Just a thought:
To the uninitiated it may not seem relevant where the cloudlifter is inserted between the mic & the mixer,
but it should be inserted as close to the mic as possible.
mic-[short cable]-cloudlifter-[long cable]-mixer. 
mic-[long cable]-cloudlifter-[short cable]-mixer ✘
Both of the above will produce recordings,
but the second arrangement [✘] will have more mains hum.
Do post back as you try things.
It counts if you can make it vanish, if you can reduce it, or if you can make it louder. Remember, we’re doing technical servicing from multiple time zones away, so don’t hide anything.
Here’s a quick and easy test. Start a recording and reach up and touch the microphone. Say you’re going to do that. “This is me touching my SM7b.”
Put a lot of skin on there, Touch the two knobs on both sides and the body of the microphone. Then let go.
Post the file.
This hum thing isn’t fun. I have a bedroom with soundproofing because one of the old owners played the drums. I got insanely lucky. I moved in my music keyboard and sound system and had a good time.
But I noticed that I had a tiny bit of background hum in everything I recorded. This is not good news because I have the neighborhood high tension power wires going over the house. It could be coming from anywhere.
I taped a microphone to a broom handle and walked around the room announcing as I went. “This is near the bed.” “This is near the bookcase.”
Turns out my keyboard bass speaker doesn’t go off when I turn it off and it puts a tiny hum sound into the room all the time it’s plugged in.
Good to know.
Koz
Hi Trebor and Koz,
Thank you for all of your feedback! I was very busily trying to solve my buzzing problems and didn’t have a chance to check in with you guys earlier.
Trebor, I totally didn’t know to put the short cable closer to the mic than the mixer. I haven’t tried that yet. Will do that next!!
I did set up the mic in different places around the room and I found out that my favorite closet for recording produces insane amounts of buzz that was never picked up by my USB mic but definitely is being picked up by my Shure.
So, in an effort to get back to voice acting (instead of sound engineer trouble shooting for days on end) I just moved a mattress into a different closet in a different house and am making do until I can figure out how I want to sound proof my buzzy closet at home.
My mic in the new place sounds quite good, but sadly the new space is only available to me for another couple weeks. I’ll send some samples later on. I just have to get this audio book recorded soon, so once that’s done, I’ll have more time to address the buzzy house issues. Then I’ll send lots of samples to compare!
I’ll be in touch again soon.
I have a question related to recording in stereo because of the 6dB reduction caused by the 2 inputs on my interface.
So I’ve been recording in stereo as you suggested, and delete the second stereo track when I go to edit. But when I go back to edit, I’d really like to be able to hear my mono recording in two channels. How can I force it into 2 channels while it’s still an aup or wav file. I know how to force mono on export for mp3s, but that’s not what I want. Every time I try exporting a wav file, it just stays in mono and I haven’t found options for mono-tizing it.
Or is there another work around to be able to record at full dBs in mono from my Audient iD4?
Many thanks!
So I’ve been recording in stereo as you suggested, and delete the second stereo track when I go to edit.
I think you missed a step.
Use the drop-down menu to the left of the stereo show and Split Stereo to Mono.
After you delete the dead track, you’re left with “real mono” which is a single track that plays to both left and right speakers.
Koz
I just have to get this audio book recorded soon
You submitted a short audition to ACX, right? We can do OK with predicting what ACX is going to say, but it’s not 100% and there have been nasty surprises. For one messy example, the specification that your background noise be -60dB (1000 times quieter than your voice) is only valid if you have normal noise like gentle spring rain in the trees fffffffffff.
If your noise is changing or has the sound of fingernails on blackboard, they won’t pass it even if it does satisfy the measurement. That power or mains buzz is one of those sounds.
I must have posted the audition list, right?
ACX-Auditions.txt (1.5 KB)
Koz
Here’s a sample of the new set up in a new house, new closet, with the relatively new mattress as acoustical treatment. The sound is quite clean I think–buzz is gone. I recorded in stereo to make up for the 2-input interface/6 dB reduction, but I fear that that is causing problems down the line.
The “no mastering” track hasn’t been mastered in any way, just simple edits and de-clicker, still only in one channel.
Problem is, when I run my ACX mastering chain (RMS norm at -22) and then create an mp3 with force-to-mono (the only way I know how to get the sound in both channels) the resulting mp3 is way too quiet. I’ve included the mp3 to show you what I’m talking about.
Thanks for your help!
Hi Koz,
I did the audio split, but do I need to do it before I record? Maybe that was the bit I didn’t understand. Because now it seems that everything I recorded in stereo is in one channel.
I passed the ACX test on a different set up–USB mic with many fewer issues, but with a meh audio quality. Had I known that my desire for nicer sound would lead to days and days of headache.
I do not understand what the problem is.
I mastered Track5_mastered_forced mono.mp3. It is, to quote Ms. Poppins, practically perfect in every way.
I also can’t quite follow what you’re doing. I’m going to look at your new last post.
Koz
desire for nicer sound would lead to days and days of headache.
Is this a bad time to tell you about Ian in Hollywood? We did get him recording successfully…after 39 forum chapters and over a year.
You are the Artist, Recording Engineer, and Producer. People go to school for this stuff.
As we go.
Koz
All I did was open the file and used the menu on the left to Split Stereo To Mono.
Then I X’d out the dead track. The track that’s remaining plays perfectly on both left and right.
There is one problem. See on the left where it says 48000? It’s supposed to say 44100. Your earlier file was correct. Do you have any idea where that came from? It can’t be 48000. 44100 is burned into the ACX file submission specifications. Did you select something that ought not have been selected?
The up side is the voice and room seem to be perfect. That’s what trips most people up.
Koz
Hi Koz,
I have 48000 in my settings from VO work. If I’ve forgotten to change it before submitting to ACX, I can just cut and paste the file into 44100 and export it again. I’m not worried about passing ACX–I know how to check that stuff. But this stereo to mono thing is tripping me up.
I did exactly what you told me to do with splitting the audio tracks, and Xing the lower one out, but the sound never went into two channels.
Is the recording channel setting on the toolbar supposed to stay stereo after Xing the lower track out? Also, other VO people thought I was doing it totally wrong to record in stereo.
Thanks for helping me with this.
Hi Again,
I just downloaded the new 2.4.2 and I wonder if split stereo to mono in the new version is different from what I was using in the older version. Could that be so? There was a split stereo option, but I’m not sure if the split option included mono in the description. I’ll keep on tinkering around with this.thanks!
Also, other VO people thought I was doing it totally wrong to record in stereo.
Did they suggest how you should be doing it? I have microphone systems that will mount either stereo or mono without that volume shift. Does your microphone have extra software or drivers?
Open up Track5a_no mastering and click on the little black down arrow to the left of the track. Is Split Stereo to Mono one of the options? If you just Split Stereo, the result will be two individual tracks (and you can do editing one one without affecting the other). But the two retain their Left and Right identity—which might be what you have. You can totally have one track that insists on playing to only one speaker.
You might be able to “make” your microphone mono before Audacity records it by Windows control panel settings. Audacity gets its sound from Windows, not the microphone. You’re kind of on your own there. I’m not a Windows elf. Click or right-click the speaker icon in the lower right?
Koz
QUESTION: When exporting a wav file, how many bits of Signed bit PCM do I need? I have no idea what this even means, I think the default is 16-bit, but with regards to meeting the standard of voice over work, is 16-bit sufficient?
Is this a bad time to tell you about Ian in Hollywood? We did get him recording successfully…after 39 forum chapters and over a year.
God bless Ian in Hollywood–he’s my new patron saint! I have to say, in this whole process I have come to embrace learning by trouble-shooting – it may be the best method actually. I was cresting the learning curve a few weeks ago when I was recording really well with my USB mic (passing ACX specs every time), but the problem with learning is you hear how you’re missing other marks. So I got greedy for a warmer, cleaner sound…decided to plunk down a chunk of change for a new mic set up, and now I have bought myself a whole new set of problems. 
But I digress…
So the stereo-to-mono button in 2.4.2 worked its magic!! I think the older version didn’t have that feature, so no wonder I was so frustrated and confused!
Thanks for all the help on this one.
16-bit is “CD Quality” and is perfectly adequate for voice-over work, though during the production process (in Audacity) it is highly recommended to use 32-bit float tracks. 32-bit float has multiple benefits while processing audio, but once that is complete, 16-bit is sufficient (recommended).
during the production process (in Audacity) it is highly recommended to use 32-bit float tracks.
What he said.
Audacity uses 32-bit floating internally because it doesn’t overload and distort. Mastering’s RMS (loudness) correction will frequently push the blue waves taller than 100%. Then you apply Limiter and gently bring everything down into ACX compliance. In 16-bit, once the waves went over 100% that would be the end of the show. Permanent distortion.
Most of the time, exporting converts the work to 16-bit because that’s what everybody else speaks.
the problem with learning is you hear how you’re missing other marks.
Wait until you get to the end of the first book and listen to the beginning.
Koz
Well, I’m glad for possible future listeners that I ended up re-recording the beginning of the book about 4 times. Those first 30 minutes got a lot of re-dos because of mic and room changes. And each time, I have to say, I sounded better, so I think it was good to have so many set backs.
I have a question about popping: Popping is a total no-no, right? So if I have an occasional overblown p/t/b, I should definitely re-record those bits? OR in the whole scheme of a book, can a few puffy consonants be forgiven?
I need to figure out how to place my mic so I don’t get any more exploding Ps in the future. With my USB mic, I positioned my mic to face the side of my face and that solved the plosive issue, but the Shure SM7B is a shotgun mic, so I don’t think that’s going to work so well. It seems that I need to be pretty close to it for it to pick up my voice, but even with the big padded windsock, I still pop sometimes. Ideas?
Thanks!
I need to figure out how to place my mic so I don’t get any more exploding Ps in the future
I found oblique placement does wonders for that.
Popping P sounds (spitting, blowing out the candles) go straight in front of your lips. Don’t put the microphone there. If you use oblique placement, that should allow you to get closer and louder. You shouldn’t place the microphone too far around. That will sound dull and muffled.
Directional microphones pop. It’s an effect caused by the process of making them directional. Another “distortion” (an extension of the same process) is Proximity Effect. Men get ballsier, bassier and Broadcast Announsier the closer they get. The effect is a lot less pronounced in women. I once played two different people, a man and a woman, by messing with spacing as I read.
Lauren Bacall’s voice was deeper than Humphrey Bogart’s. “You know how to whistle, don’t you Steve?”
Some of this sound distortion is going to die in the first mastering step, Filter Curve. So don’t go crazy until you hear it after mastering.
I expect oblique placement to work perfectly with the SM7.
The SM7 is not a shotgun microphone. It’s a dynamic microphone in a fancy-pants package. “Dynamic” doesn’t mean use it for highly theatrical reading. That just means it uses a vibrating coil of wire close to a magnet. The other two types are ribbon and condenser. Ribbons use, oddly enough, a very thin ribbon of metal vibrating close to a magnet, and condensers use two really thin metal disks, one vibrating, one not. They’re called capacitors now, but the old name for two metal plates near each other was “Condenser.” Those pictures of Hitler screaming at his audience? He was doing that into condenser microphones.
Amaze your friends.
Koz
There needs to be a gap between the pop-shield and the mic for it to work optimally, (~4").
Can add stocking-material over a pop-shield to increase its pop-stopping power,
(if you add too many layers the high-frequencies will be attenuated).