what in god's name is this bizarre wave form?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Unclejohnny
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No comment on giggly 16 year old girls. I've had both sons with girlfriends and daughters.... My son dragged some very pretty girls through our house--just made me feel old! (He now has a 4 year old daughter--I'll be laughing when she starts dating!)

The EQ isn't going to fix things because I think there's actually a drop out in the recording there leaving you only/mainly the interference.

It's good news that you've had it on two interfaces--means it's likely something fixable.

Turning off Anti Virus will depend on what AV you use but there'll be a way to turn it off on the control menu...there'll probably be a link you can click in the icons on the bottom right side of your screen.

Turning off wifi may be a physical switch on the edge of the laptop somewhere--or maybe a software thing. Time for the manual I fear. Another though is also turn off, get rid of Blue Tooth if you have it.

Otherwise, work through THIS LIST. The give pretty detailed directions.
 
Bobbsy, I have email from UncleJ of the original audio. It sounds like something I don't recognize. Mind if I email you the audio?
 
how to turn off the anti-virus stuff, firewall, etc.

if its not the virus checker causing this then turning it off will help,last thing you want is something checking files while there being written
 
A small update...

I've now had a copy of the original file and it's not an "ordinary" problem of glitches. The big "wavy" waveform actually appears to be the zero crossing point of the file that's normally a nice flat line in the middle of the display. Despite the strange appearance, it's still modulated with the voice recording which (amazingly) still plays back. Think of something like a DC offset but with alternating current. My only guess is a fault with the USB bus on the laptop allowing extra current to get into the data stream--but I have no idea if this is likely or even possible.

It's not something I've encountered before so widened the net and asked a few people not on this forum if they've ever seen anything like this. As frustrating as this must be for the OP, it's an interesting puzzle!
 
Is there any chance that any of your cable or connector may be loose?
Try to record in audacity or any other software.
I record at home at my 2006 PC with a $3 headphone mic. and only noise i get is static noise. I am surprised to see that there is same static noise in your recordings too. What kinda setup do u have?
RitB
 
Is there any chance that any of your cable or connector may be loose?
Try to record in audacity or any other software.
I record at home at my 2006 PC with a $3 headphone mic. and only noise i get is static noise. I am surprised to see that there is same static noise in your recordings too. What kinda setup do u have?
RitB

M-Audio Luna mic, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 interface (bought 5 or 6 weeks ago so the USB cable is new, too), Gateway laptop, Audition c5.5
 
A small update...

I've now had a copy of the original file and it's not an "ordinary" problem of glitches. The big "wavy" waveform actually appears to be the zero crossing point of the file that's normally a nice flat line in the middle of the display. Despite the strange appearance, it's still modulated with the voice recording which (amazingly) still plays back. Think of something like a DC offset but with alternating current. My only guess is a fault with the USB bus on the laptop allowing extra current to get into the data stream--but I have no idea if this is likely or even possible.

It's not something I've encountered before so widened the net and asked a few people not on this forum if they've ever seen anything like this. As frustrating as this must be for the OP, it's an interesting puzzle!

Just noticed there's something loose that rattles inside my mic. It's had a couple spills in the last 6 years. Think there could be a cause inside the microphone?
 
Anything is possible!

FYI, I've just had a first suggestion back from one of the people I asked (an ex BBC engineer). He says it looks like what happens when a bad case of mains-borne interference is recorded. Is there anything with a heavy duty motor or similar that could be putting some big interference back into your electrical supply? If so, maybe your interface is picking that up and recording it.
 
Anything is possible!

FYI, I've just had a first suggestion back from one of the people I asked (an ex BBC engineer). He says it looks like what happens when a bad case of mains-borne interference is recorded. Is there anything with a heavy duty motor or similar that could be putting some big interference back into your electrical supply? If so, maybe your interface is picking that up and recording it.

No large motors. I unplugged the a/c power from my lap top when it started happening and it continued while I was running on battery power.
 
...and that Scarlett interface is bus powered, isn't it?

If so, I'm back to wondering if there's a fault on the bus power being supplied by your laptop. I don't suppose you have an old laptop you could try (or perhaps borrow another one for a test)?
 
...and that Scarlett interface is bus powered, isn't it?

If so, I'm back to wondering if there's a fault on the bus power being supplied by your laptop. I don't suppose you have an old laptop you could try (or perhaps borrow another one for a test)?

It's two years old. I was using another one a few weeks ago and kind of think it was doing the same thing but I'm not positive and I can use it for a test. Except the other lap top I'm talking about is four years old.
 
A problem with the mic seems promising. It sounds to me like the source of the problem is in the analog realm before it gets digitized. All the sound that's supposed to be there is there but in some places there's a brief (few cycles) low frequency pulse. If you high pass the signal at 33Hz or so with a steep slope the problem disappears but the other sounds remain, at least on the More.Weirdness.mp3 file.

The reason people aren't hearing the LF interference is that it's below their speakers range and outside the audible spectrum.
 
A suggestion from one of the Audition developers is to try a test recording with the built in mic and sound chip on your laptop and see if the fault is there too. If not, that isolates it to either the Focusrite or the mic.
 
The reason people aren't hearing the LF interference is that it's below their speakers range and outside the audible spectrum.

Yup. I can see it, but I can't hear it. However, I can hear its modulation of the sounds under which it is sitting.

I would explore bouldersoundguy's thought that it might be due to the mike. It seems to me too that the problem lies in the analog realm. Could it be something as basic as air blowing over the mike? Maybe a breeze coming through the window? I'm straw-clutching here!
 
Definitely check the mic--though most of the suggestions I'm getting from the experts I've sent the pics to are thinking along the lines of something electrical. Trying the built in sound card on your lap top would be a useful experiment, as would using a powered hub on the Focusrite if you can borrow one to try.
 
You could try a line level signal into your interface for comparison. If it records okay then it's probably the mic. If not then the problem is starting in the interface or something downstream.
 
I've had a similar experience and it was due to some weird low freq stuff creeping in from a gear or connection problem.
I also noticed that it became appreciable worse when I converted to MP3.
I did 2 things
a) ran a dc offset and
b) cut all info below 100hz with undo & repeated at lower Hz until I found the problem point. It seems that the particulat origins of the "noise" was at a frequwncy that set up sympathetics that were pretty much inaudible but showed up in a freq analysis or wav view.
That worked for me.
Oh, I also did c) check all incoming signals from mic to interace to progarm & isolated a lot of the problem to the interface my friend was using to record. Once he moved on to another interface my problems disappeared.
The DC offset thing is important.
Oh, Oh, Oh - strip the OS & install XP.
 
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