Background noise

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JMBurnworth
Posts: 10
Joined: June 26th, 2016, 9:17 am

Post by JMBurnworth »

I have a constant issue with my a/c. Anytime it runs, my mic picks it up. I've tried doing noise removal, but it always affects the quality of the audio. It seems all I can do is record when it's not running (which is a great nuisance). Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.
TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

Is it a window unit or a central AC? I assume a window unit, since central air is pretty quiet. :)

My only suggestion would be to move as far away from it as you can, and maybe build up a temporary wall or sound booth with blankets or pillows between it and the mic. Some people have made a kind of sound room with PVC pipe and blankets, or you might be able to just do a small sound box around your mic. A lot depends on your set up. :hmm:

Could you upload a sample file with your AC running, no noise removal?
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JMBurnworth
Posts: 10
Joined: June 26th, 2016, 9:17 am

Post by JMBurnworth »

It's central air. My setup is a desktop pc hooked up to my HDTV, located inside of my bedroom. I don't have a lot of options based off of my current living situation.
Penumbra
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Joined: May 10th, 2016, 6:16 pm

Post by Penumbra »

I have a pretty noisy central air compressor too. Sometimes before recording I will bump the thermostat down a degree and wait for the AC to do it's thing. Then I bump the thermostat up 2 degrees and I'm good for over a half hour even on the really hot days.

But I've also been able to remove the hum without having a lot of distortion from the noise removal. Sometimes I'll use two different noise profiles, one for the part of the recording when the AC is on, and one for when it is off. If the AC turns on while I'm recording I will be quiet for a few seconds or clap or something to make the transition easy to find then resume recording at the beginning of the last recorded sentence so I don't have two different profiles in one continuous stream of talking.

If you would care to upload a bit of recording with the AC hum I can give removing it a shot.
Tom Penn
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Post by SkyRider »

Are you able to get any closer to the microphone? That would increase the ratio of your voice to the aircon so it would be less intrusive.

What kind of microphone are you using? A dynamic microphone should be less sensitive to background sounds than a condenser and one with a cardioid pick-up pattern should be less sensitive to sounds behind it.

None of these will remove the sound but they might lessen it so you need to be less aggressive in the noise reduction.

Cheers,
Paul
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