Issue with a hiss/whine in the background of some recordings

[friendlyreminder]

Hello all,

I’m on Audacity 2.0.6, using Windows 10.

I’ve been messing with a new mic recently (trying to move from a Blue Snowball to an ATR 2100 - yes, I know USB mics aren’t the best, but it’s all my budget can manage right now) and I’ve noticed while using the ATR 2100, very occasionally an entire recording will have a sort of high-pitched whine or hiss in the background. The frustrating thing is that this isn’t a constant - recordings either have it throughout, or not at all. It is only super noticeable after applying the ACX macro from the Audacity wiki. I’ve included two recordings - a raw take, and a mastered take, so it’s apparent.

This has never happened with any other microphone I’ve used on this laptop.

I’m recording audio on a laptop that is sitting in the other room, and it isn’t connected to the power mains. I do not have this issue with the Blue Snowball, and it only happens seemingly randomly.

Is there a plugin that could help me with this? Noise reduction does some decent work here, but you can make out the hiss in the mix, as you can tell from my mastered file. The mastered file uses a Noise Reduction of 12/6/6.

I’ve got several mastered recordings with no hint of the whine.

Thanks for your help.

https://clyp.it/yufkzfqt (raw)

https://clyp.it/kyoddaby (+ACX macro)

I’ve made no headway in trying to figure this out. I recorded an audition today and experienced no issues, and then went to record another, and it was definitely present. It sounded like a banshee in excruciating pain, much worse than usual. Overall I’d characterize it as white noise though.

I’m wondering if I should return the mic?

Edit: My phone and tablet are within a few feet of the mic, but that’s it in terms of electronics.

[kozikowski]

We got two problems right at the top.

To download this file, log in or create an account.

Thanks. I’ll pass.

So I can’t apply filters or do any serious analysis without the actual file.

You can post a 20 second sound clip right on the forum.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/TestClip/Record_A_Clip.html

The other problem is the noise. There isn’t any. We’re not magic. If you can’t produce a known damaged sound clip, we’re stuck.

You can’t “dive for noise.” Set the playback for normal show volume and only then scroll back to the background noise and listen without touching anything. Can you hear it? It’s all relative. All microphones produce some noise. The specification for ACX is background noise 1000 times quieter than your voice (-60dB).If you produce a sucky voice, then yes, it’s going to fail noise.

Watch the Audacity bouncing sound meter and the blue waves. The meter should just be turning yellow on peaks and the blue waves should have tips just at the 50% mark Roughly like this.

Koz

[kozikowski]

It is totally possible for USB microphones to make their own noise. There is a whining sound I’ve been calling the Yeti Curse. You’ll never guess why.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/clips/USBMicrophoneWhineClip.mp3

Do you get this? It generally happens forever and doesn’t come and go. The only solution is change the computer, although we do have a partial software solution filter for it.

The gentle spring rain in the trees shshshsh is totally normal. It’s the amount you have to juggle.

Post a raw sample.

Koz

[Trebor]

Some USB mics have a constant mosquito-like whine, but I can’t hear it on your recording.
The only problem I hear is slightly excessive sibilance which can be fixed with a de-esser plugin …

[friendlyreminder]

Sorry Koz, I forgot I’d need to upload the files here directly. I’ll be sure to do that when I’m home.

And thanks for your response, Trebor. I have a few more recent samples with much more noticeable “shrieking”. I agree it’s faint in the recordings I provided. I’ll upload those too in a bit.

[Trebor]

And thanks for your response, Trebor. I have a few more recent samples with much more noticeable “shrieking”
I agree it’s faint in the recordings I provided …

Possibly the “shrieking” is not on the recordings, but is being generated on the computer you are playing the recordings on.
(If you can hear “shrieking” on store-bought tracks then it’s not on the recordings).

[kozikowski]

I forgot I’d need to upload the files here directly.

Not exactly. You can certainly do that at any time, but if you do post using a third party, you have to make sure that the third party makes the work freely available and doesn’t try to create an account. You also have to make sure the third party doesn’t try to change the work “to help you.”

We can do amazing things with a shot at the raw work.

Everybody gets the two seconds of silence wrong. It’s not kidding. Hold your breath and freeze. One poster sounded like they decided to can a few vegetables during the “silent” portion. No, dear. Room. Noise. Only. Go down the links in the instructions. They’re very short.

12,6,6 noise reduction is too stiff. A practiced ear can hear the slight gargling in that effect.

Koz

[friendlyreminder]

Okay. Here are two more recent recordings with ATR 2100. Yes, I hear the truck engine revving in the recordings, but that’s really not of consequence. If you can’t hear it in the raw recording, I’m sure you can hear the squealing in the mastered recording.

Have fun with these.

Edit: …went ahead and provided another sample, without the truck. I can imagine you’d probably ask me for that.

[kozikowski]

Thank you. Your recording volume is massively too quiet.



The tips of those blue waves need to come up, occasionally, to about 0.5 or the 50% mark. Forget the noise for a minute. Keep turning the volume(s) up, adjusting the system and adjust your face/microphone spacing until you can get occasional 50% waves. Don’t make any assumptions as to where any knobs “should” be. It’s not that unusual to run home microphones full-up to get good levels.

That’s an end-fire microphone so you should be speaking into the grill end, not the side. Looking, looking. This microphone has no knobs, right? How far away are you? Are there recording volume controls anywhere in the system? Did you install driver or app software?

Here’s another test. Never blow into a microphone—ever—but you can talk and scream as loud as you want. Can you ever make the blue waves go all the way up? This is just a test, but you should be able to do this. If you can’t, ever, then this microphone may not be for you. Quiet microphones can have very serious noise problems. I put my Shure X2U preamp in a box in the garage because of this. It’s nice to look at, but it doesn’t get loud enough and it’s noisy. It’s happy out there.

What happens if you put your Snowball back in service? Can you get louder recordings? The switch on the back should be 1. Cardioid (directional), full volume and you should be speaking into the company logo.

Koz

[friendlyreminder]

In my experience, the ATR is notoriously quiet to begin with. My gain level/overall volume output have nothing to do with the absurd screeching you’re hearing. No matter where I have the gain level, or how close I am to the mic, the screeching is pretty much a coin flip. I’ve done multiple takes at varying distances/gains, and I always manage to achieve it every now and then. I mentioned in the OP that I recorded an audition, mastered, uploaded it, with no screeching – and recorded another – all with the same settings, same distance from the mic – and the screeching just happened to feature throughout this second recording in its entirety.

I want to address that first and determine if I have a faulty product on my hands or not.

I speak directly in to the mic. I’m about 4-6 inches away. The mic has, to my knowledge, no volume controls. I have no driver or app software installed.

The Snowball always provides louder recordings. Oddly enough, all the (9) audiobooks I’ve recorded/produced have been with the mic set on “3”. The other settings yield that “Yeti Curse” you mentioned. Only setting 3 prevents it.

I’m still using the Snowball on a project, but some of the projects I recently acquired were netted using the ATR for auditions. I would like to not betray the author’s idea of what my overall sound is, but I’m considering just switching back to the Snowball full-time and refunding the ATR. Nothing I’ve read about the ATR mentions this ghastly wailing, so hardware failure leaps out to me.

To reiterate, I’ve managed to get the wail at max gain, minimum gain, and at varying distances from the mic itself.

[kozikowski]

Something in your system is greatly misbehaving. Watch. I plain/ordinary boosted “Piercing 2” to get it loud enough for the audiobook tools. A whole pile of evil tones and singing pitches turns up when I do that. I picked the center of worst one at 3633Hz and applied Effect > Notch Filter at 3633, Q-1 (Sloppy Filtering). There’s actually two tones up there very close in pitch. That, too is most unusual. The sloppy filter gets rid of both.

I switch the filter off at 2 seconds in this test.

That’s your screaming, right?

That’s not Yeti Curse. Yeti Curse is a neat orderly parade of tones centering around the USB housekeeping data rates. 1000Hz, 2000Hz, etc.

I don’t know what that is. You can’t use that Notch Filter for normal presentation because it cuts a hole right in the middle of the ear’s most sensitive tones, approx 3000Hz. It’s interference similar to “Baby Screaming On A Jet.” Impossible to ignore even with Noise Reduction. That’s probably why you need 12, 6, 6 reduction settings. I’m surprised they published like that.

I think we’re as far as we can go. I’d be analyzing your system/environment with test instruments and microphones. It could be anything. I have an older design LED lightbulb that makes similar tiny screaming noises. I might change the computer temporarily and not necessarily cure the problem, but see if the symptoms change.

Position 3.

That makes no sense. Zero. Here I’d be ripping the design of the microphone apart and see what they did different in the omni-directional setting (3) than the other two settings. I can imagine something, but I’d be Narnia story-telling.

I would have stopped using the computer to record a long time ago in favor of a stand-alone recorder.

I put my Zoom H1n on a paper towel roll in my quiet bedroom and cranked out a very nearly perfect (for me) voice track.



I would send the ATR microphone back.

Koz

[kozikowski]

Narnia Storytelling (scientific wild-ass guess):

How are you reading the script? Phone or Tablet? Nobody uses paper as in my illustration. I can imagine screen electrical radiation doing that. Do you occasionally change the position of the tablet? Does the noise problem get worse as you get the tablet closer to the microphone?

Koz

[Trebor]

Attachments piercing unmastered.wav (1.66 MiB)

The whine is faint, fading in & out over about 10 seconds.
If this of any help, it’s at different frequencies on the left & right channels …

I don’t think that’s a broken USB mic, that’s just the way it performs when connected to many computers.
The multiples of 1000Hz : 8000Hz & 10,000Hz are from the computer USB.

[kozikowski]

The whine is faint, fading in & out over about 10 seconds.
If this of any help, it’s at different frequencies on the left & right channels …

See? Narnia Storytelling.

So, Tumnus says to the lion…

Koz

[kozikowski]

If you’re reading a phone, did you turn off the “telephone” part so it doesn’t try to connect to a cell tower? It radiates when it does that.

Koz

[kozikowski]

Nobody wrote it can’t be more than one problem, either. Those will give seriously magic symptoms.

There’s a troubleshooting technique where you divide the system in half and see which half the problem follows. Work down from there. If you do that and the problem is still there in both cases, then it should be easy. That’s how I got to the Tablet/Phone possibility. That thing follows you everywhere, right? Both microphones?

Koz

[friendlyreminder]

That’s your screaming, right?

That’s not Yeti Curse. Yeti Curse is a neat orderly parade of tones centering around the USB housekeeping data rates. 1000Hz, 2000Hz, etc.

Absolutely it is my screaming, and oh, yeah, listening to even a second of either of them, I can tell this is a different eldritch abomination entirely.

That’s probably why you need 12, 6, 6 reduction settings. I’m surprised they published like that.

It’s still pretty miserable even with 12/6/6, and I haven’t actually published with these settings. I’ve auditioned, quite successfully, mind – but that’s been only when the screeching is – entirely randomly, it seems – absent.

That makes no sense. Zero. Here I’d be ripping the design of the microphone apart and see what they did different in the omni-directional setting (3) than the other two settings. I can imagine something, but I’d be Narnia story-telling.

I would have stopped using the computer to record a long time ago in favor of a stand-alone recorder.

I put my Zoom H1n on a paper towel roll in my quiet bedroom and cranked out a very nearly perfect (for me) voice track.

As surprising and counter-intuitive as it sounds, that’s how I’ve been getting all my work thus far. I’ve had 20 offers after 100 auditions, 10 I’ve accepted, and will soon have 9 books published. Rights holders and ACX QA don’t seem to mind, which may not be saying much, but it’s been good to me thus far. I can keep using the Snowball, naturally, but I don’t like the feeling that I’m getting away with something I shouldn’t, and I would like a better overall sound quality than what the Snowball provides – hence my attempt to use the ATR.

How are you reading the script? Phone or Tablet? Nobody uses paper as in my illustration. I can imagine screen electrical radiation doing that. Do you occasionally change the position of the tablet? Does the noise problem get worse as you get the tablet closer to the microphone?

My phone is about a foot away from me, on a small shelf. The tablet is “wall mounted” on my dresser in front of me where I’m sitting. It remains completely still, unless I accidentally nudge it while flipping pages.

I’ll have to do some sensitivity tests and move the tablet around the mic to see if that changes anything.

If you’re reading a phone, did you turn off the “telephone” part so it doesn’t try to connect to a cell tower? It radiates when it does that.

Certainly haven’t tried this yet. I’ll go off the grid if it means I can resolve this.

There’s a troubleshooting technique where you divide the system in half and see which half the problem follows. Work down from there. If you do that and the problem is still there in both cases, then it should be easy. That’s how I got to the Tablet/Phone possibility. That thing follows you everywhere, right? Both microphones?

Interestingly, no, this is only an ATR problem. The Snowball has been flawless in any setting I’ve had, and around any number of electronics. The exact same setup I used flawlessly with the Snowball is the setup that leads to the screeching.

I would send the ATR microphone back.

This is sounding more appealing the longer this takes. Your handheld recorder is in my price range. What does its output sound like? Pretty easy to get it to pass ACX check?

[kozikowski]

This is one of the sound tests I performed when I got it out of the box. The recorder produces perfect quality, stereo WAV sound files (If you tell it to). This is cut and no other effects. It is an MP3 conversion to get it on the forum. This is the workup including dropping a book a couple of times, spilling coffee and a reading fluff. It’s all real.



Please note if you drag-select the right-side of the waves during the actual performance, it gets within a spit and holler of passing ACX with no mastering or corrections. And yes, that does sound exactly like me.



Further processing will reduce the stereo to mono and run it through ACX Mastering anyway so all the chapters will match.

Again with reference to the paper towel picture. Replace all the wood with my messy but quiet bedroom. Otherwise, that’s exactly how I shot the test.


You should know this is the Desperation Method in that everything has been done to make the recording as stable and well-behaved as possible. No phones or tablets. Paper script. The recorder is completely stand-alone which means I will eventually have to replace the batteries.

I transferred the sound file with a USB cable. Many suppliers miss telling you that it doesn’t come with a memory chip which it uses to capture the work. One of the audio/video stores in Los Angeles had a 32GB one.

I believe the instructions tell me I can connect the unit to the computer and record live that way. I have not tried that. It is possible to buy a wall, plug-in power supply. No batteries.

Remember my goal was a perfect, stable recording and not connect it to anything else. Each time you add a cable, you could have troubles.

There are people on the forum apparently successfully using H4n recorders.

You are warned that once you start with a process and technique, you need to stick with it for a whole book. ACX checks chapter matching and ends of book.

This is the final MP3.



I was very careful not to write anything down, but I think I applied gentle Noise Reduction of the Beast 6, 6, 6. Nobody can hear that working and it pushes the gentle hiss down to where only the cats can hear it.

Koz

[Trebor]

If you discard the left channel you lose the screamer at ~3.6kHz
i.e. split stereo to mono, then delete [x] the top track of what was a stereo pair.
You still have tone at 8Hz & 10kHz [on what was the was right channel] when you are not speaking,
but those frequencies are less audible than 3.6kHz which is close to the frequency the human ear is most sensitive to … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour

[kozikowski]

I don’t like the feeling that I’m getting away with something

You might work on suppressing that feeling. If you have a good voice and quiet room, you can make a surprisingly modest microphone work. I have not given up the good fight to make an iPhone record a production. “Here, let me whip out my studio,” or, “My studio is ringing.”

It’s surprisingly difficult to do and it’s not all sound quality. I haven’t collected enough spells yet.

Koz