NOISE REMOVAL QUESTION

[cosmiclight22]

HI again
thanx so much for all the details
I am not using Windows Vista
mine is Windows XP 2002 and the volume control panel and sound device windows look totally different than the pic you posted, unfortunately, is there any one there who is using XP? So you could have an idea?

But I went into control panel and sound device and found microphone and lowered the volume almost to nothing, and I also let the PC test my microphone settings and adjust the volume to the best
Is still does the same noise

I wish I could show you the pic of the volume control panel
Do you know how I can find a way of sending some file to show you how it looks?
But anyway, the volume on the mic was already down from the beginning, now is totally low and I still have the same problem

I have also a number of times, used Audacity noise removal in different options, but it does not help at all, like you say, better not to have this noise in the first place

Do you think that is just the microphone? Should I buy another microphone?
Or do you think is something else?
What else could I do or show you in order to help you further understand what is causing this?

There must be a way of having a normal recording??
Thanx so much
Anna

[billw58]

You are using a USB microphone, so it is possible that the MIC settings in the control panel will have no effect. Can you find a setting for "Cyber Acoustics Microphone" or "USB Microphone" or "USB Audio Codec" or anything with "USB" in the name? Again (since I'm a Mac guy) one of the Windows experts will need to chime in here, with specific advice on XP.

-- Bill

[cosmiclight22]

No it is not a USB mic, it only has two little jacks, one pink the other green, pink for mic and green for the headphones
No I have been looking myself, there is not a control panel or some volume settings for this microphone I wish there were

I also listened to the file you sent me,thank you!! it is funny but toward the end, when it is repeated for 3 times, the vibrations and the hum are almost gone, now I do not know why it takes running it 3 times in Windows Media Player before it gets better, but it does, unless you made my file longer and you improvements are only toward the end???
Is it difficult to explain all the steps you did to improve it?

Can you still have this problem followed up by some Windows people? I just would like to figure out if it has to do with Windows control panel setting adjustments or just with a ...bad mic!!
Thanks a lot now
Anna

[Trebor]

You are using a USB microphone, so it is possible that the MIC settings in the control panel will have no effect. Can you find a setting for "Cyber Acoustics Microphone" or "USB Microphone" or "USB Audio Codec" or anything with "USB" in the name? Again (since I'm a Mac guy) one of the Windows experts will need to chime in here, with specific advice on XP.

-- Bill

billw58 is right: the recording device to select will have "USB" in the name ...

AC850-USB connector.jpg (14.45 KiB) Viewed 1557 times

[cosmiclight22]

Thanks for replying
But I have already explained that my mic does NOT HAVE A USB PORT attachment, but only the MIC and the HEADPHONE jacks, it looks like the one in the pic you posted, but with no USB port, even it looks like the one in the pic,

About taking the shot I will try to see if I find it
thanks a lot now
Thanks
Anna

[Trebor]

Here is a microsoft page on how to adjust the recording level on Windows XP ...

To adjust the volume for multimedia recording devices

1. Open Sounds and Audio Devices in Control Panel.

2. On the Audio tab, under Sound recording, click Volume.

3. In the Recording Control dialog box, drag the Volume slider for the appropriate device up or down to increase or decrease the input volume.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/docu ... olume.mspx

If these instructions take you to a volume slider, turn it down to half whatever value it is currently set at,
then turn the Audacity microphone volume slider up from the "very low" value until the volume is loud enough.

[billw58]

The mic I am using has the following specifications:

Cyber Acoustics AC, 850 USB Stereo, Boom Mic w/ Speech Recognition

So what mic is it?

-- Bill

[Trebor]

AC201 and AC401 have headsets which look identical to AC850 but use jackplugs not USB.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_elect ... 0Acoustics

I went into control panel and sound device and found microphone and lowered the volume almost to nothing

Cosmiclight22 may be adjusting the level for the computer's built-in (internal) microphone, which will have no effect on the external (headset) microphone.

[cosmiclight22]

thanks a lot
OK I finally was able to get a much better sound, the zzz--hummmm is still there but is quite an improvement
I finally were able to find the Windows XP Volume Control photo, which is different from all the ones shown here, and here is the link to it and all the step I took, can you please have a look at it, here is the link

http://www.tinyeye.com/avsetup/soundsetup_xp.html
If you scroll all the way down to bottom in the last window, I did un-check that option: 1 Mic Boost and I could hear the difference , then other step I took is I did change the quality to 44.100 16 Stereo BEFORE i recorded, not after, I did this through Windows recorder
Then other step was like Bill suggested, to put the mic volume to zero,
so after all these steps I got an improvement, i wanted to post the ink in case there are others needing same information, it would be really helpful
I think though that I still need a better quality mic, cause mine is really bad, I have heard Shure PG48 is a good cardioid and condenser mic then I will need the converter to USB, or the Samson Q2U, sounds like a condenser but it has already a USB port
I have done my home work, a lot, and I am so curious to see if after I try with a better mic, if the zzz and white noise is completely gone
I will keep you posted
If you have any feedback about the Windows Volume Control link I posted or questions or clarifications, please post them for me
Thanks a lot so far
Anna
Thanks

[Trebor]

OK I finally was able to get a much better sound, the zzz--hummmm is still there but is quite an improvement
I finally were able to find the Windows XP Volume Control photo, which is different from all the ones shown here, and here is the link to it and all the step I took, can you please have a look at it, here is the link
http://www.tinyeye.com/avsetup/soundsetup_xp.html
If you scroll all the way down to bottom in the last window, I did un-check that option: 1 Mic Boost and I could hear the difference

XP mic boost unchecked.png (13.56 KiB) Viewed 1530 times

http://www.tinyeye.com/avsetup/soundsetup_xp.html

Yes unchecking (switching off) the XP mic boost is the same as turning down the Vista mic boost slider to zero (as I suggested here).

If you have any feedback about the Windows Volume Control link I posted or questions or clarifications, please post them for me

For the least amount of white noise (hiss) and hum (zzz) set the Windows mic volume on the lowest possible value you can get away with (not zero), and the Audacity mic volume on a high value (0.8, 0.9, 1.0), i.e. just use the bare minimum on the Windows mic volume which gives a loud enough recording.

I wish I could show you the pic of the volume control panel
Do you know how I can find a way of sending some file to show you how it looks?

The software I used to capture screen images ("screenshots") and manipulate them is called GIMP : it's the photographic equivalent of Audacity, (free). Other free image editors are available, e.g. Irfanview but than only runs on Windows, GIMP runs on Windows / Linux / mac ( i.e. "multi-platform) like Audacity. Irfanview needs less computer resources than GIMP, so may be preferable if you are using an older computer.