Fuzz

Hi
Im planning to do a bit of recording… reading and recording my own voice

Just did a test using a logic 3 mic which I think is a good mic

for audio digital recording.

The test result is good and prob better than I could get on say a sony recording machine

but there is a bit of fuzz… very slight, but its there

Im thinking could nt I get a recording without … any … background fuzz ?


I set input at 5 and output at 7

I m just wondering are there any tweeks that could maybe cut out any trace of fuzz ?


there are 6 sockets at the back of my comp

Ive got the mic plugged into the top right socket… pink

there are no other plugs plugged in

There are two fuzzes. There is distortion which an old supervisor called putting “hair on the audio.” Then there’s straight noise sometimes called white or pink noise. That’s ffffffffffff when you stop talking. Which one do you have?

Internal soundcards have an uphill battle. They have to work in a hot, uncomfortable environment right next to noisy, buzzy digital electronics. They warn you when you build your own computer that you can’t get the video and audio cards far enough apart.

So no, nobody is shocked that you’re unable to get a perfect voice from your system. Which problem do you have?

Koz

its kind of the fffff sound

not really a problem, but its there

I was just hoping there might be a tweek that would get me perfect silence when just
recording nothing .

would you say input at 5 and output at 7 are good settings for recording ?

As much as everyone would like to put little pieces of sticky tape at the right settings, you really need to use the Audacity tools designed to set sound levels.

When you record, you get a collection of blue waves and a bouncing red sound meter. The red meters should bounce in the -6 range and never go all the way up to zero. The blue waves should never go all the way up to 100% (1.0).

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/Audacity1_record.jpg

If you go too high, the sound will get distorted, harsh and crunchy. If you record too low, the natural hiss of the sound system will be too loud. I’m guessing that’s what you have.

If your meters are too small to see, you can make them bigger (highly recommended) by clicking on the right-hand edge and dragging sideways. The other tools will get out of the way.

Live recording is frequently a shock to people accustomed to highly processed professional and commercial recordings. It’s a lot more wild and woolie and hard to control.

Some soundcards have a setting for weak microphones called the 20dB Boost. You might look for that and see if that makes any difference.

As a last resort, you can try gentle noise reduction, but hiss is very difficult to remove from a show. Let’s get your recording levels right first. There’s nothing like fighting multiple contradictory symptoms at once.

Koz

Just recorded 20 seconds with open mic
go here
http://www.mediafire.com/download/ct81b26knraayro/BACKGROUND++FUZZ.mp3

that fuzz sound is therefore beneath everything I record

Im just recording my own speech right now… the results are good,
but without that fuzz they would be better

There must be some way to get rid of it !

Presumably you have a cheap computer mic? Decent mics cost $$$ and aren’t even suitable for connecting to an unbalanced (noisy) computer mic input.

You missed out the information requested in the pink panel at the top of the page. Try going into the Windows sound control panels and see if there is a boost or AGC control for the mic that you can turn off. It may be behind an “Advanced” button. Then get closer to the mic and turn the input volume up in Audacity.


Gale

For about $100 USD you can get a “podcast” USB mic. A popular example is the [u]Blue Yetti[/u]. A USB mic bypasses the “useless” microphone input on your computer. (I don’t own a Blue Yetti, but it has a good reputation. There are other similar mics available.)

With a mic like this, room noise, room acoustics, and the “performance” will generally be the limiting factors, rather than the quality of the mic & soundcard.

And a “podcast” or “studio style” USB mic is about the same price as a similar analog studio or stage mic, but you don’t have to buy a separate audio interface with like you’d need with a studio/stage mic. So you are essentially getting the USB interface free.

I thought my logic 3 mic was ok and good for digi recording.

I went to update my audacity and thought Id downloaded and installed 2.05

but the window comes up today and its … audacity 1.3.14 beta

so I guess Im still on an old version.

My op system is old too… XP !

Just wondering, did the 20 seconds of open mic file I sent sound bad ?
is that fuzz sound exceptional ?


I just thought there might be a few tweaks I could try

a few tips to get to record on a smooth… silent … basis !


( Ill just go and have another shot at installing 2.05 )

i DOWNLOADED the zip this time and got it into documents

I opened it and could nt see an … install … icon

I hit the audacity icon and the window came up… audacity 2.05

Ive dragged that into my side panel so hopefully the 2.05 version will come up in future !

The only Logic 3 mic I can see online is a USB mic, so as you are connecting to the pink mic input I don’t really know what mic you have. Any mic meant for connecting to the pink mic input on a computer can be safely regarded as noisy.

The noise sounded to me like microphone boost. Did you check that boost wasn’t on? Look at Missing features - Audacity Support . Press “Volume” in the “Sound recording” section, then look for your mic. Click on the “Advanced” button if there is one.

A ZIP file is not an installer. What you could do is open the Windows Control Panel and uninstall Audacity 1.3.14 if it is listed there. That does not affect 2.0.5 in any way. See How to change or remove a program in Windows XP .


Gale

Pick a web page that shows your microphone. All the pages I see are for USB microphones and they won’t plug into the pink socket of a soundcard.

The sound is awful. There’s something very serious wrong. Normal microphone problems don’t produce that honky, talking into a bucket sound with hiss behind it.

Koz

yep it is a logic3 mic on a small white base and it plugs into the pink socket.

mic boost ? you d think that would be somewhere in preferences !

Ive got a big pioneer music deck with mic in and phones out etc

I might give that a go to get an amplified signal into my comp
that might get rid of the fuzz ?

I have said twice now where to check that. :wink:

If the Pioneer mic input is suitable for your mic it probably won’t make any difference, unless Pioneer connects to the computer via USB and the source of the noise is the motherboard audio (or unless “mic boost” is the problem).


Gale

JUST recorded an voice audio… fuzz there of course

hit … effects

then noise removal…

I applied this to the audio…
quite good results, a lot of the fuzz removed

I then went and applied a bit of amp to the file and the result is not too bad,
a lot better than the original .

So are you still connecting the mic to the pink mic input on the computer? Or was the mic connected to the Pioneer?

The sample you posted before was really poor, so it would be better to fix the problem, ideally. Most Noise Removal also damages the audio to some extent, so the trick is to remove as much noise as you can without being able to hear degradation in the sound.

It would be a good idea to go into the Windows “Sounds and Audio Devices” control panel and look at all the options for the mic.

Gale

interesting vid I found

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1utQ5AsgPU&list=TLWMqsSGY7rE-n5sVu0Fp1Da-mG4s5xRhO

Ive was recording at recording vol 80 … playback vol 40
and getting fuzz on sound

just recorded using recording vol … 20 and playback… 18 and got good vol playback
but none of the fuzz… using logic 3 mic

Computer mic ports almost always have a boost setting in Windows. If that boost is on then you will probably want to turn the input level down.


Gale

Have also just bought a sony voice recorder… about 4 inches by 1 and half inches…

prob the kind the secretaries use ?

The recording quality seems good, I can record on there and then feed result into audacity !