"White noise" effect on recording

[MartinC_47]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question so please redirect me if not.

My neice wanted to send me a bit of old rock music, CCR, so she started recording with Audacity on her laptop and turned on the music. Saved a MP3 and emailed it to me.
When I played the clip it was almost inaudible. I opened it in Audacity and had to turn up the volume almost full to actually hear anything.
What I heard surprised me. There was some very distorted CCR music over some kind of white noise which sounded like running water. There was also some low level hum.

I thought maybe the laptop was causing the problem so I asked her to record again on a different machine. Long story short, another PC and a Sony recorder both produced the same result.
We did a final test where she spoke into the laptop up close at varying levels of loudness. I was able to hear her voice normally over the white noise.

Now, this "white noise" is not audible in her home but it is obviously there if it is being recorded. I'm not sure what is going on.

Is it possible that this background white noise is making it impossible to record ?

If anyone has any idea what this might be I would appreciate your input. Please note, this is not some EVP or paranormal thing.

thanks

[kozikowski]

Saved a MP3 and emailed it to me.

Exported. Audacity will not Save an MP3.

You missed a step. Capture the music. Play it to make sure it's OK, Export it as an MP3 and email it. Or did they do that and it was OK?

It's usually a bad idea to include abbreviations in a question. Creedence Clearwater Revival, not a sound format?

It's not clear from the posting where the music was. Where did it start from?

If you're on a Windows machine, Windows Enhanced Services can make it impossible to record music clearly, but voices usually make it through OK.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/fa ... hancements

If you tried recording on two different Windows machines, they would have done the same thing.

Koz

[Trebor]

There was some very distorted CCR music over some kind of white noise which sounded like running water. There was also some low level hum.
If anyone has any idea what this might be I would appreciate your input.

Could the "... noise which sounded like running water ... also some low level hum"
be the sound of the computer's hard-drive unintentionally recorded by the computer's built-in microphone ?,
e.g. ... http://www.freesound.org/people/Omar%20 ... ds/182045/

If the computer's built-in microphone is not being used to record the music it needs to be disabled,
if your niece is using a Microsoft Windows operating system see ... http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... 3aa73bd6b4

[MartinC_47]

Exported. Audacity will not Save an MP3.
You missed a step. Capture the music. Play it to make sure it's OK, Export it as an MP3 and email it. Or did they do that and it was OK?
It's usually a bad idea to include abbreviations in a question. Creedence Clearwater Revival, not a sound format?

OK. Noted.

It's not clear from the posting where the music was. Where did it start from?

I'm not sure. I will find out. Whatever the device was the music was loud and audible when she played it in front of the laptop.

If you're on a Windows machine, Windows Enhanced Services can make it impossible to record music clearly, but voices usually make it through OK.
http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/fa ... hancements
If you tried recording on two different Windows machines, they would have done the same thing.

I have VNC access to her laptop. I checked the settings.

Windows 7, HP Envy notebook
The recording device is a "IDT Integrated microphone array"
The enhancements tab shows Noise cancellation and Light beam forming checked.
The Level tab shows microphone array at 63, Microphone boost at +10db.

I will get her to record again with the enhancements turned off.

Thanks for your prompt reply.

[MartinC_47]

There was some very distorted CCR music over some kind of white noise which sounded like running water. There was also some low level hum.
If anyone has any idea what this might be I would appreciate your input.

Could the "... noise which sounded like running water ... also some low level hum"
be the sound of the computer's hard-drive unintentionally recorded by the computer's built-in microphone ?,
e.g. ... http://www.freesound.org/people/Omar%20 ... ds/182045/

Thanks. No that link sounds just like a hard drive. What I am hearing sounds like one of those sleep aid recordings of a waterfall or stream. Perhaps I can upload it so you can hear it.

If the computer's built-in microphone is not being used to record the music it needs to be disabled,
if your niece is using a Microsoft Windows operating system see ... http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... 3aa73bd6b4

She doesn't have an external microphone so she has to use the built-in microphone.

[kozikowski]

bubbly, running water is the sound of echo cancellation trying to suppress background sounds in a spoken word performance. In other words what happens to traffic noises when you talk on a cellphone.

The problem comes when the system decides what's "bad noise." Any sustained tones, like airplane noises, traffic... or music.

Koz

[Trebor]

What I am hearing sounds like one of those sleep aid recordings of a waterfall or stream. Perhaps I can upload it so you can hear it.

You can only attach files up to 1Mb to posts in this forum , so that's about ten seconds of WAV at 44100Hz monaural, ( not stereo) , which may be sufficient for us to identify the noise.

She doesn't have an external microphone so she has to use the built-in microphone.

That's going to be lousy quality because of reverberation in the room , if it's being played on loudspeakers.
[ putting headphones from the record player very close to the computer's in-built mic would avoid the reverb ].
cf.

[MartinC_47]

What I am hearing sounds like one of those sleep aid recordings of a waterfall or stream. Perhaps I can upload it so you can hear it.

You can only attach files up to 1Mb to posts in this forum , so that's about ten seconds of WAV at 44100Hz monaural, ( not stereo) , which may be sufficient for us to identify the noise.

What I have is mp3. I am doing some tests that I will export as WAV. Then I'll create a small clip to upload.

She doesn't have an external microphone so she has to use the built-in microphone.

That's going to be lousy quality because of reverberation in the room , if it's being played on loudspeakers.
[ putting headphones from the record player very close to the computer's in-built mic would avoid the reverb ].
cf.

Thanks for that link. Brings back lots of memories. Silent 700 portables, etc.

We weren't really worried too much about the quality when this started. Now we're more concerned with identifying the source of the "white noise" and understanding why it appears to be interfering with the recording functionality of the laptop and her Sony recorder.

[Trebor]

... Now we're more concerned with identifying the source of the "white noise" and understanding why it appears to be interfering with the recording functionality of the laptop and her Sony recorder.

A common-denominator between two recording devices could be the quality setting of the mp3 your niece is creating, low quality ( low bit rate) mp3s are small size , but have bubbly digital artefacts ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_rate#MP3

If your niece is minimizing the audio-file size to send the sound to you as an email attachment, by choosing a low bit-rate mp3 , then all the mp3s they send you by email will sound the same , ( potentially horrible ) , no matter how it was recorded.

The standard practice is to upload the audio file to a file sharing site , then email a link to it , rather than email the large audio file, e.g. ... https://soundcloud.com/djbutcher/creede ... val#t=2:19 [ copyright infringement at your own risk ]

[billw58]

Whatever the device was the music was loud and audible when she played it in front of the laptop.

It seems from the statement that your niece is using the built-in microphone on the laptop to record the music. Is this correct?
-- Bill