Recording an ocarina for practice

English

Side Note

This page is a simple overview of how to record yourself for practice. I have another page 'How to record the ocarina' which is aimed at studio recording and is much more detailed.

Day to day we encounter huge ranges of stimulus, much of which is irrelevant to us. Our brains evolved to filter things out, which is called 'selective awareness' or 'selective attention'. It's easy to find tests that demonstrate the concept online.

Selective awareness is an issue when playing instruments as there are so many things happening at once: what note to play next, the rhythm, phrasing, ornamentation, and staying in time and in tune.

A consequence of this is you don't hear what you sound like when you play. Recording yourself is a great way of revealing mistakes, and learning how your playing actually sounds.

However, recording using poor technique or poor equipment will make you sound significantly worse than you actually are. A recording with a bad microphone will sound bad, as will a good recording on bad speakers.

The microphones built into many devices are not designed to capture musical instruments and can sound poor. There are many alternatives that give better results, that are discussed on the page 'How to record the ocarina'.

The microphones in smartphones are a lot better than they used to be, and may be adequate for recording practice sessions. Although, the built in microphone in laptops and any other device with a cooling fan is pretty-much guaranteed to sound bad.

Dedicated hand held music recorders can also be is a good option: they are affordable, easy to use, and have decent microphones. I'd avoid voice recorders (Dictaphones). The Zoom H1 sounds very good for the cost.

Portable recorder, Zoom H1 A zoom H1 handheld audio recorder. These are useful for practice as it is easy to record yourself playing and listen back to hear your mistakes. They have good sound quality for the cost

A zoom H1 handheld audio recorder. These are useful for practice as it is easy to record yourself playing and listen back to hear your mistakes. They have good sound quality for the cost

It is also important to have a good set of headphones or speakers to listen to the recordings you make. Built-in speakers tend to distort and clip when faced with the ocarina's pure tone.

I'd suggest using headphones as they are cheaper relative to their quality and are not influenced by room acoustics.

Microphone placement

Second to having a good recording equipment, microphone placement is the most important aspect of getting a good sound.

First, The mic needs to be placed close to the instrument. You won't get a good sound with it on the other side of the room. I strongly recommend getting a microphone stand, but placing your recorder on a music stand is better than nothing.

While it may be intuitive to place your audio recorder in front of the ocarina in line with the voicing, this usually isn't the best option. Ocarinas, like all acoustic instruments, do not project their sound equally in all directions.

Assuming you want to get a 'clean' tone, positioning the microphone above the ocarina is best as the body shields the wind noise. Behind the ocarina will sound closer to what you hear yourself.

Ocarinas do not project sound equally in all directions, so microphone position is important when recording. Positing the microphone below the instrument will capture a lot more wind noise, than if it is positioned above. Positioning the microphone below the ocarina is the most common mistake made when recording the instrument

Just note that some microphones are more sensitive in certain directions. The Zoom recorder, for example, is directional being most sensitive end-on.

Room acoustics

Within a typical home environment, there is little to dampen the reflection of sound waves. Hard surfaces reflect sound which will echo around the room, creating an effect called 'comb filtering'.

Comb filtering changes the perceived volume of a sound depending on its pitch and your location. You may observe it first-hand if you move within your room playing a single note. In some places, it will sound louder than it does in others.

The following image shows the volume of different notes of an octave of an ocarina's range. Notice how the volume changes arbitrarily: starting from the left, notes 2 and 4 are very quiet, and note 7 has a large volume jump over note 6. This is caused by comb filtering.

The volumes of different notes of an ocarina recorded in a room with no acoustic treatment. The levels vary erratically with some notes being much louder and others barely registering due to comb filtering

In an ideal situation its best to acoustically treat your practice space. Acoustic treatment is a soft material that absorbs and diffuses sound waves entering it, greatly reducing the volume of reflected sounds. However, for practice, this may be too expensive or impractical.

No treatment, most sound is reflected When a surface has no acoustic treatment, almost all of the sound that hits it gets reflected. Any smooth surface will reflect sounds well, while soft surfaces like fabrics dampen sounds

When a surface has no acoustic treatment, almost all of the sound that hits it gets reflected. Any smooth surface will reflect sounds well, while soft surfaces like fabrics dampen sounds

With treatment, fewer reflections When a surface has acoustic treatment much less of the sound that hits it gets reflected. Any smooth surface will reflect sounds well, while soft surfaces like fabrics dampen sounds

When a surface has acoustic treatment much less of the sound that hits it gets reflected. Any smooth surface will reflect sounds well, while soft surfaces like fabrics dampen sounds

You can learn to ignore these effects in your recordings if you are aware what the instrument actually sounds like. Just play in an open outdoor environment and record yourself. As there is nothing to reflect the sound back at you, the volume spikes will be gone.

If you do opt for acoustic treatment, see 'How to record an ocarina'. Even basic acoustic treatment can dramatically improve the balance of a recording. The following was achieved just by placing couch cushions in front of and behind me, and hanging a bed quilt on the right.

Before

After

Recording

Digital recording can only represent sounds up to a limited volume; if a sound is too loud, it will 'clip' and sound distorted. Your recording device will have a gain meter which displays how loud the recorder 'hears' your playing, if no bar is visible it isn't hearing anything. If the bar ever hits 100% the sound is clipping.

Its important to set the gain appropriately for your instrument.

Many recorders have auto-gain, which adjusts the volume of the recording automatically. Using it with music isn't great though as will try to make every note on your instrument the same volume, eliminating volume dynamics.

To manually set the gain, play through your tune as if you were going to record it and watch the gain meter. Set it the meter hits about 80%; it should never max out.

These pictures show the gain meter in a digital audio workstation; dedicated recorders have an equivalent meter.

Too low An image of the level meter in a digital audio workstation. The recording level is too low as the bars barely raise at all. Recording at low level tends to result in a noisy recording

An image of the level meter in a digital audio workstation. The recording level is too low as the bars barely raise at all. Recording at low level tends to result in a noisy recording

Correct An image of the level meter in a digital audio workstation showing a recording level that is about right. The signal has good volume, but the bars are not maxing out

An image of the level meter in a digital audio workstation showing a recording level that is about right. The signal has good volume, but the bars are not maxing out

Clipping A screenshot of the level meter in a digital audio workstation showing that the recording level is too high and the recorded sound is clipping. The bars touch the top of the meter

A screenshot of the level meter in a digital audio workstation showing that the recording level is too high and the recorded sound is clipping. The bars touch the top of the meter

Listening to your recording

Once you have some recordings have a listen to them and focus on things like:

The overall tightness of your playing, articulation, rhythmic errors or intonation errors.
Also listen to the overall phrasing and style of what you are playing. Does it sound interesting or monotonous?
How do you feel about your use of ornamentation?

If you have a recording of the same song, either vocal or instrumental, listening to the two side by side can be insightful. It doesn't matter how good or bad you perceive your playing to be, rather notice the differences between the two.

Playing an instrument is ultimately a mechanical process, and an easy way if improving is to take recordings that inspire you, slow them down and copy the details. It gives you an idea what makes up expert playing.