Before I buy a new laptop, let me ask you...

[lisafuturetherapist]

Using Audacity 1.3.12 beta.
I’ve been I am ready to buy another laptop. What do I need to get?

My goal: Use Audacity to record my voice. Use Powerpoint to make slides. Use Windows Movie Maker to add my voice to slides and create a video. I upload the video to Youtube. Done.

My problem – noise. My question: What do I need to buy, for my new computer, so that I can plug the Radio Shack microphone into the round socket on the side of my laptop, without noise?

Tried to record: I used a Radio Shack 33-3013 tie-clip microphone, and plugged it into the round socket on the side of my laptop. Opened Audacity. Hit the record button. Major noise coming from the fans and other moving parts inside the laptop. Horrible noise.

Tried to fix: I bought a USB to stereo audio adapter converter for $30. http://www.startech.com/product/ICUSBAU ... io-Adapter Plugged the Radio Shack microphone into the converter. Plugged the converted into the USB port. Opened Audacity. Hit the record button. Didn’t fix anything. At all. Still horrible noise. Koz (user name kozikowski) said the Radio Shack mic is not the problem. It’s my computer.

Successful fix: I bought a Logitech USB desktop microphone for $30. Plugged the microphone into the USB port. Excellent sound quality. Almost no noise.

My question: What do I need to buy, for my new computer, so that I can plug the Radio Shack microphone into the round socket on the side of my laptop, without noise?

Thanks for your help! Lisa

[lisafuturetherapist]

More info...

Now using a Dell laptop bought approx 2006. Dell rocks !!!
processor Intel Pentium(R) M processor 1.73GHz
processor speed 1.69 GHz
memory 1024 MB
operating system Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.1.2600


Ready to buy a Dell laptop for $600.
processor Intel Core i3-380M 2.53 GHz, 4Threads, 3M cache
operating system Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
memory 4 GB shared dual channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333 MHz
hard drive 500 GB hard drive 5400 RPM
video card Intel HD Graphics
optical drive Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
camera Integrated 1.3M pixel webcam

[lisafuturetherapist]

More info...
In another, earlier post, Steve wrote: Often the noise on laptop and notepad computers is electrical noise because they use very cheap microphone input components. This type of noise will typically sound like a constant hiss. Other forms of computer noise are "mechanical" noises such as the whirring of cooling fans. Then there's other background noise that is unrelated to the computer, such as noise from air conditioning, traffic noise and so on. Lisa writes: Yes, that was the problem.

In another, earlier post, Koz wrote: You can get that if you have a flat battery in the microphone. Get a fresh 357 Silver battery. Lisa writes: Yes, I replaced the battery. It helped a little.

In another, earlier post, Koz wrote: Try swabbing the plug with a little glass cleaner, dry it and try again. Lisa writes: Yes, I did that. It helped a little.

In another, earlier post, Koz wrote: Make sure you're plugged into the Mic-In. On many laptops it's the only connector, but some laptops have multiple connections and you have to make sure you get the right one. Lisa writes: Yes, I was plugged into the round socket, with a pircture of a microphone next to it.

THANKS EVERYONE, FOR ALL YOUR HELP!!! Lisa

[lisafuturetherapist]

Koz or Steve,
Do either of you have time to answer this? Thanks!
Lisa

[kozikowski]

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/ ... pSound.jpg

The problem with laptop/notebook computers is you're stuck with the built-in components. On a larger deskside machine, you can pop for a nicer sound card and install that, which is what we did on certain machines in the building.

To my knowledge, nobody reviews the sound systems on these computers critically, because nobody is expecting them to work very well. I bought a solid-state drive for my computer and so it doesn't have Drive Spinning Up noises that many laptops have. I did a sound test with the built-in microphone and it wasn't awful. Your mileage may vary.

All quality recording is done in a quiet room, or, if that's just not possible, done with special microphones or techniques. You can't remove traffic noises or other noisy room effects in post production. The Radio Shack microphone is omni-directional. It receives sound from all over, not just from the front. It's great in a quiet room. Noisy room microphones can be had, but they're awkward or expensive. Shotguns are classic.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/Boom.jpg
That thing in the upper left is a shotgun microphone and only picks up sound from the front. That's a movie shoot. Sorry about the poor picture.

Next up are the communications headsets like the Logitech headset series. We do well with this one..

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/webcam-co ... vices/3621
http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/clip ... adset.flac

You do have to be careful how you use it, but it works by putting the microphone at your lips where your voice is enormously louder than the MetroBus outside the window.

The expensive pathway is a directional tie-tack microphone plugged into a sound mixer.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/lavalier2.jpg

That's one of the people on "Washington Week." They have a noisy studio and their only option was directional microphones. I don't specifically know what those are and the show isn't sayin', but typically they cost hundreds each. Far better to find a quiet room if you can.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/MicTests/studioLayout.jpg

That's one of our conference rooms that happens to have padded everything and almost no air conditioning noises.

There's nothing about this process that's easy.

Koz

[steve]

My question: What do I need to buy, for my new computer, so that I can plug the Radio Shack microphone into the round socket on the side of my laptop, without noise?

You need a laptop that has a good quality microphone input.

The next question is: "which laptops have good quality microphone inputs?"

My answer: "I don't know, I've not found one yet. That's why I record with a Zoom H2 (about $150), then transfer the recording to my cheap Acer laptop (about $400) and play back through a high quality sound system which is connected to the computer with a Behringer UCA 202 (about $30)". One nice thing about the Zoom is that it is totally silent (no moving parts) and has good quality stereo microphones built in. It can also be connected to the laptop by USB and used as a USB microphone (except that it then picks up the sound of the laptop fan).

[lisafuturetherapist]

Koz and Steve,
THANK YOU BOTH for taking time to answer my post. I took your posts into consideration when I bought a Dell Inspiron. It's the least expensive line of laptop computers.

When I used the $30 Radio Shack microphone on the new laptop, the quality was passable. I was AMAZED the mircrophone was passable on the computer I just bought, and was horrible on my 5 year old Dell laptop.

I bought a Logitech microphone, that plugged into the USB port on my laptop. With the old laptop and the new laptop, it elimated ALL the noise from the laptop. Woo-hoo!

THANK YOU AGAIN for taking time to answer.

Lisa