Members Giorgi Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 Hello guys, I recently bought teh mic!1! And a cable. I thought the latter was damaged or something, because I'm getting a very annoying high frequency sound - it's not ambient noise, it's too loud. Anyways, I went back to the shop - we tested my mic with my own cable and it worked perfectly on a pretty high volume - nothing, everything is clean. At home I go through my USB interface: Lexicon Alpha, the guitar sound is pretty good with it, clean and all... Is it possible that the microphone plug has this huge problem? The lexicon is also new. Thanks Edit: the noise appears when I start a recording program... Default windows recording program or FL Studio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members danbronson Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 How high is the gain set on the Lexicon's mic preamp? Some preamps get noisy at high gain levels and the SM57 can require a lot of gain in some situations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Giorgi Posted January 7, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 How high is the gain set on the Lexicon's mic preamp? Some preamps get noisy at high gain levels and the SM57 can require a lot of gain in some situations. I've tweaked the gain - it's directly proportional to the amount of noise. If I reduce the noise (by reducing the gain) I also drastically reduce what's being recorded and it becomes unusable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted January 8, 2010 Members Share Posted January 8, 2010 SM57s are dead quiet being a dynamic mic so you either have something set wrong on the interface or maybe it has some DB level settings you dont know about. You need to use a mic cord with a low impediance XLR connector to plug the mic into the interface. The input needs to be MIC level. You dont want to have a guitar jack on the end of the mic cord and be running it high impediance like you would a guitar. You wind up having to turn the gain way up running a mic high impediance and wind up getting alot of noise. If you only have a high impediance input, You need to use a low impediance mic cord and use a low to high impediance transformer on the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members danbronson Posted January 8, 2010 Members Share Posted January 8, 2010 I've tweaked the gain - it's directly proportional to the amount of noise. If I reduce the noise (by reducing the gain) I also drastically reduce what's being recorded and it becomes unusable. Well, there's your problem and solution. Keep the gain low. If I have something that is recorded too low, I will sometimes normalize to -5 dB or so to make it easier to work with. As long as you're recording in 24 bit, it should be okay. Ultimately, get a better interface, or at least just better pres. Or use a more appropriate mic. The SM57 is known for its use on snare drums and guitar cabs. Those are very loud sources. If you're using it for quieter stuff, you're going to need a lot of gain, so maybe just use a different mic. Condensers tend to put out a lot more level. When I've got a fingerpicked acoustic or a quiet vocalist to record, my 57 is the very last mic I'd reach for (though I removed the transformer from mine and lost another ~12 dB of output, so mine is QUIET). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MarvinDog Posted January 8, 2010 Members Share Posted January 8, 2010 Could the noise be ambient noise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Giorgi Posted January 8, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 8, 2010 Could the noise be ambient noise? No it really isn't. Plus, I don't think you guys actually understood my problem. When I plug the microphone in the interface and pull the gain all the way up there's no annoying hiss - when I'm NOT RUNNING ANY PROGRAMS... Whenever I run a sound/recording program that's when the noise starts! (I tried Windows standard recording soft and FL Studio, the latter being totally usable with my guitar and the same interface) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members danbronson Posted January 8, 2010 Members Share Posted January 8, 2010 I was assuming that you only heard the noise with a DAW running because then monitoring was enabled. That's not the case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Giorgi Posted January 8, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 8, 2010 I was assuming that you only heard the noise with a DAW running because then monitoring was enabled. That's not the case? Hmm well, that may be it. However I don't see why it would create significantly more noise when monitored? Also your solution of keeping the gain low is really unusable, the noise is just so important that even very loud vocals wouldn't be loud enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MarvinDog Posted January 9, 2010 Members Share Posted January 9, 2010 What computer (e.g., desktop, laptop, mac, pc)?Where is your equipment located (e.g., equipment closet, in the room, etc)?Where is the building located (e.g., urban, rural, suburban, industrial)?How is sound isolated in the room?What sort of room is this (e.g., converted bedroom, purpose-built studio, living room)?What lighting is in the room?How is your gear placed in the room?Is the mic cable XLR at one end and TS on the other? Or TSR? Or XLR at both ends? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Giorgi Posted January 9, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 9, 2010 What computer (e.g., desktop, laptop, mac, pc)?Where is your equipment located (e.g., equipment closet, in the room, etc)?Where is the building located (e.g., urban, rural, suburban, industrial)?How is sound isolated in the room?What sort of room is this (e.g., converted bedroom, purpose-built studio, living room)?What lighting is in the room?How is your gear placed in the room?Is the mic cable XLR at one end and TS on the other? Or TSR? Or XLR at both ends? Your first questions would be useful to know if the background noise is indeed ambient noise. However, do you think that ambient noise can amplify itself 100x fold when you launch a DAW / recording program - with the same amount of volume? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MarvinDog Posted January 9, 2010 Members Share Posted January 9, 2010 Your first questions would be useful to know if the background noise is indeed ambient noise. However, do you think that ambient noise can amplify itself 100x fold when you launch a DAW / recording program - with the same amount of volume? 1. You'd be surprised how much ambient noise can be noticed in a recording, but not in the room itself.2. Those questions are also useful if Electo-Magnetic Interference is causing your problems.3. How about recording the noise and posting it here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Giorgi Posted January 10, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 10, 2010 1. You'd be surprised how much ambient noise can be noticed in a recording, but not in the room itself.2. Those questions are also useful if Electo-Magnetic Interference is causing your problems.3. How about recording the noise and posting it here? Here's the recording Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MarvinDog Posted January 10, 2010 Members Share Posted January 10, 2010 What computer (e.g., desktop, laptop, mac, pc)?Is the mic cable XLR at one end and TS on the other? Or TSR? Or XLR at both ends? ? Sounds like something's misconnected. The cable question is the most important. Is the cable XLR at one end and TS at the other? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Giorgi Posted January 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 11, 2010 ?Sounds like something's misconnected. The cable question is the most important. Is the cable XLR at one end and TS at the other? Nop, it's XLR on the interface and XLR on the microphone. The computer is a laptop - good specs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MarvinDog Posted January 11, 2010 Members Share Posted January 11, 2010 Can you take your interface (and mic and cable) into the shop and see if it's your interface? From the cruddy speakers in my laptop, it sounds like noise from using a long unbalanced cable with gear expecting balanced, which is why I asked what cable you're using. I know your interface is supposed to work with either, but it sounds like the mic in on the Alpha is faulty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Giorgi Posted January 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 11, 2010 Can you take your interface (and mic and cable) into the shop and see if it's your interface? From the cruddy speakers in my laptop, it sounds like noise from using a long unbalanced cable with gear expecting balanced, which is why I asked what cable you're using. I know your interface is supposed to work with either, but it sounds like the mic in on the Alpha is faulty. Well that's pretty bad Cos the cable and mic were tested out and seemed ok. I guess I'll bring the interface as well. Thanks a lot ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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