"Muffled" vocals

UTAUKimi-Yamamoto

Ruko's Ruffians
Defender of Defoko
I just re-recorded my UTAU because I got a new mic for Christmas and I thought she would sound better.
I had just finished oto-ing and thought I would test her. However, she sounds like there's a lot of background noise in her samples when played in UTAU but if I play a sample by itself it sounds fine. I've tried clearing the flags and changing the resampler and nothing works. I don't want to have to re-record her again so can anyone help me fix this?
 

bearhack

Disciple of Aoede
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
If you send a link either to the entire VB, or just a couple of voice samples with the oto that are giving you trouble, I can have a look and see.
 

na4a4a

Outwardly Opinionated and Harshly Critical
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
The reason they sound muffled is usually a case of the voicebank.
What sounds "alright" to you may not be high enough quality to render well in utau.

You'll need to post a few samples from your bank to confirm this or not.
 

UTAUKimi-Yamamoto

Ruko's Ruffians
Defender of Defoko
Thread starter
Here is a sample of the 'a' sound. The first is from my recording, the second is rendered from UTAU.
 

na4a4a

Outwardly Opinionated and Harshly Critical
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Defender of Defoko
That doesn't help much as there isn't enough to judge off of, but based on the result it seems absolutely normal.
 

bearhack

Disciple of Aoede
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Defender of Defoko
I have to agree with acoustic. It sounds perfectly normal to me aside from the crossfades not blending. There is a little bit of fuzz in the voice quality, but again... without the raw voice samples to look at and test, we can't really tell you.
 

na4a4a

Outwardly Opinionated and Harshly Critical
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
Yep, as expected.
Listening back at the first sample your recordings are very noisy (as if you were recording near a fan or a loud computer) and your microphone is causing your recordings to be a but muffled as well.
Can't do anything about the microphone other than replace it but the noise is more important as that will interfere with rendering.

Your best bet is to record the bank over but to be more mindful of your recordings. If the noise can be heard clearly in the recording during voiced segments then it is too loud.
 

bearhack

Disciple of Aoede
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
Depending on the amount of noise in the samples though, you can screen them out with Audacity's noise removal tool and not degrade the overall quality of the samples.
 

na4a4a

Outwardly Opinionated and Harshly Critical
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
Yes, listening to your samples they are very low quality so the result you are achieving in Utau is about all you could ever expect.
Sorry... but there is nothing you can do to make these better...

The noise is very loud which adds a hiss when rendering and the actual quality is muffled in itself.
You're most likey going to have to get a new mic (assuming your using a built in one or a very cheap soundcard one)
 

Kitcat190

Defoko's Slaves
Defender of Defoko
//pops in// Heyo.
I downloaded the bank and in the recordings there is background noise. There's also a muffled quality to the raw vocals. If you're using audacity for example to record please make sure the microphone you're using is set.
I'd also recommend finding an environment with little to no noise to help with clarity. Usually places with heavy insulation work as a quick fix. If you truly do not want to re-record. You may edit your samples, however I don't recommend it due to the fact it can warp the recording.
What is your current set up so far if you dont mind me asking?
 

bearhack

Disciple of Aoede
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
I don't hear any noise in the voice samples, even when I amplify them to 0db. The samples are recorded at very low gain at a peak of -20 to -16db, you might want to try amplifying them to a peak of -10db and see what happens.
 

na4a4a

Outwardly Opinionated and Harshly Critical
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
I don't hear any noise in the voice samples, even when I amplify them to 0db. The samples are recorded at very low gain at a peak of -20 to -16db, you might want to try amplifying them to a peak of -10db and see what happens.
Look at the spectrogram. The noise is of a lower frequency audibly but exists throughout the whole spectrum.

Amplifying the samples will do nothing since all it does is make everything //louder//, including noise. Utau normalizes the samples to even volume on it's own already so nothing will change.
 
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UTAUKimi-Yamamoto

Ruko's Ruffians
Defender of Defoko
Thread starter
@Alice Himora~ I just record in my bedroom with a laptop and a Tonor USB microphone. I don't have any type of soundproofing at all. I live in a small rural farming town and outside there's the noise of a grain elevator almost 24/7. There is no absolutely quiet place in my house. :sad:
 

Kitcat190

Defoko's Slaves
Defender of Defoko
I just record in my bedroom with a laptop and a Tonor USB microphone. I don't have any type of soundproofing at all. I live in a small rural farming town and outside there's the noise of a grain elevator almost 24/7. There is no absolutely quiet place in my house. :sad:
I see! Well for future references, there's always alternatives. Making a collapsible recording box for one is an option.
A well insulated closet is also another option however you said there's constant noise so I'm not too sure if it would be much help. The last thing that comes to mind is recording in a car or just a different setting.

Assuming you don't want to/can't change mics. My advice is to look into limiting noise, or learning how to correctly edit voice samples to remove the noise. I know what it's like to not want to re-record anything but it's always worth it in the long run!
 

na4a4a

Outwardly Opinionated and Harshly Critical
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
...Tonor USB microphone. ...
That's why, those a really crappy generic mics that are even worse quality than your standard usb headset.
They are imported from china and rebranded in who knows how many no-names....
You can't do anything to fix the recordings because the microphone is just so bad in the first place.

The noise is probably even made by the microphone itself.

As for external sounds, no a box will not help. Blocking noise takes significant mass and putting your mic in a box with foam will not block loud background sounds.
 

UTAUKimi-Yamamoto

Ruko's Ruffians
Defender of Defoko
Thread starter
That's why, those a really crappy generic mics that are even worse quality than your standard usb headset.
They are imported from china and rebranded in who knows how many no-names....
You can't do anything to fix the recordings because the microphone is just so bad in the first place.
Well my grandma bought me the mic for Christmas. I told her not to buy me a mic because I wanted to do research and buy a mic myself but she didn't listen.
 

bearhack

Disciple of Aoede
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
I apologize, after a bit of fiddling I was able to isolate the low background noise with Audacity's noise removal tool, but even with removal, the sound is still muffled as if you're recording through a scarf. I'm going to have to agree on this one, the recordings aren't going to be able to be repaired, so you're going to have to rerecord with a better mic.
 

na4a4a

Outwardly Opinionated and Harshly Critical
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
I apologize, after a bit of fiddling I was able to isolate the low background noise with Audacity's noise removal tool, but even with removal, the sound is still muffled as if you're recording through a scarf. I'm going to have to agree on this one, the recordings aren't going to be able to be repaired, so you're going to have to rerecord with a better mic.
Noise removal is only useful on recordings that are already decently high quality. But doing it either way can add artifacting and distortion to a sample so it's not a good fix in this case.
 

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