Audacity Forum

kozikowski wrote:LOL. 6.3mm is a quarter-inch phone plug. We're not used to that new fangled Metric stuff here in Los Angeles.

Excuse me, but I live in LA too- I only said "6.3 mm" because that's what I've seen it referred to as most often.

stevethefiddle wrote:These have been highly recommended by other Audacity users, and should be suitable for your ribbon microphone (a bit more money than the LightSnake though)
http://www.artproaudio.com/products.asp ... =1&type=79

Hmm, I don't think that's what I'm looking for. I just want to connect my mic to my computer and record with it, nothing else. Thanks anyway.

tymime wrote:just want to connect my mic to my computer and record with it, nothing else.

That's not quite true. You want to interface your microphone through a D/A converter (which requires a microphone level input gain stage) then through a USB interface to your computer. That is what both the LightSnake and the Art USB microphone pre-amp do. I mentioned the Art because we have had some good reports about it. I don't know how good the LightSnake is, but if you decide to try one, it would be interesting to hear your views about it.

Just to be clear, what is it that makes my mic so quiet when I use the iMic? Is the signal too weak? Why doesn't the "mic" setting on it do what it's supposed to?

Assuming that the switch on your iMic is working, it will increase the gain (amplification) to the incoming signal - this is the job of the "pre-amp" part of the device. Not all microphones have the same level of sensitivity, some will output a much higher output signal for a given sound pressure level than other microphones. This is why full featured microphones have adjustable gain, rather than simply a switch as the iMic has. Fro your comments, it seems that your ribbon microphone produces quite a low signal level, and therefore requires more gain than the iMic is able to provide.

Just got the LightSnake. I am thoroughly convinced that the microphone is at fault here, because I'm having almost the exact same problem- that is, my recordings are barely audible.

How do I boost the volume of my mic without getting a ton of hiss?

Sorry for the triple post, but it's been two weeks and I really need help here!

tymime wrote:How do I boost the volume of my mic without getting a ton of hiss?

You need to use a low noise, high gain microphone pre-amp.

The specification for the Lightsnake says:
* Signal Boost Gain: +20 dB

A typical condenser microphone will have a sensitivity of around 12 mV/Pa
The sensitivity of the EH-R1 is only 1.6 mV/Pa

This means that the output level of the EH-R1 ribbon microphone is going to be considerably less for a given sound level than for a typical condenser microphone. This in turn means that your microphone pre-amp needs to be able to cleanly boost the signal level much more for the ribbon microphone than it would for a typical condenser microphone.

One of the main limitations of cheap microphone pre-amps is that they can become rather noisy when the gain is turned up high.

The EH-R1 looks like a nice high quality microphone, but to get good performance from it, it needs to be paired up with a good high quality high gain, low noise microphone pre-amp.

(The ART pre-amp that I suggested earlier may in fact not have sufficient gain to work well with this microphone - for a low cost solution, it may be worth checking out Behringer products).

This is what was recommended on Electro-Harmonix's website. Wish I had caught it before- it would have saved me a lot of hassle.
http://www.amazon.com/Electro-Harmonix- ... 205&sr=8-2

I'll report on its performance once I receive it.

Ouch, a bit pricey for an unforeseen expense, but note the gain level - 20 to 30dB higher than the lightsnake - you should notice a big difference. I look forward to your next update.

Well, I finally got enough money to buy it and I just tested it out a few days ago. My mic was plugged into its large jack and then the preamp plugged into the iMic (because, y'know, my computer still has no mic jack). But nothing ever got recorded. I tried every cable/plug arrangement I could think of, but all I ever got was what I assume was the light hum of the preamp's tubes. Audacity knows the preamp is there (it recorded the clicks of the switches) but the mic might as well have not existed.
Is my mic nonfunctional? Should I get a new cable so I can plug the mic into one of the preamp's XLRs? That's the only thing I can think of.