Removing (what I believe is called) Noise Distortion

Hi. I did a Skype interview yesterday and I made a terrible mistake - I was in an unfamiliar room and I didn’t adequately account for it. Because of the dynamics of the room, my laptop’s speakers picked me up way too loudly, and the software I was using didn’t allow for controlling the recording level. As a result, I am way too loud, and there is a lot of distortion. The interviewee’s voice is ok, but mine sounds terrible, as you’d expect when recorded too loudly.

I’ve tried a number of the usual Audacity tools and they’ve helped marginally, but not really well enough for me to use the audio. My solution at the moment is to redo all my vocals. I can do it. But I am wondering if there are some things in Audacity that I should know. I’d rate my Audacity proficiency, on a 1 - 10 scale, about a 3, which is actually good enough to create decent sounding podcasts, but clearly not anywhere enough to solve this problem. YouTube videos aren’t helping.

I would also be interested in any thoughts people have about alternative ways to record Skype (or other telephonic or VOiP calls) for Audacity. I have a digital audio recorder and there are some possibilities with that; I am also interesting in more sophisticated software for recording Skype, that at the very least would allow me to control the recording levels.

Thoughts and advice are very welcome, and very appreciated.

Thank you,

Monte

My solution at the moment is to redo all my vocals.

That’s probably the best solution.

For the distortion you can try [u]clip fix effect[/u]. You can probably make some improvement but it’s probably not going to give you a “studio quality” result.

I would also be interested in any thoughts people have about alternative ways to record Skype (or other telephonic or VOiP calls)

By default, Windows only allows you to record one thing at a time and Audacity can’t get-around that. There is special software such as [u]Pamela For Skype[/u].

for Audacity. I have a digital audio recorder and there are some possibilities with that;

That could work if you can feed one side of the conversation into the left channel and the other side into the right. That’s a little “messy” because you’ve got a microphone on one side and a line/headphone signal on the other, and you’d need Y-splitters, etc. And, that would only work with analog connections, it wouldn’t work with a USB headset.

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Because of the dynamics of the room, my laptop’s speakers picked me up way too loudly

Speakers don’t “pick-up” sound. Sound goes into the microphone and comes out of the speakers.

Removing (what I believe is called) Noise Distortion

Noise is unwanted sound… Hiss, hum, whine, a dog barking, etc. Noise is most noticeable when the signal is quiet or when there is silence (or when there should be silence). When the signal is loud the noise is often drowned out. If you’re recording a loud rock band, you might not hear the dog barking next door…

The biggest source of noise is usually the acoustic environment. It’s the reason that pros record in soundproof studios. Microphone preamps can be electrically noisy, especially the preamps built-into consumer soundcards. It’s also fairly common to get noise from USB microphones and USB powered audio interfaces, which gets into the analog electronics through the USB power. (All active analog electronics generate some noise, so it’s a matter of minimizing it.)

Distortion is “damage” to the sound. The most common type of distortion is [u]clipping[/u] (distorted, squared-off waveforms). You can get clipping if you try to push your analog-to-digital converter over 0dB when recording, if you try to push your digital-to-analog-converter over 0dB when playing-back, or if you try to make a “regular” WAV file or CD that goes over 0dB. Or, you can get clipping if you try to get 110 Watts out of a 100W amplifier, etc.

Distortion is usually worst when the recording is loud (the opposite of noise).

This is helpful. I am going to print it out.

I was going to try Clip Fix next…I did amplify (to reduce) and I’ve seen Clip Fix recommended elsewhere as the logical follow on step.

I meant microphones where I said speakers - sorry for the inaccuracy there. That does raise an interesting question though. I use Windows 10. I suppose I could figure out how to reduce the recording level of the microphone. Might that help?

Thank you again, this is appreciated.

BTW - and I know this isn’t a Skype forum - I have been researching various recording software such as Pamela, which you mentioned. What I can’t find is one that would allow you to adjust your recording level. I am using MP3 for Skype which seems fine but it would be great if there was some software that allowed you to adjust the reocording level.

I’ve never actually used Pamela.

You should be able to adjust the volume of your microphone. And if you are recording directly from the microphone, Audacity’s recording level control should work.

If you are recording streaming audio (or other sound coming out of the soundcard) via the Stereo Mix method the only way to reduce the recording level is to reduce the playback level.

If you’re recording streaming audio via the WASAPI Loopback method, I don’t believe there is any way to reduce the level.

But… If you’re “capturing” the digital stream and the digital data is clipped, reducing the digital level won’t fix the clipping anyway. You have to reduce the analog levels before the analog-to-digital converter gets clipped.

Excellent, thank you!

You can do very well by having everybody in the podcast wearing headphones to listen. Much Skype distortion you commonly hear is Skype having to do active echo cancellation for a user with speaker and microphone working in the same room. That’s the gargling, talking into a pickle jug voice.

I did a Skype recording using the mechanical mixer technique, but much of the voice quality comes from both sides wearing headphones.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/clips/DenisePodcastMoreHeavilyCut3.mp3

This was an engineering test, not a polished podcast, but it doesn’t sound like Denise is three time zones away does it? We’re on opposite US coasts.

Koz