Audio Quality question

[Larry Singer]

This question is not about the actual autoplay media product, but more about creating a professional quality presentation.

I'm using a 25 dollar logitech microphone and the Windows Sound recorder program to record audio files. When I play them, they always contain background noise and do not sound professional. I've tried all the adjustments possible on sound recorder. When I play other audio files, the sond from the speakers is fine, so it must be either the microphone or the Windows sound recorder program.

What do you suggest to create reasonably good sound files?

Thanks very much.

[MIchaelD]

...When I play them, they always contain background noise...

Hi Larry,
It depends a lot on the ambient noise in the where room you record. Over time you've learned to ignore the noise of the fridge, outside traffic and other noise in your surroundings. Basically you've 'tuned it out'.

Your microphone can't do that. It records everything, so when you play back your recording you're hearing a faithful reproduction of what your mic picked up. It comes as a shock to hear all that background noise on playback.

Recording studios spend heaps of money to overcome the problem but there are things you can do for lots less.

Here's a place to start;

http://www.reactivesounds.com/tutorial.html

That site probably won't answer all your questions but has some ideas you can start with. To learn more, you can do a Google search such as, "background noise in recording". You'll get lots of information on how to get great recordings.

I hope that helps.

[Corey]

These are cheap:

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=103,CONTENTID=6338

And they have a noise cancelling algorithm built in. Plus this will connect via USB instead of 1/8" which means you won't get that PCI bus noise, or whatever you want to call it. Suffice to say you should notice a dramatic increase in the usuability of your audio... In general with headset mics background noise is much less of an issue since your head is blocking all direct sound, it's only able to basically pick up reflections of the noise which tend to be much less dramatic.

In post production you can also use one of the many noise gate plug-ins available in your favorite audio editing sofwtare to trim the noise in between sounds. Or if you have any peaks/spikes you can trim them off with a compressor or a limiter. There's tons of great tutorials on Google for how to use compression, noise gates, and limiters in audio recordings. Hope that helps. :)

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software (http://www.indigorose.com)

[Neill Karl]

Larry,

I did recording 'on the cheap', too. The biggest problem for me was 60 Hz hum. I found an odd fix for it that I'll pass on. I didn't have a mic stand, so was holding the mic. Turns out that the 60 Hz was coming through me! So, I stuffed a ground wire in my sock, and the hum was gone! Of course, my wife was a bit concerned when she saw the wire from my leg to the wall socket, but the audio sounded much better.

I also found other ambient noise a problem, particularly the fan on my PC. I had to use extension cables on the mic to get far enough away from the PC so that you couldn't hear it. Try setting a big piece of cardboard between you and the PC, that will cut a lot of the noise. Any fabric absorbs sound well, so you can drape a blanket or a towel over or between you and the noise source. Turn the thermostat down to keep the furnace from coming on...

I finally wound up buying a SoundBlaster Platinum Pro card. It's very clean and nice, no more wires in my sock. The dogs are still a problem, though, they always bark at the wrong time!

Good luck.