Database Users

Galaxy s4 audio water tap hiss in recorded video

Hi
I have a i9500 which I have enjoyed its high res images and full HD detailed images in 13MP (ozcan rom capability). Everything works flawlessly in my s4. Am not so sure what the problem could be when it comes to the recording of sound in video and voice recording.
I have been scrounging the net for a possible solution but realized that the s4 has a design flaw of pop and crack sounds when video recording. I do experience those but negligible. The sound quality recording is very good on the s4. My issue is it comes with an unpleasant water tap hiss that requires ambient audio to be a certain threshold to completely drown it like an ordinary conversation in a few feet from the microphone. This problem I encountered in both stock rom & ozcan rom.
The trouble comes in when you decide to record video in absolute or near silence. It will be very notable on playback at volume 10 but hardly audible at volume 4. This happens both in voice or cam recorder. Has anyone figured out how to rid of this unpleasant hiss?

Isn't anyone experiencing /has experienced this at all?

Hi,
I have experienced this while recording myself playing guitar, but I thought it was the amplifier hahaha. Sorry I can't help, it seems it's an issue with S4 itself, and if that's the case you can't do anything AFAIK. If I end up discovering a solution I'll update you on this, but I don't think I'll find anything...
~Lord

XxLordxX said:
Hi,
I have experienced this while recording myself playing guitar, but I thought it was the amplifier hahaha. Sorry I can't help, it seems it's an issue with S4 itself, and if that's the case you can't do anything AFAIK. If I end up discovering a solution I'll update you on this, but I don't think I'll find anything...
~Lord
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Click to collapse
Oh, I've just seen your reply, I hope am not too late. An in depth further analysis on the nature of this problem is, in the recorded video if you care to open it in a professional video editor, the left audio channel is the one with the distortion. The right one is crystal clear for my case with 0% hiss. In voice recording, only one channel is doing the recording and I assume it is the left one because the distortion is also present in it as bad. I'd like to here of your case though.
Just now I plugged in the earphones with the mic and voice recorder app automatically switched to using the mic on the earphones and this only happens in voice recording. Video recording doesn't automatically switch to external mic with the earphones plugged in, am not certain it is a video mic vs earphone mic compatibility issue. The good news is the earphone mic picks up very faint clear sounds even whispers in 1.5 feet proximity and WITHOUT ABSOLUTELY WITHOUT the distortion (water tap/whistling sound I get) that I get from the internal mic of the phone in voice recording only. Now what is the chance that it is my internal mic next to my charging port that is at fault?

After doing alittle more research right now, I have learnt that the voice recorder does its recording in mono hence has only one channel and the Video recorder does its recording in stereo since it has two audio channels (left and right). This now explains when it fails to use the earphone microphone as an audio external recorder.
Now the S4 has two different microphones as now seen by the video recorder's audio output. I have established that the culprit channel is the left channel. One simple test has now narrowed down which microphone is faulty. I ran the voice recorder app and placed my phone on my bed. I scratched with my finger really close to where the mic 1 (next to the usb charger is) then did the same to the mic 2 next to the earphone jack port. Thank God!! the audio recording has confirmed that it is indeed using the left channel which is the mic 1 placed next to the charging port. This gives me the chance to use this video to rectify the issue. My only problem is finding a genuine part because there are people complaining of quality issues with the replacement parts.

Kernel ranger said:
After doing alittle more research right now, I have learnt that the voice recorder does its recording in mono hence has only one channel and the Video recorder does its recording in stereo since it has two audio channels (left and right). This now explains when it fails to use the earphone microphone as an audio external recorder.
Now the S4 has two different microphones as now seen by the video recorder's audio output. I have established that the culprit channel is the left channel. One simple test has now narrowed down which microphone is faulty. I ran the voice recorder app and placed my phone on my bed. I scratched with my finger really close to where the mic 1 (next to the usb charger is) then did the same to the mic 2 next to the earphone jack port. Thank God!! the audio recording has confirmed that it is indeed using the left channel which is the mic 1 placed next to the charging port. This gives me the chance to use this video to rectify the issue. My only problem is finding a genuine part because there are people complaining of quality issues with the replacement parts.
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Click to collapse
Hi there Kernel ranger! Did you manage to fix the noise of the mic? I'm having the same trouble. This morning I recorded a Koto concert from a distance and the left channel is plagued with some kind of electrostatic noise. Right channel seems ok, though. I think I will have to clean that rubbish with Ozone...
Regards

chinchulin01 said:
Hi there Kernel ranger! Did you manage to fix the noise of the mic? I'm having the same trouble. This morning I recorded a Koto concert from a distance and the left channel is plagued with some kind of electrostatic noise. Right channel seems ok, though. I think I will have to clean that rubbish with Ozone...
Regards
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Am glad people with the same issue are following this thread. I'm telling you! I ran all the tests I could and confirmed 100% that my Microphone Mic Flex Cable Ribbon part needed replacement but before I could even do it, someone liked my s4 as it was and I sold it to them. What is your s4 model number? Now I got a Note 4.
What you can do is first get it cleaned with even rubbing alcohol if necessary, if this problem just started just recently. After cleaning it and the problem persists, you will have to get a repair kit like I did from ebay then order Microphone Mic Flex Cable Ribbon part to replace the faulty one. Youtube has tonnes of video about how to replace that part and it will only cost you $10 at the most if you do it yourself correctly.

[Q] Mic issues

Has anyone dealt with a dead mic ?
One day out of the blue on 4.4 mic stoped working.
Installed L 5.1. beta 3 and the mic still seems dead (Calls and Google voice) HOWEVER in sound recorder the mic works (picking every single sound) ...
Further more installed the HiQ Mp3 recorder which apparently can use front and or back mic and it works in all configs .(front back and stereo)
Tried different values via engeenering mode with no luck ....
****** Apologies to all this post was misplaced in this forum *********
I guess I should replace the charging board alltogether however I am puzled that the recordings come out clean ......
Anyone with a similar experience ??
(btw sound on wired headset is fine ... bluetooth sound is broken I think due to beta since the bt headset and speaker I tried didnt work)
Phone is Jiauy S3A

Ok Results
The issue was a dead mic (low mic) or rather a near dead mic.
Replacing the mic (on the same board ) resolves the issue (note that you can use third party mics i used asamsung one)
Best test to realise where is the fault
Open the camera recorder and start recording
Close the top mic hole with your finger, start talking in the lower mic and in the end gently (very gently) blow towards the hole.
Repeat on the top hole with the lower hole closed
After that listen to the video
If there is a problem with a mic the voice might be heard but the blow will be almost inaudiable in the problematic mic.

I have exactly the same problem - mic works fine on sound recorder and on the video camera, but Google Voice Search and using the phone does not (I've tried your blow test and it's all fine). This surely cannot be a hardware fault, can it ?
I've tried updating to LL5.1 beta3, but same problem. I've fiddled with the audio settings in the engineering menu, using a variety of values, and turned off the noise reduction without any success.
Any ideas ?

clayts450 said:
I have exactly the same problem - mic works fine on sound recorder and on the video camera, but Google Voice Search and using the phone does not (I've tried your blow test and it's all fine). This surely cannot be a hardware fault, can it ?
I've tried updating to LL5.1 beta3, but same problem. I've fiddled with the audio settings in the engineering menu, using a variety of values, and turned off the noise reduction without any success.
Any ideas ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google voice was the main indicator that the mic was bad ....
Do the blow test again and try as "gentle" as possible and then compare the results, if the uper mic is louder then then mic is dead or nearly dead.
Most probable that you ll need to change your mic

Thanks for your help - can you provide a link to the replacement mic you used (or did you use one from an old phone) - and is it easy to replace ?

Unfortunately I did go to a service shop for the repair, so I dont have a model number, all I know is that he proposed two different types, one was a noname and the other one was made by samsung (so my guess is that any samsung service center can sell you one) .
The process took about half an hour, unsoldering the old mic and soldering the new and the cost was 10 euros ( around 11 USD)
Sorry I couldnt be any more helpfull on that.

I found that, after video recording with stock camera app, main mic stop working for calls. only upper mic working. you can test it with 2 phones in both hands. but I was find simple solution: many people holding phone when taking pictures so the controls are on right side. but if you turn you phone so the shutter button will be on left side, after video recording, main mic still working!!! btw. if you like to take a shoot with control button on right side, just after you finished, turn your phone for 180° and make one more shoot, just to save your main mic for calls. no reboot needed after this action. tested on many roms, KK or LP, happend with all roms and stock camera. so problem is with stock camera app and sensor that give the information to phone to disable main mic.

Well mine was definitely a hardware fault - got a replacement lower board (USB/mic/speakers) and replaced it myself - all good again.

I think i've got the answer. The lower mic is broken for some of us. When we got to the camera app and take a video and turn the phone around it will indeed change the mic and then will use the upper one (still working) in future calls. This is why you can then be heard after when you call someone, but you'll be using the upper mic and the lower mic is still broken. Once your reboot you have to redo this. I'd like to buy a new board (usb + mic) but we cannot find any on internet anymore. Except some sellers on Ebay who are selling it from 150 dollars to 900 dollars (no joke). I guess i don't have much solution except doing that trick and use the upper mic and then try not to reboot the phone.

Microphone issue ( Maybe Noise Cancelling)

Hello guys, i'm facing a very annoying issue, since i updated zenfone 5 to lollipop, my microphone randomly and at most time, the microphone doesn't work, during a call the other side can't hear me, but if i put in speaker mode, the microphone works well, also in recorded videos or audio, there's no sound, curiously, if i speak near the upper mic hole, the other side can hear me with a low quality voice. In nexus 5 there's a similar problem, and if you change the "persist.audio.fluence.voicecall=" to true in build.prop the problem is solved, so I guess the issue is in microphone noise cancelling. I want to know if there's a way to solve this, where I can disable the noise cancelling, i searched in build.prop but i didn't find a option related to mic/noise canceling.
P.S. I already change the firmware from stock lollipop to shell rom 5.0 and did a full wipe and the problem persist.

Celo88xda said:
Hello guys, i'm facing a very annoying issue, since i updated zenfone 5 to lollipop, my microphone randomly and at most time, the microphone doesn't work, during a call the other side can't hear me, but if i put in speaker mode, the microphone works well, also in recorded videos or audio, there's no sound, curiously, if i speak near the upper mic hole, the other side can hear me with a low quality voice. In nexus 5 there's a similar problem, and if you change the "persist.audio.fluence.voicecall=" to true in build.prop the problem is solved, so I guess the issue is in microphone noise cancelling. I want to know if there's a way to solve this, where I can disable the noise cancelling, i searched in build.prop but i didn't find a option related to mic/noise canceling.
P.S. I already change the firmware from stock lollipop to shell rom 5.0 and did a full wipe and the problem persist.
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Click to collapse
HI,
maybe you fixed you problem yet (I'm sure you did after more than a year, but for other people having that problem).
Open claculator and type .12345+=
Go to BoardMic_Test
Make loud background noise for eg. from PC select one under youtube for phrase "industrial sounds 10 hrs"
Tap Start and talk to you phone.
Stop noise and listen results.
You may repeat procedure several times as results will satisfy you.
Try the same without noise, should be OK.
It works for me, no mic replacement, no software upgrade, no restarts, no restore factory defaults

Remapping microphone devices

I'm trying to remap my microphones because whichever microphone is used for voice commands, voice recording, and non-speakerphone calls doesn't work, so I'd like to instead be using the microphone that's used for video recording and speakerphone calls as that one does work. I'm gandering at mixer_paths.xml and I see four microphones, main-mic, sub-mic, 3rd-mic, and ear-mic. Which is which? Guessing ear-mic is the bottom hole one that doesn't work. I switched the ear-mic devices for main-mic and it didn't change anything.
Also, is there a better way to go about switching them for the system?

Should anyone else be in my situation, in mixer_paths.xml
main-mic is the bottom microphone. (DMIC2 &DEC2)
sub-mic is the top microphone. (DMIC4 & DEC4)
ear-mic is the physically plugged in headset microphone. (DEC5 & ADC2)
If you replace DMIC2 with DMIC4, and DEC2 with DEC4, your top microphone will work in place of your bottom one.
If anyone knows what 3rd-mic (DMIC6 & DEC6) is, I'd love to know. When I try to use it I don't get any audio input.

how-to-microphone-gain-increase? (Mixer_paths.xml) Android 6

I have an microphone- issue with my Note 4.
It has 3 Microphones. The Mic on Top(rear mic) works fine its active when Recording Videos and phonecalls over LoudSpeaker but the two mics on the bottom (front mics) have some issue and are really quiet.
I have to scream when i do normal phonecalls and also in whatsapp nobody understands my voice.
First i thought it would be some dirt in the mics,but i cleaned them and the issue is still there. i know that i can change the Microphone Sensibility in the mixer_paths.xml, i just dont know the details and values.
i also tested with" Hi-Q MP3 Recorde"r some settings. i can increase there the front mics on the bottom 20db+ and then the sound is fine but its just in the Voicerecord-program and not in the system.
So its not a real hardwareproblem that forces me to change the mic or the phone.
So i need to know which values i have to change in the mixer_paths.xml and how to do it step by step and i know that some more people have that problem.
i hope for your help and i know that this board has some real good programmer and experts.
THanks
Android 6.0.1
SM-N910f
Stock-rom