Samson R11 problem

[FireZtreaM]

After a long fight between me, the cable and the adapter, i finally won! But to win i had to bring out my multimeter, some other cables and a few other things.

It was too tight to put any kind of insulation on the 6.3 mm plug. I simply couldn't get the adapter on to the plug without the insulation being scraped off, which resulted in that middle ring to be grounded anyway. But after using an extension cord that was a little bit more loose fit, i could get that insulation on there.. And you know what? It worked with the generic usb sound card. The one that didn't work at all before. So the middle ring being grounded was the problem in that case.

The other one however, the realtek sound card, still records my voice very low. But i'm starting to think that sound card is a problem by itself. I might need a microphone amplifier for that one to work.

Unfortunately the generic usb sound card picked up TOO much sound now. Doesn't matter what i do, it's picking up the sound from writing on my keyboard louder than me speaking. I guess the nanoverb somehow filters that out or something like that. Because with the nanoverb connected, it's not as sensitive for sounds like that. I guess i'll have to keep using this nanoverb for now even tho i was hoping to remove it.

Anyway, a big thank you to both of you, Steenamaroo and arcaxis, for helping me figure this out!

 

[Steenamaroo]

Hey,
No problem. Glad to help, if I can.

Also glad you figured something out.

It may seem like the mic picks up more keyboard than voice through whichever set up, but that won't be the case.
Mic position remaining the same, the ratio of keyboard to voice will be the same regardless of gain, even if it seems louder.

Did you ever look in the windows settings to see if you can boost the signal when using the realtek mic input? Chances are you probably can.
If not then you're right - The mic could probably use a better preamp.

If you go down that road, though, please come back and ask for suggestions because, at that stage, it'd be much better to just take realtek/no brand USB/3.5mm plugs out of the equation,
and get yourself a nicer all-in-one solution, or even just a decent USB mic.

All depends what you intend to do with it but, for now, enjoy.


Edit: I should tag ECC83 in. He'll be so happy someone used a multimeter!
Thanks again for your patience with the auto-moderation thing.

 

[FireZtreaM]

Hey,
No problem. Glad to help, if I can.

Also glad you figured something out.

It may seem like the mic picks up more keyboard than voice through whichever set up, but that won't be the case.
Mic position remaining the same, the ratio of keyboard to voice will be the same regardless of gain, even if it seems louder.

Here's a picture of the sound recognition bar in mumble. That's the easiest way for me to see how much sound the microphone is picking up.
Dropbox - microphone_test.png

As you can see, no matter how you look at it, it's picking up the sound from the keyboard louder than my voice when i've got it connected to the computer directly. So no matter what settings i have, if i have it so that it will pick up my voice, it will also pick up the sound from my keyboard.
I have no clue what's causing this, and i know it's not the microphone that's picking up more sound. It's strange, but it's definitely happening.

Did you ever look in the windows settings to see if you can boost the signal when using the realtek mic input? Chances are you probably can.
If not then you're right - The mic could probably use a better preamp.

If you go down that road, though, please come back and ask for suggestions because, at that stage, it'd be much better to just take realtek/no brand USB/3.5mm plugs out of the equation,
and get yourself a nicer all-in-one solution, or even just a decent USB mic.

All depends what you intend to do with it but, for now, enjoy.


Edit: I should tag ECC83 in. He'll be so happy someone used a multimeter!
Thanks again for your patience with the auto-moderation thing.

Yes, i actually tried to use the boost when i connected it to the realtek sound card the other day, but i'm not even gonna bother recording a sample for you.. It sounds REALLY aweful with boost turned on.

And about buying a new mic. I've actually been thinking of doing that, but i have no clue what i should even look for. I need something that doesn't pick up too much of the sound from me writing on my keyboard, but at the same time, it has to pick up my voice clearly. I've been looking at something called "shotgun microphones", but those seem to be really expensive. I've found one called "Audio-Technica ATR-6550", that's really inexpensive, but when looking at reviews, it sounds like there's alot of hissing in the background from that mic. Is there any other good alternatives? Or maybe i should look for some other kind of microphone completely?

EDIT: And about the multimeter.. It's one of the best tools you can own when working with anything with any electronic devices!

 

[Steenamaroo]

Here's a picture of the sound recognition bar in mumble. That's the easiest way for me to see how much sound the microphone is picking up.
Dropbox - microphone_test.png

As you can see, no matter how you look at it, it's picking up the sound from the keyboard louder than my voice when i've got it connected to the computer directly. So no matter what settings i have, if i have it so that it will pick up my voice, it will also pick up the sound from my keyboard.
I have no clue what's causing this, and i know it's not the microphone that's picking up more sound. It's strange, but it's definitely happening.

This is strange. It's basically impossible without some other variable.
I'm assuming your microphone is staying in the same position between tests, right?
Also, I take it your computer does not have a built in microphone that you could be using by accident? Sounds silly, but that has happened before.

Beyond that, I've no idea why the relationship between direct and background noise should/would be altered.

If this change is observed when you switch between the built-in soundcard and the USB device, I guess it could be that windows software has some filtering or processing going on?
A noise gate, or a limiter...depending on which way round this is happening?
Long shot.

And about buying a new mic. I've actually been thinking of doing that, but i have no clue what i should even look for. I need something that doesn't pick up too much of the sound from me writing on my keyboard, but at the same time, it has to pick up my voice clearly. I've been looking at something called "shotgun microphones", but those seem to be really expensive. I've found one called "Audio-Technica ATR-6550", that's really inexpensive, but when looking at reviews, it sounds like there's alot of hissing in the background from that mic. Is there any other good alternatives? Or maybe i should look for some other kind of microphone completely?

In the long run, some sort of replacement or upgrade is probably the best idea.
There's a few things to consider and it's good to do that now...not afterwards.

For maximum exclusion of background noise I generally recommend dynamic mics because they're more forgiving with plosives and airblasts.
That means you can get very close to them without issue. <-signal(voice) to noise(background) ratio.

Going a step farther, something like an re20 often gets mentioned because it has limited proximity effect. That means your voice won't get super bassy up close like it would with a 58 or 7b.
Some like that, some hate it. Whatever...

The down sides are you you really will need a good preamp (or interface with good preamps) otherwise you'll still be fighting hiss and what not.
In addition, some people don't want a mic in their face, particularly if they're doing video work or whatever.

A condenser mic will be much more sensitive and have a much hotter output which means lower gain required and less chance of hearing hiss from budget preamps,
but the chances are you'll want to keep a bit more distance from it and then the room noise is suddenly a big issue again.
If this is being considered and you're only ever going to want one channel for one voice, a USB condenser mic might be a decent option.

Shotgun mics are cool. Maybe overkill, I dont' know. I don't really have much experience with them.
I don't know how practical they'd be in a home setup but hopefully someone else can comment on that.

I guess the last option is a headset but I haven't seen good results from those on here. Like anything, though, you get what you pay for so maybe the expensive ones are great. Who knows...
Hopefully someone else can comment on that too.


For what it's worth, I have an re20 on my desk that I use at 1' distance maximum for teamspeak/discord etc.
Some background noise is audible, but not enough that I feel the need to do anything about it.

What are your plans? What are you intending to use this setup for?

 

[arcaxis]

Might have been asked already.... how close are you to the mic? The further away you are the more gain you need and this increased gain may tend to make the mic more prone to picking up ambient sounds in the room such as the keyboard. A lot of people that are using video want the mic out of view which puts the mic further from the speaker and more susceptible to room sounds.
The Samson R11 appears to be a hypercardioid mic and its pattern may pickup a bit of sound behind it, which possibly could be where the keyboard is positioned(?). A cardioid patterned mic might be a better choice.