PC Mic won't work

HeMan_3

Hi all, my girlfriend is trying to record some narrative for a video she has made on her PC. She asked me to sort out the microphone for this which prompted me to go out and buy a USB one (Logitech approx £20.00).

This seemed to work fine however there was too much background noise so I returned it.

I then went out and purchased a normal hi-fi mic ( uni-directional) with a small jack (fits in the mic in port)

And tried that however am getting nothing out of it. I have tried it on two other PCs and am getting no sound in.

I though it was the mic so I replaced it but the same has happened again.

I have checked the mic in the volume control and it is selected. The mic is switched on and the volume turned up so I don’t know what else to do.

I have also noticed that a long time ago (when Windows 95 was just released) when I plugged the mic in, I could immediately hear my self speaking through the speakers. This has not happened with either the normal or USB mic, have things changed in XP, as it worked in windows 95??

Any how could anyone give me some advice please about getting the microphone working.

I mean is there a difference between hi-fi mics and pc ones, and should I go with usb for quality of sound,

Any advice will be welcome,

Thanks!

G.

£$&*"($£&(

There can be a difference. Speaking off the top of my head, without doing any research, (although I do know something about these things due to knowledge of music recording) most normal mics are low impedance but computer mics are normally, if not always, high impedance and the mic input is designed for high impedance mics. I think that this means that normal mics will not work in a computer mic input.

The quality of a cheap computer mic into a mic input is likely to very poor for recording.

HeMan_3

would a usb mic be better?

£$&*"($£&(

I don't know though I wouldn't expect them to be much different. Going back to what you were saying about background noise. Was this hiss or was it picking up background noise in the room. Decent mics and I imagine cheap mics will always pick up room noise and this will include the fans and hard drives of computers. The only usb mic I've seen for proper recording is this one: http://www.macintouch.com/samsonc01u.html
It's a Mac review but its for PCs as well.

I've just plugged in my cheap computer mic and it's not picking up background but there is quite a lot of hiss. I guess your only options are something like the Samson and a quiet room (and I mean really quiet) or a very low hiss computer type mic.

A dynamic mic (what you refer to as hifi mic) and seperate interface (such as mixer or standalone mic preamp) feeding into the computers line in might work - these are less likely to pick up background noise but will still suffer from hiss. I guess your not looking to spend too much though.

HeMan_3

The background noise is a small hiss. I have muted all the other ine ins/outs to no effect.

I have purchased it from maplins ( UK site), and cou,d you tell me what range would be classed as high impedance.

Mr_Skint_2

Have you unplugged your speakers aswell (feedback) whilst recording?


Not forgetting to choose mic boost 1, Right Click Volume control Icon in the system Tray, and choose, Adjust Audio Properties, Audio Tab, Sound Recording Volume, Advanced, Tick Mic Boost 1.


If not that take out tick of mic boost 1 and just tick mic boost 2

£$&*"($£&(

The figures I've seen are:

Low Impedance (less than 600ohms)
Medium Impedance (600Ω - 10,000ohms)
High Impedance (greater than 10,000ohms)

Without a decent mic and decent mic preamp you'll always get hiss. A decent preamp will mean you have more headroom which means you don't need to turn the level (gain) so high thus reducing hiss.

One option is to use a noise supressor/noise gate in the audio recording software but you need the hiss as quiet as possible to start with so there's no significant effect on the thing your trying to record.

HeMan_3

what software woyld you recommend for basic naration with no effects. I currently have cakewalk but think it may be to adanvced for a novice user?

Mr_Skint_2

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Top bit of kit and free

drlight_2

Double click the sound icon & click Options => properties.
Under "adjust volume for" tick recording, & ok
You should have recording source panel
Check Mic and adjust the level you want to record, higher(more hiss & distortion) lower (quiter recording signal)
You should be able to adjust the level to get a clean signal, if not try moving the mic closer or further to your mouth.