White noise

David Lawrence · **Voice Seeker** Joined: 29 Sep 2006 Posts: 117

Gang,
Sorry if this question's been asked a bunch (did search for "noise" and got a zillion hits)... New to the biz and am sill ironing out wrinkles. I have a Macbook w/ intel core 2 duo, shure sm58 mic run through an mbox-2. When i normalize a track I can hear a lot of white noise (background). Is there a simple solution (cable upgrade? currently using 1/4-in). And no, that noise in the background isn't my washing machine Smile

Thanks in advance! --David J. Lawrence

David Lawrence · **Voice Seeker** Joined: 29 Sep 2006 Posts: 117

Oh yeah and I'm using Sony MDR 7509 phones... I guess my question was how much of a difference XLR cable would make?

J.S. Gilbert · Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007, 20:45 (GMT) Post subject: many things can help

When you record, what level is your voice averaging out at? -6db, -12 db?
And when you record, where is your apparent noise floor? Could be anywhere from -100db to -40db?

How much of a boost are you giving the signal when you normalize?

This would help determine specific solutions.

What gear are you using? How is the signal getting into your computer?

More than likely when you normalize you are boosting the full length of your dynamic range, this increases any noise that exists on the voice and background noise in silence. setting a threshold for the normalization that is well above your apparent noise floor would help. The background noise you hear in the slilence would be far less perceivable, although this would have little effect on any noise present while you're speaking. It is also possible that your noise is electrical in nature, stemming from having balanced and unbalanced equipment or potential minimal amounts of groun hum. An XLR cable makes sense regardless of what you're doing and probably will help. Whether it is enough is another question.