Improving an old recording

[Sam Houston]

No no. I'm not trying to play it with my MP3 player, just transport it, put it on my computer at work, and upload from here since there is a much better internet connection here at work. It has something to do with the MP3 player NOT Audacity. As I said before, the MP3 at home is fine and is at 224kbps like it should be. The copy on the MP3 player is the one messed up and it has to have something to do with the MP3 player. Even after taking it off the MP3 player and putting it on my computer here at work it was still at 448kbps.
I did NOT encode the MP3 at 448. The MP3 player did something to it somehow.

[Sam Houston]

Here it is. Let me know what you think.

http://www.reverbnation.com/samhoustonf ... emory-down

[Trebor]

Here it is. Let me know what you think.

http://www.reverbnation.com/samhoustonf ... emory-down

Whatever you've done it has fixed the fluctuating vocal volume

The next item on the agenda is finding out why the frequencies above 11kHz are absent

It's possible to boost what high (3 to 11kHz) frequencies are there using the equalizer (see attached) , but you can't boost what isn't there : there is no music above 11kHz , typically it should extend to 16kHz.

If you have actually used a mp3 bit-rate of 224kbps that can't be the cause : it would have to be down at 64kbps for the mp3 codec to force a sample-rate of 22050Hz , ( which would cut off all frequencies above 11kHz ).

If something* in your production chain is set at a sample-rate of 22050Hz , (rather than 44100Hz), that would explain why there is no sound above about 11kHz on your recording.

The default sample-rate on Audacity projects is 44100Hz , you should check that is true in your case. If that is the case you need to look elsewhere for a possible 22050Hz sample-rate bottle-neck in your processing.

(* maybe your mp3 player with a mind of it's own ?)

[kozikowski]

Bass-Cut,Treble-Boost

See? I'm not the only one. Whatever you're using for speakers or headphones needs to go in a box in the barn. When the song gets here it's bass heavy, honky and muffled. If you can't hear that, then that's the next thing to fix. You can't mix if you can't hear what you're doing.

Koz

[Sam Houston]

Ok....you guys must be getting in my head....or just making me paranoid.... . I just listened to it again this morning. You're right. Still too much bass and low end. I think you guys are brainwashing me....or sumpin'....

[Sam Houston]

Trebor - I'll have to look further into it but I can't think of how anything could be at 22050Hz. Audacity quality settings are as shown on the link you provided. But I'll do some more checking and see if I can figure it out. Could any effects processing (VST's etc) cause that?

[kozikowski]

22050Hz.

It doesn't have to be something running at a wacky sampling rate. That's just one of the things that can cause a show to sound like yours does. Slightly more muffled than we think is normal and no musical tones higher than a certain pitch.

Tell you what. Set up like you always do to record your voice. You don't need a backing track or anything. Start recording and crunch up a sheet of newspaper in front of the mic -- like you're making a snowball. Stop, export a WAV just as you have it and post a piece of that here.

Koz

[Sam Houston]

What will that accomplish?

[Trebor]

Trebor - I'll have to look further into it but I can't think of how anything could be at 22050Hz. Audacity quality settings are as shown on the link you provided. But I'll do some more checking and see if I can figure it out. Could any effects processing (VST's etc) cause that?

It would be possible to cut-off all the frequencies above any arbitrary frequency with a VST-effect which included a "low-pass" filter, or via the equalizer, however an 11KHz cut-off like what you have is what would occur with a sampling rate of 22050Hz, the matching numbers make a 22050Hz sampling-rate a prime suspect, rather than being a consequence of an effect.

Sometimes the websites hosting audio reduce the sample-rate (downsample) to reduce the demand on their resources, however your (very good) track "full blood country" on ReverbNation website doesn't lack frequencies above 11KHz, so it's not your internet host which is applying the 11kHz bottle-neck.

If your freshly made recordings always lack any sound above 11KHz, even before you've applied any effect, when then look at the sample-rate settings on your computer sound-card, or whatever device you are using to record your performance.

You can see the frequency content (rather than hear) using Audacity's frequency analysis tool in the Analyze menu ...

An Audacity frequency analysis showing cut-off at 16kHz (not 11kHz).gif (22.24 KiB) Viewed 837 times

[kozikowski]

That's a test you can get from any newsstand, 7-Eleven or Piggly-Wiggly. If the sound is open, sharp, crisp and clean, then the damage is something you're doing during editing. If it's muffled and muddy, then your microphone or preamp may be fried -- or you could be recording it at the wrong sample rate.

You can get sound like that if you smoke a lot in front of the microphone.....

I'm just sayin'.

Koz