Noise only during speech

[Soldado266]

Haha, will do.

[Trebor]

I told my staff to stay as near to the mic as possible

Should get "pop shield" ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_filter

or make one ... http://www.hometracked.com/2006/05/28/h ... p-filters/

[Soldado266]

I have already, I listed before the equipment I was using.

Perhaps my recording apparatus is not good indeed, but it's not so bad. I'm doing something wrong for sure, this is what I have:
Mic: Samson C03U USB.
Other Related stuff: Pop Filter, Shock Mount, Mic Windscreen.
Studio: I'm in China right now, so I managed to cover an entire room with studio foam for next to nothing.
I'm pretty much sure my quality bottleneck is my computer and related hardware, what do you think?

Just another thing I have to ask, if this "speech hiss" is something that I can't do anything about it in the after processing. Is there some trick during recording time that would prevent this hiss of happening or perhaps decrease its intensity?

Thanks！

But it is weird, even with the popfilter and windscreen I can still hear some air being blown. Chinese has some very aspirated syllables.

[Trebor]

... even with the popfilter and windscreen I can still hear some air being blown. Chinese has some very aspirated syllables.

If it's sibilant "sh" "ch" "zh" sounds they can be attenuated digitally with a de-esser VST plugin, (there is a free one called "spitfish").

Before-after example attached, (I may have overdone the de-essing as I don't speak Chinese, the effect is adjustable).

[kozikowski]

Live recording is always a juggling act between overload and noise. Overload and clipping (popping) is immediately fatal to a show, so you don't want to do that. There is one other non-technical point missed. Is it always the same speaker that pops and has sibilant problems? Once you get beyond Skype quality recording, the possibilities for problems becomes vast. I know people that can't speak into microphones. They sound terrible in any but the most top quality, protected microphone. You generally don't want those people announcing for you.

"Background Noise" is the other extreme. People pay many dollars to get a microphone pre-amplifier that makes the voice louder without adding hiss. That's in addition to the high quality of the microphone itself. Past a certain cost, the two come separate.

USB microphones kill you because the critical amplifiers and microphone processing are all built in. There are no options. If the particular quality doesn't work for you and doesn't fit your circumstances or presenter/announcers, sell the microphone or put it in the garage.

Post production patching, as you're finding out, rarely works well and in any event, it doesn't take many podcasts before you get so tired of messing with the effects that you run out and get a better microphone that doesn't need all that.

Once you decide to perform theatrical editing and effects, you fall into the 10 to1 rule. It takes 10 hours to edit a one hour show. People always poo-poo that rule until they start actually editing and are realistic about counting up all the hours. How long have you spent on this so far?

Another fuzzy generality: You use the tools for the one show your grandmother performed just before she died. There is zero possibility for a reshoot and the show has to work. The other fuzzy generality is by the time you realize you need most of these tools, it's too late to do a good job.

Koz

[Soldado266]

Nice Trebor, I didn't know such a thing existed. I'll take a look.

kozikowski

Is it always the same speaker that pops and has sibilant problems?

Usually male, with the girls there's no problem.

If the particular quality doesn't work for you and doesn't fit your circumstances...

I think it does, I gathered some practical tips in the last couple of days and I think the quality now has improved a lot.
But if I do decide to chance my mic, what would be a natural upgrade? Just remember, if I decided to buy the USB mic in the first place it's because I'm not a professional audio engineer/musician and I was looing for something simple to use and resoanable priced.

How long have you spent on this so far?

I don't have any fancy effect inside the podcasts (they are lesson transcripts actually), I think I've been spending some like 5 minutes for each recorded minute. But it depends a lot on the speaker, some people don't make mistakes at all, others keep coughing while recording, making the after editing a pain.

What do you think?

Thanks！

[kozikowski]

I think Audacity 1.3 has the ability to add labels on the fly. When the presenter makes a fluff, add a label to make it easier to find later.

USB microphones were designed exactly for the people who don't want to mess with the technology but still do a presentable job. I've been able to produce some very nice recordings with mine, but I'm not a first-time user, and they won't do everything.

Koz

[waxcylinder]

I think Audacity 1.3 has the ability to add labels on the fly. When the presenter makes a fluff, add a label to make it easier to find later.

Yes it does - use Ctrl+M to create a label at te current recording or playcack position.

WC