Aight i know what ya'll gonna say: get a good mic, that i'll do soon but right now im getting started completely from zero just with the software and a potato mic i actually use for gaming, i'll buy good hardware soon. For now i want to practice how to mix and use tools.
So i've recorded a sample from my mic and i hear -44db room sound which is i believe really high, what should i do to lower the room noise without sacrificing the recording i actually need.
I've tried to use the gater, but i dont seem to understand it very well.
Any suggestion is helpful.

 

Last edited: Mar 11, 2019

If the noise is in the actual sound there is no (cheap) way but cutting the affected frequency out. In those parts where the noise is not "in" the sound helps denoisers, gates and manual volume adjustments.

 

what would be the options in the case of the noise being in the sound i need ?

 

experiment with cutting frequencies between 480 and 680-700 thoose are usually the culprit when it comes to roomy take. in some cases it might even be between 115-380, try and see what works for you. don't forget to use Linear phase if you have more than one take or using more than one mic.

 

Maybe De-reverb audio plug-in and module in iZotope RX 7.

 

waves ns-1. One knob, set it and forget it with zero latency

 

Send the kids of to Neverland ranch. Or maybe not...

 

That's "OK".

Maybe try recording in your car https://audiosex.pro/threads/recording-vocals-outdoors-small-room.30979/#post-275606

 

Are you absolutely sure it's not the cheap mic and the cheap preamp that's producing the noise? What preamp are you using? And mic? Room noise could be that high if you live in a really noisy area. Have you tried recording during the night? It's much more quiet then.

 

Audacity (a free audio editor) has an ok noise removal function.

It works like this:
- You load the recording into the program (or you can use the program itself to record)
- You open the noise reduction window
- You select few seconds of just the noise and click 'acquire noise profile' or whatever it says to 'teach' the program what kind of noise it should look
- You try to find best sensitivity etc. settings while previewing the recording, click ok and the algorithm does it's magic

This kind of process is your best bet. If it does not work good enough, you probably should give up and get gear you can actually work with. I highly doubt any other software will give you decidedly better results.

You can get an ok voice recording setup with very little money if you know what you are doing. Ask.

edit: also make sure you are not like overdriving the preamp and clipping or anything like that.

 

Last edited: Mar 12, 2019

Find a corner and hang the heaviest blankets you can find in that L shape. Then do the same with one of those portable clothes racks. They're good because you can adjust the height and they aren't expensive. Hang a heavy blanket, doona, quilt....whatever you can find over it and close yourself in that triangle. If you don't have enough blankets, charity stores have them cheap. You'll have a nice dead space for recording. No room for dancing, but good sound.

 

1) Source: Locate the noise and move it to another room, if possible (computer, fridge, fan, ventilation, whatever). Or swap room.
2) Mic characteristic: Get a dynamic mic like SM7b if you are doing vocals. Or a mic that is more directional. You don't want an omni mic.
3) Acoustics: Add some room treatment like thick drapes along the walls, bookshelf, matress, etc. I.e., DIY absorbers and diffusers. Also add a vocal shield if you record voice/vocals.
4) Noise-redux: If the problem still persists, which is quite rare, treat the audio with noise reduction like iZotope RX7 or similar.

 

Last edited: Mar 12, 2019

use a noise gate

 

No preamp, potato mic, when i record at night is actually noisier because of the crickets. Yeah, crickets around here are loud AF.

 

izotope advanced noise reducer

 

(Reply to all) I've been experimenting with gate, and its for removing the room sound as is, but obviously doesn't work when the sound i need is mixed with room sound.
For now i've been experimenting with equalizers and playing with different effects. (trying to hide the noise)

For example;
>record guitar
>add effects such as distortion and reverb
>all the way up distortion gain (i like my guitars crunchy)
>add a reverb preset that i like and maybe fix it a little bit
>move around the waves in the equalizer tool until i like what i hear
thats pretty much how i've been working, most of it is just letting my ear guide me
i still dont understand the number values and such

 

Helps to determine first what's the nature/quality of the unwanted room sound that you're hearing?

It could be noise from your computer fans, sounds like a faint random hiss. Could be air conditioning or the fridge (distantly). Could be where you pointed the mic, so as the soundwaves you're trying to record ripple out like waves in water, they hit the walls of your room in weird ways, and then reflect off them. Those reflections then come back and hit the mic with copies of the original sound, but quieter and there is a delay because the speed of sound in air isn't infinite.

Or it could be the noise that the cheap mic is adding by itself, so it just flat out adds it to anything you record with it and says "good luck with that, my $20 job is done" with a chinese accent.

Or could be any combo of these.

Noise that sounds like hiss or "wind" can be removed with denoiser tools like Izotope RX7, or a denoiser plugin. Some good ones are by Acon Digital and Voxengo. The sound after denoising is "ok" but always sounds weaker somehow and the life goes out of it. So with denoising, you want to do as little of it as you can get away with, while still removing the worst of the noise.

Unwanted room reflections can be suppressed with "anti-reverb" tools, again in RX or plugins, plus you can get rid of some of their effect by EQ. When those delay ripples of sound add up, they act like an annoying EQ of their own on the original sound, creating peaks in it that weren't part of the original thing. For a typical modern urban room, the worst of those will be found hanging around in the 100hz-200hz low frequency range, or thereabouts. Depends on the sound though.

If you take an EQ and boost by 10 db or more with a tight Q so the boost is fairly surgical, you can sweep that area and listen for weirdness. You're not looking for sounds you don't like, since it's boosted that much everything will of course sound bad. What you're looking for is quality, you can find qualities or tones as you sweep that you can definitely tell had nothing to do with the original sound you were trying to record, and then you cut those out. Tip: Say you found a thing you want to cut after sweeping with a ridiculous boost. To know how much to cut, turn down the boost to 0, so it's neutral and let your hearing adjust to how "normal" should sound for a bit. Then you start turning down the frequency, so you're not doing it right after listening to the huge boost and sweeping - ears lose all objectivity.

 

I don't want to sound rude, but you asked for help and people are trying to figure where the noise is actually coming from. This is not helping.

If you really think it's just the room, then you are going to have essentially the same problem even with better equipment you are planning to get. You are just going to have maybe nicer more accurate recording of the noise.

 

Every mic has self noise, anywhere from a low of abput 7dB to over 20 in some instances. Noisy mics are no good to capture quiet sources so logically can only remain out 9f the way if what you are recording is louder than it is.Your's must suck lemons to be at -44dB.
And who uses a potato mic, they suck. Maybe you should splurge and buy a zucchini or even a broccoli mic, they are much more quiet.

 

How about uploading a short example so we can hear the noise? Maybe it helps us to help you.