I bought a Blue Yeti a while ago, however, there’s an audible hissing sound that I believe a lot of people have. I am wondering whether it is the defective Blue Yeti or just some weird problem. I contacted Blue Yeti support, and they said “it sounds like it may be a defective microphone.” And also to return the microphone. I am eligible for a return, however, I do not want to return a microphone if its not actually defective. It’ll be such a hassle also, since its a return to a retailer on ebay.
I’ve tried a powered USB hub, but that didn’t work. I haven’t tried using a shorter usb cable, would that resolve the problems? I have until DEC10 to send the item out for shipping to the retailer.
The sound is similar to buzzing/hissing sound you hear in this video.
That’s the digital system getting into the audio. It’s as close as we get to a “magic” problem with no clear solution. If I pay attention, I can actually hear the computer deciding to do stuff like manage the USB connection or spin the hard drive up or down. It only happens with the combination of microphone or microphone service and USB.
It makes a bit of sense because microphone signals, while they’re still analog are atomic-level small. They are the butterfly wings of the sound world, so if you do anything wrong the error may become part of the show.
The bad news is I don’t think a new microphone is going to help. The Wall Powered USB Hub trick is an effort to divorce the audio data stream from the power needed to run the microphone. The data stream goes to the computer, but the microphone power is coming from the wall.
We know one problem with this solution is the one poster who found a wall-powered USB hub so cheap and crappy the sound actually got worse.
Effect > Noise Removal never does what you want because what most people want is to turn whatever they have into a studio production. As you noted, if the noise is bad enough or the right type, it almost doesn’t work at all or causes other damage. Frying Mosquitoes is one of those noises.
One problem people have is using the default Noise Removal settings. You may be able to “tune” the settings a bit and get better results.
This is the detailed package that explains Noise Removal.
You should post an actual sound clip. We’ll see first, what it is, and then Noise Removal settings that may work for you. If it’s voice, hold your breath for two seconds and then talk normal volume. Post mono, not stereo so you can get more sound into the post.
Alright here’s a sample. No gain, 50 volume via Windows Mixer. Appreciate the detailed info, much more help than Blue’s response; “return it immediately or we can repair it.” Either choice ends up being a hassle for both parties.
I think your microphone is probably working as well as could be expected. The whine is comparable in amplitude to the “room tone”.
Your voice sounds like you are speaking quite softly however. If your show requires the soft sound then we can work with it, but if you have a “reach the back row of the auditorium” voice that will help the signal to noise ratio considerably.
For the volume controls I’d recommend setting the slider in the windows mixer panel to the maximum. Then use the microphone gain knob on the microphone to adjust until your loudest speaking voice has the meters on Audacity bouncing in the -12 to -6 realm.
Either way the noise-removal tool, out of the box, seems to remove what remains. Here is your recording, normalized (about 20 db of gain) and noise removal applied.
That’s a darn good question. I have and reviewed a Shure X2U microphone amplifier and digitizer.
Excuse the ratty SM58 microphone on the left. Once you get to that level of quality, buyers expect clean, clear sound with no hash, buzz or odd noises, and the X2U does that just fine. But. I still wouldn’t buy another one. It has in common with most of the devices like this a tendency to low volume. There’s no volume meters and no good convenient way to ride volume during a recording, so the only safe thing to do is stay from overload (considered fatal) by running quiet.
The icicle may do that or it may not. Hard to say.
You’re shopping in an area of sound equipment that’s easy to slip into Consumer/Skype/Home Podcast where top quality isn’t always needed and generally, nobody is going to pay for it anyway.
When I do this work, I use a small but excellent sound mixer and an external digitizer such as the Behringer UCA-202. That gives me multiple microphones, sound meters, headphone connection (2) and good control over the sound.
But it’s not battery operated and won’t fit in my backpack. People make mixers with USB sound connection built-in.
Google “Icicle Complaints.” Anybody singing the praises of the Icicle may be working for Blue, but complaints tend to be from people actually having troubles. Another point, people with Frying Mosquitoes either have lower end USB microphones or, in my case, a super cheap microphone adapter. It’s the collision of two manufacturers trying to be cheap at the same time.
Thank you again Koz, very informative. I’ve canceled the return process and will continue to use this usb microphone. I should do much more research on microphone complaints than listen to Youtube reviews. Maybe I will look more into a better engineered microphone next time. I guess Blue is just really dodgy about their quality of their products and refer to their flaws, due to cheap engineering, as a defect.
Maybe I will look more into a better engineered microphone next time. I guess Blue is just really dodgy about their quality of their products and refer to their flaws, due to cheap engineering, as a defect.