VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[StrangeAsAngels]

Hi all.

I am currently narrating an audiobook from home. In editing, I have noticed these random noises usually buried underneath my voice. At first I thought it was that pesky mouth noise but I managed to catch the noise in a pause and realized it's more of a high frequency blip. have isolated it and looped it so that it lasts longer than a second because I wanted to post it here so you sound pros could give it a listen to help identify just what's causing this.

https://soundcloud.com/strangeasangels-2/weird-noise

Sorry if this is a daft question. New to this whole audio production game....

If it helps isolate the problem, I'm using a Sennheister MK4 mic, an M-Audio interface and a mogami XLR cable. I record in Adobe Audition. I also have a Shure High Pass Filter between the cable and the interface.

Thanks.

UPDATE, I isolated a second noise which is a little different in frequency:

https://soundcloud.com/strangeasangels-2/another-weird-noise

[Foog]

Maybe if you uploaded a 5 second clip where the sound occurs once (or twice even?). Point us to the exact spot if need be. But I have my doubts as to whether anyone can tell you anything at all without some audio context to go with your mystery sound. (I could be wrong, there are some downright wizardly ears and cranial bits lurking about!)
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Andrew Fogarasi

[StrangeAsAngels]

I suspected the bleeping noise might have been the Shure high pass filter since I didn't notice the noise until I started using the filter. This afternoon, however, when I was recording, Adobe Audition suddenly flatlined. No signal being detected. Assuming it's the interface which is new but low-end and I'm now guessing that the noise was related...Or not.

What the hell do i know? I guess I will get a new interface and hopefully I can resume recording (bleep free)...

[chrisvoco]

I have a small m-audio interface from a couple years ago, which I use for the Windows generic default doodad instead of the computer's built-in audio hardware (the latter being what you use when you *do* want every electrical burp and RF noise available...!). Only similar trouble I've had with it was - oddly enough - fixed entirely by updating to the latest driver at the time.

The sound is definitely digital in nature - that is, it's not something that's getting in to your cabling prior to the interface itself (unless you've got your phone laying next to your mic cable or something horrible like that).

Are you using a laptop or a desktop? If a laptop, does the sound come or go or change at all if you're on battery power instead of the power supply (which, if on battery and it dipped below some threshold, may explain why the device suddenly stopped working)? And is there a usb hub between the m-audio box and the computer, or is the usb cable plugged directly into the computer itself?

Have another computer you can use to test the m-audio box?

One other thought on it seeming to die altogether: any chance you accidentally flipped the phantom power switch, assuming you use it, or hit a button that toggles between mic or guitar input or something along those lines?
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Finally, Ford stops starting to say things and starts.

[StrangeAsAngels]

Hi Chris,

No chance I hit the phantom power switch. The m-audio isn't even within arms reach when I'm recording. I tried testing the m-audio with my imac and macbook (I generally record on my macbook since it's so quiet). Mysteriously, the m-audio is working today. Sweetwater seems to think the interface is defective so I'm exchanging it for a Focusrite Scarlet 212. Hoping that one doesn't' give me so many issues....

[StrangeAsAngels]

I got a new audio interface (Scarlet 2i2). The problem is that the bleep is still present. I am on a macbook pro. It's relatively new (July). My cell phone is off, my ipad is on airplane mode so it's not cell interference, it does it with or without the high pass filter.

I tested it tonight on battery and still heard it. I tried plugging the interface cable (firewire to usb) into another usb port on my MBP. Same problem.

Here is a sample of it in context per request. The sound is about halfway through and buried under my voice: https://soundcloud.com/strangeasangels-2/blip-in-context

Anyone have any idea what kind of interference this is? It's very brief...maybe a second in duration and the frequency varies.

I live in the country. I have only one very close neighbor who occupies the other side of the duplex I'm in. The other neighbors are pretty spaced out. Not any radio towers or much of anything but delis, vineyards and wineries in the area surrounding where I live.

Thanks.

[StrangeAsAngels]

I'm relatively new at my set up but I could swear that i didn't hear this sound in the first few weeks. I only noticed it when I got the HP Filter which, incidentally, is the same weekend I upgraded to Yosemite. Wondering if there is a connection. It ended up not being the filter but wondering if it could be Yosemite.....

[Foog]

Is it the odd sound between the words "then she" ?

I am going to make the same suggestion that was made to me when I had a similar mystery noise issue: it could be coming from you.* The sound in question might be from pressure or air in your nasal cavity while you speak. Seems the secondary sounds our own heads sometimes make can be quite odd and convincingly artificial!

This kind of thing can be polished up with EQ or other tools. I've drunk the izotope RX4 kool aid and can't say enough good things about their spectral repair. Here is my amateur-yet-not-entirely-unsuccessful attempt to get rid of the sound on your track using it:

https://soundcloud.com/andrew-fogarasi/blipbegone

and in case you are curious, here is the mystery feedback-ish sound my fool head generated every time I said the word "years" on a particular day...

https://soundcloud.com/andrew-fogarasi/metallicsqueak


* Run!! The call is coming from inside the house!! (sorry, couldn't resist. What with Halloween around the corner and all)
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Andrew Fogarasi

[StrangeAsAngels]

Thanks, Andrew. I thought of that. My mouth makes all kinds of weird noises. I even thought it was possibly coming from my stomach until I heard it in between words which didn't sound at all like it was coming from a human.. It's sounds like some sort of digital blip. That's when I isolated the noise, duplicated it and uploaded it to Soundcloud. I actually isolated a couple which appear early in this thread.

Tested on my imac for about ten minutes and I have not heard the noise. My imac has Snow Leopard. Starting to think it's an issue with my macbook...

[chrisvoco]

Thing to check - on your macbook, have you defined -whether deliberately or accidentally - an aggregate audio device that includes both your usb device and the built-in audio? I may be off track here, but if that's the case, you could be recording both the desired signal from your external device, plus the undesired random RF noise from the computer itself thanks to the built-in.
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Finally, Ford stops starting to say things and starts.

[StrangeAsAngels]

Thanks, Chris.

The input is set to the Scarlett in Adobe Audition (and was set to M-Track previously).

The System Sound Preferences is set to the internal devices. I didn't change them to input/output through the interface because I thought that settings in Audition overrode whatever was set in System Preferences. Is this what you mean?

[Quicksilver]

My money would be on a cable, interface or driver.

Swap cables, re install the driver if that doesn't work, find a new interface.

I had the same problem, was the interface.

Good luck!