Got about an hour of editing done this morning; I actually have a question for the comm!
So the reason I had to delete Sunday's recording was that there was a bunch of feedback--not background noise, but a loud electric hum--through most of the recording. I've had this happen to me once before, too, and I'm having a hell of a time figuring out why.
Someone suggested it was bc my laptop was plugged in/charging while recording, but I have always recorded w/ it plugged in before w/o a problem.
The first time it happened I thought it was because I was recording sitting at a table & kept leaning forward/back toward/away from the laptop; thought maybe the varying distance of mic/laptop was an issue (I use a headset mic). But I didn't do that last time & it still happened.
It's happened in two different houses--neither of them mine--and I've gotten a clean recording in one of those houses, too.
Sometimes you can pick up interference from other electronic devices like iPods and cell phones that you may have too close to your laptop. Could be?
Also, unplug your laptop just in case - as a kinda test.
But, even if you cannot find the source of the feedback, there's no need to delete your entire recording! That's what noise removal is for! Please give noise removal in Audacity a try next time and see if that works. That just sucks so so much that you lost all your work. :< Next time, just try out some filtering techniques and see what those can do. And if you need help with settings, podfic_tips and twitter are your friends! <3
Yeah, noise removal actually made it worse, not better--like the feedback stood out more with no background noise to distract from it, maybe.
I haven't had any problems with the laptop unplugged, so maybe that's what it is? It's just weird that it's never given me a problem before... Didn't have anything else close to the laptop. Hmm.
I actually had this problem when I first started and tried to use a headset. I actually addressed this in the podcast I just posted for pod-aware. I went through 2 headsets trying to get rid of the humming, and finally got a cheap stationary mic. I never found out why it does it. Other ppl with headsets have no problem, but the majority use a standing mic, so I wonder if the problem isn't that you're recording with the mic and that not what the mic is built for.
(Props to croissantkatie and bessyboo for pointing this in my direction.)
Electrical hum normally comes from the fundamental frequency of AC power, which is 50 Hz in most of the world, except 60 Hz in the US. It’s a bit more complicated than that (you get harmonics of the fundamental frequency in there as well, but that’s a minor detail).
This is the crackling sound that you get if you hold speaker cable near a power line. I would guess that perhaps it’s a case of choice of USB port.
Do you have multiple USB ports on your computer? If one is near the AC line and the other isn’t, then that might account for the discrepancy. I have that problem on my laptop (which has the problem exacerbated by a metal case, woot). If you do, try only plugging your mic into the far port? Or maybe a USB extension lead from an existing port?
On one of the pod_aware podcasts, I said that the laws of physics are against fandom. I will claim this as further evidence in my favour.
Hope this helps. *g*
*has totes not taken this opportunity to muck about with his mics to reproduce electrical hum for giggles*
Btw, if you’re willing to fiddle with parametric EQs, you can get it pretty quiet. I don’t have Audacity to hand, but a high-pass filter and a few other toys on the sound desk in the theatre I’m working in has reduced it significantly.
I do have multiple ports on my computer, but have always used the same one for the mic--incidentally, the one on the opposite side from the AC line... My laptop does have a metal case, which might be a contributing factor! It's just baffling to me that it's only an intermittent problem, grr. Not being able to reliably reproduce the problem makes it hard for me to feel confident I've eliminated it!
Thanks for the thoughts, & the tip on the high-pass filter. If it happens again, I'll give it a shot...
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So the reason I had to delete Sunday's recording was that there was a bunch of feedback--not background noise, but a loud electric hum--through most of the recording. I've had this happen to me once before, too, and I'm having a hell of a time figuring out why.
Someone suggested it was bc my laptop was plugged in/charging while recording, but I have always recorded w/ it plugged in before w/o a problem.
The first time it happened I thought it was because I was recording sitting at a table & kept leaning forward/back toward/away from the laptop; thought maybe the varying distance of mic/laptop was an issue (I use a headset mic). But I didn't do that last time & it still happened.
It's happened in two different houses--neither of them mine--and I've gotten a clean recording in one of those houses, too.
I am at a total loss! Any ideas?
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(But yay for an hour of editing! \o/)
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Also, unplug your laptop just in case - as a kinda test.
But, even if you cannot find the source of the feedback, there's no need to delete your entire recording! That's what noise removal is for! Please give noise removal in Audacity a try next time and see if that works. That just sucks so so much that you lost all your work. :< Next time, just try out some filtering techniques and see what those can do. And if you need help with settings, podfic_tips and twitter are your friends! <3
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I haven't had any problems with the laptop unplugged, so maybe that's what it is? It's just weird that it's never given me a problem before... Didn't have anything else close to the laptop. Hmm.
Thanks for your thoughts!
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I don't like using a standing mic because I'm apparently v. bad at sitting still, so I get a lot of volume variation...
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Electrical hum normally comes from the fundamental frequency of AC power, which is 50 Hz in most of the world, except 60 Hz in the US. It’s a bit more complicated than that (you get harmonics of the fundamental frequency in there as well, but that’s a minor detail).
This is the crackling sound that you get if you hold speaker cable near a power line. I would guess that perhaps it’s a case of choice of USB port.
Do you have multiple USB ports on your computer? If one is near the AC line and the other isn’t, then that might account for the discrepancy. I have that problem on my laptop (which has the problem exacerbated by a metal case, woot). If you do, try only plugging your mic into the far port? Or maybe a USB extension lead from an existing port?
On one of the pod_aware podcasts, I said that the laws of physics are against fandom. I will claim this as further evidence in my favour.
Hope this helps. *g*
*has totes not taken this opportunity to muck about with his mics to reproduce electrical hum for giggles*
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Thanks for the thoughts, & the tip on the high-pass filter. If it happens again, I'll give it a shot...