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Audacity Experts... Care to help?

by Asher
10 replies
Hi Warriors,

I'm using Audacity at the moment and would
like to know how I can find the filter to remove
the constant white noise I have in my recordings?

I've tried several filters but they don't work out
that well - either muffling my recording or
something.

The noise I'm trying to remove is a slightly
inaudible (but still audible) high pitch sound. Kind
of like when you're in a really quiet room and
there's this "silent high pitch scream" going...

Many thanks!

Asher
#audacity #care #experts
  • Profile picture of the author Rob Summers
    I've never had an issue, perhaps your mic is the problem?
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  • Profile picture of the author Asher
    The mike itself is fine, it's brand new.
    It's just the high pitch sound that comes
    along with it that I want to remove.

    Anyone else has tips on how to get rid
    of the sound?

    Asher
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    Asher Aw
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Dean
    I had a similar problem, ultimately it was due to the mic. The mic I was using was a logitech usb mic I bought for about $39. I tried another inexpensive mic but still had the noise problem.

    After reading some post by Josh Anderson from (totalwebaudio.com) I bit the bullet and sprang for an Audio Technica Mic AT2020 with an Alesis Multimix USB mixer that also supplied phantom power for the mic along with a good shielded mic cable.

    It has been an excellent investment (under $300) and greatly improved the quality of podcast.

    The mixer is a bit of overkill for just podcast but I needed it's features for other things.

    There is a usb inline phantom power device for mics that need it that is under $100 and the Snowball usb mic is supposed to be quite good as well (about $99 I think).

    The local Guitar Center or Guitars, Musical Instruments, and Musical Equipment from Guitar Center has good selections and prices.

    Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author Asher
    Thanks Tom. Josh Anderson's products are really good
    and I'm very sure he knows what he's talking about!

    So if a good mic's the only way to solve the problem,
    I guess I'll have to make do with the current pitch
    problem then.

    But thanks anyway, for all the help!

    Asher
    Signature
    Asher Aw
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    • Profile picture of the author Peter Bestel
      Asher

      If you still want to work with what you've got (a better mic is a better solution!) you need to isolate the unwanted noise, ie find a section that contains JUST the noise and nothing else, select it and use the noise filters to delete it across the file.

      Here's a explanation I found for you, the bit on Noise Removal (surprisingly!)

      Effect Menu

      But as the others said, get yourself a decent mic - makes a world of difference.

      Peter
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  • Profile picture of the author Asher
    Hrmm, reading the link you gave me... I think I
    may have mis-interpreted what I mean.

    There's no "noise" in any section particularly but
    there is a constant high pitch sound. I guess that
    the only way to solve that is to get a better
    mic.

    Thanks again for the help!

    Asher
    Signature
    Asher Aw
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    • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
      Hi Asher,

      The instruction given to you above is the solution.

      Use the noise removal tool in audacity.

      What you do is just find a short area where the noise that you are speaking of is present and where other noises are not. Ie find a pause in the audio where you are not speaking.

      Highlight that short area and use the noise removal tool to sample it. Then highlight your entire track and use the noise removal tool to remove that noise after you have sampled it.

      You may want to experiment with the level of your removal effect to get the quality you want.

      So just follow the instructions from the link posted above to pull it off:

      Noise Removal...
      This effect is ideal for removing constant background noise such as fans, tape noise, or hums. It will not work very well for removing talking or music in the background.
      Removing noise is a two-step process. In the first step, you select a portion of your sound which contains all noise and no signal, in other words, select the part that's silent except for the noise. Then choose Noise Removal... from the Effect menu and click Get Profile. Audacity learns from this selection what the noise sounds like, so it knows what to filter out later.
      Then, select all of the audio where you want the noise removed from and choose Noise Removal... again. This time, click the "Remove Noise" button. It may take a few seconds or longer depending on how much you selected.
      If too much or not enough noise was removed, you can Undo (from the Edit menu) and try Noise Removal... again with a different noise removal level. You don't have to get a new noise profile again if you think the first one was fine.
      Removing noise usually results in some distortion. This is normal and there's virtually nothing you can do about it. When there's only a little bit of noise, and the signal (i.e. the voice or the music or whatever) is much louder than the noise, this effect works well and there's very little audible distortion. But when the noise is very loud, when the noise is variable, or when the signal is not much louder than the noise, then the result is often too distorted.
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      • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
        The high pitched noise could be your microphone but it's actually more likely to be a power supply problem...especially if you're recording on an older laptop computer.

        The solution to avoiding getting this noise on your recording in the first place is to just try recording on different computers and see if it disappears.

        If it does and you really want to use your laptop to record you could buy a new power transformer and see if that helps.

        Kindest regards,
        Andrew Cavanagh
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        • Profile picture of the author Peter Bestel
          Andrew,

          I know power supplies are a bugger for causing interference, but I've not had one cause a high pitch noise - normally a low frequency hum or buzz. Would it be quite normal for a laptop PS to cause such a noise?

          Peter
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          • Profile picture of the author Brandon Tanner
            If it's a high-pitched noise I doubt it's from the power supply. In my 10+ years of recording audio, the only noise I've ever heard coming from bad electricity or a bad power supply is low frequency ground hum (50-60hz).

            If it's a high pitched noise and you don't hear it while you're doing the actual recording (ie it's not an ambient noise), then it's probably just a cheap mic and/or cheap soundcard.

            You could try the noise removal filter in Audacity, but honestly it's a joke. It gets rid of some noises, while introducing other weird artifacts into the recording.

            Your best bet (if you don't want to spring for a good mic/soundcard or a good noise removal filter) is to try to notch out the offending frequency with an EQ.

            PM me if you need help with that and I'll show you how to do it. Only takes a minute.
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