Hi!

I've just seen that on at least 2 of my CDs there is a strange 16khz tone (ok, rather something like 15,8 khz) in some tracks. I've extracted and examined the tracks using EAC. At least in some songs (where the tone shows very strong in EAC too) that tone is clearly audible - and it's not very pleasant at all. Besides that's the reason why I had a look into the spectrum in the first place - since I've a light tinnitus I wasn't 100% sure that the perception wasn't triggered by some other high-frequenzy stuff.
Ah, yes, the tracks CRCs check out ok when tested with EAC, and I even ripped one sone with Nero - same result. Also tested 2 completely different drives (toshiba dvd-rom and pioneer dvd-rw) to make sure it's not the hardware.

The first CD is "A New Day Has Come" from Celine Dion, the second is "The First Of A Million Kisses" from Fairground Attraction.
When I first saw this on "A New Day Has Come" I thought it could be something with the copy protection - but since I found the same tone (only not so strong) on the Fairground Attraction album too I'm now pretty sure it's not becaust that CD is rather old - from the pre-cd-copy-procection era.

It's also clearly visible in spectral-view that the tone isn't always on through the whole song - on some titles it is, on some not (Celine: not always on, Fairground Attraction: always on, but much less strong). Also, when there, it's not always equally strong.
It seems to kick in together with some instruments.

So. Now my question is, does any of you know what this comes from? Maybe I'm just dumb and I'm not seeing the obvious, or maybe I made some mistake somewhere...

The candidates I've come up with 'til now:
* dithering/up-/downsampling (possibly some 32khz material used? low-volume dithered signal boosted?)
* synthesizers/prozessors with 32khz ADCs/DACs used somewhere

And please, if it's obvious, don't shout and just tell me , because I really don't know what it might be. I searched google for a while and also the forums here but I've found no related discussion so far. Ah yes, if anyone wants pictures (screenshots from the spectrum) I'd be happy to provide them - though I'd have to check with the moderators first to see if it's ok.

bye,
hustbaer

It's "TV Whine" at 15.75 khz. It could have been caused by a TV being on anywhere near a recording microphone.

I concur.

yeah. these tones are a pain in the butthole. recording studios should start either using 100/120Hz progressive CRTs, or LCD/plasma screens. unfortunately they usually have those trinitron pro monitoring TVs, which although being great screens, make unbearably loud noises (a side effect is they'll mask the tones in the soundtrack, so the engineers wont know to remove them).

for PAL: 625 lines * 25 fps = 15625 Hz
for NTSC: 525 lines * 29.97fps = 15734.25 Hz (black-and-white will be 30 instead of 29.97, giving 15750 Hz)

you have several options for removing these tones if you want - my favourite is making a custom impulse response and convolving, as it is a lot faster than some other options (cool edit's FFT filter is slow as hell for some reason, though it will be identical to convolution with an impulse of the right length).

i really wonder why recording artists need to be watching TV while they're recording, anyway... what on earth would they be watching? autocue? i know foley artists have to watch the show while they make the sounds, but surely a singer/songwriter would already know what's happening.

[edit]

just to confirm, get behind your TV and switch it on. you'll be horrified by the noise it makes (indeed, you may not actually have tinnitus, but simply be hearing the TV... but i couldn't possibly say that without knowing anything about you)

Can anything be done to reduce this tone from a TV (50Hz) in the first place? I can easily hear that a TV is on (muted of course) in another room if the door is open, or outside if the window is open. I find it quite annoying, but don't know what to do about it. I quess buying a higher quality TV might improve it as I had a really inexpensive one earlier that was unbearable, but buying a new one isn't an option at the moment.

Sorry about going slightly off topic, but I found MugFunky's post very interesting as this tone has bothered me.

I just noticed that there seem to be a lot of recent albums with TV whine. Björk's Medúlla for instance (there it is PAL, btw ).

@upNorth:

Throw the TV out. Who needs TV anyway?

Hi!

Thanks to all of you!
Seems like I looked in the wrong direction - I would never have thought of the actual recording...
"TV Whine" - that's really a shame.
I mean it's not that bad if it's at -40dB or so, but ... I'll check the volume on the Celine Dion track - it's really really loud. It gives me headaches.

I think I'll just run a notch filter over it. A program that analyzes the frequenzy spektrum and eliminates that tone - except where frequenzies above and below are "on" (like when a cimbal is hit) would surely be a nice tool. An automatic "TV Whine Killer" :-)

So thanks again for your answers, it seems very plausible to me, but I would never have thought of that possibility myself.



Well, thanks for the tip, however I fear I really do have a light tinnitus...
I hear that sound (high constant tone, just like the TV) when I'm at work, when I'm along in my bed, far from any TV, far from any fridge, amplifier, receiver, loudspeaker, ... . I tested with ear-plugs that eliminate virtually all noise - but that sound was there just as strong as without the ear-plugs. But it's not that bad, I've learned to live with it, and on good days I hardly even notice, and when I notice, I hardly even care :-)

Bye