The "I Didn't Comment in Another Thread" Thread

[prabe]

It seems like its mostly the newscasts. I went through several of the podcasts just now and didn't find any.
First minute of this one has several.

Spoiler: Not posted for the content, just for the voicing in the first minute.

Newshour - Israeli settler denies rampage - BBC Sounds

I don't think this is the person that got me to notice it though, and that there was one that was more noticeable, but I don't remember who it was.

I worked recording books for ... a long time. Mic positioning can do a lot--but the "correct" position doesn't look like what people think. Part of that is because radio-style mics (EV RE-20 and such) tend to sound ... well, richer if you get closer--which makes them more susceptible to picking up the noises you don't want.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I worked recording books for ... a long time. Mic positioning can do a lot--but the "correct" position doesn't look like what people think. Part of that is because radio-style mics (EV RE-20 and such) tend to sound ... well, richer if you get closer--which makes them more susceptible to picking up the noises you don't want.

So, a training issue, then? That would explain it being a widespread issue.

 

[CleverNickName]

It's been too long since we've done a fun little guessing game. Hopefully it'll be a welcome distraction from all of the bile and bellyaching going on in the threads.

 

[prabe]

So, a training issue, then? That would explain it being a widespread issue.

Partly training, probably. Partly a budget thing, that they don't have noise gates (hardware) for everyone and/or don't do post-processing to clean things up.

 

[darjr]

Uh. I considered suggesting having them shipped to me but, uh, I better not.

 

[Cadence]

Partly training, probably. Partly a budget thing, that they don't have noise gates (hardware) for everyone and/or don't do post-processing to clean things up.

A lot of the most noticeable ones have been the top of the hour news casts. Is there any real time processing?

I could try asking Crowd Science I guess

 

[prabe]

A lot of the most noticeable ones have been the top of the hour news casts. Is there any real time processing?

I could try asking Crowd Science I guess

In principle you can, but I'd be inclined to go with hardware--expanders/noise gates--in anything like a real-time situation. I am, however, old. I haven't yet connected a microphone to my audio interface, so I don't know where real-time software processing is; I suspect it's more than up to the task, though.

 

[Cadence]

@prabe I have another one that's bothered me if it is ok to steal from your professional expertise. Is the sound sample on this page compressed somehow or are they just talking fast? (Some on Sirius have sounded even quicker for this show).

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Imagination Theater, Detective Harry Nile, Sherlock Holmes Radio Mysteries, Jim French Productions

harrynile.com

 

[prabe]

@prabe I have another one that's bothered me if it is ok to steal from your professional expertise. Is the sound sample on this page compressed somehow or are they just talking fast? (Some on Sirius have sounded even quicker for this show).

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Imagination Theater, Detective Harry Nile, Sherlock Holmes Radio Mysteries, Jim French Productions

harrynile.com

I don't mind at all, but A) it's been years since I worked in the field and B) my formal education dates back to 2000. Given that ...

That seems pretty natural to me. They might have read the lines separately and edited them together. That'd probably end up cutting the breaths out, and maybe shortening the spaces between the lines. We used to do this sometimes, though we tended to do it more to take out overlong pauses or extra breaths--both of which were mostly the result of edits. It is possible to time-compress audio without shifting the pitch, but unless they had some hard upper limit in terms of episode duration I can't see why they'd do that. More than a little bit tends to (or at least used to tend to) introduce artifacts unless you babysit the process.

EDIT: And now I have "Danse Macabre" in my head. There are worse things.

 

[Cadence]

I don't mind at all, but A) it's been years since I worked in the field and B) my formal education dates back to 2000. Given that ...

That seems pretty natural to me. They might have read the lines separately and edited them together. That'd probably end up cutting the breaths out, and maybe shortening the spaces between the lines. We used to do this sometimes, though we tended to do it more to take out overlong pauses or extra breaths--both of which were mostly the result of edits. It is possible to time-compress audio without shifting the pitch, but unless they had some hard upper limit in terms of episode duration I can't see why they'd do that. More than a little bit tends to (or at least used to tend to) introduce artifacts unless you babysit the process.

EDIT: And now I have "Danse Macabre" in my head. There are worse things.

In comparison to the old time radio shows from the 40s-60s it is just so much faster, it might just be that it sticks out by comparison.

Thanks!