Sometimes the recording sounds like it is clipping

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Hello!

I do voice recording with my USB condenser microphone Samson C01U. It sounds perfect, but sometimes, when I talk, you can hear a weird noise, it sometimes sounds like clipping, don’t know how to explain, but the recording doesn’t “feel right”
You can hear the problem right at the start of the recording with word “krom”.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/6o6eu6

Sometimes the problem is worse, but I don’t have recording of worse cases though.

Here is the image from Audacity. As you can see, there is no clipping in that area, but sometimes, it sounds like the clipping is there.

I use Audacity 2.0.5. on Windows 7.

Thank you.

2

Are you using Noise Removal? The noise level before the first word is very low. Most people can’t record noise that low without a studio, so you may be using Audacity 2.0.6 Noise Removal.

The early Noise Removal would sometimes damage the voice and there wasn’t a lot you could do about it. Even worse, Noise Gate which can create odd sound before and after words.

Upgrade to Audacity 2.1.1 and use Noise Reduction instead.

http://audacityteam.org/download/

Start with gentle noise reduction of 6, 6, 6. If you need greater reduction, increase the first number. 12, 6, 6 or 18, 6, 6.

Koz

3

It doesn’t have to be Audacity, either. Windows has tools to “help” you with voice recording. Windows Advanced Services. They default on.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/faq_recording_troubleshooting.html#enhancements

Many people find simple voice recordings to work a lot better without those services.


Koz

4

Thank you for your answer!
Yes, I use Noise Removal, because sometimes, the background noise is very bad, so I have to use it.
It is possible that that the problem is here because of the Audacity version I have. I didn’t even know there is a new version for download :smiley:
I will try it out, and report back as soon as possible.

5

Okay, here I recorded the same line with Noise Reduction set at 12, 6, 6.

I think it sounds little bit better.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/7nw9kw

6

I applied a simple Normalize and your clip meets ACX AudioBook sound standards. I don’t hear any distortion.

I would try to listen to the works on another computer or with different headphones or speakers. One of the reasons we ask to post a good clear sound clip is so we can listen on a machine that is not yours.

The playback system, the speaker amplifiers, the speakers or the headphones could be broken. The show sound file is fine, or at least it’s fine in Los Angeles.

One of the announcers on the forum has a voice that causes one of my speakers to buzz. His voice is not broken and the sound files are fine. I’m perfectly clear that my speaker needs to be replaced or repaired.

Koz