VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

HeatherMasters

Hey Guys,
So I recently upgraded my studio and moved my mic from a sitting to a standing position. Ever since this, I find that when I normalize I end up with distortion here and there. I'm not clipping, and sometimes the waveforms where the distortion happens are smaller, so I don't think it's a volume thing. Before I normalize, everything sounds great. I haven't changed anything as far as equipment or editing chain. Its not a huge deal when I record short projects as I can use RX declipper to take care of it, but I'm about to record an audiobook, and I do NOT want to have to deal with an entire audiobook full of hit and miss distortion. Any ideas what could be causing this?
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Heather

www.heathermastersvo.com

DenaliDave · Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2016 9:33 am Post subject:

I'm wondering if it's a buffer thing with the program your recording into?

I know with Twisted Wave or Logic there's a latency buffer. If the buffer is to small, it can cause crackles, pops, distortions and other nasties.

Also, check all the places along the signal where there's a volume adjustment. There might be a volume turned down someplace along the signal, causing you to turn the volume up someplace else. I know with audio in general that can sometimes cause weird, intermittent distortions.
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"The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve." - Buddha
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SteveToner · Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2016 9:35 am Post subject:

Hi Heather,

Any way you can post audio samples (pre- and post-normalization)? It's hard to diagnose a problem like this just from a description such as you've given...

Eddie Eagle · M&M Joined: 23 Apr 2008 Posts: 2393

If you can...try uninstalling and reinstalling the plugin. It may be corrupted.

HeatherMasters · Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:56 pm Post subject:

Got it! Somehow the mic on the Audient mixer had gotten turned up. I don't usually interact with that mixer, as I'm kind of a "set it and forget it" kind of girl, so the mixer is usually minimized and I don't think of it.

Thanks for the help guys. I'm breathing a sigh of relief thanks to you. Smile

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Heather

www.heathermastersvo.com

Bruce · Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2016 4:57 pm Post subject:

Jack Daniel · Cinquecento Joined: 23 Jun 2016 Posts: 585 Location: SoCal

DenaliDave · Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2016 9:41 am Post subject:

HeatherMasters · Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2016 12:00 pm Post subject:

I don't mind messing with my physical equipment, but the Audient comes with a computer application mixer that is just way to complicated for me so I try not to mess with it, but rather just use the settings on the actual interface. So when I'm going over my audio chain, I always forget about the mixer on my computer.

DenaliDave · Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2016 12:31 pm Post subject:

HeatherMasters · Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2016 7:06 pm Post subject:

Thought it was fixed. It's not. Here is a link with a sample. First 30 secs are raw (26 RMS), second are after processing. It's definitely happening when I normalize. I can't hear the distortion through my computer speakers, but in my cans it sounds awful. I'm starting to think I'm going crazy. Is it distorted, or am I losin it?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/38w788g6wnqreqa/distortion%20sample.mp3?dl=0

My normalizer is just the plug-in on Twisted Wave, which now that I think of it, I did just update recently. Should I try reinstalling TW?
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Heather

www.heathermastersvo.com

SteveToner · Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2016 8:06 pm Post subject:

Looks & sounds like overaggressive limiting. I get similar results if I limit the initial sample to -11.5 dB or so (RMS level of -18.614 vs. -18.671 for your processed sample).

Try setting your limiter to -10dB and see if that doesn't make it sound better. Resulting RMS level is -19.813 with my software - presumably that's still within the required range?

[Edit: Alternatively, you've bumped up the gain on the input so your recording level is a bit hotter than it was before...]

Smile

Philip Banks · Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2016 12:11 am Post subject:

Raw audio is of broadcast quality. You may need to increase the gain and possibly limit to knock out the peaks but other than that don't over think.

All audio software needs a de-waffle preset which reduces the noise made by gearheads.

Listen to this https://soundcloud.com/philip-banks/philip-banks-tv-promos

If you look at the wave you will notice a dynamic range and hear everything going on apart from brickwall limiting, everything at 11 compression and more bottom boost than an LA gym. Never trust the numbers, always trust your ears.

Mike Harrison · Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2016 9:05 am Post subject:

HeatherMasters · Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2016 10:06 am Post subject:

Thanks for the responses. When I learned the basics, I made up some presets and pretty much left it at that.The preset I used for this is my audiobook preset, and it only recently started sounding like this. But this is good, because it's made me rethink things, and after hearing what you've said I realize that with my new studio setup, I need to take time and reset things. Before, I used heavier processing because my room noise was a bit much, so turning up the gain made things rough. Now, it seems I've got that under control, so I'm going to play around today and see if I can just adjust the gain and minimalize my processing. I haven't messed with my presets for almost a year...I suppose that's long overdue. I think I'm even looking forward to playing around with things. Now THAT'S growth!
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Heather

www.heathermastersvo.com