Not sure how else to describe it. Sound is normal. Sound going through system and coming out speakers in church sounds fine / normal. But after the sound goes through a bluetooth transmitter and is recorded in Audacity on a Windows PC, it has sharp cracks. This audio is then streamed through OBS, but the issue is present in Audacity. Issue comes and goes. I tried increasing latency bandwidth in Audacity. I tried reducing the sound coming in with the slide bar. Those did not appear to help. Any other settings I should check out? Thanks. Issues start at 1 minute in. More at half way point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1sCktFgaMI This is all the Audacity log showed: 09:03:32: Using internal LAME
09:03:32: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-60.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
09:03:32: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-59.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
09:03:32: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-58.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
09:03:32: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-57.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
09:03:32: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-55.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
Those “errors” aren’t related to recording or playback and they aren’t really errors. It just means that the optional FFmpeg import/export library isn’t installed and you won’t be able to import/export certain formats.
I can’t watch your video right now but you are probably getting dropouts which are caused by multitasking and interrupts. The computer is ALWAYS multitasking & interrupting, even if you’re only running one application but it helps if don’t run any other applications and minimize background operations while recording.
It is usually buffer related… The sound comes into the buffer at a smooth-constant rate and when the computer gets-around to it, it reads the buffer and writes to the hard drive in a quick burst. If something hogs the system for a few milliseconds too long you get buffer overflow and a glitch. So, increasing he buffer size can often help. Or for reasons unknown to me, sometimes reducing buffer size helps. (There is also a playback buffer and the danger is buffer underflow if it doesn’t get refilled in time.) Whatever is hogging the system doesn’t have to be using a lot of total CPU power, it just has to hog it a bit too-long.
If you are on Windows there is a FREE online book called Glitch Free about optimizing Windows for audio. Some of it won’t apply… They recommend ASIO drivers which Audacity doesn’t support and they may be trying to minimize latency (delay), which presumably you don’t care about. If you are recording now and playing later, a few milliseconds of delay doesn’t matter.
Those error messages are irrelevant to the glitch issue - they just tell you that you don’t have those versions of avformat (part of the optional FFMpeg format conversion library) installed.
The “spikes” (“glitches”) sound to me like bluetooth dropout. Try reducing the distance between the bluetooth transmitter and receiver - or better, look into replacing the bluetooth audio connection with a physical audio cable.
Steve and Doug, thanks. We will check those ideas out. I attached the flat line photo. I changed it to the one with the spikes, which you guys say are dropouts. I will approach some solutions with that in mind. Raise up the bluetooth transmitter and try to use a 3.5mm to XLR adaptor so the sound can go straight to the BlackMagic video receiver and not need the audacity program at all. Or try a different receiver. It is about 50 ft. But it worked fine for a couple years. Yes, we would prefer a hard line, but it is really far around the outside of the open church.
Moving the bluetooth audio receiver closer has reduced the sound drops. However, I had to use an XLR cable that was already in the wall. Going from 3.5 on bluetooth box to XLR to 3.5 adapter into Windows PC audio in, which Audacity receives. Now I have a -30dB hum on the line. Before it was -55dB and barely noticeable. -30 is noticeable. Would running a single 50’ 3.5 to 3.5 line reduce the hum of 3.5 to XLR to 3.5 50’? Not really a audacity question. Guess I’ll order the cable and try it outside the wall first. Thanks.
The XLR cable will be balanced and is very unlikely to be the cause of the hum. If I were you, my suspicion would be on the connectors.
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