Tech Update 2

[filkertom]

Crap.

Crap crap crap.

I think that something in the connections for the vocal recording -- and, dammit, not for ALL the vocal recording -- is setting up electrical interference of some type, that manifests itself sometimes as a high-pitched whine. Something in the proximity of patch cable to CPU, of microphone to Audio Buddy, something. I can't hear the whine on normal-pitch audio... but, if I drop the pitch, there it is.

To one extent or another, it's likely been in everything I've recorded in the past year and a half.

There is no, repeat, no possible way I can recreate a year and a half of vocals. Especially not on the new album at the duplicator right now.

Please excuse me while I grumble, curse, whine, and try to figure out what to do.

I am asking very seriously here -- how many of you can hear this?

Comments

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

Well, I was planning on ordering Last Hero this week, so if I can hear it on those tracks, I'll let you know.

[codevixen.livejournal.com]

I can't hear anything - sounds normal to me.

[jedilora.livejournal.com]

It sounds okay to me on Last Hero, and I've got high-pitch sensitivity from singing standing next to sopranos for six years. I don't get any audiocringe, if that's the sort of thing you're worried about.

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

I don't have any of your music, Tom, but if I did, I'd give it the Sansui-Klipsch test with my very sensitive ears. I'd be able to tell you in a heartbeat if there was an annoying noise or not.

If you are using a computer to do your editing on, there can sometimes be problems with RFI interference in the circuit boards. To isolate it, you'd need to swap some of the sound processing cards around, and consider getting a ferrous 'choke' for your lines. (I've seen people tie knots in them, but I don't recommend that.) Low pitched hums are usually the sign of something not grounded and 60 Hz riding on the lines, but the high pitch could be anything from your processor to your hard drive. Hard drives do make a lot of serious noise, and it is possible that your circuitry is picking up some of that.

Other possibilities include bad digital audio encoding circuits, poor CODEC drivers, or incorrect bit rate settings. So, this could be a hardware or a software problem.

Hope you can solve the problem. I wish I could help you sniff it out. (I love puzzles like those, it's one of my weaknesses...)

I have a recording of Dances With Wolves that I cannot listen to because of a recording error- some high pitched noise that drove me and the cats nuts. So, I know what you are talking about. Check your masters- it could be a disc error rather than an equipment error.

Best of luck!

[sylverwolfe.livejournal.com]

i haven't noticed it in any of the copies i have, and neither has kane. he's the one to trust on this, because his pitch is damn near perfect. he can tell the difference between radio stations' equalizer settings. he's a scary man, sometimes. :-D
seriously, tho, don't panic overmuch. i'm sure your fen will let you know on what if any recordings they've noticed the whine, and we can compile data from that to see which recordings were in fact affected. betcha it'll be a much smaller list than the entire back catalogue of the past year and a half. from that, it'll be much easier to hash out a plan of action.
*hugs* it's gonna be okay, tom. everything's shiny.

Sorry to hear this

[capplor.livejournal.com]

My bet would be that relatively few can (baby boomers, rock music, you know the drill). If it's that high pitched, can you filter it out on a re-release? (Probably get rid of some nice high-end that you'd want, but it might eliminate any cringe factor) Maybe even offer a trade for the filtered version for those few really annoyed by it? More work, but you do have (we hope) an intelligent following that would understand.

[farnex.livejournal.com]

If you are referring to LHoE recordings I havn't noticed anything. I am happy with what I hear.

[dubheach.livejournal.com]

Proof positive I'm not part dog. Can't hear a thing wrong with it darlin, and I've got all your work for the past year and a half at least.

Re: Sorry to hear this

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I might indeed do something like this. I think that I can use a low-pass filter to get rid of it. I can't just do it haphazardly, though; that might get rid of some of the vibrancy, the high-end "air" that makes a recording more lively.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Well, everything I'm talking about was recorded originally to disk. :) I specifically loaded the final version of "Enter The Waffle" into Sound Forge, dropped the pitch an octave, and heard the whine on some of my vocals. All of which were recorded at this desk, with the equipment set up pretty much as it is now. As were all the songs in Sins of Commission. So I just don't know. I'll probably end up getting a much shorter mic cord and move the phantom power even further from the desktop PC. But the fact that it's not in all of the vocals just makes me berserk.

Re: Sorry to hear this

[backrubbear.livejournal.com]

It's very likely a continuous pitch resulting from one component - ask the ones who can hear it. If that's the case, you can probably get it notch filtered just for that particular frequency range.

[solarbird]

I don't suppose it's actually an ambient noise that the microphone is picking up, is it?

And I don't suppose you have a really, really, really good low-pass filter, do you? If you did, you could snip it out that way. But it'd need to be a really good filter.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

Same here. I have all your tunes that you've sold or put up as freebies, and I've never noticed any trouble like that. Hopefully it's an intermittent thing, so you'll only have to run a few songs through a low-pass filter. Of course, there is the problem of finding the source of it, that could be troublesome.

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

I can hear it on parts of "Sins," but I can't recall it on much else...

[solarbird]

If you want a good survey, try this:

Put up a 30-second sample that you know contains the tone. Link to it. Put up a LJ poll saying, "Can you hear this?" with answers of "yes" and "no." Put up a second 30-second sample that you know does not contain the tone. Put up a second poll. This will give you a baseline.

Really, to do this best, you'd want two that don't and one that does, and for this comment to be private so nobody knows what you're doing, and present it without telling people there are controls.

They could probably be 15-second samples, too, so it's "less than a minute to participate" and say something like, "please answer all three questions, they're different."

I can hear no such noise, even when searching for it with an equalizer.

[adammaker.livejournal.com]

Seriously then:
-
I went and dug out my JVC digital ready headphones HA-D810.
They are what I use to troubleshoot some of the home music studios I have helped build.

Those Headset Specs:
Nominal impedance: 32 ohms
Sensitivity:104 dB/mW
Frequency response:5-26,000Hz
40 mm diameter diaphragm
-=-
I can hear no such noise, even when searching for it with an equalizer, and trying to get to express.
-
I did manage to really enjoy listening to a quick timeline of your stuff. *grin*

Re: Sorry to hear this

[bobmage.livejournal.com]

Damn, beat me to it.
I'm sure there's software out there to filter out a given frequency - Do the tracks that have it have it all the way through at constant intensity?

[lukeski.livejournal.com]

I don't hear it. However I also don't have "Sins Of Commission" yet, just all the other stuff you've done in the past year and a half.

[sydb42.livejournal.com]

I have not had a chance to listen to Sins of Commission, but I can't hear it in Last Hero on Earth listening to it on an MP3 player in our van or at home. I also can't hear it on Wolf's song (but I'm not sure if that's one of the songs that has the problem, or if the problem was in the original recording). I think the idea I read about putting up a sample to listen to and do a poll is a good idea. Oh yeah, Wolf said he didn't remember hearing anything, but he'd have to listen again. I'm not sure if he's done that, but if it's there, he'll probably be able to hear it.

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

That would be lost in MP3 compression. So no, I haven't heard that.

[catlin.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard a high pitched issue. The only problem I have had was my last dl'd disk had volumn consistancy issues, for some reason, when I burned it. Didn't fuss about it though since I was not sure if it was a problem at my end or what.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

I don't detect any such tone and I'm usually good with this kind of thing. Second Solarbird's motion to put up a listening poll. Maybe some respondants will have their extrasensitive cats or dogs give it a listen and see if they howl?

Re: Sorry to hear this

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, I've got the stuff -- I just have to target the frequency. The other problem is, again, it's not something I want to use as a hammer... but the alternative is to basically go through every vocal snip I've recorded and filter them individually, and I really wanted to do other stuff in May and June.

[mikewdotorg.livejournal.com]

It's less pronounced on the Last Hero on Earth album. It's faint (different pitch possibly?) and seems to be gone more than its present.

I only hear it in "This Ain't Over Yet" in the And They Say I've Got Talent album.

Then, of course, it is also there in the aforementioned songs in the Sins of Commission album.

[pcn065.livejournal.com]

Whine?
What whine? I have NEVER heard any audio whines on any of your stuff. And I have pretty good hearing.

[ttamsen.livejournal.com]

I've got to start reading from most recent back.

As posted elsewhere, I *do* hear it all over the place in Last Hero on Earth. It cuts in and out with the mix.

Luckily for me, I usually only hear it when under headphones, though. Sounds OK through cheap bookshelf stereo speakers. It'd be nice to not have the whine, but it's not the end of the world.

And I'm really surprised that more folks don't pick it up -- my hearing is appallingly bad, but on the other hand I've always been driven nuts by transformers that nobody else noticed either.

Gotta go listen to LHOE again now, after thinking about this for 5 minutes. I am SO suggestible.

[gan-chan.livejournal.com]

I didn't notice it in "This Ain't Over Yet", but then I mostly listen to CDs in the car - not exactly a perfect environment for detecting such things.

I'll have to have another listen to that track specifically on my home stereo to see if I can hear it. Normally I can hear high-pitched whines that others can't.