Hey,
I hope that someone will be able to help me on this one. I just bought a usb microphone (samson g-track) just for some music recordings and I was actually pretty pleased with it. once i had sorted the volume it was pretty neat but somehow since yesterday everytime i try to record something. i use the magix music maker for this acoustic noise in the background (obviously there’s is gonna be a little noise that I won’t be able to blend out but that is just terrible). it’s really annoying and destroyes the whole recording. I hope someone can figure what that problem might be. Like I said> when I recorded the first time it sounded fine. so i’m pretty puzzled.
thx in advance.
andy
Hey Andy, are you still having a problem
Insane hiss can be caused by needing to turn up the amplifier electronics to make up for a weak microphone.
Some microphones have adjustments. Some have 20dB attenuators to make up for particularly loud performances which might overload downstream electronics. Some have actual volume controls in software. Consult your local instruction book.
You said nothing about phantom power. Does your microphone need it? If you have ratty connections anywhere in the system, that will kill that type of microphone. Disconnect and reconnect and see if it changes.
<<>>
You didn’t say the magic word “Hiss.” Does it sound like rain in the trees on a calm day? If you have actual buzz or hum or bubbling, you may have a bad USB connection. Can you change cables?
Koz
One more. There are some famous instances of internal computer noises making into the show because of bad power filtering in a USB sound system. I had one USB sound card that notified me when the hard drive spun up by making noises in the performances.
“What’s that weird grinding, whiny sound behind my voice?”
Koz
USB microphones tend to pick up background noise, and they also don’t have a lot of input gain. I have one, and it suits its purpose, but it can be frustrating.
If you’re looking to reduce noise and have a higher quality input, I suggest you use a standard XLR microphone but use an XLR to USB cable. This way you’ll get the high quality of the microphone input, but direct to hard disk audio with the USB cable.
That might not be the most popular answer, since it requires a little more investment on your part, but it is an option.
I recently wrote a post on my blog about it here:
http://www.musictyro.com/choosing-usb-microphones-and-audio-transfer-devices/2010/01/14/
Good luck!
<<>>
Yes, that solves some of the microphone problems, but sound volume and hiss aren’t in that list. When they took away the mixer volume control, they had to make the now non-movable microphone channel quieter. Slightly low volume is easily made up in Audacity with common tools. However, the first time you get too loud and overload or clip the microphone channel, that’s the end of the show. Snapping, cracking, or crunchy audio. There are no good tools to recover from that.
The most battery voltage you can get from a USB connection is 5 volts. That makes a poor microphone amplifier, and I don’t see anywhere that the device will supply phantom power.
However, nobody claimed the XLR/USB was the end of the search for perfection. It does work better than some USB microphones and it does give you the ability to use long microphone cables which you can’t do with USB. Ever try to find a long USB cable? Good luck with that.
Since any XLR microphone can be plugged in, you can go nuts with any non-phantom, professional microphone made since 1925.
Koz