Rookie recording question: background static

That's a challenge for me, too. My home studio room is in the basement and on just the other side of the wall is the furnace/A/C and hot water heater. And I've got a pretty quiet computer but still there is some fan noise. When I'm recording a rock song that's going to have drums, electric guitar, etc. it's usually a non-issue if I pick up a small amount of noise. But recently I was trying to record a quiet arpeggiated acoustic guitar part and of course right in the middle of a good take - whoosh - here comes the A/C kicking on! Short of having a full-fledged isolation booth, you could always look into purchasing something like this:

SMPro Isolation Panel

or I guess trying to make something on your own. Also, make sure you're not using cheap cables - you'd be surprised how much noise they can create.

I'm not using a preamp, I was told that I had all I needed with the mic and software.

well - just to clarify - you ARE using a preamp or you wouldn't be able to record with a microphone. I think by your description you're using the computer's onboard soundcard with your mic plugged into the mic input of that, correct? if so, then the soundcard you are plugging into has a preamp built in.

however, the onboard soundcards and preamps are really pretty bad for recording. they're usually very noisey and always have a lot of latency (which may or may not bother you for your voice over purpose).

I would advise getting a better soundcard - either external with built in preamps, or an internal (which most do not have builtin preamps) plus a small mixer. a couple of inexpensive choices would be either the EMU-0404 USB ($200) or the internal PCI M-audio 2496 plus a Behringer Xenyx 802 ($160 total) - but you can't use that 2nd combination with a laptop - you didn't specify if you had a desktop or laptop.

check my website for some other recommendations.

I don't think you really need a vocal booth per se - I don't have one in my studio and the noise is very controllable. if your room is poor and has a lot of early reflections, you can reduce the problems by putting blankets on the walls around you or even stand old mattresses up on the wall in front and behind you (and even on the sides if you can).

BTW - your signature is my favorite verse and I have a song I wrote on my website that incorporates that verse in it! (song: My Savior on the Beaglesounds link)

A decent preamp will help. It's probable that you don't have a good impedance match between your mic and your sound card. A good preamp will let you get the gain up without adding too much electronic noise.

(The microphone itself also adds some noise of its own, but I'm not about to tell you to buy a new microphone. Somebody else might, though.)

You need to try and determine if the noise is electronic or ambient. "Hissing" makes me think it's mainly high-frequency noise, probably originating from your computer's fans and maybe air-conditioning.

If it's just a matter of too high a gain in a too-noisy room, as opposed to noisy electronics, you can effectively block high frequencies with sheets of 703 rigid fiberglass. If it's impractical to build an enclosure around yourself and the mic, then build a smaller enclosure around the mic. 703 works wonders with fan noise, too. Just place a sheet between the computer and your microphone.

Also, make sure your microphone is facing away from the computer. It's a cardiod pickup pattern, which means its much less sensitive off the rear of the mic.

Maybe THIS will help. Has anyone here tried one of these? I have been thinking about getting one myself.