'White noise' on my mic recordings, how to fix it?

[JimmyS1969]

Well, suddenly things seem to be up to speed....

Maybe we-and billions of others were just overloading the internet. Anything to get away from the in-laws...lol

 

[porcio]

So do you guys agree it is background noise?

The files I've uploaded have high input level so you could hear the sound. Actually when recording "for real", the noise is very subtle... but it's still there! I mean, ideally there should not be any noise. If you think is neccesary to upload another file but with guitar or voice or other instrument, let me know and I'll upload it later today. For now I'm in a rush and have to go out now, sorry! And thanks!

Btw, c7sus, the links I've posted have a blank space after the dot, that you need to delete when entering the url. As I am new I couldn't post any link, so I had to do that. Cheers.

 

[JimmyS1969]

High input level? Do you mean you turned the preamp gain all the way up? Don't do that!

There is no way to get rid of all noise. Every electronic device will have some, even the most expensive. Whether it is an issue or not with yours, really depends upon what you are recording. I think you may be over thinking the issue. Record a tune and post it. I bet the noise is not an issue.

 

[Chili]

So do you guys agree it is background noise?

I'll quote myself.

Sounds like background noise to me also. It's probably your computer.

Also, if you're recording music, most, if not all, the background noise will be masked by the music. Unless you are doing extremely quiet music or spoken word, you shouldn't worry too much about it. I have a clunky air conditioner in my office that makes a lot of noise and sometimes I forget to turn it off. You can't hear it in the final mix.

 

[GazzerG]

Porcio, are you plugging your mic in the USB port or in the mic input?

 

[David40]

I always apply a Noise Gate to the vocal tracks. The noise you describe is constant at a certain level so you set the Gate to just above the noise threshold. When there is deliberate sound it's volume is high enough to open the Gate and mask the noise, and when the sound stops the gate kicks in and blocks the noise.

 

[mixsit]

For what it's worth (..'nuthin, but I'll want double that for this..
I can't remember the last time I wanted a gate on a voc track.
From just a little while ago..

I'll quote myself..

No allow me

..Also, if you're recording music, most, if not all, the background noise will be masked by the music. Unless you are doing extremely quiet music or spoken word, you shouldn't worry too much about it. I have a clunky air conditioner in my office that makes a lot of noise and sometimes I forget to turn it off. You can't hear it in the final mix.

 

[skywaveTDR]

In a radio station remote kit someone bought one of those and of course any professional would laugh at it. The noise is a characteristic of a Chinese made low grade product. If you want perfection or a closer result towards it you need to abandon the consumer grade stuff and get good stuff like a Neumann TLO103 and hook it up to a Symmetrix or some such type mic preamp and then you will have control over what it sounds like and also know what good recordings will be like. Samson just wants you to think they make professional products but I doubt it. The back ground noise the other guy was talking about was the cheapness or dirty preamp noise usually obtained when a one or two transistor mic preamp is made rather than a $10 low noise IC chip.

 

[David40]

Lets not forget the output end of things which could be adding your noise. I use a five thousand dollar Manly Voxbox as my preamp but if my monitors are powered by a transistor driven amplifier it's going to add the white noise, that is the nature of transistors I don't care how much you pay for them. Unless you have a completely tube based signal path there is going to be some white noise. But consider this. Even if you are producing in a two hundred thousand dollar state of the art studio, your consumer is likely going to be listening on a cheap china made device, and probably in a low quality format like MP3 to boot, so I would not get too caught up in perfection. It's the music that counts. If the music and the mix are good people are going to enjoy it.