I need serious help with microphone audio levels.

Jayden933

New member
To preface this, I am not a microphone/audio expert, but I have done my due diligence and research in trying to solve my problems, to no avail. Any help is appreciated.

Okay, I got a cheap Aukey condenser mic a couple of months back (I just want a cheap, but good enough quality audio setup that allows me to talk to my friends when we play games). I had it plugged into my computer via XLR to 3.5mm. The sound levels and gain boost were maxed in Windows 10 recording devices settings, but the audio was *extremely* quiet. I got Equalizer APO and Peace GUI and maxed out the gain there as well to +30 decibels. It noticeably helped, but it was still on the quiet side, and I had to be turned up all the way in Curse for my friends to be able to hear me well. I got an XLR to USB cable to see if that changed anything. Not a lick of difference. I eventually switched over to a dynamic microphone because I didn't want my keyboard sounds being picked up in the background, and I figured I'd see how the levels were for it instead. I got a Behringer Ultravoice XM8500. It's also incredibly quiet, even when my mouth is on the microphone and I'm screaming into it. This is the case with XLR-USB and XLR-3.5mm. With it boosted all the way in Windows and in Peace though, it's again barely acceptable. I've installed Realtek audio drivers and tried that instead of the standard Windows ones, and it honestly sounded worse with them, so I got rid of them. And now, I bought a Neewer NW-100 48V phantom power supply thinking that would surely solve my problems. I've tried plugging both my condenser mic and dynamic mic into it with XLR-XLR and the power supply into my computer via both XLR-USB and XLR-3.5mm and it does absolutely nothing! No difference whatsoever. I'm very fed up by now, and I really don't want to dish out more money to try yet another microphone which will likely still give me the same issues. The Behringer dynamic mic seems of good quality, and videos of other people using it sound great, so I'd like to get it working properly. Does anyone have any suggestions of something I haven't yet tried? Can anyone help me with these awful audio problems I'm having? Thanks.
 
Hi there,
Welcome to HR! :)

A condenser microphone wont work at all without a phantom power supply, so your initial XRL to 3.5mm effort should have had zero result, not a very quiet result.
That leads me to ask, does your computer have a built-in microphone that's been unintentionally selected as the input device this whole time?
 
Hi there,
Welcome to HR! :)

A condenser microphone wont work at all without a phantom power supply, so your initial XRL to 3.5mm effort should have had zero result, not a very quiet result.
That leads me to ask, does your computer have a built-in microphone that's been unintentionally selected as the input device this whole time?

I'm definitely sure the correct microphone input is selected. I've even disabled all the other input options. As to why the condenser mic works slightly without phantom power, I don't know. Maybe my motherboard supplies just enough power for a very small input. It's very faint when connected to the motherboard mic input, but it's not nothing.
 
That mic is, I am sure one of the 'BM800' breed Steen'. (I must buy another one!) .

These mics CAN run directly into a 3.5mm laptop jack and the (5V) supply there powers the mic's converter. The mic is an electret capsule and needs no polarizing voltage.
The one I had works surprisingly well (posted some clips) and was in fact less noisy than a £40 USB LDC I had. The sting in the tail is...These mics have GDAWFUL QC! I have at least three accounts now of them failing to work or being of very low output. I have seen countless other accounts where it was not plain if these mics were involved but I strongly suspected it.

So, OP, if you are using the mic WITH the supplied XLR to 3.5mm jack cable and you cannot get a decent level (try another PC if you can but don't sweat it) ship it back! Did you get it from Amazon? If so they are very good about returns.

Dave.
 
QC....thats interesting. Ship it back....maybe a few times?


The Behringer XM8500 dynamic you tried isnt going to help anything without a outboard preamp. It has -70db sensitivity. Thats less output than a SM7. I'd return that one.

The AUKEY Condenser Studio Microphone GD-G1 should work fine, dont need a phantom power supply with the AUKEYGD-G1.

Looks like a good deal for $35 and all the extras. wow. The BM-800 is probably the same genre as the AUKEY too, probably same QC.

how do they sell the stand, foam, holder and mike and cable for $25-$45?
 

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So this is the one you bought?

Neewer Mic and Phantom power and extras.
 

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The AUKEY has a lot of youtubes the GD-G1 and doesnt need a phantom just the PC power with a 3.5mm plug.
But only works with some sources (pc or camcorders etc..)?

Its a cardiod and so front to sides has a lot of drop off in volume...speak to the front for best results.

However one guy has a youtube with very low output with the AUKEY GDG1, into his laptop but not his camcorder.

This also goes along with what Dave mentions above in trying another pc.

Interesting Ive never tried the $30 mics, amazing deal if they work. Never tried the USB stuff either but with USB 3 and USB C coming there will be much more power and current available and these mics will probably really benefit.
 

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Couple questions.....

- Is this a desktop PC or a laptop? Laptop might have a not so standard jack (TRRS) that may not be friendly to the TRS plug going into it.
- If it's a desktop have you tried both front and back MIC input jacks? And be sure it is the MIC jack (usually pink) and not a LINE input (blue). Some audio programs (RealTek for one) may give an option to chose MIC or LINE input for a combo jack that accepts both types of inputs. If it has a 'combo' jack, take a look at the settings and see if it might be set for LINE rather than MIC. This would significantly reduce the audio levels.

I've been able to use a dynamic mic (Sennheiser e935) into my PC via the 3.5mm jack, but the spec on the Behringer XM8500 shows a sensitivity of 0.3 mV/PA. This is about the lowest I've ever seen for a mic and likely your PC could never have enough gain for it. If you want to use a dynamic mic I would suggest one with a neodymium magnet which will have a higher sensitivity number and thus more output.
 
haha yeah arcaxis....I saw .3 mv/pa too but thought I read it wrong, then I used the online calculator and it was 0.000003 or something...dang thats a very low mic, then add that with a digital software preamp and no outboard pretty tough.

I watched a few youtubes and seems the root cause is often the "unit" its plugged into.

Its same with USB mics depending on the USB cards. Some Youtubes have extremely good results with these cheap things and some plug-in help....others have the low power issue as the OP mentions.
One showed his pc didnt work but his camcorder made the same mic sound great?

I dont really understand the differences in pc 3.5 jacks or even USB? I thought they were all USB 5v 500ma? and 3.5mm jacks were all standard? but apparently not.
 
QC....thats interesting. Ship it back....maybe a few times?


The Behringer XM8500 dynamic you tried isnt going to help anything without a outboard preamp. It has -70db sensitivity. Thats less output than a SM7. I'd return that one.

The AUKEY Condenser Studio Microphone GD-G1 should work fine, dont need a phantom power supply with the AUKEYGD-G1.

Looks like a good deal for $35 and all the extras. wow. The BM-800 is probably the same genre as the AUKEY too, probably same QC.

how do they sell the stand, foam, holder and mike and cable for $25-$45?

Mine was about £25 iirc (C: $30?) but I did not get a cat's cradle shockmount. The build quality IS amazing for the money though! I would say almost if not AS good as my Sontronics STC-2? The BM can run on a conventional XLR-XLR cable and 48V spook juice when it has a lower sensitivity than the Sontronics but still many dBs above any dynamic. That makes it a real bargain for the impecunious noob!

How do they do it? 'dIFR know mate and suspicions of 'dumping' have to be voiced? But if this is the was 'they' are going to seduce the Decadent West I shall succumb! Let the next bloody generation sort it out. WE are going through bloody Austerity for them (that's of course is a lie. Things are NEVER jam tomorrow!)

Dave.
 
I've just bought the BM-800. It is amazing value at £12 and sounds as good as my Sontronics ST-20, with higher sensitivity. Over 14 micro Volts/Pa. Dave- would you know if it would be a simple mod to power up this mic with a couple a 9V batteries rather than using phantom power? I'd like to use it with my home-made pre-amps.
 
I've just bought the BM-800. It is amazing value at £12 and sounds as good as my Sontronics ST-20, with higher sensitivity. Over 14 micro Volts/Pa. Dave- would you know if it would be a simple mod to power up this mic with a couple a 9V batteries rather than using phantom power? I'd like to use it with my home-made pre-amps.

Should work pretty well from 18volts. I will draw something up tom' and post it.

Dave.
 
There you go Findlay,

Values:
C1/C2 47mfd at 63 volts (but 22 mfd at 63V would do if to hand)
R1/R2 nominally 6k8 and MO and 1% tol (better, buy 10 and match them with a DMM. Absolute value does not matter in fact you might need to drop to 4k7 even 2k2)
R2/R3 DO NOT LEAVE THESE OUT! Even for a lashup since they tie the capacitor leakage down and protect the mic amp input devices.
Note, if going into a mic traff you COULD leave out C1/2 and R3/4 but since they do no harm I would not.

This is of course the basic spook juice circuit. While you are putting stuff in a tin you might consider adding polarity flip and a 20dB pad? Even a line in jack?

Oooops! R3/R4 value! 22k or thereabouts. not critical and 5% 'will do', 1% better.

Dave.
 

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Thanks so much for this Dave. I am away from home at the moment so just got time for a quick thank you. Will post more next week when I am back.
 
Thanks so much for this Dave. I am away from home at the moment so just got time for a quick thank you. Will post more next week when I am back.

Welcome. Obviously the 63V capacitor rating is well OTT for battery power and you could use 22V caps if they are handy. However to my mind you might as well make this a universal phantom power adaptor and able to take 48V if required.

Sorry! Old brain, meds, lack of Joe yet.. I take no responsibility if peeps plug that design into a pre amp and pop it! Mic pres that HAVE phantom power usually have protection diodes from input to supply rails.
I would suggest connecting battery, then mic, count 10 monkeys THEN plug into preamp. (Findlay has lashed up his own pre so if he breaks it he can build another!)

Dave.
 
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Dave - I've just made a lash up of this circuit with the suggested resistors and it works a treat! I first used 2 9V batteries and was getting some hiss with the BM and some intermittence with a Sontronics ST-20. Using 4 batteries (36V) both mics sound great. I'd like to get away with 4 batteries if possible as they will just about fit into a small Eddystone aluminium box!

I've been playing around using a That 1510 chip in the mic pre-amp - it sounds pretty good. Very low noise. Any thoughts on this chip?

PS just realised I could use 4 of those tiny A23 12V batteries to get 48V in a a small space. They should last a reasonable time as the current drain less than 2 mA.
 
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PPS have just built the final version using 4 A23 batteries to provide the phantom power. It sounds great with the BM - S/N is way better than using the pre-amps in my Tascam DP recorders. Just noticed that the polarity of the BM is inverted though and will have to rewire it.
 
Findlay. The 1510 chip has been superseded by the 1512 which has a lower minimum gain and therefore returns a slightly better noise figure AT lower gains but as you say, the 1510 is PD quiet anyway!

You can download the data sheet for the chip and it was used in a DIY mic pre project you could buy. 'Owl studios' or similar were making the kits.

Really good to see that electronic DIY has not quite died! Kids today seem terrified to have a go? Maplin and Wellmann do some great kits. I often suggest the One Watt 386 chip project to noobs. With a 3V (2, AAs) supply it makes a good guitar headphone amp and with a 9V supply and a guitar speaker (of around 100dB sens') will annoy the bits off anyone in the next room!

ooOOOoo! There have been some developments!...THAT - Microphone Pre-amplifier | Profusion

Dave.
 
Thanks for this Dave - will look at the link in a minute. Meanwhile, have had a few problems with the phantom power frying the chips! Would some diodes protect the input? Any suggestions?
 
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