Echo/Distortion

[Peakevo]

Hey guys.

I have a big issue with my Seinheisser PC 350.

There is basically echo/distortion and I hope you all can help me.

I am adding a little commentary .

This clip wasn't the easiest to notice it on but listen to it closely and you can hear it.

Thanks a lot,
Peak.

[steve]

I'm assuming that you have not applied any effects to that recording?

If that is true then the "distortion" is caused by the Windows "Enhancements".
Windows Vista/7 will usually apply "Enhancements" to recordings to compensate for the very poor microphone input sound quality of sound cards that are usually found in PCs. This is often useful when using Skype and similar applications with an on-board sound card. For recording, these enhancements should be turned off as they will mess up the recording, however if you are using the on-board sound card you are then likely to hear how bad the noise level of the microphone input really is.

Instructions to turn off the Enhancements: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/FAQ: ... hancements
If the noise level is too high when the enhancements are turned off then you need to upgrade your sound card.

[Peakevo]

Turning off acoustic noise cancellation helps a bit but taking off the noise cancellation causes a lot of white noise.

What else can I do?

Thanks,
Peak.

[steve]

taking off the noise cancellation causes a lot of white noise.

Turning off the noise cancellation not "causing" noise, it's simply not removing noise.

As in my previous post, most PC on-board sound cards have very poor quality microphone inputs (even on very expensive PC laptops). The usual problem is that they are very noisy. To combat this problem, "noise cancellation" is turned on by default to reduce the amount of noise. This does not resolve the problem that the microphone input is poor quality, but it does tend to make it sound good enough for voip calls and similar applications. Removing noise in this way causes strange echo/metallic/bubbly sounds, and that's what you are hearing when noise cancellation is enabled. The only way to really improve the microphone input is by upgrading the hardware.

[Peakevo]

Well ...that sucks.

Is there anything I can do except like upgrading?Even to improve it abit.

[steve]

You could try using the Noise Removal effect in Audacity, but that is likely to cause a similar kind of distortion as you were getting at the start.

What exactly are you wanting to record? I presume that you want to record your voice for some reason? Are you making a Podcast or something?

[Peakevo]

Youtube basically.

http://www.youtube.com/peakevolution9

It doesnt sound terribly bad.

Also,how can I use Noise Removal though? Distortion is caused only when I speak, so wouldnt noise removal be ineffective?

Thanks,
Peak.

[steve]

"Distortion" is caused when you let Windows apply its (automatic) noise cancellation.
If you switch off the (Windows) noise cancellation, then you can use the Audacity Noise Removal effect to manually reduce the noise level. This may give you a slightly better result as you are than able to tweak the noise reduction. It will not provide a massive improvement, and you may find the effects of the Audacity Noise Removal just as bad (or worse) than the automatic Noise Cancellation - but it's something that you can try.

No matter what you do, it's not possible to make a good microphone interface out of a bad one.

Another alternative is that you could get a USB microphone. These don't use the on-board sound card.

[Peakevo]

Thanks man.

Guess I gotta try that.