Escape Artists
The Lounge at the End of the Universe => Gallimaufry => Topic started by: stePH on January 20, 2010, 02:53:43 AM
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I'm glad I could do your story justice! :) I had fun reading it, especially being straight. :P
Your reading was great, but the recording left much to desire. What do you use?
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How so?
I don't use a great mic, it's just a headset mic worth about $30 when I got it, it's a bit old...
recorded in audacity and used a noise removal filter to get rid of the static, which did left it sounding very ghosty at parts, but it's the best i know how to do :P
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How so?
I don't use a great mic, it's just a headset mic worth about $30 when I got it, it's a bit old...
recorded in audacity and used a noise removal filter to get rid of the static, which did left it sounding very ghosty at parts, but it's the best i know how to do :P
I use what must be the cheapest headset mic in existence (cost me $20 new, and the earphones developed a phase-cancel issue and became useless within a year of purchase), also recording into Audacity, and I don't seem to get any static/noise... I think there's still a sample of my work...
...yep, still there: Come On, Wagon! (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1125424/Come%20On%2C%20Wagon%282%29.mp3)
A bit toppy, but not very noisy. Anyway, your recording wasn't insufferable like some others have been, and I'd really like to hear you read again.
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How so?
I don't use a great mic, it's just a headset mic worth about $30 when I got it, it's a bit old...
recorded in audacity and used a noise removal filter to get rid of the static, which did left it sounding very ghosty at parts, but it's the best i know how to do :P
I use what must be the cheapest headset mic in existence (cost me $20 new, and the earphones developed a phase-cancel issue and became useless within a year of purchase), also recording into Audacity, and I don't seem to get any static/noise... I think there's still a sample of my work...
...yep, still there: Come On, Wagon! (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1125424/Come%20On%2C%20Wagon%282%29.mp3)
A bit toppy, but not very noisy. Anyway, your recording wasn't insufferable like some others have been, and I'd really like to hear you read again.
yeah I don't know... i turned off my fan and everything, but the mic just picks up a lot of air noise. Even tried with a blanket over my head haha but that just got really hot and didnt fix it.
might be because i lost that little foam cover it had?
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might be because i lost that little foam cover it had?
The "little foam cover" on my own mic is worthless at stopping air noise. I took a length of wire from a clothes hanger, bent it into a loop about 3" across and tied a nylon bootie over it, then taped it on to be about a half inch from the mic. No more breath noise.
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How so?
I don't use a great mic, it's just a headset mic worth about $30 when I got it, it's a bit old...
recorded in audacity and used a noise removal filter to get rid of the static, which did left it sounding very ghosty at parts, but it's the best i know how to do :P
I use what must be the cheapest headset mic in existence (cost me $20 new, and the earphones developed a phase-cancel issue and became useless within a year of purchase), also recording into Audacity, and I don't seem to get any static/noise... I think there's still a sample of my work...
...yep, still there: Come On, Wagon! (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1125424/Come%20On%2C%20Wagon%282%29.mp3)
A bit toppy, but not very noisy. Anyway, your recording wasn't insufferable like some others have been, and I'd really like to hear you read again.
yeah I don't know... i turned off my fan and everything, but the mic just picks up a lot of air noise. Even tried with a blanket over my head haha but that just got really hot and didnt fix it.
might be because i lost that little foam cover it had?
Are you using a USB mic or one that plugs into the 1/8" input on your computer?
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1/8" one.
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1/8" one.
Mine, too. Maybe around my birthday I can spring for a USB set.
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1/8" one.
That's probably the biggest problem because there's a lot of noise that comes from the computer through those mics no matter how quiet the surrounding room is. For inexpensive mics, I've heard decent things about the Logitech USB desktop mic - Amazon has them for about $21. I highly recommend switching whenever possible because even the cheap usb mics tend to have a cleaner sound than the 1/8" jack ones do.
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[snip]
recorded in audacity and used a noise removal filter to get rid of the static, which did left it sounding very ghosty at parts, but it's the best i know how to do :P
The default settings in Audacity's "Noise Removal" can be a bit too agressive.
I forget the exact appearance and labeling of the dialog box, but there's one setting given in dB, "Reduction" or some such. If the default is, say 32 db (I forget, it's been so long), then try 24 dB, or even -16 dB.
There's another control ("Smoothness"?), with a frequency bandwidth in Hz (I so forget), and bumping that up helps too.
I find (when I'm listening, at any rate) that even though more of the original noise and/or hum comes through, it's a lot easier to get used to it and ignore it than the "bubbly" artifacts of more aggressive noise removal. They are just too alien to dismiss.
It also helps to take the noise sample from a section that has only continuous steady noise, like fan noise, AC hum, etc. No clicks, pops, breathing, traffic sounds, or rustling of paper.
Intermittent crackly "static" noise is hard to remove, but white (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_noise) and pink (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colors_of_noise#Pink_noise) noise are not so bad.
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It also helps to take the noise sample from a section that has only continuous steady noise, like fan noise, AC hum, etc. No clicks, pops, breathing, traffic sounds, or rustling of paper.
yeah that's what I do. I'll have to play around with the settings.