Like most USB mics, the C1-U has nothing common with the ordinary version. It’s a completely different mic, really.
Really? I thought the Behriger C-1U was the same mic as the Behringer C-1, but with the XLR connection replaced by a USB microphone chip and USB socket. The official documentation from Behringer appears to support that view. Or do you mean ‘metaphorically’ a different mic?
Most of the lower end USB mics are entirely different for a reason. It’s extremely hard to make a true condenser with a 5V power supply. A true condenser needs 40 to 60 V polarization voltage. With 48 V phantom it’s fairly trivial. The problem is, to transform 5V DV to 60 V DC, you need AC. Usually a 50 KHz or so oscillator. And it’s hard to shield the extremely sensitive capsule from this noise.
IIRC, I saw pics of the innards of a USB C1 on the net and the capsule was visiually different. It’s the capsule that makes 99% of a mic’s character.
So a lot of manufacturers just put electret capsules in. As these are permanently charged, they do not require polarization voltage, just 3 to 6 V for the FET transistor. That doesn’t mean these mics are inferior, just different. The electret version could very well have a flatter response, as they usually have. It’ll probably be a little noisier too.
The same problem plays of course with USB bus powered interfaces. If you have a power hungry mic, phantom power will fail. But there’s a lot of distance from the interface to the mic, so noise is easier to manage.
The specification for the C-1U says:
Transducer type condenser, 16 mm (0.63’')
https://media.music-group.com/media/PLM/data/docs/P0588/C-1U_P0588_M_EN.pdf
which is the same as for the Behringer C-1.
They also state in several places that it is a “large diaphragm”, so I doubt that it is a misprint.
Recording hacks is a very reliable site…
They give 14 mm for the capsule, which I can accept vs 16 mm in other sources. That’s because some measure outer rim, others measure membrane diameter, which is obviously a little smaller.
However, they also state:
The capsule is a small-diameter cardioid electret, mounted behind a perforated plastic plate that influences the polar pattern. The capsule’s housing has an outside diameter of 17.2mm; the diaphragm diameter is presumably 10-14mm.
Behringer’s claim that this microphone is a “Professional, large-diaphragm condenser microphone for unsurpassed audio quality” is therefore at least partially untrue.
25 mm is a “medium”. Anything above that number is LDC. Below is SDC. 10 to 14 mm, or even 17 is not an LDC.
You really can’t believe most published tech specs for mics, not even from reputed manufacturers. The exceptions are makers of reputed measurement mics, like DPA, as they usually specify the exact measurement method. And when you compare some of these numbers, like EIN, or noise floor, they look not so good compared with numbers from more marketing oriented makers.
Behringer are well known to hype up their products. Nevertheless, it does appear that both the C-1 and the C-1U have the same size diaphragm, and are essentially “the same mic”, one with USB and one with XLR. I think we agree that the C-1U (USB) would not be a good choice for lonepilgrim (the op).
Dragging the thread, kicking and screaming, back to reality.
Koz
Ok Im back at it again..I didnt really understand what you were saying about you had a bunch of mics going out the door but I was assuming you meant you were trying to sell them…again I didn`t come here to buy or sell anything.
On the Nyquist Prompt…do I have to apply that each time I do the noise reduction or only once?
Can you give me a general idea about how to get a better stereo mix on the final project? Im sure its in the manual and Im going there next..Im guessing with the website I can only upload MP3s but I`m not sure.
There doesnt seem to be any problem with the generic mix down..all the tracks stay put until I export them..if I had true quadraphonic sound Id be happy but alas this is 2016…we can put a person on the moon but I can`t do that.
Quadrophonic output isn’t a problem. It just has another name these days. Or even several. The most common name is “Ambisonic”. Surround is another one, but it is usually associated with DVD Dobly AC3 playback in a 5.1 setup. And that is for movies. Ambisonic started where quadrophonic stopped. Ambisonic can also go a lot further, to complete 3D sound.
Some info:
http://www.ambisonic.net/
http://ambisonic.info/
Some ambisonic plugins make quadrophonic panning much easier and some of them are free. Ambisonic toolkit, fi. The author needs to fix his site, though, since atm it is showing nothing but a wiki error. He’s been notified.
http://www.ambisonictoolkit.net/
A free plugin to do panning is TOA Core:
http://www.blueripplesound.com/products/toa-core-vst
A lot of plugins and related info can be found here:
http://www.ambisonic.net/gear.html
Audacity only has 2 output channels, though.
You would need another player. Harpex-B, for instance, which is a free player from harpex.net. And of course, an audio interface with 4 output channels.
And you don’t really need to record in four channels, as long as you are prepared to align your different recordings manually. That would exclude most real ambisonic tools, but it doesn’t really matter, as long as you don’t need to exchange files with others and are prepared to do some experimenting to get you 4 speaker setup working as you like it.
If you’d ever like to go further, as in a 3D soundscape, you would need to record with 4 precisely spaced mics.
Try the free UpStereo VST plugin from QuikQuak. See:
It works with Audacity. It’s usually used to widen the stereo field, but it can also narrow it. It’s also very easy to use.
If it`s easy to use that will help.
Normally Audacity exports how…left channel on one side…right on the other?
What happens if there are more than 2 tracks? I cannot be the only person who has exported a music track with Audacity.
The only way I can make a WAV file or MP3 that people will listen is with this plug in?
Audacity can export more than one or two tracks. That’s not the problem. It can only play back stereo. 2 channels, not more. I’ve never tried multi channel export from Audacity, as I also use Reaper and Audacity can’t play back the files anyway.
What happens if there are more than 2 tracks? I cannot be the only person who has exported a music track with Audacity.
The only way I can get make a WAV file or MP3 that people will listen is with this plug in?
I haven’t tried it in Audacity, because of the playback problem.
Wav’s can have lots of channels. The listener needs to have a multi channel capable player and of course a multi channel capable output device. However, these aren’t very expensive anymore. A Griffin DJ Connect, fi costs 45 € and has 4 outputs:
https://griffintechnology.com/intl/products/audio/dj-connect
Sounds good, has a useful volume knob (that only controls 2 channels), is output only.
And when it comes to players, there’s the free Harpex-B player I already mentioned. There are also VST plugins that allow an automatic headphone downmix. There are also multi-channel headphones. I’ve never tried those, as they seem to be more games oriented and I’ve never heard a decent one.
Summarized:
- It should be easy to do 4 channel ambi for your own use in Audacity, as long as you export and use another player to listen to the end result. The disadvantage of only having two playback channels isn’t as big as it seems, as long as you edit with headphones.
- It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out a way to distribute 4 channel files to others, as long as they install a player and have four speakers and the associated hardware. Even a 5.1 surround setup should do. And there’s a lot of those around.
And I’ll add that 2016 should be the year 3D sound will be BIG!
According to the marketing gepartments of several electronics manufacturers. CES will be full of “solutions”… 
Im not trying to produce 4 channel sound...it was a joke...Im trying to raise money for charity.
I need to know if I should run the Nyquist Prompt every time I do noise removal or just once.
On my website the songs have all the instruments on one side and the vocals on the other…I need to fix that.
Thanks
I gave you a solution to reduce stereo width. Can’t help with the Nyquist thing.
I wish you success with the fundraising.
Each time. That custom Nyquist Program Steve wrote for you gets rid of the gritty whine (the hard part) but leaves everything else. Standard Noise Reduction from there suppresses the ffffffffff rain-in-the-trees hiss. You are warned if you try to noise reduce the hiss too much, the performance may get damaged. Voices start sounding like talking into a beer mug and music gets honky.
If you juggle cables, and connections and mess around enough, you may be able to record without the whine. In that case, totally leave out the Nyquist step. If you manage to get the hiss down through adjustments or recording technique, you may not need the stiff noise reduction, either. 12 as a first number is medium suppression. 6 is gentle.
Needing to do that correction dance every time you record something seems OK at the beginning, but if you start cranking out the tunes in overdubbing multiple tracks, that’s going to get very old. You’re probably already looking for a better recording system which doesn’t need corrections, since you always seem to get there about a half-day ahead of me.
Audacity will not apply corrections, filters or effects during a recording.
Koz
On my website the songs have all the instruments on one side and the vocals on the other…I need to fix that.
Import one of the shows that’s split like that. Audacity > Tracks > Stereo Track to Mono.
That will give you a single track with everything in both ears. AM radio, but much better quality.
I need to look for this, but there’s an effect that adds just the slightest amount of stereo echo (different in each ear) and makes everybody think it was recording stereo, but really wasn’t.
Koz
Attached is a clip from a recent Mavericks album. The album title is “Mono.”
It’s in mono.
It does sound like the lost Roy Orbison album.
Koz
This is doing it by very slightly delaying “Right.”
Duplicate the single track. Control-D. Select the bottom track by clicking just above MUTE. Time Shift Tool (two sideways back arrows). Push the bottom track a little to the right.
Tiny arrow drop-down menu to the left of the top track > Make Stereo Track.
Attached.
Koz