How to remove annoying backgorund noise? What causes it?

raspberry

New member
Hi!
I started to build my "home studio", but unfortunately I have an annoying problem.
I have a Lexicon Alpha USB audio interface, a Behringer C1 condenser microphone, a phantom power for my mic and I have a DELL laptop. I know that these products are not the highest quality equipment but in reviews, I have not read any noise problem.
I would like to use this "recording studio" to record my acoustic performances (acoustic guitar and vocal) at home. However, I experience a constant background noise which spoils my records. It is not too loud but it is constantly heard and does not change if I go into another room or outside. I would not like to remove it after recording because it would affect on the other sounds in my record...
Please help me!
Maybe I need a microphone pre-amplifier in the chain? Or what?
Thanks in advance for all of your advice!
 
It's a combination of the cheap gear. If you get yourself a better audio interface with built-in phantom power, you will no doubt find the noise gone (phantom power device + Lexicon = noise)
 
OK, thanks! So I have to buy a new interface and throw out the Lexicon?
Could you recommend me a better (but not too expensive) audio interface?
 
Could you post a sample recording? It may help us understand what you’re dealing with. A low-pitched him may indicate a ground loop, for example, which might not be a problem of your audio interface.
 
OK, thanks! So I have to buy a new interface and throw out the Lexicon?
Could you recommend me a better (but not too expensive) audio interface?

I would start at the mic...even if you get a better one, and the background noise is still there, it will be a valuable purchase and remove the mic from the equation.

Then if it is still there...it could be the interface/preamp...it could be the USB, and I assume you're using a laptop...?
Nothing really bad about Dell...but laptops in general are more prone to electronic issues/noise because everything is all crammed in there.

Finally...it could be simple AC noise, EMI, RFI, ground hum, etc...and it will follow you around from room to room if all the outlets are feeding off the same noisy AC. So another first step is to get a decent power distro box with good quality noise suppression and protection (it's something you should have anyway). They typical power strips you buy at hardware stores are not going to do the dame job, no matter what they say on the packaging.

So good AC distro and noise suppression w/spike protection....then a better mic...and so on.
You really have to narrow it down to where/what the noise is coming from, rather than just blindly replace equipment only to still have the problem.
It would help to have something to test against...another mic...another interface or a standalone preamp..etc....that way you can one-by-one eliminate each item.
 
The Lexicon is basic, and the drivers are quite old and there's no version to work at all on later systems - so it's possible you're using a generic driver for it which won't help. However, my colleague who had an Alpha produced some OK recordings with it and an SM58. Not noise free, but certainly not a hissy interface with no hope. It is, though, bargain basement and a bit limiting not having phantom or being able to record with two mics.

We do need to hear the problem recording though - else we are just guessing.
 
There are two immediate things that you could try that may help:

Using a gate: setting a threshold of how loud something needs to be before it registers.

Using EQ: if you are getting rumble, you could create a frequency shelf that eliminates low-frequency sounds
 
We're thinking hiss - but just remembered my colleagues Alpha was plagued with data bus noise - a weird buzzy/whiney - sound that changes very lightly as the computer works hard. Is this what you are hearing? a clip would be great as this data hash is very easy to spot. Damn hard or sometimes impossible to cure. my pet theory is it's carried on the 5V line in the USB from the PC to the interface, and then the interface is poorly designed and cannot filter it out. It is a real pain and wrecks recordings.
 
I experience a constant background noise which spoils my records. It is not too loud but it is constantly heard and does not change if I go into another room or outside.
Your problem is pretty general and is only solved by troubleshooting it by removing and/or replacing things until it stops.

Noise can come from anything, not just equipment you use, but form your electric in your studio.
Things to look form, before replacing and/or taking things out of the signal chain to troubleshoot.
  • Is your studio properly grounded?
  • Are your cables for your studio monitors balanced?
  • Are the Cables you are using have a bad connection (get yourself a cable tester, its a must in my opinion)
  • Are any audio cables near any electric cables?
  • Is your A/C on when it happens
  • What kind of lights are in your studio?
  • What are the S/N ratios for your mics/pre-amps?
 
You really need to supply a sample.
It's so easy to have something simple to fix that sounds like something expensive. Your electrical power could be missing the earth ground, maybe a power strip that is kind of sub standard, maybe your home's ground isn't really grounded, could be a cord or two that aren't up to snuff, and maybe an electrical cable is laying right on top of an audio cable, or visa versa.

Yes, before you buy anything, assuming what you have is substandard hardware, you need to know if it's something that isn't caused by your recording system at all.
 
Of course it’s hard to say without hearing, but the first suggestion is always to unplug the laptop and run it off battery. Unless your battery is fucked, it’s an easy and free thing to try and very often makes a huge difference.
 
It could be your room noise too. Using a LDC mic will magnify the smallest of noises.. ex. cpu fan or powersupply fan.

why a lot of HR get into the SM7 type mics, but then that leads to other needs too... welcome to the jungle, kind of thing.
 
Using a LDC mic will magnify the smallest of noises.. ex. cpu fan or powersupply fan.
This again? In 2019? Seriously?

Too quiet source or too far from the mic “magnifies” room noise with any mic. If you can’t hear it in your dynamics, it must be masked by electronic noise.

Try running on battery first!
 
It still pops up over and over. Microphones alter in sensitivity, frequency response and a few more inconsequential features, but a cardioid with the same pick-up pattern to another cardioid can capture exactly the same sound. Condensers, won't need so much gain, and are prone to overload compared to a dynamic, but you can swap a condenser in the same place to a dynamic and apart from a twist of the gain knob, and maybe a bit if extra hf - it captures the same sound. large or small diaphragm dynamics of condensers all follow the same acoustic rules, the same as loudspeakers do. Something that generates electricity by flapping in the wind. Big things in the way of the wind behave a bit differently to small things, and thicker ones behave differently to thinner ones, but the sound landing on them and moving them is the same sound. It's physics not magic.
 
Partially the reason for the never ending posts is its because SM7b and RE20 and SM58 and the like ..etc... are used in noisy rooms in general and in studios when doing vocals in a noisy control room, and the like. (Not many LDC's used live and in announcer booths that are noisy. )

A lot of HR grab a condenser and all of a sudden can hear the fan in the attic spinning and the pc fan sounds very loud, is my personal recall. lol...my first LDC CAD E? was so crazy the huge noise rumbling was in fact the ac fan in the attic spinning and it was a constant noise. Years later reading SM7b articles of Sheryl Crow singing in the control room, Los Lobos in the noisy live recordings, and more..
I grabbed one and found out about cheap preamp noise because I had to crank the interface USB powered preamp to max to get a signal.

I understand the technical concept of a volume knob cranked up w/dynamic and a ldc with higher output, but theres generally more to the design than just that. ..as someone else said proximity, pattern and design of mic itself.

I'd still think a dynamic is known for less room noise in general and is used in that application. SM7b cage design and pattern and normal proximity of the persons mouth to the mic, is all part of the application benefits, maybe nore so than the sensitivity/db + preamp knob perspective. yeah, there are gazillions of articles on this topic, but in the end, for live noisy rooms and environments dynamics seem to be the choice of most. Why is that? one might ask.


ADD> this thread got me thinking and a Shure SM86 sounds like an interesting fit for HR, noisy rooms but with a bit of polishness, but a tight pattern and design (unidirectional).
Shure Publications | User Guides | SM86
 
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I have a noisy room, and I have an SM7, an RE320, an SM86, and a 414. The EV and the Shure don't need any additional protection, the 414 does, and the 86 does with lips touching for many people. The 86 has side lobes that can catch you out with the direction of the unwanted noise, and the Shure SM7 is pretty warm lips touching. The Re320 and the SM7 are still in their boxes, the 86 is just a bit thin, so the 414 still does it. Do we need a test - my studio now has for convenience, my editing PC, and it has a pretty noisy fan, so can be heard. If anyone really wants me to, I'd be happy to do a lips on mic/popshield test on all of the mics I have - which could also include an SM58, Beta 58 and even a Coles lip mic if anyone wanted to compare a commentators mic. If nobody's interested I won't bother, but I could record a few examples if people are interested.
 
Right - here's the video with the mics being used one by one. The recording conditions are explained in the video and in the YouTube blurb.
 
Yikes! What happened to the vid? I was looking forward to hearing your results.
I'm getting a Youtube message that says "the account associated with this video has been terminated".
 
No messages from youtube - it did send me a text message security thing, but I tried and it now seems to work. No odd messages from them, so no idea what's going on? All the other videos are private ones so this is the only public video?

give it a go again - and if it doesn't work, could you let me know by email - roba@earsmedia.co.uk
 
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