Annoying Microphone hum/static

ckstuntman

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I just recently bought a new USB condenser microphone to record my acoustic guitar, but when I record, there is this static-like hum. The problem lies with the connection between the mic and the computer because when I plug in headphones directly into the microphone, the hum is gone. It only happens when you hear it through the computer. I've read other similar posts and it doesn't seem to do anything with gain or such. I was more thinking it was something to do with a ground loop or something, but I can't say much since I'm not much of an expert on thee things

 

rad666

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It may be a shielding issue.

Can you plug it into a port far away from the one you are trying to use to test this? Does it have to be a powered port, or can you use an unpowered hub (a great way to isolate the plug/cable)?
 
^+1 - Very inexpensive electronics do not use best practices with electronic circuits. Analog circuits can be harder to implement on a budget. Shielding, grounding, cable, type of circuit used, power supply decoupling.... For quality analog circuits, only linear supplies are used.
-Bruce
 

tc983x

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i have experienced this before as well, i suggest looking into what Recording bitrate you are using.. or something along the lines of the latency/quality of the sound being processed by the computer. try lowering the recording quality. Sorry i dont know more about this. But i'd start there. =)
 

ckstuntman

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I have tried each of the usb ports on my computer and none of which fixed the problem.
 

ckstuntman

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I don't know where exactly to reduce the bitrate. I changed the sample rate under the microphone properties but that didn't change anything either.
 

ckstuntman

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The microphone i'm using is the Art M-ONE USB Condenser Microphone

My computer specs are:

AMD Athlon II X2 240 Processor, 2.8GHz
Diamond Radeon HD 6670 2GB GDDR3
M2N68-LA motherboard
4 GB RAM
XFX PRO 550W
Realtek HD Audio Soundcard
 

ckstuntman

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I'm not using any monitors, so I am assuming it has something to do with the connection between the mic and computer.

Also, I tried using he mic on a different computer and the hum wasn't there, so the microphone is fine.
 

ckstuntman

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Oh wait I thought by monitor you meant as speaker monitors, not a display monitor. So I would want to plug the monitor and the computer into different wall sockets?
 
I would lean more towards rad666 and dish_moose's suggestions.

You know the mic works on other computers. So assume the mic and cable are good.

Front USB ports are connected to your motherboard using a cable that is about a foot long or less usually. There is usually a headphone and mic cable running alongside this cable for the analog output on the front of the PC. If you are not seeing anything different by connecting the mic to the rear motherboard USB ports, then the hum is being picked up by your onboard audio device. It is likely being generated by a noisy +5V rail(power source for most USB hub chips) from the power supply or motherboard itself if the hum never changes in pitch.

If you can detect a change in pitch while the PC is under load, sometimes video cards are the source of the problem. You can try a couple things like adding a surge protected UPS to the host computer. They typically have AC filtering to deliver cleaner power to your power supply via the battery backup. You could also buy a sound card and place it in the furthest slot away from your video card or power supply(depending on the source).
 

Shneiky

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Yes, I am asking is your display and computer power plugs put in the same power splitter. The monitor sends a electromagnetic pulse on the cable, via the grounding wires which corresponds to the refresh rate of the panel, which is known to lead to audio noise specially in analog audio microphones. My el-cheapo 6 euro Salar headset with microphone with integrated audio gets better sound out than many 50 euro mics because, I plug my monitor in a different outlet than the PC.
 

tc983x

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all are good suggestions so far, but i have messed around recording guitar, and there has to be some audio setting with the gain too high.. try your mic in gain setting, just like a regular guitar amp too much pre gain gives it distortion.. and sometimes that + messing with sample rates will work. How about drivers did they install correctly? try re installing them.
 

smartkid95

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Usually usb mics give a little bit of static when you record. Two things are going on when you have noise, a hum is the frequency interference of the power source you are using, static exists in all microphones at a certain volume. Good mics and audio interfaces have to be turned up awfully loud before static becomes noticeable but on usb microphones the interface is not always designed the best. If you are hearing hiss or static the problem is the audio interface being used in the mic itself. you could either have a bad copy of your mic or it simply might not be well designed. The mic itself always picks up noise, the sounds coming from the artist in front of it along with alot of other rf interference. Hiss is rf interference being picked up by the circuitry or cables somewhere along the way. Hiss can only be fixed with shielding. If you are hearing a hum sound you can only fix that by cleaning up the power source. The only real way you could do that is by plugging into the back of the computer where the ports are grounded better(on some cases with plastic front panels.) There is a big difference in between the usb audio interface which actually processes the audio on its own, and it uses completely digital signals which is why it is a very clean signal. A usb mic is not a digital signal in a less expensive model until it gets to your computer where you computer processes what is coming from the mic. On the way over there is alot of room for rf interference. For proof ask any electric guitar player and they'll tell you that they can get radio stations with there cables when they plug into an amp. The final thing that might be going on which happens with alot of budget priced usb mics is that the signal is artificially boosted and everything that the mic is picking up is also amplified including rf interference. all mics pick up hiss it';s unavoidable when you have metal parts and cabling plugged into an amp good designed setups minimize this effect.
I get a noise free setup by using a Digital audio interface, all digital output to monitors, mic cables shielded, and all of my equipment is plugged directly into to a grounded source. I could make it even better by using a power conditioner.

Three things to consider are your cables shielded, is the mic a good design free of interference, and is your power source clean.
 

Xtwargodtx

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Have you checked the sounds and recording software. If you haven't go to your taskbar right click the woofer/sound icon and click on recording devices. After that click on the mic you are using and then click on levels. If the mic boost is on 30db you probaly will be getting static.
 

ckstuntman

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@Shneiky
I've tried plugging in both of my displays into different outlets and there was no difference.

@smartkid
I know for sure the microphone is fine and free of interferences because I have tried it with a different computer and there was no interference. It could be because of the power not being clean or the usb cable is not shielded. How can I clean up my power?

@XtwargodtX & @tc983x
It looks like there is another problem because I don't see any boost setting under the levels tab and I can't seem to change the gain either. Changing the levels doesn't seem to do anything so I am assuming the drivers are installed incorrectly
 
You could move the PC with hum to other other location as a sanity check but the hum is probably originating in your power supply so it will do the same thing at that location also. Only thing you can do is try to feed your supply the cleanest power you can(using a power conditioner/UPS/surge protector combo) or try replacing the power supply.

If your operating system is using some sort of Power Saving mode, disable it.
 

ba2486

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Go into the Mic properties thru the speaker icon by the clock, find the place where it says "Listen to this device"
Untick this should solve the problem.