Ambient Room noise

[john grant]

Here\'s a real wild request. I\'m looking for ambient room noise to make my reverb sound less dry and more REAL. You know, a few creeky chairs, muffled coughs (in extreem cases) etc., et., Is there sofware out there that simulates ambient room noise?

John Grant http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/42/john_lewis_grant.html (\"http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/42/john_lewis_grant.html\")

[IOComposer]

John,
Since that kind of thing falls more into the \"Sound effects\" realm of things, you may want to look around on some sfx libraries. www.sounddogs.com (\"http://www.sounddogs.com\") is a good place to go for one shot sound effects. They\'re pretty cheap, too!
-IO

[**DONOTDELETE**]

What you want is 2 things:

pro samples, obviously (sounddogs is great)
real-world samples

Also an excellent way to impart the character of a real-world room on a track of sound effects, voices, etc, is to sample the target room with Sonic Foundry\'s \"Acoustic Mirror\" / \"Acoustics Modeler\" product.

I recommend that you buy a portable MiniDisc recorder, with a stereo cardioid microphone attachment for your sunglasses. My friend has one, it is amazing. Don\'t worry about the ATRAC compression, it\'s for ambient sounds that aren\'t directly noticed by the listener.

Recorder and microphones together should be under $400. With it you can capture all the room noise you want, by going into rooms. You could also use it with the Acoustic Mirror.

[LHong]

How about cakewalk FX3 (3D-custom-modeling accoustic reverb)? http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/F3/F31.html (\"http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/F3/F31.html\")

I see this has very nice user-interface, you could design your own-verbs by anyway you want. how good it is? $150.00, download the demo and listen it by your own taste! it uses about 2~10% CPU (FX-plug-in). I\'m having it about a year, but never used it since I\'m using the external one. Give me the email addr when you want/like it.



[This message has been edited by LHong (edited 10-26-2000).]

[Gulliver]

John,

Sometimes the best source for this is a CD of a live recording. The trick would be to try to find a concerto or symphony recording that is very clean with an audience that is not too big (too much coughing, chit-chatting like in Christmas specials) I find that the best place to grab a recording is just before the performance begins in the space of time when the clapping stops and the conductor turns around and gets ready to begin. The audience politely hushes but there is still noticeable ambient noise present, how long this lasts depends on the CD. This kind of thing really works best with sampled Solo light Concerto work, the ambience gets lost quickly within heavy ensemble mix. I\'ve got a short Chopin clip as an example:

Clip #1 : excerpt from Second Piano Concerto http://members.home.net/vstorage1/chopin.mp3 (\"http://members.home.net/vstorage1/chopin.mp3\")

Clip #2: excerpt from a piece I wrote as a tribute/salute to Toru Takemitsu. http://members.home.net/vstorage1/strings.mp3 (\"http://members.home.net/vstorage1/strings.mp3\")

The ambience was also mixed into this clip but the heavy presence of the strings drowns it all out.

Regards,
Faisal Juma.

[john grant]

Great, guys! This is exactly the kind of info I need. I\'ll check out all the suggestions. BTW, if anybody\'s at my site, don\'t take the first couple of preludes and fugues as indicative of the verb I\'m using, or the kind of problem I\'m facing. The verb varies from track to track, as does the sonic quality of the result. It\'s always a surprise how much impact verb can have on the final result.

John Grant http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/42/john_lewis_grant.html (\"http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/42/john_lewis_grant.html\")

[john grant]

Gulliver, I just listened to the Chopin clip. That\'s a REAL piano, right??? Now, just heard the other clip. Good stuff. You wrote that, right? What verb are you using? (if you don\'t mind me asking.)

John Grant http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/42/john_lewis_grant.html (\"http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/42/john_lewis_grant.html\")

[This message has been edited by john grant (edited 10-26-2000).]

[Gulliver]

Gulliver, I just listened to the Chopin clip. That\'s a REAL piano, right???

Nope. Believe or not that\'s a 130MB Fazioli Grand Piano sample. This instrument has a fairly bright sound but I sometimes still use it because I\'m fond of the samples, simply great.

Now, just heard the other clip. Good stuff. You wrote that, right?

Yeah, that\'s my Takemitsu rip-off, everyone has one. http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif

What verb are you using

Before I mention the Reverb I should say that on the Chopin piece I added an audible layer of \'Ambient noise\' (topic discussion) You should be able to hear it. Reverb on the piece was done with a DirectX plugin by Cakewalk called \'Audio FX3 Soundstage\' I\'ve mentioned this thing on the forum before. Basically it is one of those Room simulators. I personally like this one because I think it is very promising. I hope Cakewalk continues to develope it, there\'s need for improvement of sound quality among other things.

Regards,
F. Juma.

[Boomer]

Gulliver,

Where can I get a copy of that 130MB Fazioli Grand Piano sample?? http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif

[john grant]

Well, I\'m mighty impressed. So the strings are synth too, I assume. It\'s Coakley\'s piano, then? (He says he likes his Steinway better. His Faz doesn\'t sound this good in his own demos.

I wonder if he\'s done Faz for GS yet? I couldn\'t tell it was fake untill the last three chords at the end, and even then, I\'m honest enough to admit that unless you had told me so, I wouldn\'t have known, period.

I\'ve always thought the Steinway B was basically the most realistic sounding sample, certainly more realistic that the Perfect Piano. What\'s your opinion, Gulliver?

[Gulliver]

Well, I\'m mighty impressed. So the strings are synth too, I assume. It\'s Coakley\'s piano, then?

Yep, there are few people on this planet that can sample a piano like that man can. Strings were mainly the old miroslav ensembles.

I wonder if he\'s done Faz for GS yet?

Not sure, mine\'s was originally Akai.

I\'ve always thought the Steinway B was basically the most realistic sounding sample, certainly more realistic that the Perfect Piano. What\'s your opinion, Gulliver?

Personally I think the Steinway in the long run is the much better instrument. You only heard a brief snippet of the Fazioli, and although it is a very nice piano, it does not have the presense or force (sample wise) the Steinway B has. This strictly has everything to do with limitations of sampling rather than with any shortcoming on the part of Fazioli Grand.

Regards,
Faisal.

[Gulliver]

Where can I get a copy of that 130MB Fazioli Grand Piano sample??

Checkout: http://www.williamcoakley.com (\"http://www.williamcoakley.com\")
I think Coakley has done a giga versoin of his Fazioli. Also there are Fazioli samples on the \'Ultimate Piano\' collection.

Regards,
Faisal.