Kelleytoons
New member
I used to know a lot about recording. USED TO being the operative words. Back in the day we had analog equipment and reel-to-reel and it was easy to get quality, good sound, even from my fairly deep voice.
The modern age has whipped me. I'm trying to use a USB mic and for the life of me I can't get decent sound, not like the sound I could get with just an old $40 Shure mic hooked up to even a cheap tape deck. Now my spending a few hundred dollars can't get close to that sound. So I'm an idiot, or doing something wrong, but I was hoping someone here could at least point me in the right direction.
I tried the Blue Yeti first because of reviews and now I'm trying an Audio Technica 2020+ (again, reviews). Both are USB mics and I've tried using Voice Meter to preprocess the output but with or without that my vocals all sound *terrible*. They are boomy (but don't tell me I'm too close -- standing further back does nothing to help) and sound as if I'm recording in the worse location in the world (and my computer room is relatively quiet -- there are some fan noises around three feet away but without speaking they don't seem to pick up at all). I have the mics on my desk, which IS a hard surface but is covered by so much crap it could hardly be an echoy one (but I can try a stand if folks think it will help -- I have many stands, again, from the non-digital age). With these cardioid mics I am sure I have them facing the right way, but it sounds like I'm at the bottom of a barrel.
Any clues? I'm kind of loathe to dig out my XLR converter to use my older mics because I'd then be plugging into my computer's mic input which *can't* be good, I wouldn't think (and I do not want to spend $$$ on a decent sound card -- been down that road and it's a rabbit hole I'll never dig my way out of again... unless that's the only way to fix this issue). I know LOTS of other folks get decent sound out of their USB mics because I've heard it on their podcats and such, but how?
The modern age has whipped me. I'm trying to use a USB mic and for the life of me I can't get decent sound, not like the sound I could get with just an old $40 Shure mic hooked up to even a cheap tape deck. Now my spending a few hundred dollars can't get close to that sound. So I'm an idiot, or doing something wrong, but I was hoping someone here could at least point me in the right direction.
I tried the Blue Yeti first because of reviews and now I'm trying an Audio Technica 2020+ (again, reviews). Both are USB mics and I've tried using Voice Meter to preprocess the output but with or without that my vocals all sound *terrible*. They are boomy (but don't tell me I'm too close -- standing further back does nothing to help) and sound as if I'm recording in the worse location in the world (and my computer room is relatively quiet -- there are some fan noises around three feet away but without speaking they don't seem to pick up at all). I have the mics on my desk, which IS a hard surface but is covered by so much crap it could hardly be an echoy one (but I can try a stand if folks think it will help -- I have many stands, again, from the non-digital age). With these cardioid mics I am sure I have them facing the right way, but it sounds like I'm at the bottom of a barrel.
Any clues? I'm kind of loathe to dig out my XLR converter to use my older mics because I'd then be plugging into my computer's mic input which *can't* be good, I wouldn't think (and I do not want to spend $$$ on a decent sound card -- been down that road and it's a rabbit hole I'll never dig my way out of again... unless that's the only way to fix this issue). I know LOTS of other folks get decent sound out of their USB mics because I've heard it on their podcats and such, but how?