The all-new "HELP! I have an Audacity problem" thread

[GraceBuchanan]

I had too much background noise for my liking on my 1-minute test, even after I used Audacity's Equalizer to filter out 100Hz Rumble. I tried the Low rolloff for speech option. I used the High Pass Filter to remove up to 70 and up to 250 Hz. I had put the computer and external hard drive outside my sound studio (closet). I had amplified, edited, and deamplified the room sound at the tail ends to make it cleaner before using each tool. "Kitty" suggested using Noise Reduction, and it worked wonders! But it changed the sound of my voice.

Can I see what Noise Reduction filtered out so I can recreate the results with some tweaks?

I'm wondering if the rumble is coming from my Samson GoMic.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks so much,
Grace
.

If you don't mind, re-record your one-minute test and post it without any filtering, etc. so that I can hear it. (Others might take an interest, too.) I think you may be pushing the clean-up a bit too hard.

Thanks Kevin. This is the raw file with just the room sound tails edited. It passed the LibriVox Checker and test, but I'm aiming to identify/remove the remaining rumble, if I can.
https://librivox.org/uploads/tests/test_gracebuchanan.mp3
What do you think now? I welcome any suggestions.

Thanks,
Grace

[KevinS]

Thanks Kevin. This is the raw file with just the room sound tails edited. It passed the LibriVox Checker and test, but I'm aiming to identify/remove the remaining rumble, if I can.
https://librivox.org/uploads/tests/test_gracebuchanan.mp3
What do you think now? I welcome any suggestions.

Thanks,
Grace

I see what you mean, but I only really hear it clearly in the 'silent' section at the close.

One oddity (?) is that there seems to be a kind of breeze that laps across the mic in that silence. Could that be?

[KevinS]

Do me a favor, please. Take this original file and do nothing with it except use the Noise Reduction effect with settings of 16, 4, and 6 (top to bottom order of sliders.) What do you think of your voice with that clean-up?

[GraceBuchanan]

I had too much background noise for my liking on my 1-minute test, even after I used Audacity's Equalizer to filter out 100Hz Rumble. I tried the Low rolloff for speech option. I used the High Pass Filter to remove up to 70 and up to 250 Hz. I had put the computer and external hard drive outside my sound studio (closet). I had amplified, edited, and deamplified the room sound at the tail ends to make it cleaner before using each tool. "Kitty" suggested using Noise Reduction, and it worked wonders! But it changed the sound of my voice.

Can I see what Noise Reduction filtered out so I can recreate the results with some tweaks?

I'm wondering if the rumble is coming from my Samson GoMic.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks so much,
Grace
.

100 HZ rumble is strange. The UK mains frequency is 50 CPS and the US 60 CPS (Cycles per sec). Unplug the mic and listen on headphones to see if the rumble is still there. If it's still there it is not the mic, but some sort of electrical interference getting into the system, possible the computer if you are recording to that. Send us (upload) a sample of the noise (only, no other sounds) of about 20 seconds and we may be able to give more advice ...)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I unplugged the mic and listened on headphones, and the rumble was still there. I'm wondering if the mic causes the rumble during recording.

I copied and pasted room sound from the raw 1-minute test. https://librivox.org/uploads/tests/test_room-sound-gracebuchanan.mp3

I welcome any suggestions,
Grace

[GraceBuchanan]

Thanks Kevin. This is the raw file with just the room sound tails edited. It passed the LibriVox Checker and test, but I'm aiming to identify/remove the remaining rumble, if I can.
https://librivox.org/uploads/tests/test_gracebuchanan.mp3
What do you think now? I welcome any suggestions.

Thanks,
Grace

I see what you mean, but I only really hear it clearly in the 'silent' section at the close.

One oddity (?) is that there seems to be a kind of breeze that laps across the mic in that silence. Could that be?

Yeah, I noticed that the end tail is noisier than the beginning, so I got the noise profile from the beginning to reduce the noise reduction.

I see what you mean about a breezy sound. I'm in a closet, well-wrapped with layers of blankets and sheets (the room is, I'm not), which is in the middle of the house, so drafts aren't likely. Maybe the ending had some of my breath in it.

Thanks for sharing your observations,
Grace

[KevinS]

I did as I suggested, using the tail end as the sample, and was very pleased with the end result for your recording.

I suspect your being in a small room will amplify the sound of your breathing and, for that matter, any movement you make, though the soft material in the room would attenuate this. I suspect you are close to the mic.

I feel a bit embarrassed by how lackadaisical I must appear, but I think you're doing well. Listen to one of my recordings and you must think I'm recording in a cement mixer. Hahah!

[GraceBuchanan]

Do me a favor, please. Take this original file and do nothing with it except use the Noise Reduction effect with settings of 16, 4, and 6 (top to bottom order of sliders.) What do you think of your voice with that clean-up?

The favor is all mine, Kevin!
OMG! I tried 16, 4, 6, and it worked great for removing the background noise, but still my voice sounds brassier than it is. Do I have to make this kind of trade-off when using Noise Reduction?
Thanks for your persistence,
Grace

[KevinS]

Do me a favor, please. Take this original file and do nothing with it except use the Noise Reduction effect with settings of 16, 4, and 6 (top to bottom order of sliders.) What do you think of your voice with that clean-up?

The favor is all mine, Kevin!
OMG! I tried 16, 4, 6, and it worked great for removing the background noise, but still my voice sounds brassier than it is. Do I have to make this kind of trade-off when using Noise Reduction?
Thanks for your persistence,
Grace

Yes, there are trade-offs. But we are not really hearing our own voices as we might like. We never will. We are recording for an audience and I think your voice, even if brassy, is lovely.

P.S. I don't think it sounds brassy at all.

[GraceBuchanan]

I did as I suggested, using the tail end as the sample, and was very pleased with the end result for your recording.

I suspect your being in a small room will amplify the sound of your breathing and, for that matter, any movement you make, though the soft material in the room would attenuate this. I suspect you are close to the mic.

I feel a bit embarrassed by how lackadaisical I must appear, but I think you're doing well. Listen to one of my recordings and you must think I'm recording in a cement mixer. Hahah!

I'm glad to try doing what you said, and not only what you did
I'm a "hang-ten" distance from my mic. When farther back, I get more room noise, but I am practicing bobbing my head back to avoid clipping.
If you're in a cement mixer, it's a wonderfully quiet one. Your "Before Edgehill Fight" is a pleasure, even with its resonance. Maybe I'm being too fussy, putting an unreasonable emphasis on my background noise instead of proceeding with my first section for publication here.

Thanks for all of your support,
Grace

[carolb]

Hello Grace,

Welcome to Librivox from someone who hasn't recorded here for a while.

You have spent a lot of time and energy in this thread, I wonder if you have come across the lovely Phil Chenevert aka our Video Guy?

Here is a link to his videos, I'm sure they will help

https://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Instructional_Videos


Carol

[GraceBuchanan]

Hello Grace,

Welcome to Librivox from someone who hasn't recorded here for a while.

You have spent a lot of time and energy in this thread, I wonder if you have come across the lovely Phil Chenevert aka our Video Guy?

Here is a link to his videos, I'm sure they will help

https://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Instructional_Videos


Carol

Thanks Carol! I've enjoyed his videos, but haven't talked to him myself yet. I'll head over there next. Wouldn't it be great if he would enjoy teaching about this topic!
ETA: Thanks again, Carol. I see that he already covered adjusting the Noise Reduction settings. Yay!

[carolb]

Phil's videos are great, and cover most (and possibly all!) the topics we need for smooth, stress-free recording.
I had a quick listen to your one minute test, without headphones. You have a lovely voice, Grace.

Carol

[GraceBuchanan]

Phil's videos are great, and cover most (and possibly all!) the topics we need for smooth, stress-free recording.
I had a quick listen to your one minute test, without headphones. You have a lovely voice, Grace.

Carol

Awwwwww! Thank you! I've always enjoyed acting and reading aloud to people in person, and then got into doing public speaking. Recording audiobooks was next, but only for my husband until now. I took a digital art class years ago, and sound engineering was included. We were taught to use Equalizers. Noise Reduction seems to be MUCH more effective, and a whole lot simpler! I'd love to know how to use an Equalizer well enough to duplicate NR so I could modify it to sound more like I'd like.

Thanks again for your input,
Grace

[GraceBuchanan]

Phil's videos are great, and cover most (and possibly all!) the topics we need for smooth, stress-free recording.
I had a quick listen to your one minute test, without headphones. You have a lovely voice, Grace.

Carol

I am delighted to be advised by an established Reader. Your reading of "Beautiful Old Age" made me tingle. Such a great poem, too! Thanks for being here.

[carolb]

Thanks so much, Grace!

Goodness, I have no recollection of recording that, or the poem beneath it!
Perhaps it's time to dust down my lovely Blue Yeti.

Carol