Hi, my name is Graham O’Brien and I’m a drummer, audio engineer, and composer living in St. Paul, MN. I play in some really fun bands around town (including Keston & Westdal!) and specialize in drumming and writing for sequenced music. And having gotten a recording degree, I do some work recording and mixing radio commercials at Marketing Architects ad agency in Mineeapolis. I also am building a drum recording studio in my basement that’s coming along really well and I’ll be posting plenty of really cool stuff from there. Now, for my first post to Audio Cookbook.
This is a short but pristine recording of me opening a can of Mendota Springs Sparkling Water (Lemon flavor). I recorded it at the radio production studio I work at, and the recording chain is amazing. First we tuned and sound-proofed the recording booth down to -32dB of isolation. Here’s the recording chain:
Neumann U87a (cardiod pattern, hi pass off)> Great River Electronics MP-2NV Mercenary Edition Class A Mic Pre > Langevin Electro/Optical Compressor/limiter > Pro Tools HD via 192 i/o interface
This recording was done at 44.1Khz, 16bit. The only processing I used is the Massey L2007 Limiter to make it louder: mendota-springs-can-loud
I like it! It sounds so clear and refreshing!
Awesome, thanks! One of the things I love about the u87 mic and great river mic pre combination is how it makes everything sound so “in your face” and close up.
Just curious why after you went to such trouble to record it with quality components, you then recorded it at 44.1 @ 16 bit and then used a limiter to make it louder. If you have access to Pro Tools HD rig, which you do, why not record at least at 48 khz @24 bit or 96/24 or just go nuts @ 192/24?
Thanks for the comment and question MrBlack. The truth is, I snuck into the booth between voiceover sessions and just used the settings we always use for recording VO for radio. We did go to 24 bit for a while but found that for the type of stuff we’re doing, with such limited dynamic range, 16 bit was fine and saved space.
Thanks again!
Graham
sweet job! sounds awesome.
i’m thirsty.