Interference type noise

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Hi, this is my first time on here, so bear with me.
I have been recording voice overs only using the latest version of Audacity, 2.0.5.0. I am using a Blue Nessie Snowball mic on a Lenovo ThinkPad. I have recorded dozens of hours with no problems until yesterday. I now get a noise that sounds like some interference. I have tried all of the suggestions I could find.

I have switched recording from stereo to mono. I have turned off all other apps and have no web browser running, I have disabled the recording monitor, I have disabled my computer’s internal mic, I have placed the Snowball various distances from the computer…
It does not happen all of the time, and the randomness of it is what is messing me up. The noise only appears during playback, not while recording. It can appear immediately or in the middle of a track. I’ve even had it appear when I just record “dead air”.

I have also tried adjusting the mic input volume, but it still appears on lower levels.

I have tried the mic on a different computer and had no issue, but as I said the event happens at such random times I can’t really perform a “controlled” experiment.

Any tips or advice or suggestions are appreciated!

2

The noise only appears during playback, not while recording.

It’s a recording problem, otherwise the noise wouldn’t appear in the recorded WAV file.

It’s probably power supply noise from the USB port. Try a differnet USB port, and if that doesn’t help you may need a “powered” USB hub (a USB hub with its own wall-wart power supply).

If you have USB hard drive hooked-up, or any other USB device, try removing it.

3

Same problem here. Noise sounds similar to your audio sample. A blip type frequency… very brief in duration…maybe a second. Did you ever find out what the issue was?

I am using a Sennheiser Mic plugged via Mogami Gold XLR into a Scarlett 2i2 plugged into a MBP which is plugged into a power source. I have used 2 different interfaces and XLR cables so I know the problem isn’t from either. The mic and the macbook are pretty new.