BTS.talk: PODcasters, Help Me!

PODcast: PODcasters, Help Me!
Tell me what you have or what I need to get decent sound! I use Audacity to remove the noise now, but it sounds funny.
Thank you.

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Has it always happened? Have you recently plugged something else into the same powerboard? Have you tried recording without the pre-amp? Do you have anything like a fan or aquarium pump in the room? Do you have anything with an electric motor near your machine? And finally, are you wearing your tin foil hat? To me it sounds like it's either something such as a motor causing interference or an internal computer problem. You can work out if it's external through a process of elimination. Start by unplugging any new electrical equipment in the immediate area, try plugging into a different electrical circuit etc. Also, do you have another mic to try, so that you can eliminate the mic as the problem. Also, plugging the mic into a different p.c. may determine that. If that doesn't fix it, then it would imply it's a problem with the p.c. Good luck!

PODcast: PODcasters, Help Me! (reply 1)
Heeere I come to save the dayyyyyy.....(I hope)

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Thanks you guys.

fingapointa - It has always happened, no new devices of any kind in the room. Have tried all different combinations of mics (4 different mics and with and without preamp). No difference. No other electric motors in the room and my tin hat is securely positioned.

And, Mr,Wupy, no central heating...

Thanks a lot guys. I'll keep working on it.

You know, the inner light of a beautiful and spiritual being has been known to cause electrical interfarence. Do street lights go off as you pass by? Do you seem to have a jinx where electrical appliances are involved?

You are an incredibly beautiful soul. Your light may be the death of your computer yet my dear

I'm still thinking on your problem. If I think of anything else to try, i'll let you know.

Wupy

Hmmm, it could be a sound card driver problem. What can sometimes happen is that the driver installed will work but won't be the most compatible for your particular hardware config. I've got a p.c with onboard sound and I remember I had to hunt down the suitable 3rd party driver for it when I re-installed the O.S. Hope that helps.

Nah, I'd still prefer to go with MrWupy's explanation.

My computer sounds like a small jet engine idling. I had to disconnect some of the fans it was so noisy.

So, as my podcasts are always relatively noise-free, by that logic it is not your machine that is at fault. Also, as all the microphones produce the same result, we could probably rule out the microphones as being the problem.

That leaves the sound card. Even the most basic and cheap sound cards have at least the ability to record, so my guess is it is a software setting. I had a somewhat similar problem when I started trying to record podcasts. In my case the sound quality was terrible and their was awful feedback and noise.

How did I solve it?

I ran the installation wizard for the sound card and made sure all the defaults were set for the mic. So that is my suggestion. Try re-installing your sound card and also maybe updating DirectX if you don't already have it installed.

Come back and tell us how you get on.

Looking for a new or better driver may just be the thing. Fingapointa may just be on to something. Lets try this, go to powerleap and find out what type of sound card you are using. Then see if you can find some updated drivers for it. It couldn't hurt. ( I hope)

Wupy

BH, you guys tried installing a power conditioner of some kind? At the major computer stores, try finding a special power strip called an IsoBar. It will help remove EFI and random noise in your power line. To me it sounds like it could be dirty power, and cheaper sound cards and onboard sound can be susceptible to such things and cause noise like that. I'd try that first, and if that doesn't work, you might try reorienting the computer in the room, as sometimes that can help if you happened to setup in a particularly nasty spot where interference can be a problem. You change computer location recently?

When you try the other sound card, you gotta make sure and disable the onboard sound from the bios before you install the new soundcard in a PCI slot. And I'd stick with a Creative Labs soundblaster card, unless you are wanting to move up into a more expensive option.

Also you said Intel 815....did he mean the 815E chipset? Not that it would really matter- That does not sound like a driver problem to me, but it might be. But if your DH is good with computers, I'm sure he tried the latest driver for the onboard sound.

With computer and audio setups, one cheap or bad cable can really mess you up, as cheap ones tend to be less well made, and skimp on shielding. So that is why to go for finding an IsoBar or something like that first, because it may solve the problem with cheap cables picking up interference, and regardless, is just a good thing to install in front of the wall socket for your computer power anyway.

You might also try to make sure and keep audio and other cables away from power cables like the PC power cord or especially cheap extension power chords. And if they have to touch, make them touch at right angles, minimizing the contact area. The worst is when you put audio or other cables running close and parallel to any power cables. Thassa no no. Good luck.

[edit on 4-3-2006 by TrueAmerican]

Sorry that I can't be of much help here benevolent heretic, I know diddly-squat about setting up audio... all I try to do is minimise cable crossover EMI, noises from outside, vocal 'popping', and that's about it. The rest of the cleanups that I have to do are done in post...

Got the newer driver and that helped some! Thanks!

(DH is good with computers, but NOT sound. Neither of us knows anything, but we're learning.)

Today, we're going to minimize the cordage crossover and so on. Probably get a new power strip. The IsoBar may have to wait because we don't have a computer store here, but we have the information for future reference.

We're getting there! Thanks so much guys. You rock!

One trick I know is to make sure your settings are the same for recording and the final edit - any change will lower the sound quality. Even lowering the quality for the final piece, although that seems counter-intuitive.

PODcast: PODcasters, Help Me! (reply 2)
Ugh! Different but not great.

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PODcast: PODcasters, Help Me! (reply 3)
I think you need a new computer..hehehehehehe

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PODcast: PODcasters, Help Me! (reply 4)
Good news and bad news.

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PODcast: PODcasters, Help Me! (reply 5)
Toraylin replies,telling BH what he does to make his podcast's

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Lucky duck. Bene Here (ya' like that:duh the only other thing I could think that it may have been was some kind of program that runs in the system tray, like folding@home or seti@home or anti virus etc. I dunno though, it could be eTribbles for all I know. Enjoy your new p.c.

Originally posted by fingapointa
Bene Here (ya' like that:duh

Bene Here, Done That.

We actually brought a very similar computer to mine into my office and put it in the exact spot that mine sits, plugged in everything and downloaded Audacity and recorded without noise. The replacement computer is also very noisy, so we figure it's either something about the motherboard or more likely the onboard soundcard was doo-doo.

Here's my new one. Will probably be a week or so before I see it, though.

Dimension E310 - P4 Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 521 w/HT Technology (2.8GHz,800FSB), Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition

Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 400MHz -2DIMMs
Monitor 15 inch E156FP Analog Flat Panel
Video Card Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 900
Hard Drive 80GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition
CD or DVD Drive Single Drive: 48x CD-RW / DVD-ROM Combo Drive
Sound Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy® ADVANCED HD Audio

Thanks again for everyone's help! You guys are the best!

Woah, they still sell 80GB harddrives? Also, is that 'integrated' soundcard, on board? Even if it is soundblaster, onboard soundcards SUCK, sorry to say. (I only wish I could afford to buy a seperate soundcard, it'd fix so many of my podcasting problems)