Buzzing from stereo mix recording (audio dudes help please)

ThirdEye

ThirdEye

New member
I know this isn't the right subforum to ask but I figure more people will see it here and the link will still stay once moved to the proper forum.

I'm trying to record audio from a video game with audacity but every recording has this buzzing noise. Even recording silence has this buzzing. http://www.mediafire.com/listen/8t19t5vjflceg1c/buzzing.wav

I looked up the issue on google so I tried the following stuff: Everything is connected to one power bar. Unplugged everything from usb ports (unplugging the hotas does reduce the intensity to this http://www.mediafire.com/listen/3wh9jw363p843fr/silence.wav).

What else can I try to completely eliminate the noise?
 
What sort of equipment are you using? What sort of configuration on the computer side?


The first one you can clearly hear the buzz, but the second, while the same basic pitch, should suffice for most applications - I turned my windows sound level all the way up and it took two listens to hear the buzz instead of just the noise floor.


If shadowplay is also picking it up, try to see what it is capturing. Something like this with an in-computer recording setup would point me to EMI from other parts in the computer and may or may not be fixable without swapping main parts. I suspect you're sound recording device is picking up on some interference from something else in the computer and is either undershielded or just in a bad location/environment in the PC. If you are using a discrete sound card, changing slots may change or reduce the hum. If not, I find the GPU to be a source of a lot of this sort of interference, so moving it (if possible) may change the situation a bit. If you're using an external solution then you may have more options to fix things, but it may be harder to track down.

Putting them on the same power source reduces the risk of ground loop issues, but putting recording equipment on the same circuit as a computer PSU can be problematic, something like a power conditioner is usually the power subsystem for every audio rack and it's to eliminated this sort of interference. There can be problems with cable shielding picking up stray interference, the same can happen with the recording device. Lower quality devices will almost always have a higher noise floor and while it usually isn't a buzz, it will often be audible on a good playback device.


Lots of potential things, but without knowing the setup, it's impossible to say for sure.
 
Swapping slots is out of the question, components are cramped in tighter than a russian prison cell.

Without the hotas plugged in the hum/noise is acceptable I suppose but what I'm trying to record is already in a low volume, hence why I want to record it and bring up the volume but at the same time the noise is raised as well.

system specs

Motherboard
ASUS P8Z77-V Lk
CPU
Intel Core i7 2700K
Graphics
MSI GTX 980 GAMING
Memory
Corsair Vengeance 2X4GB
Display
27" IPS LG 16:9 \ 29" IPS LG 21:9
Soundcard & Speakers
Xonar DG 5.1
Hard-Drives
Corsair Force 3 Series 120GB/840 256GB SSD/ Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
Power Supply
Corsair CX Series CX 750W
Case
Thermaltake V4 Black Edition ATX
Input Devices
G710+/ G500/ X-55-Rhino/360pad
Operating System
W7
 
Since it shows up on shadowplay, can you find where it's recording from? Since there is a hum, I can only assume that it's going through an analog source of some sort - i.e. it's being rendered through some loop in your soundchip and that's probably where it's coming from.

You may also be able to take a dual ended 1/8" patch cable and just plug some outputs into inputs to try and find the offending recording channel (or if it's all of them). Since this xonar doesn't use a power connector, it's not that, but is there an alternate power source on the mobo that could be hooked up or could be put on a different rail? I know I've had boards with pci-e power supplement connectors and changing the PSU rail for it may help. Believe it or not, I moved from a Xonar DX to my current external sound solution about 4 years ago when I couldn't move my xonar away from the interference in my case by enough to not hear noise from my GPU on my speakers. I didn't do much recording, so I can't say specifically to that, but the cheaper xonars aren't shielded and having cards or fans next to your card doesn't help.

Also, can you boost the input at all? Generally with audio equipment, you record at the highest possible gain without clipping so that the noise floor which will always be there is the least noticeable - not necessarily going to help with a buzz, but it should improve the situation. It's also probably worth moving your case away from your monitor and speakers and seeing if it changes anything. The power circuitry in a monitor (especially an older one with wearing down capacitors) can create interference and you'd better believe the magnetic drivers for speakers can too.
 
]Since it shows up on shadowplay, can you find where it's recording from? Since there is a hum, I can only assume that it's going through an analog source of some sort - i.e. it's being rendered through some loop in your soundchip and that's probably where it's coming from.
Click to expand...

Recording from?

You may also be able to take a dual ended 1/8" patch cable and just plug some outputs into inputs to try and find the offending recording channel (or if it's all of them). Since this xonar doesn't use a power connector, it's not that, but is there an alternate power source on the mobo that could be hooked up or could be put on a different rail? I know I've had boards with pci-e power supplement connectors and changing the PSU rail for it may help. Believe it or not, I moved from a Xonar DX to my current external sound solution about 4 years ago when I couldn't move my xonar away from the interference in my case by enough to not hear noise from my GPU on my speakers. I didn't do much recording, so I can't say specifically to that, but the cheaper xonars aren't shielded and having cards or fans next to your card doesn't help.
Click to expand...

There is the gpu fan blowing on it from above

Also, can you boost the input at all? Generally with audio equipment, you record at the highest possible gain without clipping so that the noise floor which will always be there is the least noticeable - not necessarily going to help with a buzz, but it should improve the situation. It's also probably worth moving your case away from your monitor and speakers and seeing if it changes anything. The power circuitry in a monitor (especially an older one with wearing down capacitors) can create interference and you'd better believe the magnetic drivers for speakers can too.
Click to expand...

Just tried moving the tower as far away as possible and the noise level is the same. Changing the psu cables didn't help either.
 
I don't think it's so much that there's a fan blowing on it, but that the fan is run by an electric motor which relies on generating an EM field to spin (and the field fluctuates with every bit of rotation from the fixed magnet).

What I mean recording from, like, can you select an input source like you can in other programs? If not, is there a way to capture a digital audio out source and see if the hum is still there? If there's noise on a recording then it basically has to be turned into analog and then digitized again, and if you can record for your purposes using a digital input and translating straight to a digital recording, you may be able to eliminate the noise.
 
DaJMasta said:
I don't think it's so much that there's a fan blowing on it, but that the fan is run by an electric motor which relies on generating an EM field to spin (and the field fluctuates with every bit of rotation from the fixed magnet).

What I mean recording from, like, can you select an input source like you can in other programs? If not, is there a way to capture a digital audio out source and see if the hum is still there? If there's noise on a recording then it basically has to be turned into analog and then digitized again, and if you can record for your purposes using a digital input and translating straight to a digital recording, you may be able to eliminate the noise.
Click to expand...

I've tried all input sources, still hums. Oh well, thanks for your help though.
 
If you go to the properties for the output device and look at levels, do you have any analog inputs not muted? It could be that the Mic or Line In are inputs for the output that then goes to the record what i hear loop back.
 
In sound properties?

this is what I have

YjvlTPX.jpg
 
Maybe try matching input and output sample rate? I doubt that would make a buzz, but I've heard of things like that making some interference noise.


Could also be worth checking the xonar control panel as well to make sure those settings match and there's not anything fishy going on.
 
DaJMasta said:
Maybe try matching input and output sample rate? I doubt that would make a buzz, but I've heard of things like that making some interference noise.


Could also be worth checking the xonar control panel as well to make sure those settings match and there's not anything fishy going on.
Click to expand...

Matched up everything, still no go.

I checked xonar settings and made those match. Restarted and still buzzing.

Why can't things be easy?
 
With a crammed box, and no shielding around certain components, you may be getting RF interference.

The question was, was the buzzing always there? Have you done recordings before that were clean, and this only started now? Or have you never audio recording before, just like you've never tried swimming naked in a wading pool full of custard and jello with a shaved alpaca?
 
I have done recordings before but I never noticed the noise because I never needed to to amplify the sound.

Here's a normal recording I did a couple of hours ago and I can't really tell if there's any noise.

[yt]QiO8UhfXm8k[/yt]

I hear a tiny bit of noise when the sound of the engines is cut with volume at 100%
 
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I definitely don't hear any noise in that. I don't have the game, so I can't tell for sure if all of the ambient sound is intentional, but I certainly don't hear any kind of persistent, unchanging noise sound that doesn't seem to be intentional.


Gotta say though, of all the stuff to try to pick it out in, stuff with widely varying simulated electronic noise is going to be the hardest to find it in.
 
I don't see how it can be RF interference, because the stereo loop back should be purely digital.

One possibility, because you have different sample rates set for the output and the stereo mix input, it could be because of the windows resampling bug. Mind you, you will also be affected if the output from the program you are recording outputs at a different sample rate to what you sound card is running at.

The resampling bug causes distortion whenever resampling of wave sources occurs. It has been around since vista. Was never fixed in vista, and in windows 7 you have to get the patch from microsoft. (for whatever stupid reason it isn't included in normal widows updates.)

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2653312

Windows 8 and up have the fix already.


Here is a discussion of the issue.

https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/F...s-7-due-to-sample-rate-conversion-slightly-ot


Amazing that an issue like that hasn't just been fixed in all versions of windows with a normal windows update patch.... Why would anyone not want the patch? It even fixes a few other things, like allowing realtek HD audio devices to work more reliably at much low asio buffer settings (if you use asio4all). I can run at 64 samples latency, glitch free. Couldn't before the patch.
 
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