VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Jeffrey Dean Gray · Joined: 17 Mar 2014 Posts: 4 Location: Tennessee

Hi, everyone!

Here is the scenario -
When playing back a recording I just made, I noticed a ringing noise - it was faint, but noticeable.
The client I was recording for wanted me to switch my settings to a 48000 sample rate, and a 16-bit resolution. BAM! A ringing noise in playback.
I started recording just room noise to figure out what was going on and noticed a ringing even in the room silence. It would become louder when I talked, and fainter when I was silent. I could even see it in my editing software - a pink'ish/purple'ish line of horror.
Even when I redoodled my specs back to what they usually are; 44100 SR and 32(float)-bit rate... the noise was still there.

Now the noise is gone. Completely. Whew! The only thing I did different, was I literally blew a couple quick puffs of air across the microphone, as one would blow dust off an old dusty book. Not to say my mic is dusty, lol... but I was in a panic and needed a quick (fingers crossed) fix. I felt like the Fonz trying to start up the jukebox... Only, I'm not as cool as him, and I don't think he ever worried about having to replace Arnold's expensive jukebox -- i.e. my microphone.
I've always been quite lucky with my recordings and work. I've never been one for surprises, and little hiccups like these really draw my attention away sometimes.
Was wondering what y'all thought it could be. I'm guessing it could be one of a kabillion things? Maybe it was just a weird little anomaly that has now passed.
Thanks for taking the time to read. Ayyy! *thumbs up*
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vkuehn · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 10:41 am Post subject:

The first issue we have is defining "ringing". If a dozen of us had that same noise appear in our recordings today, we might come up with 15 different terms to describe the noise. So if you still have a recording of the "ringing" you might share it with us or someone locally and see if it as caused by something someone would recognize.

Unplugging and reconnecting all your audio cables could dis-lodge some corrosion or other contamination causing a bad connection somewhere.

Shutting everything down including the computer, and rebooting might cause a ringing to go away. But that still won't tell you what it was, does it have a "proper name" that the rest of us would recognize.

My best guess is that you had some left-over ground-hog droppings from Monday.

Jeffrey Dean Gray · Joined: 17 Mar 2014 Posts: 4 Location: Tennessee

Sorry for taking so long to get back. The ringing was gone, and I had no recording of it. But this morning the noise came back.
Thanks again for taking the time to listen, and for your input.
https://soundcloud.com/jeffreydeangray/ringing-272015
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Jeffrey Dean Gray · Joined: 17 Mar 2014 Posts: 4 Location: Tennessee

Darndest thing. I went into my settings and changed my sample rate back to 44100, and for now it seems to have 'cured' it... again.
https://soundcloud.com/jeffreydeangray/noringing-272015
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Bruce · Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:12 am Post subject:

I don't know about you but I almost never get a request for 48k from anyone, even the video studios that I'm guessing only use 48k. I'd stick with 44.1k until somebody says something.

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Lee Gordon · Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:28 am Post subject:

I've gotten requests for 48k, sent them the files that way, then needed to do pickups and forgot to switch from 44.1 to 48, sent the pickups at 44.1 and nobody said anything.
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vkuehn · Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 12:17 pm Post subject:

I downloaded... well, I "captured" the sample you linked. I put it into Adobe Audition and normalized the track. (I did compress the one very loud syllable at the beginning of the voice trace, Even without the ringing, you have a noise floor problem.. and it doesn't seem to be room noise. The loudest signal in your track is just random noise under 150 hertz. Your noise level under 60 or 70 hertz is just off the scale. If the software you record with or edit with allows you to do so, use a high pass filter to attenuate/eliminate everything below 100 hz. (I did a very agressive removal of noise below 100 hz and I was left with artifacts sounding like a tom-drum underneath every syllable of speech.

I suspect almost no one in this forum will tolerate a noise level that is not at least 50 dB below program level, and many of us shoot for -60.... and if we can't get there, we use software to bring it down to -60 to -65 dbFS.

Your track has a noise level between -35 and -40. You are going to want to beat that some how.

Jeffrey Dean Gray · Joined: 17 Mar 2014 Posts: 4 Location: Tennessee

The doors to my rooms were open during those recordings. I didn't mean lead anyone to think those were acceptable recordings.
The problem seems to be fixed, I guess. No more ringing.
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Lance Blair · M&M Joined: 03 Jun 2007 Posts: 2281 Location: Atlanta

I saw a whole lot of drop-off in requests for 48 kHz last year. Even from video producers who previously asked for 44.1

In September I recorded historical character letter-readings for a broadcast documentary that had very high production values (just saw it on YT the other day!). I asked the producer if he wanted 48/24 and he said 44/16 was fine. The sound design, main narrator, etc. sounded super to me Wink

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bobsouer · Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 11:08 am Post subject:

Just about every video producer I work with still wants 48Khz files.
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Deirdre · Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 5:27 pm Post subject:

Video games want exceptionally high sample rates because of all the post-processing. I've been asked for 96K/24 bit many a time.
My European video clients seem to prefer 48K.
All the radio and web stuff is 44.1.
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Frank F · Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 7:12 pm Post subject:

99% of the time I send 48/16. I have once, only once, been asked for 96/24.

Frank F
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Leslie Humble · Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 11:07 pm Post subject:

48/16 for me unless otherwise requested. I did find very interesting Lee"s comment about sending the retake at 44.1 and no one noticed. My experts .....what can the human ear detect? Can the audiophile hear the higher rates? And is it relevant to VO?
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 1:58 am Post subject:

I'm sure nobody's ear can detect the difference, but in some software, the pitch or speed might be slightly different. I suspect most software takes what you give it and adjusts automatically.
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bobbinbeamo · Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:57 pm Post subject:

I now have my Source-Connect high quality toggled at 48K because the studios I work with ask for that setting.
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