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

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porcio

New member
Hello, I'm new here. I'm kinda noob on technical stuff.

I have a Samson C01U, but anytime I use it for recording, I hear like a white noise. I've talked with a friend and he told me it's because I don't have a pre-amp, so the mic has to push up the sound up and that's where the noise is coming from.

You can listen what I am talking about here: (I just noticed the system won't let me post links before 10 posts, so here's the url but with a space after the first dot; please just delete that blank space when entering the url!
-> bit. ly/195jFk3

What can I do to avoid this noise on my recordings? Do I need to buy a pre-amp? Are there microphones with a sort of inner pre-amp so they can automatically avoid the noises? If yes, is better to buy one of those mics, or a pre-amp for my current Samson?

Hope I was able to express myself. English is not my lengauge; sorry!

Thank you.

Direct link HERE
 
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Sounds like background noise to me. Or maybe just your interfaces preamp does not have enough clean gain to give clear signal. It is kinda tough to judge from the sample you gave.

Speak directly into the mic within 6" or so, and post another clip.
 
Should start by describing your complete setup, including what your recording -pick an example -voice? How close are you, your settings etc.
 
Hi guys, thanks.

Jimmy, I don't think it's background noise. It's almost 1 a.m. here and house and neighbor are very silent! No matter what I record, the noise is always there; I always have to use equalizer to lower the high frequencies.

Mixsit: I usually record guitar, voice or objects producing sounds; I just plug the mic on the computer and record... the noise is always there!

I've uploaded a new file with some voice. Same as the first link and the blank space thing: bit. ly/1dA5X06
 
mixsit said:
Ah ok. But is that all there is to it then? No 'record level questions/options, how close to the mic.. the track level vs noise?
IDK, just curious are these mics capable of decent sound?
Click to expand...

There's no hardware control on the mic and it uses the stock USB drivers. There doesn't appear to be any way to adjust the gain of the preamp.

If this isn't a problem for other people with the same mic then it's probably something to do with the OP's particular computer or environment.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
There's no hardware control on the mic and it uses the stock USB drivers. There doesn't appear to be any way to adjust the gain of the preamp.

If this isn't a problem for other people with the same mic then it's probably something to do with the OP's particular computer or environment.
Click to expand...

Right, then likely all that's left unanswered is the source singnals- are they actually up' and healthy.
 
Hi, thanks for your answers. However, I'm a bit confused if the replies so far are direct questions to me or is chating between you?

bouldersoundguy: So the mix has a pre-amp on it?
 
Yes, USB mics have built-in preamps.

There are no preamps that eliminate noise. Preamps just raise the voltage level of the mic to line-level voltage so it can be recorded.

How are you using the mic? I couldn't get your link to work.

How are you positioning the mic in front of whatever it is you are recording? What other sounds are you hearing in the room when it is dead quiet? Fans, refridgerator, traffic noise,?
 
For the files I uploaded, I just recorded 'silence', and then the same but with a bit of voice, as one user asked.

I'm in a closed room, the only thing that could be making a sound is the computer, but it's not very high sound.

You guys think that is more probable that it is something on the enviroment and not the mic? (actually the mic would be very good if it captures so subtle sounds that I can't hear).
 
porcio said:
Hi, thanks for your answers. However, I'm a bit confused if the replies so far are direct questions to me or is chating between you?

bouldersoundguy: So the mix has a pre-amp on it?
Click to expand...
Well the questions being posed are for you, for the most part. What we're trying to get to is ?- In general, are these problem raw tracks' recorded up somewhere rear the maximum for example? That's an electrical' consideration -operating levels.
And on the acoustic side, are you singing/talking (whatever) nice and loud', reasonably close to the mic, or 'soft and not close' would be the opposite extreme?
In other words, trying to determine if that's part of the problem, rather than just assuming 'bad equipment and need noise reduction!
 
porcio said:
For the files I uploaded, I just recorded 'silence', and then the same but with a bit of voice, as one user asked.

I'm in a closed room, the only thing that could be making a sound is the computer, but it's not very high sound. ....
Click to expand...
No. See the thing is every system has it's noise floor', it's dynamic ranges etc of what it's capable of -some much better than others.
But, even a "good" one, take a nice bright mic, speak softly, jack up the playback to 'listening volume, yes you're going to hear a) 'room tone - sounds like 'air-- but it's typical of just room (and system) sounds and noise -picked up with a mic that has a nice bright peak (rise') up at 10kHz-- and b) maybe some electrical hiss. Yep.
Let's eliminate all that first.
 
Mixsit, if I get your comment right, I recorded the file with voice like 15 cm from the mic. I use the mic most of all to record sounds from objects. The volume of the noise is proportional to the track volume when recording. If I record, for example, my voice, close and loud, the noise sound is much lower, compared to the voice. If I record voice low and far away, the noise is more noticeable.

I've uploaded another file. The first ten seconds are recorded about 20cm from the computer, you can actually hear the sounds of it. The rest is about 2 meters from the computer, but still can hear the noise. I pushed up the volume so it is easier to determinate what could it be.

bit. ly/ItMtvw

LINK


Thanks for all your comments so far! And sorry about all this, I'm not very good with the technical part of all this. :/
 
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porcio said:
Mixsit, if I get your comment right, I recorded the file with voice like 15 cm from the mic. I use the mic most of all to record sounds from objects. The volume of the noise is proportional to the track volume when recording. If I record, for example, my voice, close and loud, the noise sound is much lower, compared to the voice. If I record voice low and far away, the noise is more noticeable.

I've uploaded another file. The first ten seconds are recorded about 20cm from the computer, you can actually hear the sounds of it. The rest is about 2 meters from the computer, but still can hear the noise. I pushed up the volume so it is easier to determinate what could it be.

bit. ly/ItMtvw

LINK


Thanks for all your comments so far! And sorry about all this, I'm not very good with the technical part of all this. :/
Click to expand...

Fixed the link.

I still have no basis to judge the noise level, as it is not possible without something to compare it to. Every recording has some noise...

Please post a track with your voice being recorded in the 'noisy' environment.
 
Sound transmission works on an inverse ratio.

Twice the distance is half as loud.

Try moving farther away from the computer, and point the back of the mic to an angle that is off-axis to the computer i.e. so the back of the mic isn't pointing at the computer. The CO1U is a hypercardioid pattern, so it has a bit of pickup pattern from the back of the mic. You will have to experiment with this placement because every room will have "hotspots" of different frequencies in different places. You might also try putting a pillow in front of the computer ONLY WHILE YOU ARE TRACKING! So the pillow is between is between your mic and the computer.

Don't record any more takes of just noise, record some of the instruments or objects you are recording so we can have some kind of reference between the level of the object and the level of the noise.

Also, nobody has mentioned this yet to my knowledge, but what is the dBFS level your meters are peaking at when you record? Regardless of what you are recording there is no need to get levels above about -12dBFS and -18dBFS may even work better in your situation.
 
porcio said:
Hi Jimmy; you mean with voice, like the second file I uploaded? -> bit. ly/1dA5X06
Click to expand...

Post 5 more posts in this thread so you can upload a direct link. I can't get the copy-and-pasted link to work.

1 2 3 4 5
 
porcio said:
Mixsit, if I get your comment right, I recorded the file with voice like 15 cm from the mic. I use the mic most of all to record sounds from objects. The volume of the noise is proportional to the track volume when recording. If I record, for example, my voice, close and loud, the noise sound is much lower, compared to the voice. If I record voice low and far away, the noise is more noticeable.

I've uploaded another file. The first ten seconds are recorded about 20cm from the computer, you can actually hear the sounds of it. The rest is about 2 meters from the computer, but still can hear the noise. I pushed up the volume so it is easier to determinate what could it be.

bit. ly/ItMtvw

LINK


Thanks for all your comments so far! And sorry about all this, I'm not very good with the technical part of all this. :/
Click to expand...
My Dog! is that the hard dive accessing' in that first half?! :p:D
If think we're making progress- see the part in bold--
And Jimmy said
I still have no basis to judge the noise level, as it is not possible without something to compare it to. Every recording has some noise...
Click to expand...
Five'll get you ten if you spoke moderately loud at those jacked up' in sensitivity levels.. It'd be ten times louder.

Porcio, this is exactly to be expected; Bright mic, jack the level up, it's like looking at your sound through a microcsope. :D
'Loudest thing at the mic wins!
This is why especially when we record quiet things, we have to baffle' off the recording area to get (keep) all the other unwanted sound out.
 
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