Brand new Mic is a hissing mess! How can I fix it?

Hey, guys.

I went to town today and bought a new mic and it's got all kinds of hiss and white noise (throughout all the frequencies, low end and high).  It's nearly impossible to dial out!
The mic itself is a Samson Q7 plugged into my computer via a USB cable called the Sony LightSnake.  I bought both today, and neither can be refunded (though they can be replaced if there's some sort of problem, which this may be), so I'm really nervous about all this.

I don't know where the noise comes from, but I think it's probably the LightSnake.  The cheap little behringer xenyx I had added a similar bothersome noise (or rather, the little behringer USB soundcard that I used with the mixer added the noise, I'm not sure which).  At any rate, I'm sick and tired of dealing with all this hiss in my recordings, which was the reason why I opted for the simpler solution of an XLR->USB soundcard/cable combo like the LightSnake.

Anyways, I load up Cakewalk and I record dead silence.  When I play it back I get noise -- not oppressive noise, but definitely noticeable and annoying enough to be a bother (it's a hiss and white noise that is audible over both silence and other audio).  I tried to gate it out or remove the noise with vsts and EQ, but it just makes the sound quality suck and doesn't really get rid of all the noise.  I don't get this noise when I record from the stereo mix.  All of this leads me to believe that the LightSnake is the culprit.

Stuff I've tried to fix it (but that has failed):
1) I tried turning off AGC -- the noise got quieter, but then I have to yell to be audible in the recording and the noise is still there, just a little quieter
2) I tried using a different computer -- same noise hissing away
3) I tried moving the mic away from the computer (by about 10 feet, also facing away from the computer) -- no change
4) I tried recording the LightSnake on its own without the mic (just the cable plugged into the PC without the mic attached to it) -- the recording was still noisy
5) I've tried different USB ports on the computer -- no change


More info (may or may not be relevant):
1) I'm running Windows Vista 64-bit (but I also tried my 32-bit Vista and it also was noisy)
2) I tried recording with Cakewalk Music Creator 5 and Windows sound recorder (both were noisy)
3) The room I'm in is quiet and the only sound is the computer fans (which are more of a whine than a hiss, besides that the hiss persisted when I tried recording from 10 feet away from the computer with the unidirectional mic facing away from it)

I really dig this mic so far and it sounds just fine, I just can't seem to get the sound to record without hissing and white noise grumbling in the background.  It's really disheartening because one of the main reasons I bought this setup was to eliminate the noise I've been dealing with lately.

If anyone can help me out, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks for your time.


EDIT:  It bears mentioning that I'm not a recording guru.  If at all possible, I'd appreciate a little spoonfeeding.  Give it to me like I'm 10 years old, because as far as my knowledge of recording goes, I may as well be.

You ought to be able to get a great, no noise, sound from a cheap mic into the Xenex mixer and then into a Sound Blaster.


Perhaps you should drop back and re evaluate.

best regards,
mike

I'm thinking it might be the LightSnake thing myself...I had that for awhile here and it didst do the noise thing. 

A new sound card like the Edirol mentioned by Matt would really be a great investment as well....

Well, it looks like there aren't a whole lot of solutions this side of spend-more-money-to-sound-better...

Wish I could have tried out this setup before I opened the box(es) and ended up here :\

Oh, well.  I can use this for now.  Just gotta turn down the volume and the AGC and yell into the mic (still 100x better than the headset mic I've been using since my move).

You are are a voice of reason bitflipper.  I think I'll ditch this LightSnake ASAP for as much as I can and get a preamp.  Maybe here in a payday or two I can try again.

To the ebay!  (craigslist, whatever)

Peace out, cakewalk crew!

Roland has a newer model than the UA-25EX now, which is the Roland Quad-Capture.

I'd recommend the newer one...

Really stable at low latency, clean pres, I set it up out of the box and don't need to touch it unless I'm plugging something into it.

It's bullet-proof.

I've had a couple of cheaper units before this which have since been binned and given that experience I'd say the Quad was a proper entry level unit as far as no compromise decent quality and usability goes.

Just wait a coupla more paydays.

Keep the Xenyx as a patchbay for keys, guits, CD's etc.

Great ideas on here about the Quad-Capture! 

Chappel

mattplaysguitar


It does look pretty. I will admit, I do want it. Come to think of it, I'm a little annoyed with the advanced switch on the Edirol. When in SONAR, I have to switch it to advanced, but just for normal activities, it runs best in normal as if I'm playing movies or music through normal programs, it stutters every now and then. So it's a bit of a hassle having to unplug and refresh every time I switch back and forth. The quad capture doesn't have this button so I guess it's not an issue. 

Also not having a dedicated headphone switch in the Edirol is very annoying - which the Quad Caputre has fixed.   

As for latency, I can get 1-2ms and stable. So I'm pretty happy with that!

Next time I make a purchase I'll go something like an 8-Pre which I can daizy chain for future advancements if I want to move to 16 ins. The Octa-Caputre looks quite nice. Or maybe a Motu 8 Pre.

When the advanced switch is enabled it uses its own driver. When the advanced switch is disabled it uses the Windows driver. The sample rate you select on the UA25EX must be one that is compatible with Windows. Personally, I prefer using a separate audio device to play Window sounds so each device is dedicated to a single application. I've been doing it that way for years and have never had a single problem. I use my USB audio Interface for Sonar, and my Realtek audio device for everything else.

Oh OK. I record at 48, so that makes sense. Oh well, used to it now!