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.

I'm going to take a guess that this LightSnake thing is the problem. It sounds just super cheap. I wouldn't be surprised if there is nothing wrong with it, it's just a cheap piece of equipment. Cheap equipment is usually noisy.

Would suggest you look into a new soundcard. They aren't too expensive. Something like an Edirol UA-25EX is great. If you're serious about recording, it's a worth investment and you can certainly get very very great recordings through them if you know what you're doing.

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

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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....

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

You identified the culprit right here.

I'm with Matt here a reasonably priced interface with a Phantom powered inbuilt mic pre is most likely the best way to go.

By the time you've tried 2 or 3 cheaper alternatives you will probably have spent as much money and still got nowhere close to a solution.

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).

The problem is that the output of the microphone is low, requiring a large amount of gain at the interface, and the quality of the LightSnake's analog components is not good enough to get that much gain quietly. Its specs say the maximum gain is 20db, so I'm guessing you're also getting very low recording levels that have to be turned up in SONAR, raising the noise floor. (Any acceptable mic pre would deliver 40 to 70db gain without excessive hiss.) It also has a very high input impedance (1 megohm), which is not ideal for a low-impedance microphone (increases noise - surprise!).

The least-expensive way out of this mess would be to try and recover some of your investment by dumping the LightSnake on Craigslist, and apply the proceeds to a better interface. And next time, buy from a source that will let you return a purchase that you're not satisfied with.

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!

I suggest you jump back on here and ask the crew before you make a purchase considering you're new to all this recording. There are lots of different options out there and you don't want to make the mistake of getting gear that is not going to really be up to scratch again!

I do highly recommend the Edirol UA-25EX but there are cheaper options out there that will still give you a satisfactory result. Roland has a newer model than the UA-25EX now, which is the Roland Quad-Capture. Should be essentially the same in terms of final result, just a few more little features. Much easier to buy as well as the Edirol is an outdated model. Much cheaper is a Tascam US122. I'd tend to suggest staying away from those as I've had compatibility issues with them as have other people. They are cheaper for a reason, but they can still get a great result. If you got the cash though, I suggest saving for something a little better quality cause it'll last and give you less risk of issues. In the early stages of your recording adventures, I can't see the sound quality difference in these two units being very significant. There are going to be much bigger bottlenecks in your sound chain to be worrying too much about things like that for now.