VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Foog]

I was in the midst of recording a couple of days ago when I noticed a very faint (high-frequency?) metallic squeak/or vibration on a word. So I said the sentence again, and the same thing happened! And again - at the exact same spot on the exact same word.

I sent a copy of the WAV to a friend with good ears and a recording studio to see if he could tell me what caused the noise. His response was that he couldn't hear it. Now it may be that I am listening on headphones and he is listening on his studio monitors, but it's there, and it is driving me mad. Mad, I tell you!

If any of you can spare a minute to listen to this and tell me that, yes, there is a metallic sound and I am not imagining it, I and my remaining sanity will thank you. Here's the snippet as recorded, with original levels and everything...

I'm rather new to dropbox, but I think this is the right link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lv3lbe1qacwfljj/metallicsqueak.wav

I also loaded it up on smartbins and it can be accessed here: http://wfurl.com/1194db4

The squeak can be heard on the word "years", approximately where the "y" goes into the "ea", and it stops around where the "ea" goes into the "r". Every. Darned. Time!

Oh right! And the reason I posted this in the "gear" section! ...if you do hear the noise and have some idea what might be causing it, I would love to know!

cheers,
Andrew Fogarasi

[Jason Huggins]

I'm pretty sure that what you are hearing is coming from your own instrument. Upon close inspection, there is a VERY faint "tone" coming through at 6.5k, but it appears to be a vibration from that particular word. It does not hurt the recording at all though, and no client would hear that or care (at least not the vast majority). I don't think it is from the room. If there was a metallic ringing from something in the room, it would be easier to spot.

Just my 2 cents though.

[ballenberg]

Hi Andrew,

Well, I'm by no means an expert (on anything) but I downloaded this file and listened a few times, and I think you have nothing to worry about. I'm guessing that you record wearing headphones which means you can hear every little thing. Sometimes that's really good...sometimes it can drive you crazy.

I don't think there's any technical issue going on. Rather it's a tiny sound of speech that probably has a nasal component. --I'm not talking about what we refer to qs a "nasal voice". Actually, that type of issue is de-nasality It's all good, it's part of being human and the best thing you can do is forget about it. No one will ever hear it except you. Really. Join the group that doesn't hear it...you'll be happier, plus not be distracted by something that isn't a problem I speak from experience--believe me. I went so far as to send a file to a noted university speech lab--they were kind enough not to laugh in my face, but pretty much told me I was hyper-analyzing the sound of a person speaking and hearing every tiny adjustment the body made while using exhaled air to make sound.

Hope that's helpful.

[Foog]

I can't thank you guys enough!

For years all my clients were perfectly content with the raw recording (no editing, no processing, not even normalized. Just the raw track with big ragged breaths and everything!) Now that I am starting to work for people who expect edited tracks, I do indeed overthink and worry too much.

I've gone from reading a couple of quick takes and firing them off, to agonizing over even the tiniest unwanted sound. Plus I've discovered how embarrassingly noisy my recording space is. It ain't healthy to start to obsess, I know!

Since the sound was, to my ears, "metallic", I was mortified that my microphone had been damaged somehow. To hear you both suggest it is not only nothing to worry about (client will never hear it) but also not mechanical is a load off my mind! ...not to mention the fact that, apparently, I am NOT crazy. Hurray!


cheers,
Andrew Fogarasi


edited to correct terrible typpos

[Ed Fisher]

[Foog]

[vkuehn]

Maybe you deal with this in your post-production but there is a lot of energy down at the 10 to 12 hertz frequency. If you take that out with a high-pass filter, that will get some of the noise floor out.

[Ed Fisher]

Yep. I agree. I did a spectral analysis as well. I think a HPF would help a lot,

It's a very common thing. Street rumble. Air conditioning 2 blocks over. Elephants stampeding in Africa. Very low frequencies will go right though most buildings and it's something that you don't really want or need.
_________________
"I reserve the right to be completely wrong."

[Foog]

[Ed Fisher]

In your sound recording software there should be an EQ adjustment of some kind. If it's graphic, so much the better. Simply roll off below 80HZ. (Give or take.) Adjust to taste.

Also, some preamps and some microphones have them built in as well.

A high pass filter is simply a filter that rolls off the low frequencies allow the "high" frequencies to "pass."
_________________
"I reserve the right to be completely wrong."

[Foog]

[Foog]

Thanks again for the EQ suggestions.

I mucked about with lowering the EQ at and below around 50hz, and have seen some improvement already. Mind you, the key word here is "seen" the improvement - when I zoom in massively on the wave I can see a change in the before and after versions of the (misnamed) silence. But my poor wooden ears couldn't pass the Pepsi challenge and detected no audible difference.

Still - improvement. Yay! So here's my question: do I dare reduce the lower frequencies more drastically? Either a wider band or a deeper dip? Even though I couldn't hear a noticeable difference during quiet sections, I am worried about colouring the sound of my voice with the EQ. Should I stop being such a baby and actually do a real HPF and cut the bottom of the bottom out entirely? Do I still need some tiny bit of the frequencies around the threshold of human hearing, or bombs away?

cheers,
Andrew Fogarasi