'robotic' metallic voice on playback but fine elsewhere?

[rhsjack]

Win 10/Aud 2.2.2
I use Behringer x802, samson compressor, focusrite audio input.

Recently, my recordings have a very slight metallic, almost robotic tremor to them. I have cleaned out all filters and fiddled with my compressor without success. It should be noted that my live audio is fine. During recording and while I livestream on various platforms, I am actually complimented on the quality of my audio. The issue is only when I playback my recording on Audacity. A little history:

I have been a podcaster for four years and my audio has improved as I bought better equipment and learned, well, how to speak better.
I have always used Audacity and up until recently, I have sounded adequate. You can listen to examples of my audio at rabbitholesessionsDOTcom. You can also hear the trash audio in this weeks episode (its me in the intro, not the replay clips I played).

I wonder if this happened after a recent Win10 update. Or if its sth else. Suggestions?

[kozikowski]

Sorry. I read it three times and I can't get the timeline.

You read or perform through your microphone chain to live presentation and it sounds just fine.

Then what, now?

You record a presentation in Audacity. Then it gets fuzzy. You play the work in Windows Media and it sounds perfect but you play the same work in Audacity and it sounds tinkly and metallic? That's where I lose it. Audacity records everything clean. Audacity does not apply effects, filters or corrections during recording.

Do you turn off Windows voice processing when you work? There is a published solution for people encountering metalic, honky or other distortions cause by overly aggressive Windows echo cancellation and noise suppression.

https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/faq ... hancements

However, that may not be the whole story. Sound that has been processed, noise reduced or any of those other tricks isn't "pure, clean audio." It's audio with subtle distortions added to it that happen to sound good. The problem comes with a second pass. A noise reduction may create garbage later when nobody is expecting it because the starting audio wasn't clean. I call that the time bomb effect.

That's also why it's the world's worst idea to do production in MP3. Two MP3 creations, one after other, may turn your show to trash, even if they're set for the same quality value.

What's a Behringer compressor and and which Focusrite?

Do you like to record internet audio? The sound settings for that can conflict with clean recording in Audacity. Make sure Audacity is recording from a thing, not a service. For example, I record USB Audio CODEC and I know that's my Behringer UM2. I can touch it and look at it. There's a trick here of unplugging your microphone and Transport > Rescan... If it was real, it will vanish.

Windows people can record from Stereo Mix to get internet audio and that's not a thing. You can't pick it up and hold it. That's a software trick the machines uses to manage the sound pathways. Don't use that for live recording.

Koz

[rhsjack]

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply! Most of what you said are things I haven't tried yet so I will get on that!

To clarify, I stream on Twitch. That audio is crystal clear. You can hear for yourself at twitch.tv/rhsjack-video. I also do a live podcast with different people on the internet, using different tools such as Discord or Hangouts, etc. That audio is also clear.

The problem is when I record. It doesn't matter the scenario, its always when I record. When I finish recording, I go back and listen, as one does when doing a podcast. When I play the audio (through Audacity or VLC or MediaPlayer), the audio is tinny, a little reverb like a robot.

Clearly, its not a mic issue bc people can hear me fine. Its a recording issue because when I finish recording and replay that file, it sounds trash. Now do you understand?

I will try your solutions but if you can think of others, let me know. RHSJ

[Asking_for_a_friend]

Hi Did you get a resolution on this?

When listening back through Audacity, what do you use as in laptop speakers, earphones etc?

Reason i'm asking is, i've found I get the same but only when i'm listening back through on my Samsung Buds (bluetooth earphones). If i listen via my old iPhone wired ear phones or laptop speakers it's fine.

However they are not as clear as the buds