Not an expert on mics, need something specific for around $100

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Deadlyveggie

New member
I need a mic that will pick up a my voice (about a foot away) but reduce the sound of my PC fan (about 2 foot away and through a table). I've tested the Snowball iCE, which is marketed as Cardioid but picks up noise at a very sensitive level which sounds very omnidirectional.

Perfectly I'd pick up something like the SM7B or the Procaster, but they're way outside my budget of £90-100. Any suggestion? Don't care if it's a USB mic or otherwise, I have a sound card that can handle just about anything. Oh, it also has to be available in the UK.

Thanks.
 
Deadlyveggie said:
but reduce the sound of my PC fan
Click to expand...

Search for this phrase and you'll find the answer.

Short answer; Mics aren't magic. ;)
You can use polar pattern to your advantage but beyond that their all gonna pick up your noise just the same.

The real solution is to treat, or move away from, the noise.

Getting closer to a mic will help. A foot is far from ideal in a noisy environment.
 
If you can move the mic from 1 foot away to 6 inches away the fan noise will be quartered.

If you can move to be farther from the laptop (from 2 feet to 4 feet, this'll quarter the fan noise again (I know that might not be possible for podcasting if that's what you're doing).

Make sure the laptop is DIRECTLY behind the mic so it's in the best part of the null. Put something soft behind yourself (duvet or moving blanket on a home made frame perhaps) to stop reflections from getting back to your mic.

If your mic is on a desk stand, change to a floor stand and boom to eliminate any mechanical vibrations being transmitted.

As has been said, there are no magic mics but there ARE lots of little things you can do to improve things.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Search for this phrase and you'll find the answer.

Short answer; Mics aren't magic. ;)
You can use polar pattern to your advantage but beyond that their all gonna pick up your noise just the same.

The real solution is to treat, or move away from, the noise.

Getting closer to a mic will help. A foot is far from ideal in a noisy environment.
Click to expand...

Could not have said it better.
 
Reality check time- Mics are made to pick up sound. Mics neither know nor care what the sound is. If it can pick up your voice from a foot away, it will pick up the noise also. The only real solution to noise is to get rid of the noise. Use a wireless mouse and an external monitor, use longer cables, and get the CPU/laptop away from the mic.
 
...And a corollary to what Richard Monroe said: the better they pick up the sounds you want, the better they will be at picking up the sounds you don't want.

As noted in my first post above, their are tricks you can use to at least minimise (if not eliminate) the background noises but you're always better off eliminating the sound at source.
 
So, the genesis of this post was a simple issue: I will be sitting at this PC, and need the cleanest recording possible. I've done everything to reduce the noise itself, from blocking the PC, mounting the mic on foam and using covers to shield the ambiance. With that in mind, does anyone have any suggestions as to directional or proximity microphones that will reduce as much as possible the poise coming from behind the microphone?

Please, no more posts explaining to me that microphones pick up sound.
 
Deadlyveggie said:
I need a mic that will pick up a my voice (about a foot away) but reduce the sound of my PC fan (about 2 foot away and through a table). I've tested the Snowball iCE, which is marketed as Cardioid but picks up noise at a very sensitive level which sounds very omnidirectional.

Perfectly I'd pick up something like the SM7B or the Procaster, but they're way outside my budget of £90-100. Any suggestion? Don't care if it's a USB mic or otherwise, I have a sound card that can handle just about anything. Oh, it also has to be available in the UK.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Move the computer.
 
Trouble is, you further restricted things by setting an unrealistically low budget for a mic of any quality.

Watch eBay for one of THESE second hand. The new price would worry you but you might get lucky. With this you can record a commentary in the middle of Wembley Stadium with the crowd cheering.

Failing that, you might consider a cardioid headset mic. The ones I have personal experience with are outside your budget but I know there are cheaper ones though I can't give a personal opinion on any of them.
 
If you're handy with computers, you might want to replace your fans with some lower noise ones. Not hard to do at all, and it makes a big difference. Fan filters/covers also help.
 
Which mic you use will matter less than how you use it, but some mics accommodate that better than others. You need to be closer to the mic than a foot. Every time you cut the distance in half you can lower the gain (and the ambient noise) by 6dB. Something like an Electro-Voice RE20 or Heil PR-40 might be a better choice than the Snowball.

All mics become omnidirectional at low frequencies.

If there's a wall close behind you you should treat that area acoustically as it's likely reflecting room sounds back into the mic's pickup pattern.
 
Deadlyveggie said:
So, the genesis of this post was a simple issue: I will be sitting at this PC, and need the cleanest recording possible. I've done everything to reduce the noise itself, from blocking the PC, mounting the mic on foam and using covers to shield the ambiance. With that in mind, does anyone have any suggestions as to directional or proximity microphones that will reduce as much as possible the poise coming from behind the microphone?

Please, no more posts explaining to me that microphones pick up sound.
Click to expand...


Do you think we're holding out on you?

Bobbsy's recommendation is pretty good but look at it. That metal bar touches your face - You're literally a half inch from the mic.
I bet being a half inch from a 58 would be damn near as good.

A couple of people have given you the distance/volume breakdown. It is your second best solution.

1 = Eliminate the noise. That doesn't mean baffles or whatever. It doesn't mean foam.
It means stop the noise from happening in your room.
Either get 'silent' fans or move the computer else where.
Get a wireless keyboard/mouse and a vga/dvi/hdmi extension cable and just get that box out of there.

That is a complete 100% foolproof guaranteed solution.

If you absolutely definitely can not do that, get a cardioid dynamic and get as close to it as you can. I'm talking inches.
Keep the noise source directly behind the mic and as far away as possible.
Use a high pass filter around or above 100hz if there's bassy noise in your recordings.

That really is the best I can offer you.
 
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