Audacity + Blue Yeti -> Weird Click Sound. Your Opinion?

[henrik2000]

Hello, when recording voice-overs in Audacity 2.1.0 with Blue Yeti mic, i get strange click sounds – a little like a tiny drop into water,about every 20 seconds (though not regularly); not very obtrusive, but noticeable to attentive listeners. The sound is not external, it is “digitally generated”. It can be removed, but that’s tedious. Otherwise, my recordings are fine – good full sound, no background noise, no hiss, very well usable.

Do you have any advice about those click sounds?

Equipment used:

Microphone Blue Yeti, cardoid (not Blue Yeti Pro), direct to USB port (no hub), with the default long cable

Laptops running on battery with Win 7, Win 8, Win 10 – the problem comes with every operating system, even though i think it’s worse on Win 8 and 10. Current laptop is new and strong.

Recording with Audacity 2.1.0 and these settings (:
- Audio Host: Windows Direct Sound
- Recording Device: Blue Yeti (not Primary Sound Driver or laptop mike)
- Project rate: 48.000 (said to fit Blue Yeti)
- highest volume ca. -3 dB
- saved and edited as FLAC (clicks also audible in Audacity project files)

I was advised to install ASIO4All, but i can’t seem to approach it from Audacity (it IS visible from other applications on the same machine). Also it seems ASIO4All is about latency and that’s not at all my problem.

Do you know which settings could remove the weird click sounds?

PS.
As i’m here anyway: should i regulate microphone sensitivity with the Gain knob on the microphone or with the Recording Volume slider in Audacity?

Thanks!

[kozikowski]

Audacity doesn't understand ASIO, so that's not going to work. You're right. That's for latency and delays more than missing data.

Stuttering or missing chunks can mean the machine is not keeping up with the performance or there is processing interference.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/fa ... html#skips

http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/fa ... tml#noise6

Some virus protection programs have been known to interfere with Audacity trying to write new work to the drive. Take the machine off-line, disable the virus software and try recording again.

You noticed that as you went to busier and busier operating systems, the problem got worse. That points to a computer either too busy doing other things, or just flat underpowered.

Live audio (and video) stresses a computer. They can't hold up their hands and say "wait a second while I finish processing." It doesn't work like that. Real time is real time and the computer has to be on top of it.

You can get increasingly serious speed problems if you're slowly filling up your hard drive. What's the size and how much room do you have left?

Koz

[kozikowski]

The volume controls in Audacity or Windows affect the overall volume of the work, so they're a convenience more than anything else. The one on the microphone could affect the loudness of your voice as compared with the natural microphone noise. That's very different and I would adjust it there. You can probably leave the Windows/Audacity one all the way up. I believe that's its neutral setting.

If that proves unworkable, by the way, then you may be suffering from a Windows boost setting which probably shouldn't be there.

The goal is blue waves half-way up (50%) and many peaks at -6 on the sound meters.



Unless you have specific reasons for not doing it that way.

Koz

[kozikowski]

50% and -6dB are the same number.



Koz

[henrik2000]

Koz, thanks for great and detailed explanations and links! I will certainly try them next time.

Since you asked - the new laptop with Win 8 and now Win 10 which creates more of the ominous click sounds has 500 GB of free hard disk. The voice-over tracks i record are never longer than 20 minutes.

The old Win 7 laptop which in my memory created less click sounds had much less available disc space.

Thanks again!

[kozikowski]

much less available disc space.

Disk space is only an issue when the space declines to the point that the operating system starts to panic. On the video forums we learn to recognize the phrase: "I've been doing this for months and suddenly, for no reason, the computer is acting funny and putting skips in the work."

It's still a speed issue. Restart the computer and don't let any applications start by themselves. Audacity only. If you leave Skype running in the background "just in case," shut it completely down. Disconnect the network before you restart. Make the computer start "knowing" the network isn't there.

You can take this problem upside down, too. Break it. See what you can do to make it worse. Run a bunch of programs and minimize them without closing them. Does the noise get much worse?

Koz

[themickster]

Try disabling any Windows features you don't need. That will spare you having to stop them loading on start-up.

[Gale Andrews]

You noticed that as you went to busier and busier operating systems, the problem got worse. That points to a computer either too busy doing other things, or just flat underpowered.

I must correct that. Windows 8 and Windows 10 are much lighter operating systems than Windows Vista and 7, assuming no other problems. They should be using much lower CPU than Windows 7. On my main laptop with Firefox, Chrome and Audacity running, Windows 10 uses about 5% CPU versus 20% on Windows 7.


Gale

[Gale Andrews]

@ henrik2000, can you please post a sample of the click sounds? Please see here for how to attach files: http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 49&t=64936.


Gale

[Gale Andrews]

Hello, when recording voice-overs in Audacity 2.1.0 with Blue Yeti mic, i get strange click sounds – a little like a tiny drop into water,about every 20 seconds (though not regularly); not very obtrusive, but noticeable to attentive listeners. The sound is not external, it is “digitally generated”. It can be removed, but that’s tedious. Otherwise, my recordings are fine – good full sound, no background noise, no hiss, very well usable.

Equipment used:

Microphone Blue Yeti, cardoid (not Blue Yeti Pro), direct to USB port (no hub), with the default long cable

Laptops running on battery with Win 7, Win 8, Win 10 – the problem comes with every operating system, even though i think it’s worse on Win 8 and 10. Current laptop is new and strong.

If you use a shorter cable or mains power, does it make any difference?

Is the cable leading directly away from the computer, not alongside?

Windows DirectSound

If you are using that host it is probably best to make sure both "Exclusive Mode" boxes for Yeti recording in Windows Sound are enabled - but I'm not saying that is necessarily anything to do with the clicking.

If you experiment with MME host, make sure Default Format for Yeti recording in Windows Sound is also at 48000 Hz.


Gale