Audacity Forum

Well, I've been trying to get started with posting up videos on youtube, so I went out and got myself a free recording software and audacity here. However for some reason I've been getting this annoying hiss since I've started trying. Honestly I think it's my mic/headset, but before I go jumping to such conclusions on my own I thought I'd ask about it.

The hissing only occurs when I'm recording with my mic/headset, I tried just recording audio off my computer, no hiss, just the sound of the game/video/whatever I'm recording the sound of. So I'm thinking more than anything that it's my headset that's causing the hissing noise.

I'm using Logitech ClearChat, and I believe my sound driver is Realtek HD Audio (It just came with the comp).

Again I do truly believe that the problem is the mic, but, again, I don't really know much about this sort of thing so it could be any of the 3 causing the disruption. Don't need anything technical, just a blunt answer, replace mic, sound card, or audacity I believe would be the simplest answer, as well as what would be the best replacement. So thanks for the help/sorry for wasting your time.

SkipIt wrote:I'm using Logitech ClearChat,

Is that a USB microphone?

What exactly are you wanting to record?

steve wrote:

SkipIt wrote:I'm using Logitech ClearChat,

Is that a USB microphone?

What exactly are you wanting to record?

No, it plugs into both my microphone and headphone area.

I'm simply trying to record my own voice as commentary over a video. The video and in game sounds are being recorded by the same program, and I'm trying to get the commentary recorded with Audacity, that's where the hiss kicks in.

It's not the software. The recording software just "routes" the digital data from you soundcard to the hard drive, and sets-up the format, etc.

If your headset is USB, it's the problem. Noise/hiss is an analog problem (there are exceptions, like 8-bit digital). Nothing on the USB/computer side is analog. Your computer's soundcard/soundchip is not used when recording from a USB device.

And, the micropone preamps built-into computers/soundcards are usually low quality. And, most headsets are designed for gaming/communications and are not music or "voiceover" quality.

If you want professional quality, something like this is probably what you need. (I'm not recommending that particular mic, I've never used it.)

It's most likely that most of the hiss is coming from your sound card, though the microphone may also be contributing to the hiss.
On-board sound cards and inexpensive sound cards are notorious for producing a lot of hiss on microphone recordings.
An inexpensive USB headset microphone is likely to produce significantly less hiss but will not allow you to record both the game and your voice at the same time. You would however be able to record the game, and then record your voice while playing back that recording in Audacity.