Hi,
I’m going to skip the back story and just get straight to the point. I just got a Blue Yeti and it’s making a quiet , but annoying and noticeable, buzzing sound. I have it plugged into the back of my PC (directly into a USB 3.0 port on my motherboard) I tried plugging it into the front USB ports, and even an external USB hub (which made the buzzing MUCH louder)
Here is an example of what the buzzing sounds like:
https://clyp.it/crnkig4u
You may actually have to turn the volume up…
I know it seems quiet and unnoticeable, but that’s not why I’m here. I’m here for a fix or at LEAST an explanation. I do live commentary and live streams so this buzzing can get very annoying. I know that Audacity has that noise removal, which is what I use most of the time to fix it, but I can’t rely on that when I’m live. I’d love to get an explanation on this. I tried a different USB to mini usb wire, I’ve tried putting the microphone on different settings and turning down the gain, but nothing fixes it. I’m afraid nothing can… But I’d at least like to get some input.
Some of that is the air conditioner or fans in your room, but what’s left is our old friend USB Frying Mosquitoes.
http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/clips/FryingMosquitoes3.wav
Another poster, flynwill, has been doing noise tests with an eye to getting rid of it. I’ll see if he’s any further along. It’s possible you just can’t use that microphone/computer combination. It appears to be digital garbage (normally inaudible) leaking into the analog microphone system. I got my whiny clip from a cheap MicPre/digitizer.
I use it in an application that doesn’t require high quality.
Koz
When I get a second, I do have a good quality MicPre digitizer, the Shure X2U to test for noise. That and any rock band microphone should work OK, although I’m not fond of the X2U because it tends to low volume.
You seem to have drilled yourself a hole. I’d be casting off the USB microphone technique. It’s self-limiting and prone to many “newbie” technical problems, the boiling bugs being only one.
Let’s see what flynwill has to say.
Koz
Well I was battling the noise in a different bit of hardware (a Behringer UCA-202) and in a difference context (not only plugged into a small desk-side computer but into the stereo which in turn shared connections with the computer to a TV set and a CD player – ie multiple ground pathways).
In my case I was able to ascertain that the noise was present in the USB power supply from the computer, and that despite reasonable isolation measures in the design of the UCA-202 was somehow making it’s way into the audio pathways. In the end the easiest cure was to modify the UCA-202 to take it’s power from a separate power supply.
My first question would be – are there any other electrical connections between the Yeti and the computer other than the USB cable. Or any other possible ground path? (I’m guessing “no” as that would be pretty unusual).
It’s possible that your Yeti is defective in some way to cause the noise. If you have (or an borrow) another computer to test that might be worthwhile. It’s possible that your computer’s power supply is just way noisier than the Yeti’s designers planned on.
A possible fix would be to add a POWERED USB hub between the yeti and the computer.