Hi, I'm trying to record vocals on my laptop which I thought would be simple once I get a proper mic but I'm still having problems with getting white noise in the background. I got the Shure SM58 mic today from a shop and after closer inspection I believe it's an original. After looking around the internet for answers I'm under the impression that the white noise is somehow caused by directly connecting the mic to the laptop. I had the same white noise problem with the Samson Go mic which supports this hypothesis. So from what I can surmise, getting a mixer should fix this problem? I do have a Roland Micro Cube guitar amp and I'm wondering if I can use that in place of a mixer. Though I would have to get a wire that connects the amp to the laptop if that even exists, I wonder if it would be a cheaper solution that's similarly effective to getting a mixer. I am concerned if it is my laptop(an Acer Aspire 4738) itself that is the root of the problem, but it's what I have to work with. I'll also try to see after recording some vocals if noise filter from a software is a good enough solution.
Need help getting rid of white noise while recording vocals on laptop
- Thread starter Andrax
- Start date
mjbphotos
Moderator
What you need is a decent preamp - easiest solution is to buy a USB Audio Interface (which willhave a mic preamp).
Read this thread and this thread.
Read this thread and this thread.
BroKen_H
Re-member
You can buy a $50 Behringer mixer and use the pre-amps and line out if you prefer, but for $10 more, you can get a Behringer USB interface and have the ad/da converters.
Clarification: neither will give you great results. Look in the $100-150 range for decent, and up for good to great. But just to put vocals down with less white noise (noise floor) you'll want to get away from the $0.36 ad/da converter set in your sound card.
Clarification: neither will give you great results. Look in the $100-150 range for decent, and up for good to great. But just to put vocals down with less white noise (noise floor) you'll want to get away from the $0.36 ad/da converter set in your sound card.
Last edited:
So the white noise is because of my sound card, can you please explain why getting a preamp means the sound card won't be a factor?
As you can tell I really dont know anything about recording I really just want to start recording stuff and the only obstacle is the white noise I'll probably be content with anything if it's not bad. :/
Thanks for the help so far
As you can tell I really dont know anything about recording I really just want to start recording stuff and the only obstacle is the white noise I'll probably be content with anything if it's not bad. :/
Thanks for the help so far
mjbphotos
Moderator
Did you read through the 2 threads I linked in post #2? Really - do a bunch of reading before buying any gear, you'll save some money in the long run and learn some stuff too.
I'm trying to read them but to be honest, it's a bunch information that I dont have experience in/don't really understand/not that interested in and it goes over my head. I don't believe I'll really be exploring recording deeply in the future I just wanna know how to record without the white noise and get to doing it asap. :/
witzendoz
Senior Member
The instant gratification without any learning curve popping its head up again. You need to know what you are doing and what you are using, you asked for advice and now it's not doing it for you. There is no magic button that will record the voice without the noise if you don't use the right gear.
Alan.
No, an Audio Interface is the best way to get LOW NOISE recordings!
The problem is not really the A/D-D/A converters in computers (they make a fair job of playing CD FCS!) No, the problem is that the analogue amplifiers driving the converters are just not good enough for very low level signals like a microphones. Then Windows is defaulted to a huge amount of gain, amplification which makes matters even worse.
Bottom line: Computers are simply way short of being optimized for microphone recording. Dubbing old tape or vinyl? Fair to midd' but not mics.
So, go as guided and get an interface but be advised, depending on what you buy you may still need to crank back that gain that is built into the OS. Fortunately that is pretty simple.
Dave.
BroKen_H
Re-member
Why are you stuck on a preamp? It seems funny to me that everyone says, "get an interface", and you keep replying, "so I should get a preamp." Words to those effects...
Thanks for the clarification, Dave! I know it's in that circuitry, but was never sure exactly what the problem was...it's the amps, not the converters.
All I know is the audio interface should completely replace your audio card in your computer. Mikes plug in and speakers plug in...midi if you got 'em. You can even (and some say you should) disable the sound card at that point.
Thanks for the clarification, Dave! I know it's in that circuitry, but was never sure exactly what the problem was...it's the amps, not the converters.
All I know is the audio interface should completely replace your audio card in your computer. Mikes plug in and speakers plug in...midi if you got 'em. You can even (and some say you should) disable the sound card at that point.
"Thanks for the clarification, Dave! I know it's in that circuitry, but was never sure exactly what the problem was...it's the amps, not the converters."
Yeah well, don't quote me Ken! I have just come to that conclusion based on empirical use. I assume Windows applies "noiseless" digital gain but the preamp are ***t!
A very loose analogy is the crap mic pres that you used to get in otherwise pretty decent tape recorders.
Dave.
Yeah well, don't quote me Ken! I have just come to that conclusion based on empirical use. I assume Windows applies "noiseless" digital gain but the preamp are ***t!
A very loose analogy is the crap mic pres that you used to get in otherwise pretty decent tape recorders.
Dave.
mjbphotos
Moderator
So you're not interested in getting rid of the noise and crappy sound you've got?
hey, sorry for taking a long time to come back on here
Here's a sample of what it sounds like right now, (it's metal, fair warning in case youre not into it) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViP8gUbKoFE besides the white noise, the audio recording does seem bad, so getting a usb audio interface should fix this?
Again sorry for not really understanding all the technical speak, despite not knowing anything about recording I just wanted to start doing it but I don't want to spend money without knowing anything, so thanks again for helping me understand it a little bit!
Here's a sample of what it sounds like right now, (it's metal, fair warning in case youre not into it) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViP8gUbKoFE besides the white noise, the audio recording does seem bad, so getting a usb audio interface should fix this?
Again sorry for not really understanding all the technical speak, despite not knowing anything about recording I just wanted to start doing it but I don't want to spend money without knowing anything, so thanks again for helping me understand it a little bit!
Last edited:
Ye! Gods! Thanks for the heads up! Well I could not tell ANYTHING from that(!) but since you are going in for an interface, shall we let it lie?
For an interface I am not the only one to be impressed with the Alesis iO2. $99.00 (Sweetwater) is about as cheap as you will get for anything at all decent and the iO2 IS decent IMO.
Next up for quality is the Steinberg UR22, not tried one myself but every report I have read has been very favourable. If you can crack the $200 mark there is no better interface for anything like the money and a lot more than the Native Instruments KA6.
If you think you might need more than two mic channels (jamming with mates?) the latest Behringer interfaces have attracted some very good reccies, but again, no personal hands on.
You will get the Focusrite 2i2 shoved in you face! It IS a good interface but no better I would aver than the Steinberg and you are paying for a name and a light show.
Dave.
rob aylestone
Moderator
computer internal sound devices cost at most about fifteen quid tops. They are not designed to be high quality - usually the most a user does is connect the computer to a hifi, or their TV, and plug in a gaming headset. Noise isn't really important. Home recording and professional users want something much, much better. This is all it is. Some computers don't seem to hiss, but these usually just have less gain available - and somebody yelling into a Skype or shoot em up game isn't bothered about the background noise!