ringy-hiss in audio HELP PLEASE :)

[mjbphotos]

Yes originally I started off with a mic directly connected into the computer the noise was there I tried everything to get rid of it like within GarageBand. Then I purchase a preamp it didn't work. Then I purchased this interface because I was told for what I do a more expensive or advance in her face wasn't needed. But the noise is still there. I will say I don't recall the ringing I'm thinking that's something new with the interface but that his sound or the like little fuzzy static kind of sound was there before everything that I tried.

OK, now we're getting somewhere - the noise is present both with the interface and using the laptop's internal soundcard. the reason you don't hear the noise when monitoring when tracking is you're direct monitoring, not hearing the computer's noise.

Have you tried running on batteries to see if the noise is still there?

 

[ArtiRose]

OK, now we're getting somewhere - the noise is present both with the interface and using the laptop's internal soundcard. the reason you don't hear the noise when monitoring when tracking is you're direct monitoring, not hearing the computer's noise.

Have you tried running on batteries to see if the noise is still there?

Yes I have. Still there.

Update:

Hubs delved a bit deeper, discovered the USB cable that came with the interface sucks, so he rigged it to aux out cables and into 3.5mm to record. Using the interface to phantom power the mic at the moment. He explored the realm of garageband and discovered that the noise is within garageband app. Some sort of setting/effect is what is creating that consistent volumed hiss. He also showed me the audio file types I was saving them under (.wav) were making it worse. I visibly saw the differences in audition. So now I know to save em as .Aif.

Now I am trying to figure out what exact setting/effect is doing this. Oddly enough when I use "male voice" effect the hiss POOF- vanishes COMPLETELY. Downside is my voice sound very...lol like I have a sock in my mouth as I talk. We switched it to "female Voice" effect and BOOM the hiss was back *bangs head* Ive opted for no effects preset and the his is there. So I am unsure if there is a garageband guru in here that may be able to steer me somewhat.

 

[threeheavens]

I would try a decent dynamic mic like sm57...it could be dirty phantom power. I had a similar problem.

Those settings are just accentuating or attenuating the highs where the noise is.

I think your on the wrong path trying to find the solution in the software or computer if we are only talking about a couple of voice over tracks. In other words I don't think your overloading your system cpu or hard drive, plus you would be able to see that if you clicked on it.

 

[arcaxis]

I would try a decent dynamic mic like sm57...it could be dirty phantom power. I had a similar problem.

Those settings are just accentuating or attenuating the highs where the noise is.

I think your on the wrong path trying to find the solution in the software or computer if we are only talking about a couple of voice over tracks. In other words I don't think your overloading your system cpu or hard drive, plus you would be able to see that if you clicked on it.

The OP had a clean recording using the NT1 and Behringer interface into an HP laptop with Audacity. The issue seems to be with a Mac laptop using Garageband which is evidently the one preferred to be used.
OP is intending to do lengthy audio books that need good quality.

Years ago I did have a PC that had poor USB power and couldn't handle Tascam US144mkII interface trying to supply phantom to a condenser mic. Was OK with a dynamic or if I used a powered USB hub with the interface.

 

[ArtiRose]

I swear I am not making this up lol. It seriously has something to do with Garageband. I actually did browse through google and found that others were too reporting these issues with certain plugins.

I am a bit sweet on my macbook, mostly because of the air drop and easy ability to quickly drop in a very high quality & long file into my time capsule and immediately access it with my Mac pro for editing. The recording get up there in space usage so the time capsule saves me.

here are the sample of how impactful those changes in garageband were. I did tweak the "female voice" effect so that the hiss wasn't present. somehow I fixed it. Of course I quickly saved the settings, so now I hopefully won't endure this headache anymore.....lets hope garageband doesn't force updates lol. Listen to the before and now the after....BIG DIFFERENCE!

Chain of effects:

Legacy>Garageband>Podcasting>Female Narrator

Effect plugins I show in use:
Channel EQ
Noise Gate
Master Echo

In the clip I even went as far as "normalizing" a high gain (low voice) section and magically there still was no hiss! Usually whenever I tried to use a noise gate...the hiss would be very much present in the verbal sections. You could even see it like tetris static blocks in Audition lol.

 

[DaleVO]

Rose,
Are you applying those effects (Master Echo, EQ, etc) while recording, in real time? Or afterwards, while editing your recorded AIFF file?
Dale

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Yes I have. Still there.

Update:

Hubs delved a bit deeper, discovered the USB cable that came with the interface sucks,

Huh? Generally they work or don't work. USB cables carry digital signal that isn't subject to analog noise. Need more info than "sucks".

so he rigged it to aux out cables and into 3.5mm to record. Using the interface to phantom power the mic at the moment.

I'd be surprised if that makes things better, but if it bypassed the interface's converters maybe it makes sense.

He explored the realm of garageband and discovered that the noise is within garageband app. Some sort of setting/effect is what is creating that consistent volumed hiss.

Stop using Garage Band.

He also showed me the audio file types I was saving them under (.wav) were making it worse. I visibly saw the differences in audition. So now I know to save em as .Aif.

There's nothing about .wav that should be audibly different from .aiff. If there's a difference it's caused by something else, perhaps some sort of Apple (.aiff) vs. Windows (.wav) bias in Garage Band.

Now I am trying to figure out what exact setting/effect is doing this. Oddly enough when I use "male voice" effect the hiss POOF- vanishes COMPLETELY. Downside is my voice sound very...lol like I have a sock in my mouth as I talk. We switched it to "female Voice" effect and BOOM the hiss was back *bangs head* Ive opted for no effects preset and the his is there. So I am unsure if there is a garageband guru in here that may be able to steer me somewhat.

Seriously, try real recording software.

 

[Farview]

A wav and an aiff are exactly the same, except for some header information in the file.

If you do hear a difference, you probably had the bit depth of the wave file on 8 bit, which would explain the noise and the metallic sound to your voice. Change it to 24 bit and that would go away.

I do agree about getting rid of GarageBand. If you are doing something serious, it would be beneficial to use something that wasn't designed for 12 year olds to screw around with. Get reaper.

USB cables can't add noise to a signal. If that were the case, opening a word document or a picture from an external drive wouldn't work. If the cable were able to add unwanted stuff to a file transfer, there would be garbage characters in the documents and the pictures would be all messed up.

The USB cable just transfers data, not audio. Any noise would have to be introduced before or during digitization.

 

[ArtiRose]

Rose,
Are you applying those effects (Master Echo, EQ, etc) while recording, in real time? Or afterwards, while editing your recorded AIFF file?
Dale

They are applied prior to recording.

 

[ArtiRose]

A wav and an aiff are exactly the same, except for some header information in the file.

If you do hear a difference, you probably had the bit depth of the wave file on 8 bit, which would explain the noise and the metallic sound to your voice. Change it to 24 bit and that would go away.

I do agree about getting rid of GarageBand. If you are doing something serious, it would be beneficial to use something that wasn't designed for 12 year olds to screw around with. Get reaper.

USB cables can't add noise to a signal. If that were the case, opening a word document or a picture from an external drive wouldn't work. If the cable were able to add unwanted stuff to a file transfer, there would be garbage characters in the documents and the pictures would be all messed up.

The USB cable just transfers data, not audio. Any noise would have to be introduced before or during digitization.

I get the whole "garageband is for kids" thing. I went with options that were recommended by voice over pros in the industry. REMEMBER these are audiobooks. Not intense audio projects. Speaking through a mic and very simple editing is the typical job task.

When my husband tested the cable he added 2 additional ferrite clamps to the USB. I had a power conditioner and he picked up lots of garble (internet sound and frequency interference when touched. My hubs is a systems technology manager for a building automation company. Cables are everything (to his field) He was very certain that the usb cable wasn't up to professional standards. He tried 2 different ports on my computer as well as the mac pro. He rigged it to transfer the audio from the interface to the RCA to 3.5mm cable into the laptop. The internety sound disappeared. The his was still present. To this he made adjustments in the presets and viola the hiss was gone.

Now like I said I get the whole garageband bias professionals may have... I did try Audacity (not saying its any better) and I did try Adobe audition for recordings to test the whole garageband issue. Mind these too resulted in a much less present hiss but once audio was normalized, of course the hiss was very much present. I do realize my computer could very much be the culprit. And that is why my 1st post asked if anyone had to crack open their computer.

 

[ArtiRose]

"There's nothing about .wav that should be audibly different from .aiff. If there's a difference it's caused by something else, perhaps some sort of Apple (.aiff) vs. Windows (.wav) bias in Garage Band."

I too challenged my husband with the same question. He looked at me like I had said the most dumbest thing lol. He strongly expressed the quality of the files.

.aiff when used you can just see the quality because of its immense size, aside from that... personal acknowledgement I had. He challenged me right back and saved the very same audios as mp3, mp4, .wav and .aif. I then opened in Audition and viewed in the spectral frequency display and the proof was in the pudding for me. He then looked at me and said "now can you see the difference." So from my experience and what I witnessed overall there is a difference. As far as garageband in apple vs windows...well can't be compared since garageband is an apple app product only.

 

[arcaxis]

If you're hearing/seeing a difference between wav and aiff files you saved it would likely be the way they were recorded and saved. Both are lossless, uncompressed file types. The aiff file I believe can have metadata tacked on for info about the file (which may account a slight bit for larger file size) , where the wav can't. The size may also be affected by the algorithms by which the file is saved. The conversion to an mp3 will have settings that can affect quality as well.
Google "aiff vs wav" and you'll find they are the same in quality.

If you do hear a difference, you probably had the bit depth of the wave file on 8 bit, which would explain the noise and the metallic sound to your voice. Change it to 24 bit and that would go away.

Which kind of goes back to what I mentioned over in GS about the settings that need to be looked at in the DAW for the recording as well as how it is saved. The settings are the "cracking open of the computer".

Below are the properties of a wav file I loaded up in Reaper. What is bolded is relevant to the quality of the sound. Are you able to view the properties of your aiff and wav files to compare?

Length: 2:51.907
Sample rate: 44100
Channels: 2
Bits/sample: 24 (int)
Total samples: 7,581,122
Blockalign: 6
Datablock start: 736
BWF chunk:
Originator: REAPER
Date: 2014-02-23
Time: 10-18-04
Start offset: 0:00.000

 

[mjbphotos]

On the hiss issue - what exactly did your husband adjust? I suspect there was a high frequency EQ band that was maxed out, and he pulled it down to 0dB (or even to minus something).

 

[Farview]

Both wav and aiff are pcm data. They will be exactly the same size if they are saved at the same sample rate and bit depth.

44.1k sample rate at 16 bit stereo is 5meg per minute, no matter if it is a if or wav. There is no algorithm, it is uncompressed.

Your anecdotal evidence not withstanding, this is an actual, we'll known fact that can easily be looked up. The settings for aiff and wav must have been different in your experiment.

 

[Farview]

I don't doubt what you say is happening actually happened. What I am saying is your conclusions are wrong.

USB cables will not affect audio quality. It can cause dropouts and sync problems, but will not add noise to the audio, because there is no audio being transferred through it.

Wav and aiff are exactly equal formats, when comparing apples to apples. They can not sound different.

When coming out of your interface into the soundcard on your laptop, you are bypassing the conversion process in the interface, so any settings that may be messed up on the interface are also bypassed. The USB cable is also bypassed in that setup.

 

[DaleVO]

I get the whole "garageband is for kids" thing. I went with options that were recommended by voice over pros in the industry. REMEMBER these are audiobooks. Not intense audio projects. Speaking through a mic and very simple editing is the typical job task.

Now like I said I get the whole garageband bias professionals may have... I did try Audacity (not saying its any better) and I did try Adobe audition for recordings to test the whole garageband issue.

Rose,
This may not address your extraneous noise problem. But, have you tried Twisted Wave? It's designed for Mac and used by many professional VO talents, due to its power and simplicity. Download the demo and test drive it for 30 days. If you like it, it's cheap ($79). George Whittam highly recommends and creates many tutorials for VO use. I have never had a chance to use it because I drank the Reaper-koolaid years ago, and am a Windows PC-guy. Hence, I've never had the need for Twisted Wave. However, I have researched it and would be using it if I had a Mac platform.
Dale

 

[DaleVO]

They are applied prior to recording.

I also record audiobooks and am just curious: Does your audiobook producer require you to apply these effects as part of their specs for the delivered audio?
Dale

 

[scifiwriter4]

It could be a number of things. It could be your cables. I know that can cause the noise you're describing.

 

[PoorBoyRecordings]

Hey guys, I am at my wits end with this noise. It is just turning into a nightmare within a nightmare. I just wanna get to the bottom of it because it is still there (albeit not as loud or sore to the ear).

So here is what I have:

Rode nt1 mic
Um2 interface
Record with GarageBand
MacBook Pro (2011- I think)
All drivers and softwares are up to date
Record in walk in closet with lots of clothes & soundproof foam fanels

Things I've tried:

Moving rooms
Preamp (mention in prior post)
Changed cables
Changed mics
Recorded on different programs
Changed laptops (received different hiss/hum)
Purchased a Jitterbug usb ground loop isolator
Tried a RadioShack RCA ground loop isolator
Tried noise gate. Removed the sound but during speech it's very present and harder to edit (voice sounds horribly electronic)

I am about to receive a furman power condition/surge protector strip today in the mail. The noise is very much something doing with the laptop. I can lower all the gain and it still remains at the same level in the tracks. My voice will be practical gone but the darn hiss is just there taunting me lol.

I spoke with a gentleman at guitar center in the AM, he said it can only be 3 things at this point; dirty power, computer internal wire interference or room noise (but wouldn't lowering gain solve that???). Has anyone had to crack open their pewter to fix the hiss???

I'm running out of options now lol I'm so desperate. I'm to the point where I'm going to kidnap a pewter tech & sound tech to help lol.

Ive attached the noise with some speech in it. Its just a sample test so there is movement noise (ignore that lol). Any advice/assistance will be immensely appreciated.

I am hard of hearing (deaf in one ear), and it was difficult for me to hear. It wasn't as bad as I expected from your description, but there. Sounded to me like a lot of rumble from holding the mic in your hand.