High quality Microphone suddenly LOW VOLUME!

G

gabbyman

New member
Hello everybody my name is Gabe,
Now i'm here because i need some experts to help me out with a problem that is bothering me in those weeks,

Recently, like 2 or 3 months ago i bought a really good Microphone around 600$. It's a TLM 102 from Neumann, really good quality, perfect and clear sound in my opinion.

Now, you need to know that i use this microphone everyday, the Audio interface it's always ON for hours and so the microphone.

I'm a youtuber so i have to record videos everyday and have it always rec - ready.

So all was going fine until some days ago, i went into a TeamSpeak with friends and they said me: Gabe, your mic is really low, we can't hear you good. So i cheked the options in Teamspeak and yeah, my voice was really low and muffled compared to usual.

So i went in Adobe Audition ( The software that i use for recording) and made some tests, the Microphone was really low volume for his standards and the worst it was like it losed some quality, like my voice was like less substantial, and yes i have tried to turn up the volume on the audio interface (a Focusrite Scarlet 2i4) but the quality loss is still noticable.

So what's the problem the Audio Inteface or the Mic?
I have made some tests:

I have tryed with another XLR mic (an audio technica AT2020) the sound was fine, and the volume was higher with the same settings on the interface.

I have made some tests with my old audio interface too (BehringerQ502usb) and the mic had the same problems. I have made the tests even in another PC, same results.

So what the problem can be?
The microphone broke himself? Why did the mic lost gain? (it has not buttons for that) Is that possibile?

Thank you for reading and the answers.

It is in warranty so i can probably take another one free.

Sorry for my english, i'm not the best at it.

-Gabby
 
Hi Gabe, from your tests it would indeed seem that the microphone is faulty. This has to be a very rare event with gear of the quality of Neumann's but I guess anything can happen?

Just one point to clarify? You did plug the second, working mic into the SAME XLR cable as the Neumann?

Dave.
 
I'm just curious why you thought you needed a Neumann TLM 102 at $600 for something like TeamSpeak...?

I mean, you could do as well with a $100 SM57 or even something less costly if you're just using it to talk with other gamers across the Internet while you play games.
 
ecc83 said:
Hi Gabe, from your tests it would indeed seem that the microphone is faulty. This has to be a very rare event with gear of the quality of Neumann's but I guess anything can happen?

Just one point to clarify? You did plug the second, working mic into the SAME XLR cable as the Neumann?

Dave.
Click to expand...

I have tried with 2 different XLR cables so i suppose that's not the problem.
Now i have made another test in a Third PC (note that all my PC are in different rooms so ECHO is different.
I have used my old audio interface (Behringer)

This time the sound seemed more clear and normal, but maybe because the room had more echo, but in the room where i record with the audio isolated panels, and no echo, is still bad!

with the new and old interface and in mine and my brother PC's the sound is still bad.
 
miroslav said:
I'm just curious why you thought you needed a Neumann TLM 102 at $600 for something like TeamSpeak...?

I mean, you could do as well with a $100 SM57 or even something less costly if you're just using it to talk with other gamers across the Internet while you play games.
Click to expand...
I'm not using it just to talk on teamspeak but i'm using it for recording professional videos on Youtube.

And sice i use it very often i'm too lazy to switch microphones.
 
gabbyman said:
I have tried with 2 different XLR cables so i suppose that's not the problem.
Now i have made another test in a Third PC (note that all my PC are in different rooms so ECHO is different.
I have used my old audio interface (Behringer)

This time the sound seemed more clear and normal, but maybe because the room had more echo, but in the room where i record with the audio isolated panels, and no echo, is still bad!

with the new and old interface and in mine and my brother PC's the sound is still bad.
Click to expand...

Ooo! Don't complicate things for this poor old med ridden brain! Can you post an early (good) ten seconds and subsequent bad one? And I would get an email off to Ns pronto! You never know, they might have had a glitch and have a bad batch? ***t'appen.

Dave.
 
Are you in a location where the humidity might be high? Microphone capsules/diaphragms don't like moisture and perhaps simply drying the mic out with desiccant packs in plastic bag could bring it back.
 
Probably not the case since you don't move the mic between uses and you've tried it on other devices, but are you sure you're using the correct side? Side-address mics are easy to get turned around.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
Probably not the case since you don't move the mic between uses and you've tried it on other devices, but are you sure you're using the correct side? Side-address mics are easy to get turned around.
Click to expand...

That's the first thing that came to mind here as well. It's embarrassing, but it happens!
 
bouldersoundguy said:
Probably not the case since you don't move the mic between uses and you've tried it on other devices, but are you sure you're using the correct side? Side-address mics are easy to get turned around.
Click to expand...

Possibly turned around, but that Neumann red badge on the front is hard to not notice being towards you and he did swap it for another mic, so I would believe he might have noticed it then an oriented the proper way.
 
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