low volume and hum using mic

[steve]

For anyone that is interested and to clear up any confusion, here is the internal wiring diagram for a Shure SM58.
Note that neither the capsule or the transformer are tied to ground, thus the voltage potential (signal strength) across pins 2 and 3 will be exactly the same whether one is tied to ground or not. The only things affecting the signal strength are the sound pressure level and the impedance across pins 2 and 3. If the transformer were centre tapped to ground then chris319 would be correct, but as can be seen, it isn't.
Reference: http://www.shure.co.uk/support_download ... icrophones

sm58-wiring-diagram.png (27.6 KiB) Viewed 850 times

[steve]

Where I bought it, I was told that all it needed was a USB adapter cord and it would be fine.

As Xerlome (the original poster) wrote, it will "work" with a USB adapter cord, and USB adaptor cords are usually quite cheap, but you probably won't get great quality, especially not for quiet speech recordings. I'm not a fan of those USB adaptors, though they may work ok if you're recording something that is very loud.

[Xerlome]

You've all given me a lot to study and experiment with. I have decisions to make. Thanks for working with me so long. I'll be back at some point to let you know how it goes.

I am wondering why the post before last is one of my early posts, as if a current response to Steve from filmjhohnn21 (?)

[steve]

I am wondering why the post before last is one of my early posts, as if a current response to Steve from filmjhohnn21 (?)

Thanks for mentioning that.
filmjhon21 was a spammer, trying to sneak a few posts onto the forum, presumably with the idea of replacing them with adverts for who knows what later on.
He's now been banned.

[Xerlome]

An update on my problem recording mic on Audacity:

I bought the ART USB Dual Pre to replace the XLR to USB cable which produced a hum and far too low recording volume at highest settings. The Dual Pre is a little better. There is less noise (which still requires reduction) and the volume is a little higher. However, at the highest volume input level, and speaking very loudly close to the mic, it is still necessary to amplify the recording. This is complicated by the fact that a lot of the volume is spiky peaks which need to be clipped in order to amplify the main part of the sound to a reasonable level. I just now tried speaking louder than normal, very close to the mic, and the peaks were -6.2.

So, with an extreme amount of editing time, I can produce an acceptable (though compromised) audio. But I can't go on staying up all night to fudge-fix audio that should have been finished before bedtime! So it's time to deal with the problem for real. I kept the Dual Pre because I needed something to use, so I'm now stuck with it, but I'm ready to replace it if that is what is necessary. I still need to determine whether the preamp is the actually problem before I buy another one. Some thought the Dual Pre would solve the problem. The computer shop found nothing wrong with my computer.

I know we've explored a lot of angles, but (as an ignorant novice) I'd like to ask for any thoughts about possible errors I may be making, poor settings, wrong mic for the purpose, why a different preamp would work, etc. I am using the Shure SM58 mic with an adapter cord to the preamp.

[Xerlome]

I suppose you are weary of my problem. I don't blame you, so am I. I'm surprised how hard it is to make a mic work.