software to monitor decibels overnight

[newbie789]

I am hoping someone can help me. I am not teck savvy. I think something is waking me up at night. I bought a microphone and now I need software that I can leave running all night so I can check the next morning to see if there were any high decibel readings the previous night. Can anyone recommend some software to me that can do this? Thanks.

 

[Sonnie]

You should be able to turn on your computer recorder and let it run continuously. Then when you wake up, you can quickly check the recording to see what the noise was that woke you. You won't see the decibel level, but at least you can what the noise was that woke you, which would be more important than knowing the decibel level of the noise.

 

[newbie789]

Thanks for responding. How do I start the computer recorder? Is there software that I can look at in the morning where I can scroll to the time when I was woken up? I was hoping to check in the morning, not get out of bed at night.

 

[John Mulcahy]

You can do that with REW. The SPL meter has a Logger button that will log SPL data to a file. There is help for that here: http://www.roomeqwizard.com/help/help_en-GB/html/splmeter.html#top, select the "Log to file using date as filename" option in the graph controls to have REW automatically save the data it captures. The controls are shown by clicking the gear/cog button at the top right of the graph.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Is there software that I can look at in the morning where I can scroll to the time when I was woken up?

Audacity is a popular free recording software. It can’t “tell time,” but it records in real time and gives a visual display of the recording, as you can see in the picture below.

So, if you started recording at say, 9:00 PM sharp, and you saw in the morning that there was a noise incident 3 hours and 45minutes into the recording, you’d know it happened at 12:45 AM. If the noise is significantly loud enough to wake you, you should be able to see an increase in the signal level in Audacity. Naturally, you'e also be able to hear what it actually sounds like.

In addition to your mic, you’ll also need a USB audio interface.

Regards,
Wayne

 

[Sonnie]

You'll know what time it woke you up if you look at your clock, and you will need the recorder there close to you if it's waking you up in your bedroom. I think I'd have to get up and investigate myself.