Mounting Oil Cooler Grill

[audiomick]

5 hours ago, Joe said:

... please show us you sound setup on your motorcycle?

I can't, because I haven't ever made any videos on the motorcycle.

Doesn't mean I don't know how to do it, though. I have been involved in sound professionally for nearly 40 years.

 

This is now the third attempt to write this post. The first two attempts failed due to bloody-mindedness on the part of the forum software, so this might be a bit terse....

 

The bloke in the video is right about the wind noise, and right about keeping the mic out of the wind and using a wind shield.

Where he goes wrong is ignoring the fact that it is a stereo recorder (he refers to his "microphone", but the device in question, a Zoom something or other, is a recorder, not just a microphone...). If one listens carefull to his recordings with headphones, the sound is not "in the middle", and in fact matches what one can see in the videos, i.e. how he has the recorder mounted.

The microphone capsules are easily visible on the front of the device, and they are installed in an X-Y configuration, like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphone_practice#X-Y_technique

This implies strongly, that the recorder is also directional, i.e. is intended to be "pointed" at the source of the sound being recorded. That would be, in the case of a motorcycle, the ends of the exhaust (assuming only the one stereo recorder is being used). That is to say, the device should be mounted  with its long axis parallel to the long axis of the motor cycle, and with the "front" end pointed between the outlets of the exhausts.

 

If I were to make a recording of a motorcycle without any limits on resources, I would most likey use 8 high quality lavalier microphones (miniature mics...). There would be two between the heads (we're assuming a Guzzi here...) two at the inlets of the airbox to get the induction noise, two down near the outlets of the exhausts, and two on the seat behind the rider. That should allow capturing all the relevant components of the sound of the motorcycle, which would then be mixed to the best balance in post-production. The gear needed for that would cost about $10,000,-, which is why I haven't had a go at it yet...

 

@docc if this goes on, it might be time to split it off into its own thread....

[Tomchri]

Sounds like a fair amount for the return. . Sound/ fidelity is still a fun trip, could be costly tho

Cheers Tom. 

[audiomick]

35 minutes ago, Tomchri said:

. Sound/ fidelity is still a fun trip, could be costly tho

Cheers Tom. 

That's it.

 

Another couple of things:

mp3: no. Sounds like shit. The sound is going to be added to a video, and then (probably) up-loaded to youtube or something like that . Every step along that path brings a degradation of sound quality with it. Therefore, the initial source should be as good as possible. This is not mp3.

Automatic gain control: this process adjusts gain according to some algorithm that some programmer wrote according to what he reckons might work. There is a limiter involved that does things to the level that are almost never good. Far better is to work out what is a good, safe level for the recording situation, and set that manually. Better to be on the safe side, and boost the level in post-production. Digital audio workstations almost always have a "normalise" function that is intended for exactly that.

 

Incidentally, the sound quality of the bloke's voice in the video is very poor. One on the problems is that it is repeatedly slightly distorted. The automatic gain control is not keeping it under control. The other thing is, that the automatic gain control is compressing it to death. The result here would also be much better if he were to work out (by trial and error, if nothing else) what would be the ideal manual setting, and use that, and adjust the level in post-production as neccessary.

[al_roethlisberger]

Another good reference photo, from @Tomchri

 

 

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230224/9118f9f421ca55d15db3cefa802796b4.jpg

[MartyNZ]

The guard on my oil cooler is either homemade or aftermarket. It screens out rabbits and low flying seagulls, but I cleaned out about a cupful of dirt and grit from between the cooler fins before I painted it.

I think I need a fender extender.

[al_roethlisberger]

A reference photo from @Joe of the grille in silver, which along with a different aesthetic also being silver provides a better view of how the cover is mounted.

 

 

[al_roethlisberger]

Another view of a Rosso Mandello with the oil cooler cover painted silver.

[Joe]

6 hours ago, al_roethlisberger said:

Another view of a Rosso Mandello with the oil cooler cover painted silver.

Al, was it stock or add on?

[docc]

Just a clarification on the factory silver oil cooler grill fitted to the 2001 Rosso Mandello:

       1999-2001 V11 Sport     Cooler grille, black     GU 01582630

       2001 Rosso Mandello     Cooler grille, silver     GU01592640

[al_roethlisberger]

3 hours ago, Joe said:

Al, was it stock or add on?

 

The black oil cooler cover appears to have been stock on early V11 Sport models up through 2001ish, and based upon some quick Google-ing, the silver version appears to have been stock at least on the Rosso Mandello.

 

See @docc 's post above with the part numbers for reference which confirms that observation on my part

 

 

[al_roethlisberger]

Here's Rosso Mandello on eBay, #49, that interestingly has a black versus silver oil cooler grille:

So as usual, MG standards can definitely vary, probably day by day on the production line 

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165957723074

[docc]

5 minutes ago, al_roethlisberger said:

Here's Rosso Mandello on eBay, #49, that interestingly has a black versus silver oil cooler grille:

So as usual, MG standards can definitely vary, probably day by day on the production line 

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165957723074

Ah, #49, for sale by the fifth owner. That is a very nice RM in many ways. Some uncertainty whether that is the original oil cooler grill.

[audiomick]

6 minutes ago, al_roethlisberger said:

So as usual, MG standards can definitely vary, probably day by day on the production line 

Whatever happend to be on the parts shelf at the time...  

[al_roethlisberger]

7 minutes ago, docc said:

Ah, #49, for sale by the fifth owner. That is a very nice RM in many ways. Some uncertainty whether that is the original oil cooler grill.

 

@docc  "by the fifth owner"... do we know this bike from a previous forum member's ownership?

[docc]

3 minutes ago, al_roethlisberger said:

 

@docc  "by the fifth owner"... do we know this bike from a previous forum member's ownership?

All previous owners have been members here.

That Rosso Mandello has some respectable provenance. Much of it probably not known to the current seller.