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I'm going to try to explain this the best I possibly can, but what I want seems feasible.

I have a studio condensor mic that I use as my microphone input to my computer. When recording I know it is possible to take noise out of the recording by subtracting it from the wavelength. This is often called noise suppression, reduction, or removal. I have speakers on my desk, but the microphone sometimes picks the sound up from there. Is there anyway for my computer to take what is currently being output to the speakers, treat it as noise and remove it from the microphone input in realtime?

I also use the microphone to do voice chat. I have a large room and like to walk around when I talk. Is there anyway to apply a compressor effect to the live input, where when the signal falls below a certain threshold it is boosted and when it goes above a threshold it is softened?

I want to see if I can do this with software instead of hardware.

Edit, I already have wireless headphones but I'd rather not use them since they're bulky.

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That's called echo-cancellation. Mumble (the voice communication program, like ventrillo but open source and better) does it, for example. Really old question, so I'll just leave this as something for people to google. For noise removal, Audacity does a very good job. –  Peter Cordes Feb 21 at 12:37

3 Answers 3

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Speaker problem: Use headphones. The cleaner the audio to begin with the better it is to work with later. Most audio professionals I know say to avoid any noise reduction as it can and does affect what you want to keep. If you still have noise you need to eliminate after listening via headphones, your best option is to use a noise gate (either hardware or software).

Microphone Compression: Most decent DAW applications (or audio editing) applications can work in a live environment and do similar to what you are talking about in software. However that can only do so much. Mic technique is critical for good sounding audio. If you need to move around the room invest in either a wireless mic/headphone combo or a very long cord for a wired headset.

To me, it sounds like based on what you are saying you need to invest in a headset of some sort.

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There are some interesting DirectX Audio Plugins and utilities at this analogx.com site.

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Have you considered buying a wireless headset?

I think any solution to this you'd have to write yourself. It's certainly possible, probably a C app with Matlab FFT cleverness.

Tricky problem indeed, good luck with whatever you try, and keep us informed =)

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