HELP Buzzing while recording...NOT AUDACITY's fault though

[t9bailey]

Okay, I have been using audacity on this machine for a year now and I have owned a Samson USB microphone which I used over the course of the summer and into the Fall. Well, I tried recording yesterday and today and I have noticed that an electric buzzing has been occuring. When I "click to monitor imput" I can see the meter running high in the left channel as shown in the screen shot below:


When I record without making any noise, I can see the buzz appearing in the track as shown below:



So I recorded on another machine to test if it was the microphone. No problem there and it recorded crystal clear. Audacity had always worked fine before on both machines.

I have tried the following troubleshooting:

1. moved the microphone away from electronic devices.

2. tried adjusting volumes through the control panel audio and recording options (that makes the volume recording higher or lower but does not stop the buzzing...that simply gets louder and softer along with the same adjustments).

3. Tried other USB ports on the machine to see if it was a USB problem...no difference, same buzz.


I am open to troubleshooting of any type. Also looking for suggestions on proper grounding or "earthing." I have a lot of power strips and wonder if that may be the problem.

Thank you for any help.

[manguiko]

Hi T9,

Grounding could be a problem, but if no changes in connection recently, likely not.
If using laptop, unplug power supply and running on battery see if noise goes away.

One thing that is difficult to find, and have not seen elsewhere discussed is this:
Some software such as soft-synth can do effects on other audio, and on the setup options they have "input" choices. If for any reason "input" has been set to microphone, then one can get funny noise that is not too high, as the phone picks up whatever it can, often when not in use, one's hand or other things.

Also, try go to mixer and click things off and see WHAT turns the noise off. Then at least you know the channel.

Otherwise, hope you do find the problem.

[t9bailey]

Okay, problem solved though I am not sure why I had to do this.

I went to the Samson website, which is the manufacturer of my microphone, and I downloaded a program called SoftPre (it's free).

I had to install it and then go into my Sounds, Audio, etc. part of my control panel and then re-select the Samson microphone as my default microphone. After that, while using Audacity and Softpre, I was able to completely eliminate the buzz while getting the adequate volume in my tracks while recording my guitar.

So all you Samson microphone owners out there, that may be a solution to the electric buzz problem.

I wonder if something in MS windows and my settings changed without my knowledge but I cannot figure how or why or what.