Audacity Forum

So steve, I've a problem that's related to audacity. My speakers and headphones keep blowing out in the left channel, after I've played a recording of some music I've made. The original recording was clipped badly, but I used a tutorial on youtube (/watch?v=CnwH_K85KSk or /watch?v=KM5shJycg9k) to remove clipping. The RMS looks fine, but the peak is still flat-topped. So, what I am trying to figure out, is why this is damaging my speakers after playing it enough times. It happens whether I'm in audacity or not, on my PC or on my mp3 player, through speakers or headphones, and even in FLAC, WAV, M4A or MP3 formats. I don't play audio loud, either, so I'm not sure why this is happening. Did I do something wrong?

Select a bit of the work and post it here for us to look at. Include that clipped portion

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 49&t=64936

You can't actually repair clipping. That's like a bowl of different fruits with one piece missing -- and then finding software to "repair the hole."

I'll tell Steve you said hi.

Koz

kozikowski wrote:Select a bit of the work and post it here for us to look at. Include that clipped portion

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 49&t=64936

You can't actually repair clipping. That's like a bowl of different fruits with one piece missing -- and then finding software to "repair the hole."

I'll tell Steve you said hi.

Koz

Okay, do you want the source, or the edited version? And is there a format preference, or should I give you a zip of a bit of the project? By the way, I didn't really use some software to repair clipping, I amplified the tracks -6 dB, made a copy of the tracks, went to effects => equilization, pulled down at the 80 Hz mark just slightly, then dragged from 110 hz so that there is a vertical line at 80 hz, then amplify it -.1dB. I then did the inverse in the track's copy, followed by ctrl+r. Then, on first stereo track, dragged gain down -10dB, and down -^ on the second stereo track. Then I mixed it down.

Ok, koz, well it looks like I can't edit this into my previous post, but here it is. Also, I've a few questions.
From now on, should I record in 32 bit wav? Since audacity converts audio to 32 to edit it anyway, should I record in 32?, or just record in 16, have audacity convert to 32, edit, and then export back out to 16 again?

If I record 2 channels in 16 bit each, and 22khz each,will that result in a stereo 16 bit or 32 bit? And will the result be stereo 22khz, or a stereo 32 bit 44khz recording.
Also, should I find a device with AGC? I've heard that it might help, but also may reduce audio quality.

I have no explanation for you.

In your illustration, the right channel is very badly damaged, not the left. I can't pin it down to your players or sound card because you say it happens on multiple devices. Your experiences are completely opposite what I would expect from the evidence.

So that's not it. I think we're looking at a scarlet fish.

speakers or headphones,

What do we know about those? Model numbers? How old are they? How did they break, that is, how do you know they're broken? What does broken sound like? How many sets of each failed?

Did they stay failed, or they only act funny on this one sound clip and then perk right up for your Electro-Trance collection.

Koz

kozikowski wrote:I have no explanation for you.

In your illustration, the right channel is very badly damaged, not the left. I can't pin it down to your players or sound card because you say it happens on multiple devices. Your experiences are completely opposite what I would expect from the evidence.

I meant to say right.

kozikowski wrote:

speakers or headphones,

What do we know about those? Model numbers? How old are they? How did they break, that is, how do you know they're broken? What does broken sound like? How many sets of each failed?}

HP NC4400 laptop speakers, ipod earbuds, hp earbuds, sandisk sansa earbuds, and sony studio monitor headphones. One of each, four hp earbuds(in other words, everything I tested) It seems to only happen after listening to the recording for a while (source or edited), regardless of whether it's on my pc or not. Theey blow out when I play this music. Basically, the right starts to sound crackly, and gradually gets worse.

kozikowski wrote:Did they stay failed, or they only act funny on this one sound clip and then perk right up for your Electro-Trance collection.

They stayed blown
I want to know if the edited file looks like it could cause damage like that.

Can I please get an answer to this? I am still trying to figure this out, and my new headphones just died the same way.

link28469 wrote:HP NC4400 laptop speakers, ipod earbuds, hp earbuds, sandisk sansa earbuds, and sony studio monitor headphones. One of each, four hp earbuds(in other words, everything I tested) It seems to only happen after listening to the recording for a while (source or edited), regardless of whether it's on my pc or not.

As koz says, the symptoms do not make sense.

Playing clipped audio is not good for speakers, headphones or ears due to the excessive high frequency content, but it is unlikely to do real damage if played at low volume.

Certain hardware faults can put a DC voltage onto the output and this can burn out speakers and headphones even if used at moderate or low volume. However you say that the problem is not isolated to your PC or any other piece of equipment and it is extremely unlikely that the same problem would be present on multiple devices.

Is there a common piece of equipment? For example, are you playing via an amplifier?

steve wrote:

link28469 wrote:HP NC4400 laptop speakers, ipod earbuds, hp earbuds, sandisk sansa earbuds, and sony studio monitor headphones. One of each, four hp earbuds(in other words, everything I tested) It seems to only happen after listening to the recording for a while (source or edited), regardless of whether it's on my pc or not.

As koz says, the symptoms do not make sense.

Playing clipped audio is not good for speakers, headphones or ears due to the excessive high frequency content, but it is unlikely to do real damage if played at low volume.

Certain hardware faults can put a DC voltage onto the output and this can burn out speakers and headphones even if used at moderate or low volume. However you say that the problem is not isolated to your PC or any other piece of equipment and it is extremely unlikely that the same problem would be present on multiple devices.

Is there a common piece of equipment? For example, are you playing via an amplifier?

No, interestingly, there isn't. For a while, I thought it was related to my SD Card that I play music off of, but it happened elsewhere, and I'm not sure if an SD Card could cause such problems, anyway. I know the audio is no longer clipped, but I just thought that maybe the audio could still do damage because it is still flat-topped. I am also unsure of what is happening. I wonder, do these hardware faults sometimes only occur with certain audio? It could be a coincidence on two separate devices... It's just so strange.