Is it possible to remove that noise ?

[cazorla]

Hello, apparently the sound card integrated in my motherboard generate this noise, I recorded this without the mic even plugged. For the biggest part, notch filter 50hz is working fine, but I can still hear a similar sound. Is there a way to remove it, not damaging too much what's being recorded ?

It also add some kind of 3hz sound but this one can't be heard anyway.

[kozikowski]

That is actually European Power. Notches at 50, 100 and 350 will do it, but that will also damage the show.

Noise Removal, although you would need to get pretty aggressive and that may damage the show as well. The hiss is probably normal for a built-in soundcard, but the hum is bad shield. Wiggle the connector while you have it plugged and and recording. I bet it crackles a lot. Clean the plug with alcohol/Windex/vodka and a paper towel and plug it in and out several times.

Koz

[kozikowski]

Recording a sound system with nothing plugged in is dangerous. It becomes an antenna and picks up all kinds of evil sounds. Is that your pink Mic-In? That generally only works with an actual computer microphone. Most connections like that aren't generic stereo inputs.




They're designed to be used with Skype or other conferencing or communications. Nobody is shocked if the quality isn't up to Sound Recording.

Koz

[cazorla]

Thanks for the tips, yes that's the pink mic-in. in fact the noise I couldn't remove was coming from my tritton headset, by connecting the mic directly to my computer I just have the 50hz sound left which is easily removed with audacity. I still have some rather high white noise though, but I would probably have less with a better mic, right now the best I have is this
http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2004/09/ ... ve-mic.jpg
My intention is to make movies on youtube, that's why I needed to remove that noise.

[cazorla]

Just 2 things I wonder:
- The 50hz sound isn't present with another mic with only 2 metal parts on the connector
- there is also a clear 120hz sound, I wonder where this one comes from.

[cazorla]

Surprisingly, looking at the audio options just in case, using one "microphone enhancement" of "andrea electronics" did fix most of the white noise without damaging the sound, I always though that those options were rather useless, I guess it removes some sets of frequencies I don't know, can't audacity do this too easily ?

[kozikowski]

Voice Enhancing Tools work like your cellphone does. They try to determine what's your voice and what's background noise, generally by assuming anything which doesn't change is noise and subject to removal. That's why they hate music. Any sustained musical note gets killed.

That's not to say they're perfect. If the noise is bad enough, they will make your voice like talking into a wine glass. Your voice will survive enough to talk to your aunt in Chicago, but not to narrate a movie. People tend to smash the two together, but nothing says kid making a movie faster than bad sound.

As a fuzzy rule depending on post production tricks gets old in a hurry. If you shoot high quality in the first place, you can stop the recording, save or export the work and go home. If you have a ratty mic, you stop the recording and fire up all the tools to patch the problems and noises. Make fresh coffee. Making a movie is enough trouble without intentionally producing bad work at step one.

I may do another one of these, but as a test, since I've been telling people forever they can do this. I shot a sound check. This was shot in my bedroom with a rock-band microphone (SM-58) a small Peavey sound mixer (PV6), a tiny Behringer digitizer( UCA202) and a laptop.

I did need simple post production because my house hums a little (No idea why. Maybe it doesn't know the words). But after simple level shifting, I was able to produce a fully compliant audiobook sound test. Attached.

It's rare to get laptop built-in connections to produce good work. Nobody goes out to buy a laptop saying they're willing to pay extra for good sound. All most people need is passable Skype.

Koz