# Sound Quality Feedback **URL:** \ **Category:** Podcasting\ **Created:** [August 10, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085 "2014-08-10T02:55:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![flynwill](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/87869e/32.png) [@flynwill](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/flynwill)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 3:54pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/21 "2014-08-10T15:54:14Z")
Actually I think you were on the right track with the packing blankets. I’d recommend one behind each performer, and one slung like a canopy over the top. Can’t say way one side of the mic sounds so much better, but I’d suggest rerunning your test with the microphone turned 180 degrees. The difference might be the environment not the microphone. When you get to 2 guests, as Koz says, this plan is going to run out. There is another long thread about the woes of attempting to record multiple USB microphones at the same time. The best way out is going a microphone for each performer and a small mixer like the PV4 or PV6, either with built in USB interface (the -USB model) or connected to a separate USB sound interface such as the popular Behringer UCA-202. Inexpensive, direct-wire, lavalier microphones are still available, I found this one on Amazon: [http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATR-3350-Omnidirectional-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B002HJ9PTO](http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATR-3350-Omnidirectional-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B002HJ9PTO). I have no idea if it is any good or not. It is cheap enough that purchasing one for testing shouldn’t totally break the budget. The biggest problem with fixed microphones in an interview setting is that people don’t “sit still”, they back away from the microphone and their level drops way off. ---
**Author:** ![sambalaya](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@sambalaya](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/sambalaya)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/22 "2014-08-10T18:26:53Z")
> [@flynwill](#): > > Can’t say way one side of the mic sounds so much better, but I’d suggest rerunning your test with the microphone turned 180 degrees. The difference might be the environment not the microphone. I just tested this by sitting in the same spot and rotating the mic 180 degrees. It is microphone-based–the back side of the mic is always better in bi-directional mode. In fact, it is only in bidirectional mode that the backside is so much better. Omnidirectional has the same sound quality as the frontside of bidirectional (except all around). ---
**Author:** ![flynwill](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/87869e/32.png) [@flynwill](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/flynwill)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/23 "2014-08-10T19:55:08Z")
Interesting. Well in that case you might consider using it in it’s omnidirectional mode. That means you may have to work harder to suppress the echos from the sides of your interview area – more packing blankets – but may make for a better sounding interview overall. ---
**Author:** ![kozikowski](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/919ad9/32.png) [@kozikowski](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/kozikowski)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/24 "2014-08-10T20:24:58Z")
I’m talking to someone at a supplier about your microphone being broken. Do your round-about test with the microphone in cardioid or “kidney” mode. When you get to the back, you should hear almost all room echo and no direct voice. We didn’t ask the embarrassing questions, but did you buy it new or get it off eBay? Koz ---
**Author:** ![kozikowski](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/919ad9/32.png) [@kozikowski](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/kozikowski)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/25 "2014-08-10T20:34:15Z")
Just to be clear, no matter what we do short of building a studio or wearing good quality headsets, the recording is only going to be less awful. Garages sometimes work amazingly well. If yours is anything like mine, it’s lined floor to ceiling with boxes and trash. Back the car out, close the door and go. There’s somebody here in LA that does a show like that. He’s famous for it. He and a guest walk to the back of the house with a couple of beers, close the garage door and press record. There’s nothing quite like cardboard boxes full of sweaters and winter clothing to reduce echoes. My garage has a peaked roof, so no parallel walls. Piece of cake. Koz ---
**Author:** ![sambalaya](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@sambalaya](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/sambalaya)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/26 "2014-08-10T21:01:19Z")
@koz, I bought it new off Amazon. I shot off a line to Blue Yeti support about the bidirectional mode issue. I did the round-about test and when I got to the back only heard room echo not my direct voice. Unfortunately, being a city dweller with no car, I don’t have a garage. I did do a quick walk-in closet test and while I could definitely hang blankets on all four sides, across top the and cover the floor pretty easily, it got stuffy pretty quickly even with just me in there…I couldn’t imagine asking a guest to step in there for 45 minutes during the Chicago summer (dimensions: 7’ long x 4 1/2’ wide x 8 1/2’ tall before hanging sound blankets and putting equipment in). ---
**Author:** ![flynwill](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/87869e/32.png) [@flynwill](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/flynwill)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/27 "2014-08-10T21:08:27Z")
> [@kozikowski](#): > > Just to be clear, no matter what we do short of building a studio or wearing good quality headsets, the recording is only going to be less awful. But I think we can get you sufficiently “less awful” to get one show under your belt and see if you want to pursue this vocation. I would agree there could be something wrong with your microphone. I could believe that the “bidirectional” mode is acting like a “backwards cartiod”. In the last recording you posted (The “test for Koz”) there is a significant background hum, which doesn’t quite sound like power lines… Is there a fan going, or that window AC unit I can see in the background of one of your pictures? You can probably equalize that out but doing so will effect the timber of you voices, so better to eliminate the source if possible. (Back to trying to do this in a Chicago summer possibly not being a good idea). ---
**Author:** ![sambalaya](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@sambalaya](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/sambalaya)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 11:10pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/28 "2014-08-10T23:10:20Z")
I turn off my AC, any fans and unplug my Fridge when recording. It’s quite possible that’s the background hum of a neighbor’s AC unit (ah, the life of an apartment dweller). I went ahead and cleared out my closet and set it up for recording. [Raw .wav from closet (2 tests back-to-back, second one has a touch more gain)](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8374242/forum3.wav) Here are some super potato photos–my phone didn’t like all the black and the one overpowering light. [Pic 1](http://imgur.com/ffCuXmo) [Pic 2](http://imgur.com/hk4sjg6) Not pictured, moving blanket draped across top of closet, about 1 1/2 feet from ceiling and flush with tops of other moving blankets. If I went me-and-a-guest-in-a-closet, I would need a light solution because that bulb increased the temp in the no airflow closet. The only difference between this and future recording would be I would need to get one of the two walk-in closet doors adjusted so it closes fully and that the clothes on the rack would need to be moved to shelf as they impinge in the “sitting space” by bulging out the moving blanket. ---
**Author:** ![flynwill](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/87869e/32.png) [@flynwill](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/flynwill)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/29 "2014-08-11T00:08:58Z")
To borrow Koz’s expression, that is “not horrible”. I can still hear the hum (and I can well believe it might be your neighbor’s AC unit) but it is quiet enough that for a podcast is should be fine. You might even be able to leave the door to the closet open to allow for some airflow. For the light best suggestion is replace the existing with an LED bulb, that will cut the generated heat by about a factor of 6-10 (assuming the existing is incandescent). ---
**Author:** ![kozikowski](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/919ad9/32.png) [@kozikowski](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/kozikowski)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 6:28am UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/30 "2014-08-11T06:28:37Z")
Behold Ian, who authored the longest post in forum history. [https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/fledgling-voice-artist-seeking-counsel/33789/1](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/fledgling-voice-artist-seeking-counsel/33789/1) 30 chapters. He’s recording his voice with a Blue Snowball. That’s it. That’s all he’s doing. No guests, no complexities, no Skype. He is doing this for a paycheck; this is not a free podcast for friends and neighbors, so Just Close isn’t going to work. It has to be studio perfect. He’s recording his voice pieces from a sound insulated and hot closet in an apartment on La Brea in Los Angeles. That does work. He posted a voice piece as a favor for me and it sounded pretty much perfect. If I have to dig for problems, you’re good to go. I believe he passes ACX AudioBook certification. My joke about this: A discussion of British regional accents with vocal swing and inflection, not ‘what’s that buzz in the background.’ He went through that room echo business, too. Koz ---
**Author:** ![kozikowski](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/919ad9/32.png) [@kozikowski](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/kozikowski)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 6:45am UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/31 "2014-08-11T06:45:17Z")
Sorry. Missed the sound clips. That’s certainly getting there. And yes, when you get into this you find all sorts of noisemakers that would go right by you in real life. I think the hum is workable. Post a voice test with a five second “Room Tone.” Announce: “This is room tone” and then you stop breathing for five seconds. Then read a sentence or two from the Trib or your favorite regional rag. That problem is _exactly_ the place for the Noise Removal tools and they require a perfect recording of the hum with no competition or contamination. That’s not our blessing to ignore it. You should still figure out where it’s coming from, but I think we can work with that. Koz ---
**Author:** ![sambalaya](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@sambalaya](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/sambalaya)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 7:05am UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/32 "2014-08-11T07:05:26Z")
@koz, I suspect that hum is either: window-mounted AC sounds from the breezeway from one of the neighboring apartments or the channeled hum from communal washer/dryers in the basement being channeled out exhaust vents to the breezeway. In both instances that hum would be coming through my main window. Due to a full schedule on Monday, I won’t be able to provide the tone clip until Tuesday afternoon/evening. I’ll dig into that linked epic of a thread in the intervening time! ---
**Author:** ![kozikowski](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/919ad9/32.png) [@kozikowski](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/kozikowski)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 12:41am UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/33 "2014-08-12T00:41:35Z")
I heard back from my contact at Sweetwater Sound and he claims no notices or claims of people having trouble with Figure of Eight pattern on Blue Yetis. He thinks you may have a broken one. That could also mean nobody has ever tried a bi-directional pattern or those that did tossed the imbalance off as a fluke or didn’t understand what they were looking at. Do you want to exchange it and see if maybe you did get a bad one? Koz ---
**Author:** ![sambalaya](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@sambalaya](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/sambalaya)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/34 "2014-08-12T04:24:35Z")
Yeah, I’ll think I’ll return my current unit to Amazon and get a new mic. ---
**Author:** ![sambalaya](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@sambalaya](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/sambalaya)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 3:17am UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/35 "2014-08-13T03:17:55Z")
[Room Tone 1](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8374242/room%20tone.wav) [Room Tone from guest spot](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8374242/guest%20room%20tone.wav) (still figuring out sweet spot between me and guest) [Room Tone with one closet door open. Hear neighbor hammering something at tail end through wall](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8374242/room%20tone%20door%20open.wav) ---
**Author:** ![kozikowski](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/919ad9/32.png) [@kozikowski](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/kozikowski)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/36 "2014-08-13T03:45:01Z")
I’ll leave the hammering up to you. I patched your first submission half-way through the room tone segment. Attached is Effect \> Noise Removal settings I used. That gentle correction doesn’t affect the voice, but puts the hum and hiss levels into the -60dB range which is enough. Koz ![Screen Shot 2014-08-12 at 8.41.29 PM.png](https://forum.audacityteam.org/uploads/default/original/2X/5/50ab12cd690e5399741d1f52156d77167dbb0023.png) [/uploads/default/original/2X/a/a5f20e247022a4bd94c61c1b6d7299848965c674.mp3](https://forum.audacityteam.org/uploads/default/original/2X/a/a5f20e247022a4bd94c61c1b6d7299848965c674.mp3) ---
**Author:** ![kozikowski](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/919ad9/32.png) [@kozikowski](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/kozikowski)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 3:50am UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/37 "2014-08-13T03:50:35Z")
Drag-Select most of the Room Tone segment. Stay away from the edges. Effect \> Noise Removal: Get Profile. Then select a larger portion of the show (or the whole show) and run Noise Removal again with the settings in that picture. \> OK. Since you got the majority of the sound trash solved, correcting what’s left is a snap and it doesn’t damage the show. Removal only works with constant sounds. It won’t take the hammers out. Koz ---
**Author:** ![sambalaya](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@sambalaya](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/sambalaya)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/38 "2014-08-13T04:23:30Z")
Thank you so much for the help and guidance. ---
**Author:** ![sambalaya](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@sambalaya](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/sambalaya)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/39 "2014-08-16T16:18:00Z")
Last question. Once the show has been recorded. Noise Removal on the recorded track. Add Intro/Outro. Run Chris’ Dynamic compressor (default settings?) ---
**Author:** ![kozikowski](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/919ad9/32.png) [@kozikowski](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/kozikowski)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 6:54am UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085/40 "2014-08-17T06:54:09Z")
Chris’s default settings are gentle and graceful, but they’re not the ones I use. I’m after listening to uncontrolled (podcast version) shows in the noisy car, so I pump up the first value, compression ratio to 0.77 from 0.5. When I do that, the show sounds very like the same show broadcast on the local FM station through its broadcast compressors. Fair warning, Chris doesn’t distinguish between background noise and the show sound, so if you don’t get rid of enough noise, it will “pump” in the background. If you try to get rid of too much noise, the show voices will start to sound weird and honking. These are all juggling act tools. Some people complain about the first or last few seconds becoming damaged in Chris’s software. You can add silence to both ends and take it off later to get rid of that. I never noticed that problem. Koz [Previous page](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-quality-feedback/35085.md?page=1)