noise problem

Hello, I have recently bought the t.bone sc 440, it’s all right, it works but when I record with it there is many noise, I don’t know if it’s a problem or it’s just microphone quality… I have used the effect to eliminate noise from Audacity but the result is not quite good.

Anyone has any idea?


Thanks!

Is the SC400 connected to your computer? How is it connected?
What are you recording? your voice? speaking? singing loudly? shouting?

Hello it’s the Sc440, it’s USB connected and i’m trying record me singing with a acoustic guitar.

Thanks!

It may just be that you are not loud enough for the microphone - the sound quality should be pretty good, but with low level sounds there will probably be a bit of “ssss” after you have amplified it to get a good volume. How bad is the noise? Could you post a short sample - just a couple of seconds with you saying “hello” or something, and leave a couple of seconds of “silence” in the recording so that the noise is evident. Export the recording as a WAV file - as long as it is less than 1MB in size you can upload it directly to the forum - if bigger than 1 MB you will need to upload it somewhere else and post a link.

Ey! Thanks for reply!

Here you have some tracks I have recorded, hope you like it! :wink:

Thanks again!

I see what you mean - it’s certainly more ssss than I’d expect.
USB microphones should bypass the sound card altogether, but I’m wondering if somehow you’re picking up additional noise from the sound card.

What sort of computer are you using? A laptop?

What operating system? Windows Vista?

Which version of Audacity (look in “Help > About Audacity”)

Open Audacity and go to “Edit menu > Preferences”
If you’re using Audacity 1.2.x, go to the “Audio I/O” tab
If you’re using Audacity 1.3.x go to the “Devices” tab
What is the “Recording Device” set at?

all i heard was low volume. pick the track with ctrlA and then do amplify effect.

I bet the usb interface inside the SC440 is probably very similar if not identical to the t.bone usb micplug… :slight_smile:

I recently bought a t.bone SC1100 for recording acoustic guitar (which I’m very happy with) and a t.bone usb micplug (which I’m not so happy with…). For the price tag the t.bone usb micplug is not bad, but there’s a bit of noise when recording from it too… (that’s why I then bought an Art usb dual pre, which is much better but much more expensive…)

I’d say that, for the price tag of the SC440, I wouldn’t expect any miracles… But you can try to improve the quality of your recordings before you decide if you want to keep it or not…

Like others have said, the more gain you have to put to it the more noise you’ll hear… Some things you should check:

What’s the distance from the mic to your mouth and the guitar?
In which position do you have the mic? It’s a cardioid pattern mic, so there’s one “side” of the mic that will “capture” more sound than the other.
How close is the mic to your computer? and how noisy is it? (computer fans can be very noisy)

Don’t hesitate to contact thomann. I haven’t, but from what other people have told me their support is very good and they’re very helpful (one of the reasons why I bought from thomann, I had very good reviews from other costumers).

If you’re not happy with your mic you have 30 days to send it back and get your money back (well except for the shipping costs…)

If you want to get a fairly noise free recording gear… well… get ready to spend a bit more money… (I’d say 200 euros) :slight_smile:

To make audacity’s noise removal effect more efficient there are a couple of tricks you need to improve it’s performance… I’m sure steve won’t mind to copy/paste that from other (very long) thread :wink:

I was thinking along the very same lines, and did a side by side comparison of the recording by Utix with one of your MicPlug recordings.

The recording distance sounds similar to what you were using, but the hiss level quite a bit higher than the MicPlug - not quite as bad as the mic input on my laptop (which is rubbish) but not far off. The noise is a definite “hissss” rather than fan noise or anything like that. It’s more hiss than I would be happy with.

That is a very good point. My experience of their customer service has been very good.
If this is a new microphone, it is possible that it could be faulty, in which case it could be replaced or refunded under guarantee.

It would certainly be helpful if we could be reasonably certain whether the noise is coming from the microphone or from elsewhere.

Hello, I have contacted to thomann, I have sent them a sample and they say it is a normal noise level, but I have used z-noise plugin to remove it and it works perfectly, or almost.

Thank you guys!

Thanks for the feedback Utix.

I still think that the noise level is a bit high for something that is described as a “studio condenser microphone”, but I suppose for the price it is not unreasonable. When you record, if you can maximise the amount of sound that is being picked up you should get a noticeable improvement. For recording vocals it is common to use the microphone quite close to the vocalist, and use a “pop shield” to prevent the vocalist from blowing on the microphone.

That looks like the Sennheiser that I have. That’s an analog microphone as is this one…

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/wynonna2.jpg

I recently recorded a professional announcer that stood six inches from the pop filter and performed as if he was playing to the third row, fourth balcony. “NOW, FROM THE COMPANY THAT BROUGHT YOU THE AWARD-WINNING…”

The microphone didn’t overload, although I could tell it wanted to. You get into trouble when you’re a newbie announcer or singer in addition to a newbie recordist. That combination along with a USB microphone designed to keep you out of trouble by not overloading can give you a “gentle” recording. Effect > Amplify is your friend. If the noise comes up too much when you do that, then you need to juggle somewhere. Perhaps you got the wrong microphone, or perhaps you’re using a very noisy room. Our joke is that in the entire three story building, there is a four-square foot area in one room quiet enough for recording. And that one’s only OK.

Koz