This isn’t an Audacity problem, but rather just a general sound recording problem. I got a Samson GO Mic a few weeks ago to hopefully rectify a problem I was having with my old webcam mic that I was using to make videos, but it seems to have the same problem. I should mention I know nothing about audio technology, so if I use the wrong terms or whatever, please don’t kill me.
Anyway, what happens is when I use words with certain letters, e.g. G, B, N, long M’s (like ummm…), then the sound will distort. Probably not using the correct terms at all, but it sounds very bassy, and the speakers have a lot of reverb and it basically sounds like the volume is turned way up when I say that word, and then it returns to normal again.
And yet I’ve seen others using this mic, and they get great results, even being able to sing songs with great quality.
I have the mic set to omni mode, when I make a video I pop it on a cardboard box to try and get it to mouth level as much as possible and have it about 50cm/~20 inches away from my mouth; I use Windows 7 and the recording volume is set to around 40, and when I make videos I use the capture device feature in Sony Vegas and record the video with my webcam and the sound through my mic.
So does anyone know what’s causing this? Is it my settings? Is it my program? My position from the mic? My position OF the mic?
<<<the volume is turned way up when I say that word, and then it returns to normal again.>>>
This is the symptom of a conferencing, communications, or “telephone” system trying to manage the sound channel. Also known as echo cancellation or volume gating. Sometimes you can turn that off by way of the Windows Control Panels.
Do you have your speakers turned up while you’re trying to record? That’s not a good idea.
It’s not accidental she’s wearing large headphones…
Thanks for the replies guys. I haven’t had time to make another video, so I haven’t been able to test any of these things out, but I’ll definitely keep them in mind for next time.
I’m using my desktop (pretty decent specs - Windows 7, Q6600 Quad Core, 2GB RAM)
Don’t use Skype, I mainly use the mic to record audio for videos using Sony Vegas
When I record I sometimes switch the speakers off, sometimes I turn the volume all the way down. But I never just leave them at normal volume.
Still, we’re getting more and more complaints from people with odd distortion and volume effects in their voice for no good reason. The latest crop of laptops comes with the communications settings already enabled and you have to intentionally turn them off. Sometimes they have cutsy names like clear-comm or sparkle-voice or others like that.
You’re probably driving that circuit nuts by leaving the speaker on all the time. The circuit would see that as background noise and try to suppress it. If the volume is right on the edge, you get pumping in the sound.
Try to find that software service and turn it off.