VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[Joniv]

I have a Samson C01U USB mic. It's really done very nicely in my home studio. I'm finding that I'm getting a slight bit of hum when recording. I can overcome it with the noisegate feature in Sonic Foundry, but would really prefer to find out the cause.

Could it be the mic, even though it's a USB mic and doesn't plug directly into my Turtle Beach/Santa Cruz sound card, or is this a cruddy sound card? Or should I be looking elsewhere?

I'll likely be getting a new computer soon that will come with a Sound Blaster Audigy X-Fi, 24-bit Xtreme Fidelity card. Is that any good?

Thanks for sharing!
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Joni Lambert
www.jonilambert.com

[bobsouer]

[steveanthony]

Have you always had the problem or has it been coming on? Has anything changed in the studio?

Also, alomg with what Bob suggested, try turning off just the video monitor and see if the hum goes away.

[CWToo]

If you unplug the mic is there still hum? And is the hum around 60 cycles?

The USB cable from the Mbox in my office runs through what might be charitably called a "tangle" of AC cords without any hums.

[Travis]

I've used the BLU Snowball USB Mic without hum problems. - There are problems, but not hum. The mic works beautifully out of a Mac, but has limited output going into a PC. I 'figgure the most likely cause is the power supply from the PC, since the mic's condensor, preamp, and logic are all powered through the USB line which comes from the computer. I've been very surprised, however that the sound from the mic is as clean as it is, when you consider that the power provided by the USB connectors aren't intended to prower audio equipment.

And that's your most likely source of the hum. Your computer is providing the power to a microphone mic-something the computer's designers never intended. I would suggest trying the mic on another computer, and see if the hum changes.

It might be necessary to try another power supply in your computer - or you might try one of those usb "hubs" with an external power supply. If you're using one of those hubs, you might try removing it, just to see of there's any change.
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Travis
www.VOTalent.com

[Rognog]

I had the same exact problem with that mic and that sound card. As a reault, I got a new mic, a Presonus Inspire 1394, and an insulated firwire cable and the hum decreased dramatically. I learned the hard way that you gotta spend a few bucks to get decent sound quality.
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Tom Dheere - The "H" is Silent, but I'm Not!
www.tomdheere.com

[Spacegypsy]

I also use a Samson CO1U when travelling, and there's no hum.
Could it be possible your settings in Windows are putting the sound through the sound card as well, which you don't need to do with the Samson?
Go into Control Panel, Sounds and Audio devices, and check that Samson is the audio input. You'll need to set your sound card as the output.
Also, if you have Windows XP Service Pack 2, you can download more features for your Samson mic from the Samson site which might enable you to tweak out any hum.
That and all the other things everyone else mentions above, of course!

[Joniv]

Well, I've found a way around it.

First, take a hammer.....ok, not really.

I did buy a new PC and it's much better. I also went to Samson's web site and found some software to download and that gives me more control, so I'm now so happy I'll do the dance of joy!

Thanks!
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Joni Lambert
www.jonilambert.com

[bobsouer]

Joni,

I'm delighted to see your good news. Much success to you.
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Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
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