I upgraded to Adobe Audition 3 recently on my recording tower and started to notice a difference in my noise floor. A visual difference apparently – certainly nothing that my ears picked up, but a distinct difference in the way the single pixel line that denotes silence looked. It didn’t “look” quiet anymore.

My mics were changed out a little while before the software change – picked up a couple of ADK Hamburgs (after my AKG capsule blew and the new capsule sounded too bright). I also had my recording area acoustically “re-treated” after experimenting with locations. I also had the whole area upholstered.

I have never had any complaints or even a conversation about the “sound” of my space, but it just “looked” noisey.

Other factors that contributed to my ultimate seeking of expert advice…

  • An aging analog Mackie Mixer
  • A Gentner phone patch that was sort of patched through the Mackie and worked well enough, but not the way it really should work
  • Speakers that had to manually be turned off while recording
  • This new visual “noise” which made me crazy

The good news – the noise floor is fine (or pretty darned good) – it just looks different than it used to with the new software.

In effect, since I started using noise reduction after being sure that my tracks were noisey, my files are cleaner than they ever have been. No harm, no foul.

But, the bottom line is that my studio needs a tweak. A new mixer – new cables – new patching to do all the things I need to do without a work around. The goal is to provide the best possible results in the least amount of time – so that it is a win win for everyone.

Now, I am not an audio engineer – I rely on my ears and my eyes and customer feedback to determine if I am providing a quality product. So getting someone in here with actual engineering experience is probably a good thing.

The goal is to reduce the noise floor a few more db’s with these tweaks. More as it develops!