. It's ok if I choose single file to download once at a time. Though it'll take more time. But I really appreciate your work out there. Thanks again for your kindness.

@FreeToUseSounds 3 года назад

I will create a new folder structure in the upcoming days. For example, check the Hong Kong category or Malta. That’s what I do for all countries.