Fledgling voice artist seeking counsel.

[kozikowski]

The raw presentation can stand up to just a bit more Noise Suppression to get you over the boost you're going to get when you punch the voice volume to make the -3 peak specification. Attached is the Noise Removal settings I used. I used a segment between the first and second word as the Profile.

You got the studio well behaved enough that this isn't difficult work any more.

Koz

[MichloIW]

BTW,

here is the finished result (I hope you can see the Facebook album this time):

https://www.facebook.com/ian.m.walker/m ... 410&type=3

And a quick video:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10 ... eam_ref=10

I've got a thick, furry rug doubled up underneath the carpet so that should be absorbent. I managed to fix the squeaky floorboards (surprisingly) and I've heard I have another box of the tiles coming for my birthday on Thursday so I'll be able to do the back wall and door. For now I have that curtain across from some organic absorption and to close across the computer box if necessary.

[MichloIW]

That may do it. That [email protected]#$% frying mosquito noise is low enough down so you can slice it off by gently noise reducing it — which appears to be what you did in part B.

I think you have arrived. Read something for real.

Koz

Yay! Thank you so much! I did do one noise removal, however so I'd rather not do a second. Hopefully I can figure out what it causing it and remove it. I can't even hear it myself even though I got better headphones. I'll have to listen harder.

I followed the steps outlined earlier in this thread:

Record in mono.

Normalize to 0.

High pass filter.
80 Hz
12 dB

Noise reduction.

Add a limiter but NOT a hard limiter. * (I'm trying George Yhong's W1 Limiter but just need to know the best settings).

Amplify to -3 dB.

Export as WAV.

Export as MP3.
192 kbps CBR.

The raw presentation can stand up to just a bit more Noise Suppression to get you over the boost you're going to get when you punch the voice volume to make the -3 peak specification. Attached is the Noise Removal settings I used. I used a segment between the first and second word as the Profile.

You got the studio well behaved enough that this isn't difficult work any more.

Koz

Ah, thank you. I shall include those settings.

I can't emphasize enough just what it has meant to me, all the help and advice from you all. Sincere gratitude. I hope this thread manages to help many more too.

Cheers.

[steve]

I couldn't hear it myself but perhaps I still need better headphones.

Probably do need better headphones The hum on the unprocessed recording is definitely audible. You can also see it if you select some "silence" and then select "Analyze > Plot Spectrum"

Untitled.png (40.45 KiB) Viewed 1103 times

The thick spike at around 50 - 60 Hz is actually two spikes close together; one at 53 Hz and the other at 60 Hz. The latter looks like 59 Hz in "Plot Spectrum" but is actually 60 Hz. I don't know what the 53 Hz spike is caused by but the 60 Hz spike is "mains hum" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_hum).

The tall thin spike is at 120 Hz is the first harmonic of the mains hum. This is the most audible part of the hum, and the most problematic as your voice extends down this low.

The hum is not particularly bad and is quite effectively reduced to a reasonable level, as described in the last few posts, but I agree that it would be better if the source of the hum could be eliminated rather than having to deal with it in post.

Try making a recording of "silence" with everything electrical in the room turned off (apart from your computer / recording device of course).
If the hum goes away, then try turning things on one at a time to find what is causing the hum.
If the hum is still there with everything turned off, then a powered hub for the mic "may" help (or may not - no way of telling without trying it).

Hopefully the Rode / Presonus combination won't have the issue, unless your room is located right next to a sub-station or something like that.

[MichloIW]

Greetings,

Yes, in my latest recordings it is perfectly obvious. I think I didn't have the volume turned up enough before. D'oh.

I've started going through things to rule it out.

These are the headphones I'm using now, BTW as they were on special offer.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001A ... UTF8&psc=1

I hope they meet with your approval because I'm just about broke now and need some money coming IN for a change. heh.

Cheers.

[kozikowski]

These are the headphones I'm using now

The headphones seem fine. Many different headphones can be made to work, but the question is can you wear them comfortably for long periods. Both the Koss Pro4AA and the Sony MDR-7506 are without question terrific headphones, but I personally can't wear either of them long enough to do a show.

Hopefully the Rode / Presonus combination won't have the issue, unless your room is located right next to a sub-station or something like that.

Not at La Brea and Olympic he's not, unless it's underground.

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.057416, ... -wIr6w!2e0

It does bother me that I can't hear the hum that everybody's talking about. Trust me I know what 120Hz "open shield" hum sounds like. I'm perfectly clear on the frying mosquito noises, white noise underneath data whine. That's low enough down now to be easily removed without damaging the voice.

I'm slowly coming 'round to the idea that all USB microphones do this. It's a combination of a nose-bleed high gain (60dB) to get the microphone to work at all and the ratty USB power supply from the computer. It's a cousin to the problem of having a soundcard inside the computer — right next to the blast furnace noise generator video card.

~~

I lost the thread. Did you post a short, finished clip? I'm looking for two sentences in your full theatrical voice suitable for submission.

Koz

[MichloIW]

Koz,

no, not yet, not until I track down and eradicate (if possible) this noise.

I've tried everything now. I thought perhaps it was the USB extender cable.

My last test was the laptop outside the room. I've uploaded the result here.

Does anybody still hear the same thing? There are a few background noises as there was a cleaner working ($19 on Amazon Local!) but the rest is just me holding my breath in the booth.

Cheers.


Edit - Oh and nobody ever told me which Limiter they use, only that I shouldn't use a Hard Limiter. How is this one please?

http://www.yohng.com/software/w1limit.html

And what settings should I use?

[kozikowski]

nobody ever told me which Limiter they use,

Did someone say you needed a limiter? I think maybe you can carefully squeeze the top volume bits a little to even things out with Effects > Compressor and then Normalize or Amplify to -3. Or leave it the way it is.

Everything you do to the show will have to be done every show. A good amount of post-production is nothing. This is why you're working in a studio instead of having to perform digital emergency open heart surgery at every show. Walk in, press record, and walk out with an almost perfect show a half-hour later.

I don't think you want to do very much at all to this except push the background noise down a bit and stabilize the peaks so they don't go over -3.

We'll send it through our version of acceptance testing and see how it goes.

The 60Hz noise is now in the -60 range and all the other noises are down beyond -70 or better. 120Hz, the one you can hear, is down in the -78 range. 240Hz is -81. Sound level halves and doubles every 6. Easy to suppress with gentle Noise Removal.

If the 60 is troublesome, notch it out. Remember 80Hz to 100 Hz is the low limit for human speech, or apply Steve's new High Pass Filter.

Koz

[kozikowski]

Yeah. That works.
http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 74#p243229

No more 60Hz error. The next closest peak is 104Hz (whatever that is) at -70dB. Gently push down the mosquitoes and you got it.

Koz

[kozikowski]

Back in the dark ages of color (colour) television, there was a standing joke. Many people could align a home TV set (Convergence, Purity, Beam Focus, etc) but only the Masters knew when to stop.

"I think I can get the blue just a little better in the upper left-hand corner...."

Koz