My Shure SM58 sounds worse than my Samsung Galaxy S7 Mic... Fix?

I have to say that, although it takes experimentation, my money would be on the noise being caused by the MXL getting noisy when cranked up to handled a low output dynamic. I'd see if I could borrow some other gear and experiment before running off and buying a new mic to use with the MXL.

+1 Sounds like normal white noise to me and a very common problem with dynamic mics. FYI, the Galaxy probably has some form of (quite sophisticated, digital) noise gating in it.

As ever, a decent Audio Interface should solve the problem (be back with that inamo') I had an Alesis i02 Express that was pretty good with a '57.

Dave.
 
Shown are the mic pre noises (L&R) for the KA6 at max gain, open circuit XLR (worse case) and a 320M HQ MP3 of the sound.

With a 57 you need to be within 50mm of the grill to get -20dBFS on speech, any kind of singing would NOT need full gain and the (already bloody good!) noise figures would be better.

Has to be said though, 'horses for courses'. If speech is your prime interest a capacitor (aka and archaic name 'condenser') is favourite but you need a very quiet space and even then you will do a lot of editing and re-takes.

Attachments...WTF!?! You should not DO these things to us old farts! Ok, I suppose the coming of W10 and Edge makes upgrades necessary but BEFORE I have had me brekky and heart meds???!

Dave.
 

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Shown are the mic pre noises (L&R) for the KA6 at max gain, open circuit XLR (worse case) and a 320M HQ MP3 of the sound.

With a 57 you need to be within 50mm of the grill to get -20dBFS on speech, any kind of singing would NOT need full gain and the (already bloody good!) noise figures would be better.

Has to be said though, 'horses for courses'. If speech is your prime interest a capacitor (aka and archaic name 'condenser') is favourite but you need a very quiet space and even then you will do a lot of editing and re-takes.

Attachments...WTF!?! You should not DO these things to us old farts! Ok, I suppose the coming of W10 and Edge makes upgrades necessary but BEFORE I have had me brekky and heart meds???!

Dave.
Sorry, I do not fully understand your post, but are you basically echoing what others have said, and that my experience is normal, and perhaps not bad?

I use this mic for singing. There is a huge improvement from 4 to 2 inches

Thank you to the people who replied in this topic. You were of much help.
 
"Sorry, I do not fully understand your post, " I have posted an MP3 clip of the 'noise floor' of my Native Instruments KA6 interface. That is how it should be done! All other cobbled together mic recording systems into a computer are pretty much doomed to poor results, especially with a low output dynamic.

You need to grasp some basic, electronic/audio concepts: Mics turn sound pressure (usually) waves into very wee electrical signals. The Shure dynamics typically produce about 2millivolts (2/1000!) for a sound level of 90dB SPL (Google some of this!). Speech is typically 70-75dB SPL* and so the voltage will be closer to 0.7mV or 700 MICRO volts!

Now, ALL electronic circuits, amplifiers, produce noise (G again! 'White noise') HOW much noise depends upon the quality of the pre amplifier's build. The KA6 has very good pre amps. Pay $1000 for a Grace M101 and you will do a bit better (in fact the noise won't be THAT much lower but you would get more gain** for same noise level)

*Mic sensitivity specifications USED to be based on 75dB SPL but 93dB (one Pascal) makes the adpuff LOOK better!

**Gain is the amplification factor that an amplifier provides. You typically want a number for an AI (or mixer) of 60dB (X1000) The KA6 is a bit under that but the very low noise floor means it copes fine. (actually, 'gain' figures for AIs are not that helpful IMHO but that is a subtle argument for another T&P!

'Noise': Best to learn some common terms? A steady, tuneless hiss, interstation FM noise IS a 'hiss' and is electronic white noise. Hum is a mains power intrusion, can be 50 or 60Hz depending on locale. Can be 100Hz or 120Hz for other reasons and harmonics can go into ultrasonics.
'Buzz' is a hum with extra, gritty harmonics, often associated with digital kit (G 'zipper noise') . 'Static' is an Americanism that seems to be attached to ANY unwanted noise. It derives from radio atmospheric noises. Actually an oxymoron, electrons have to MOVE to make a noise!

Dave.
 
A MIC doesn't produce any sound, which is the S in SPL. One would have to send it a signal to measure SPL. Static is a discharge : ) hahaha
 
The guys are all more or less giving you the same info.

On a scale of will hiss to wont hiss....

Dynamic (low sensitivity microphone) into low gain/low quality preamp - Preamp hiss is audible and the mic requires gain to be pegged.
Condenser (high sensitivity microphone) into low gain/low quality preamp - The hiss is the same, but your source signal is louder relative to it; cloudlifter supposedly does the same job.
Dynamic (low S microphone) into high gain/high quality preamp - The preamps will probably be less noise, but you'll still need to ride the gain high and take the risk.
Condenser microphone into high gain/high quality preamp - Low noise+high output mic, with high gain, low noise preamp.


I compared four dynamic mics through four high quality preamps yesterday and hear zero white noise/hiss at normal working levels.
I had the preamp gain maxed on two of the preamps.
 
.."I had the preamp gain maxed on two of the preamps".

A "recording amp" needs to do that - supply a clean signal to 0-VU, or, whatever spec one makes for any rig.

As it is the "only" amp (often) going in to our Digital tape recorder, the interface should have recording amp characteristics. But I guess NOT : )
 
I suppose there are those who never watch anyone sing into a MIC : ) ^There are so many moves. hahah
 
"A MIC doesn't produce any sound, which is the S in SPL. One would have to send it a signal to measure SPL." 'One' does G, at 75 or 93dBSPL? ? ?

Steenamaroo. I am no longer getting reply to posts emails, they are going to my spam folder. I don't think I have changed anything in IE11 lately?

Dave.
 
Gentlemen, this thread is dealing with a SOLVED problem. I hear broadband hiss in the sample caused by a very low signal to noise ratio. To wit: very low signal being boosted (amplified) through a mediocre circuit. Here''s what you need to consider:

the SM58 is a "dynamic" low-impedance microphone. It's a passive design with no pre-amp inside the mic. (Also note the 3-pin, "balanced," lo-z-cannon connector on the end of the mic.) The standard SM58 (or SM57, Beta 57, Beta 58) requires a 200 ohm ("nominal," or so-called "lo-z") matching microphone input circuit. This mic is designed to be plugged into a lo-to-hi transformer or more lilkely the a microphone input channel of a MIXER -- or similar equipment, like a HARDWARE digital audio recording interface. These devices have inputs with low-noise, high-gain, microphone pre-amps with 3-pin, cannon, input jacks for the mic cable. The SM58 is a professional vocal mic used with this standard equipment. To plug it into a Hi-z (high-impedance) input, you should use a low-to-high impedance transformer with a 3-pin cannon input and terminating in a phone plug, mini-plug, etc. that would match the hi-z input of your recording equipment. (If that is all you have available to interface to your computer.)

The SM 58 is a known item and it's easy to interface it to your computer THROUGH an external device providing a mic pre-amp as described above. I can guarantee you that the SM58 works great with no hiss with the input volume turned up when plugged into mixers by Mackie and Yamaha and digital interfaces by Mackie, M-audio, and MOTU.

I have used ALL the above-listed equipment successfully with SM58s, etc. for DAWs such as Sonar, Studio One, and others. I cannot speak to your lo-cost interface or sound card equipment. However, luckily, the cheap fix for your problem(s) is to get a decent digital interface with a decent mic pre-amp(s) with phantom power availability and use that for your Shure and any other high quality microphone, condenser or dynamic that you buy in the future. eBay has 100s of suitable interfaces for sale for $50-100.00. I've bought practically new Mackie and M-Audio units that work great for that price on eBay.

Once again we see that our DAWs and other computer music programs are wonderful tools. However basic audio engineering knowledge and practices are necessary to successfully get from the source -- live, "analog" music and vocals --INTO the destination -- the digitized music in the DAW in your computer.

Good luck with your recording projects,

Marc Mathieu,
Advanced Audio Engineering
 
If you're talking about that hissing in the background, make sure you're ac is turned off. When i first started recording at home , i quickly found out that the ac and the fridge were bad!
 
White noise with Shure mic and Audacity

The Shure SM58 is a decent mic with clean sound. Anytime I've gone through the computer without a dedicated audio interface I experience problems with the audio. Hate to tell you this but, your software isn't the best. You may want to look into Reaper (free to try, $60 after). Huge difference in sound and what yu can do with it. Using a dedicated piece of equipment vs the computer inputs alone with software will help tremendously.
The Samsung Galaxy may sound better because you aren't going through the computer and software your using.
Different microphones have very different tones, colors, values in the sound. I did a comparison video which may help you. Microphone Review - Shure - Audix - Rodes - YouTube
The software you are using will also leave its own "flavor" on your sound. Your software and hardware are kind of like your doctors and attorneys, they have one specialty and anything else is going to be chancing what happens.
 
Hi Deb,
Thanks for commenting. A bit nit picky but worth pointing out that the recording software won't really impact on sound quality at all.
One may have better tools/plugins/capabilities but, taking hot topics like sample rate and bit depth out of the equation, one should sound like the other.

Still.... +1 to Reaper for all the other reasons. :)

Nice video! You might consider illustrating the difference in level between mics with all else equal, but then carrying out the rest of your comparisons with some kind of normalisation between microphones.
People instinctively prefer whatever is loudest so the sm57, which I'd recommend first in a heartbeat, comes off as the weak mic in your shootout.

Just my opinion! Thanks for sharing.
 
We sold audio and video and an arcade moved in next door. Of course, everything electronic was on that shared wall : )
 
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