[carol m]

I'm practicing with the Effects of Audacity and would like some feedback (!) if anyone is willing.

I am using the Tip Toe Blues lesson and have tried a few recording alternatives. I have interference from my playback CD player/tuner that I use so its hard to hear whether the Noise is on the recording or just what's coming through my CD player/speakers. I still get it even through headphones too.

Each sample is only 30secs or so long, and all from the original recording.

When I use 'Remove Noise', on the original, it goes muffled and also distorted on all of the 3 basic sample options. Adding +3 gain seems to fix the muffling effect of Noise Removal but I think there is still some distortion from using Noise Removal? I would like to know if the samples without Noise Removal are 'clean' enough to not bother with Noise Removal, or how do I remove noise without distortion.

Also, the last one I have tried out a few effects, and this result seemed to be the best, but there is an interference/buzz that happens at about 10 secs into it which wasn't there before I fiddled with it. I did noise removal on the last sample but it didn't get rid of this interference blip.

I am trying to achieve a smooth sound (not tinny especially in the upper string) and with good tone in my playing. How much can you improve the tone with the recording, and how, or do I just have to achieve that direct with my playing 'skills'?

Any feedback and tips are appreciated, thanks

[tonedeaf]

Originally Posted by carol m

Hi John, I play a Takamine EG15SC electric/acoustic into 'line in' on my pc and at the moment use Audacity for recording and effects experimenting.

Sounds pretty good for that setup. I just downloaded Audacity and that's encouraging that you can get that decent a sound out of it to my ears at least. I've got an acoustic soundhole pickup so I'll give it a go and see what kind of noise I can create.

Thanks Carol,
John

[wjp01908]

I found this online and it explains pretty well what a compressor does - it`s easier to visualise on a compressor with actual knobs or representations of knobs than with bare numbers but it makes fairly clear what the parameters represent.

"What a compressor does

A compressor/limiter, is essentially an automatic volume control. Imagine an engineer with his hand on a fader and his eyes on an input level meter. As long as the meter stays below a certain point (the threshold), he leaves the fader all the way up and the gain is unchanged. But the instant the sound gets louder, the engineer pulls down the fader by a certain amount. After the sound gets soft again, the engineer will push the fader back up. That's what the compressor is doing, except much faster and more accurately than humanly possible.

Paradoxically, by cutting the peak levels, a compressor allows you to raise the average level of a sound using the Output control and make it sound louder. By using the threshold and ratio controls, you can set a stable sound that will hold its position in the mix whether the singer is whispering or screaming.

What the controls do

Let's go back to the "engineer with his hand on a fader and eyes on the meter" analogy. The front panel controls simply tell the "engineer" what rules he should follow. [THRESHOLD] tells him how high the input meter can rise before he has to start pulling down the fader: if it's turned full clockwise, he won't pull down his fader until the red +6 LED comes on; if it's turned counter-clockwise, he'll have his hand on the fader even before the lowest green -30 LED lights. [RATIO] tells him how far he should "pull the fader down" when the signal is above the threshold level: should he pull it down just a little bit (compression) or pull the fader as far down as necessary to make sure the output level is never higher than the threshold (limiting)? The [HARD/SOFT] switch affects how he reacts as signal approaches the threshold: does he reduce it exactly by the ratio only after it crosses the threshold, or does he gradually ease into the full ratio as it gets close? The red LEDs of the reduction meter tell you how much the "engineer" is pulling down the "fader" at any time. If these LEDs aren't on, his hands are in his pockets.

The [ATTACK] and [RELEASE] controls involve the speed of the engineer's response. Short attack times order the engineer to get his hands on the fader 1/10,000th of a second after he sees a too-loud signal; long attack times tell him to let transients less than 1/5th of a second pass. [RELEASE] tells the engineer how quickly he should push the fader back up again after a loud signal has stopped; when it's turned counter-clockwise, he pushes the fader back up instantly, and when it's full clockwise, he'll take three seconds to push his fader back up to unity gain.

The [OUTPUT] control is simply a gain control located after our "automatic engineer in the box". The [INPUT/OUTPUT] switch allows you to see the levels before the engineer does his job, or after."

Hope that makes things as bit clearer

Will

[skinnybloke]

Originally Posted by carol m

OK good friends and helpers, get ready for a big belly laugh............I woke up today and realised that when I record on 'line in' (first track anyway).......I don't need to have my CD player/sound system on at all!!!!
The next breakthrough in the thought processes was that if I explore down the back of my computer, I should be able to plug earphones directly into the computer and sideline my CD player and speakers all together. I'll keep you posted on my explorations and results.

Geez Carol, when you get on a learning curve.....you really go for it!

[carol m]

I thought you'd like that one, skinny

[carol m]

Will, thanks for that info on compression, now when I fiddle with the levers I'll have some idea what to expect...kind of.....and definitely more than before! Thanks.

[knight46]

Carol,
First of all the playing was very good in all of the examples. I also liked the first best, although the second had a bit of a calliope sound that was kinda cool.
With all of the help so far you are on a fast track to recording, I am really looking forward to hearing more of your playing.

[carol m]

Thanks knight for the kind words, but what is a calliope??? Sounds like it might be something a horse does, or a type fruit, but if you think its 'cool' I'm not complaining!

All the samples were done on the same original so any differences are due to the 'effects' that I tried out.

[knight46]

Carol,
Calliope (music - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The noise removal in the second example squashed some of the sound, thus the reference to calliope. Meant as a good thing

[carol m]

Wow that is cool - my favorite part is

"The instrument's name originates from Greek mythology: Calliope (pronounced cal-eye-oh-pee), daughter of Zeus, was chief of the Muses and mother of Orpheus. Her name, in Greek, means "beautiful voiced"." Ha Ha, that's me alright

"A calliope is typically very loud; even small calliopes produce sound that can travel for miles". This one has gone right around the world several times already - amazingly.

[Tekker]

Originally Posted by carol m

And underneath these options is a box checked for 'Normalise to 0db after compressing.'
I think I understand what that means, (maybe just adjusting back to neutral 'gain'?) but one time after I did some different effects which didn't work out well, I tried to get rid of them using the Normalise effect, but that did something extra and got rid of nothing. So what is the Normalise effect used for?

Normalize raises the volume of the of the audio clip so that the highest peak is equal to 0dB. This gives you the most volume without ever going "over" 0dB and clipping (since all the other peaks are lower than 0dB).

WitchyWoman is correct that compression can make the waveforms bigger, but only if you use the makeup gain or the normalize features to increase the volume after compressing. Otherwise compression only decreases the volume of the audio material above the threshold of the compressor (so the waveform actually gets smaller).

-tkr

[carol m]

Hi Tekker, that's certainly what happened when I used compression, the wave form got bigger and I reduced gain to -6 to avoid clipping. Maybe next time I'll try unchecking that box and see what happens. Thanks again for your help.

[Tekker]

Originally Posted by carol m

Hi Tekker, that's certainly what happened when I used compression, the wave form got bigger and I reduced gain to -6 to avoid clipping. Maybe next time I'll try unchecking that box and see what happens. Thanks again for your help.

If you have the normalize box checked, you shouldn't have had to decrease the volume as the signal should not have clipped. Normalizing puts the signal at 0dB but not over it. This is the loudest you can go without clipping.... Unless of course you add a compressor or a limiter.

-tkr

[eddiez152]

Lots of great info on this thread too.

[fireblade]

Originally Posted by eddiez152

Lots of great info on this thread too.

I agree, good info.
Well played carol. I too liked the first one best.

[carol m]

Originally Posted by Tekker

If you have the normalize box checked, you shouldn't have had to decrease the volume as the signal should not have clipped. Normalizing puts the signal at 0dB but not over it. This is the loudest you can go without clipping.... Unless of course you add a compressor or a limiter.

-tkr

So what would the separate effect 'Normalise' do? Maybe do what the checked box does in the Compression effect, but for any of the other effects you might have used?

I really appreciate the help you are giving here Tekker even though I seem to have gone ahead with Audacity instead of going with Reaper which is what you recommended .......but hey, Reaper is 'next'....or maybe after Kristal!! You have been warned