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

[lurcherlover]

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

That room sound is not rumble but really atmos. To minimise it get in closer to the mic and turn the recording gain down. (You may need to angle the mic or use a pop filter to reduce pops and other sounds). You will need much less or even no noise cleaning then.

[GraceBuchanan]

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

That room sound is not rumble but really atmos. To minimise it get in closer to the mic and turn the recording gain down. (You may need to angle the mic or use a pop filter to reduce pops and other sounds). You will need much less or even no noise cleaning then.

I'll work at that. Thanks! I feel like I'm close to the mic now, but I'll do a trial run "kissing" it with a pop filter, and let you know how it goes. I'd LOVE to not need to clean out noise. No matter which band width I adjust, it either has no effect on the noise, makes the noise worse, or alters my voice unpleasantly. The worst is when I turn up a band, and it accentuates my voice characteristics AND the background hum!

[neecheelok70]

My issue has to do with the Mac update Catalina, which does not recognize the present Audacity download, at least for recording. There is a by-pass, which can be found on-line that will allow one to proceed as usual, well, more or less as usual. For those who are interested. Jim

[KevinS]

My issue has to do with the Mac update Catalina, which does not recognize the present Audacity download, at least for recording. There is a by-pass, which can be found on-line that will allow one to proceed as usual, well, more or less as usual. For those who are interested. Jim

Good luck! (It`s all over my head. Haha!)

[neecheelok70]

Thanks. Jim

[GraceBuchanan]

That room sound is not rumble but really atmos. To minimise it get in closer to the mic and turn the recording gain down. (You may need to angle the mic or use a pop filter to reduce pops and other sounds). You will need much less or even no noise cleaning then.

I went ahead and recorded my first section as close to the mic as I could stand, and I still got a background hum that annoys the heck out of me. I angled the mic, so no clipping, popping, or such. The Noise Reduction did an adequate job, so I'm putting on the finishing touches and moving on to my second section. Thanks for the nudge to keep moving on instead about obsessing about completely avoiding the Noise Reduction tool.

[Jmbau13]

That room sound is not rumble but really atmos. To minimise it get in closer to the mic and turn the recording gain down. (You may need to angle the mic or use a pop filter to reduce pops and other sounds). You will need much less or even no noise cleaning then.

I went ahead and recorded my first section as close to the mic as I could stand, and I still got a background hum that annoys the heck out of me. I angled the mic, so no clipping, popping, or such. The Noise Reduction did an adequate job, so I'm putting on the finishing touches and moving on to my second section. Thanks for the nudge to keep moving on instead about obsessing about completely avoiding the Noise Reduction tool.

Well done you.
Sometimes, with a problem, we just have to settle for a 'good enough' solution in order to move on. A lesson I have to relearn at times

[Katla]

Hello! I recorded something last week and meant to edit it today but Audacity is being real strange. I can open the file, but audacity just shows a flat line and none of my audio plays. I'm wondering if it might have something to do with the fact that I updated my operating system between recording and opening the file today. In fact, none of my .aup files will play. I didn't move the .aup or the .data files, they are still sitting pretty together in the folder I saved them into originally. Anyone else update to MacOS Catalina and start to have this sort of trouble? Or is it something simple I'm overlooking? I would be pretty sad to have lost all that audio.

[Katla]

Hello! I recorded something last week and meant to edit it today but Audacity is being real strange. I can open the file, but audacity just shows a flat line and none of my audio plays. I'm wondering if it might have something to do with the fact that I updated my operating system between recording and opening the file today. In fact, none of my .aup files will play. I didn't move the .aup or the .data files, they are still sitting pretty together in the folder I saved them into originally. Anyone else update to MacOS Catalina and start to have this sort of trouble? Or is it something simple I'm overlooking? I would be pretty sad to have lost all that audio.

P.s. I have the newest version of audacity and audacity does have access to the microphone according to system preferences (I know losing permission for the microphone is a reported issue with the catalina update). I tried recording something new and it recorded only silence.

[KevinS]

Hello! I recorded something last week and meant to edit it today but Audacity is being real strange. I can open the file, but audacity just shows a flat line and none of my audio plays. I'm wondering if it might have something to do with the fact that I updated my operating system between recording and opening the file today. In fact, none of my .aup files will play. I didn't move the .aup or the .data files, they are still sitting pretty together in the folder I saved them into originally. Anyone else update to MacOS Catalina and start to have this sort of trouble? Or is it something simple I'm overlooking? I would be pretty sad to have lost all that audio.

Audacity isn't ready for Catalina, or vice versa. If you look earlier in this thread you can find a possible work around. (As I say there, I have no idea what any of it means.)

[Katla]

Hello! I recorded something last week and meant to edit it today but Audacity is being real strange. I can open the file, but audacity just shows a flat line and none of my audio plays. I'm wondering if it might have something to do with the fact that I updated my operating system between recording and opening the file today. In fact, none of my .aup files will play. I didn't move the .aup or the .data files, they are still sitting pretty together in the folder I saved them into originally. Anyone else update to MacOS Catalina and start to have this sort of trouble? Or is it something simple I'm overlooking? I would be pretty sad to have lost all that audio.

Audacity isn't ready for Catalina, or vice versa. If you look earlier in this thread you can find a possible work around. (As I say there, I have no idea what any of it means.)

Thanks Kevin! I had found that post but it didn't sound like the same problem. However, opening Audacity from Terminal as suggested on the Audacity website did seem to solve my issue anyway! Phew!

[KevinS]

Hello! I recorded something last week and meant to edit it today but Audacity is being real strange. I can open the file, but audacity just shows a flat line and none of my audio plays. I'm wondering if it might have something to do with the fact that I updated my operating system between recording and opening the file today. In fact, none of my .aup files will play. I didn't move the .aup or the .data files, they are still sitting pretty together in the folder I saved them into originally. Anyone else update to MacOS Catalina and start to have this sort of trouble? Or is it something simple I'm overlooking? I would be pretty sad to have lost all that audio.

Audacity isn't ready for Catalina, or vice versa. If you look earlier in this thread you can find a possible work around. (As I say there, I have no idea what any of it means.)

Thanks Kevin! I had found that post but it didn't sound like the same problem. However, opening Audacity from Terminal as suggested on the Audacity website did seem to solve my issue anyway! Phew!

Glad to hear it! Peace to you!

[Shasta]

I recently updated my iMac from OS Mojave to OS Catalina and discovered that Catalina does not support Audacity, i.e., when one tries to record one gets nothing on the track. Just the flat, silence line. I then found that Audacity found a workaround using Applications-Utilities-Terminal and a URL to open Audacity and thereby access to the microphone. I tried it and it worked. Then, due to a power outage, I was back to square one. So I then proceeded to again use the workaround and this time it does NOT work despite the fact that I have tried it in every way I can think of. The workaround instructions say "Confirm the request for microphone permissions when requested," and I believe that may be the source of my problem, because after I follow the workaround instructions I fail to see any "request for microphone permissions." I have called up my iMac "System Preferences" and, under "Security and Privacy" I have chosen "Microphone" and checked the Audacity box. Above that window is says: "Allow the apps below to access your microphone." Having done that I then try to record and I still get nothing but the silence line. What, if anyone can tell me am I missing here?

[lurcherlover]

I recently updated my iMac from OS Mojave to OS Catalina and discovered that Catalina does not support Audacity, i.e., when one tries to record one gets nothing on the track. Just the flat, silence line. I then found that Audacity found a workaround using Applications-Utilities-Terminal and a URL to open Audacity and thereby access to the microphone. I tried it and it worked. Then, due to a power outage, I was back to square one. So I then proceeded to again use the workaround and this time it does NOT work despite the fact that I have tried it in every way I can think of. The workaround instructions say "Confirm the request for microphone permissions when requested," and I believe that may be the source of my problem, because after I follow the workaround instructions I fail to see any "request for microphone permissions." I have called up my iMac "System Preferences" and, under "Security and Privacy" I have chosen "Microphone" and checked the Audacity box. Above that window is says: "Allow the apps below to access your microphone." Having done that I then try to record and I still get nothing but the silence line. What, if anyone can tell me am I missing here?

It may be that Catalina will only support 64bit software and not give you the option of the earlier O/S to also work with 32bit software, which I think Audacity is (32bit). My editor (DAW) is Reaper and that has a 64bit version I now use which runs on the High Sierra O/S. It could also be that the drivers you have need to be updated as well.

P S I've just checked and Audacity is 32 bit according to information on the Internet.

[Amy6411]

Am currently in the same situation as Shasta. Surely we can't be the only audacity for mac users on this forum and a solution will be forthcoming??

I recently updated my iMac from OS Mojave to OS Catalina and discovered that Catalina does not support Audacity, i.e., when one tries to record one gets nothing on the track. Just the flat, silence line. I then found that Audacity found a workaround using Applications-Utilities-Terminal and a URL to open Audacity and thereby access to the microphone. I tried it and it worked. Then, due to a power outage, I was back to square one. So I then proceeded to again use the workaround and this time it does NOT work despite the fact that I have tried it in every way I can think of. The workaround instructions say "Confirm the request for microphone permissions when requested," and I believe that may be the source of my problem, because after I follow the workaround instructions I fail to see any "request for microphone permissions." I have called up my iMac "System Preferences" and, under "Security and Privacy" I have chosen "Microphone" and checked the Audacity box. Above that window is says: "Allow the apps below to access your microphone." Having done that I then try to record and I still get nothing but the silence line. What, if anyone can tell me am I missing here?