Trying to get a nice clean sound

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Seishindo
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2010 4:08 am

Trying to get a nice clean sound

Post by Seishindo »

I am attempting to create mp3s.
I have tried using three different USB mics, and no matter what there is background noise starting out. Not sure of the source.
When I choose "denoise" and sample and then apply, it cuts out the background "humming" noise.

But then the places where I am speaking have a faint (not sure of the best term to use) noise in the background. Not a lot, but enough to where you can hear this extra noise ever so much.

I have read the manual and tried all sorts of things but I cannot get a nice clear sounding voice. I did try Frequency Band, DC Offset, and White noise.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Charlie

CDJonah_alt
Posts: 379
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 3:57 pm

Trying to get a nice clean sound

Post by CDJonah_alt »

Most probably the noise you are hearing is real ambient noise; you just
don't notice it live; your ear/brain filters it out. If you get a
cardiod mike and get very close to it, you should be able overwhelm it.
What is left, you can probably use the denoise to cut it down.

You could look at the spectrum of the noise and see if it has line
frequency components. If so, you can always use notch filters to get rid
of it. (for US, usually multiples of 120hz)

Chuck

Seishindo wrote:
I am attempting to create mp3s.
I have tried using three different USB mics, and no matter what there is background noise starting out. Not sure of the source.
When I choose "denoise" and sample and then apply, it cuts out the background "humming" noise.

But then the places where I am speaking have a faint (not sure of the best term to use) noise in the background. Not a lot, but enough to where you can hear this extra noise ever so much.

I have read the manual and tried all sorts of things but I cannot get a nice clear sounding voice. I did try Frequency Band, DC Offset, and White noise.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Charlie




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Seishindo
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2010 4:08 am

Post by Seishindo »

Hi Chuck,
I appreciate your reply. Thanks!

I listened to some podcasts of other people that is use talking, and I cannot hear any underlying hum.

On whatever I record even after cleaning it up I hear a faint underlying hum. So something needs to be different/better.

I have a two year old Macbook

I will take a look at "frequency components" if I can figure that out.

Any other ideas?!

Thanks again.

Seishindo
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2010 4:08 am

Continuing...

Post by Seishindo »

Went to Analyze, and then Spectrum.

If I choose the start of a selected portion there is a spike of 16 HZ , -119dB

Varies a bit in different places, but not too far different.

Is that usual?

If it is not, what can I do?

Thanks!

Charlie

CDJonah_alt
Posts: 379
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 3:57 pm

Trying to get a nice clean sound

Post by CDJonah_alt »

Are you sure you have the display so you can see the entire range from
about 100hz to 1000 hz? 16 hz is of no importance. Are you using log
displacy?

How close do you have the mic to your mouth? Have you tried recording
in a closet?

Chuck

Seishindo wrote:
Went to Analyze, and then Spectrum.

If I choose the start of a selected portion there is a spike of 16 HZ , -119dB

Varies a bit in different places, but not too far different.

Is that usual?

If it is not, what can I do?

Thanks!

Charlie




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Seishindo
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Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2010 4:08 am

Post by Seishindo »

I think I have figured out my problem!

I was recording at too low a level,
AND some of the tweaking I was doing, I was doing in the wrong order.

I am getting good results now.

Thanks for your help!!

charlie

CtrlAltDel
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2011 11:10 am
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Re: Trying to get a nice clean sound

Post by CtrlAltDel »

CDJonah_alt wrote: You could look at the spectrum of the noise and see if it has line frequency components. If so, you can always use notch filters to get rid of it. (for US, usually multiples of 120hz)
I have a similar issue, in that a voice recording that I made has a very noticeable hum, caused by what looks like a dodgy input into the mixer panel. Opening up the spectrum analyser, the main peak is at 50Hz, which makes sense given that this is Australia.

How can I apply a notch filter in Amadeus Pro? If I sample the hum and then use Suppress Noise, the suppression is too good in the gaps where the speaker takes a breath, but either still noticeable when they are speaking, or their voice sounds badly distorted, even to the point where I'm thinking that maybe the hum would be better!

CDJonah_alt
Posts: 379
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 3:57 pm

Trying to get a nice clean sound

Post by CDJonah_alt »

I only AP 1.5.x but on that you go to effects -> denoising --> suppress
frequency band.

You may well also have the overtones 50, 100, 150 ... or possibily 50
150 250 ...

Chuck

On 11/16/11 5:26 AM, CtrlAltDel wrote:
CDJonah_alt wrote:
You could look at the spectrum of the noise and see if it has line frequency components. If so, you can always use notch filters to get rid of it. (for US, usually multiples of 120hz)
I have a similar issue, in that a voice recording that I made has a very noticeable hum, caused by what looks like a dodgy input into the mixer panel. Opening up the spectrum analyser, the main peak is at 50Hz, which makes sense given that this is Australia.

How can I apply a notch filter in Amadeus Pro? If I sample the hum and then use Suppress Noise, the suppression is too good in the gaps where the speaker takes a breath, but either still noticeable when they are speaking, or their voice sounds badly distorted, even to the point where I'm thinking that maybe the hum would be better!




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MrEes
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Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2006 7:52 pm
Location: Finger Lakes, NY, USA
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Trying to get a nice clean sound

Post by MrEes »

And sometimes *not* getting rid of all the band(s) is the right thing to do.

m.
--
Michael Rees,
composer &c.

Charles Jonah expressed with much marked refinement of phraseology:
I only AP 1.5.x but on that you go to effects -> denoising --> suppress
frequency band.

You may well also have the overtones 50, 100, 150 ... or possibily 50
150 250 ...

Chuck
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CtrlAltDel
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Location: Sydney, Australia
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Post by CtrlAltDel »

Thanks for the suggestions; I tried using the Suppress Frequency Bands, starting with the peaks at 50, 150 and 200Hz, but it made little difference.

In the end, I tried a trick mentioned on the Audacity wiki, of decreasing the volume of the noise sample before sampling and then suppressing - that way, there isn't a deathly silence where the noise used to be followed by garbled voice. The hum is still there, but it's a lot less irritating.

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