New account deleted after posting question

Feedback and Discussion Forum Maintaining / Improving this Forum
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Hi - I have been using audacity and this forum has been particularly helpful. I tried to post a detailed question looking for mic recommendations for audiobooks after creating an account today.

The post went to a pending status and shortly after I was logged out while actively reading posts. When trying to log in it says there isn’t an account. I didn’t get an email saying my account was removed or anything. Just the “confirm your account email”, which I did and the email saying my trust level had been upgraded before I posted.

Finally I signed up with a different email address (I tried re-signing up and it says the “email is not available”. I believe my user name was available) because I couldn’t find any way to get support without having an account.

I don’t want to create a duplicate post (also it took me a long time to type it and I don’t have a copy). Can someone tell me what’s gone wrong and if my original new account can be enabled so my post can at least be viewable for me to copy? Is this the expected new user process? Fingers crossed this post doesn’t lead to the same result.

Appreciate any help.

Edited typos (silly autocorrect)

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1st time poster doing that looks like someone trying to pu$h a microphone via sock-puppetry.

If you are actually interested in buying a microphone there are forums specifically for that. Google is your friend.

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I might have accidentally deleted somebody this morning. :anguished:

A post was flagged & blocked automatically by the forum software and I meant to approve it, but I clicked the wrong thing. I’m not sure if I deleted the user or just the post. I didn’t notice who it was.

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Hi Trebor - Thanks for the reply. I assure you I googled before posting. And definitely not trying to promote anything. Been researching for some months.

What I had tried to ask were given my specific parameters what might work best. I am a bit nomadic at the moment, so I’m limited in the gear I can carry and the recording space I have (a closet with an oddly slopped ceiling making it a bit echoey/an interior bedroom with high ceilings, will pile all of the blankets and pillows I can around either). Looking for a USB mic, but have seen in other posts that some (avoiding names since I’m unclear if that’s what got me blocked) created more feedback during recording. The mic will have to interface with a mac (again, previously I included the model number since in some reviews I’ve read there being issues with compatibility on different OSs, but skipping for now in case that’s an issue) laptop. From what I’ve researched a dynamic mic with a cardioid pattern is ideal, but given the USB limitation, I didn’t see many that might work without feedback sounds or issues with the volume being too low. Other things to note, I’m in France so it would have to be a mic that’s widely available.

I had included some models I’d narrowed it down to, but will skip for now given the newbie status.

Edited typos

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Hi DVDdoug. Thanks for the reply. Maybe that was me. Would’ve been around 11am EST, I guess.

Is there any recourse for approving?

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Also, if it was me, my user was deleted. Would that mean that my post would also have been deleted?

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If you need profe$$ional results, the recording space is more important than the mic.
A high-end microphone is not going to compensate for a reverberant room …

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Right. I get that. That’s why I didn’t even try recording at my last place since the road sound permeated through the closet and blankets, even at 3am. My point is that I don’t think I’ve got the acoustic space for a dynamic mic. I’ve watched videos from that channel before. Always good.

My attempted post explained that I’m not looking for a high end mic, hopefully something under $200.

I figured you all help people all the time with trying to fix audio after it’s recorded and that asking here before I record, might help cut down on troubles down the line.

Do you have any USB mic recommendations for audiobook recording that play well with a mac and don’t require extra gear? Trying to reduce the odds of mic noise.

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Yes it will delete the post too. That was probably me. Sorry. The one I deleted had a few lines of bold test and it had a “style” that hinted of AI, but I didn’t see anything wrong with it. I just messed-up.

Actually, no. Most “studio recording” is done with studio condenser mics. Studio condensers are not compatible with the mic input on a soundcard or laptop but there are USB versions. “Pro” dynamic mics aren’t either. For a stage/studio mic with an XLR connection you need an audio interface, preamp, or mixer, with balanced inputs, and studio condensers need phantom power.

Analog dynamic mics tend to have low output, about 20dB lower than a condenser mic and many audio interfaces don’t have enough gain for “normal voice” and a dynamic mic.

If you get a USB mic (AKA “podcast mic”) look for one with a recording level knob. It’s important to adjust the analog level before it’s digitized, and to prevent clipping (distortion) most USB mics without controls are “calibrated” low so they don’t overload with loud sounds.

…The Blue Yeti seems to have a bad reputation but I’ve never used one and I don’t know if the reputation is deserved. It might just be because it’s super-popular and when you sell millions of something more people will report problems. (Blue does make some high-end analog mics.)

NOTE - If you record different parts of a book in different environments you probably won’t get constant sound. :frowning:

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Hey DVDdoug - Thanks for that and also for helping me solve the mystery. I’m sure others might’ve just ignored this; I really respect your honesty.

The one I deleted had a few lines of bold test and it had a “style”

Guilty. I added bullets and bolding to help with the sea of text. Will add some of the names below that I’d been worried about sharing before.

Studio condensers are not compatible with the mic input on a soundcard or laptop but there are USB versions.

Does this mean every USB mic should be compatible? I’d gotten the idea that I might need a dynamic mic from the ACX Gearing Up for Audiobook Production Part 1 article. At a really cool studio library a few cities back, I tried out their mic (Rode NT-USB Mini). It had a nice brightness, but the room was 70% sound treated and the mic picked up all 30%.

Analog dynamic mics tend to have low output,** about 20dB lower than a condenser mic and many audio interfaces don’t have enough gain for “normal voice” and a dynamic mic.

I have a softer voice, so no doubt this will be a consideration.

If you get a USB mic (AKA “podcast mic”) look for one with a recording level knob.

Do you have any pointers for where to start with modifying the settings?

The Blue Yeti seems to have a bad reputation

I was planning to skip them based on reviews, but am open to the idea that it might be ok. I have a 2017 MacBook Pro 13 with 16GB of memory (USB-C ports, it’s usually pretty quiet unless I’m running lightroom and photoshop heavily); Bose QuietComfort 25 Headphones (I tried using these in the library and couldn’t get sound from the mic in them, but might’ve been a setup issue - not that I have to use them, just to describe the equipment options I have); and no real space for a big stand/mount in my backpack (used a paper towel roll as my stand with my iphone while editing). Options I am considering (open to others):

Rode NT-USB/NT-USB+ (the latter I guess has 8dB higher sound pressure level and is a 24 vs 16 bit, if either of those make a difference for my use case)
AT2500x-USB
Samsung G-Track Pro
Blue Yeti / Yeti X
Rode NT-USB Mini, AT2100x-USB (looks these are both lack a recording level knob, so crossing off)

Might you have any experience with those?

NOTE - If you record different parts of a book in different environments you probably won’t get constant sound

Yeah. I’ve got a few weeks. Since I’ve recorded (iphone) and edited in audacity for beta listeners, I have a bit more confidence I can get it finished (less than 1.5 hrs of finished audio). Just a matter of getting a mic, setting up the closet and learning how to record with audacity. FWIW, I did try to use a studio to get around all of this, but the guy was a bit of a scammer and refused to let me have a copy of my files at the end of the session. Required the police just to have him to delete the files so he didn’t have my content (and he didn’t delete my nature sound files I’d brought) - so I’d rather have to do a bit more post processing than risk that again.

I know this post is rather long, but I have edited it twice now. First I thought the re-addition of bullets might have caused it to go into another pending status and then maybe the emoji or the link to the article. If I’m doing anything else that’s flagging my replies, I can change!