I get this high level of low rumbling noise, almost like "wind". It's not the house air or anything.
 
Thing is it's not soundcard or mic dependent, or even OS. Because I've different combos of that. Only thing that has been constant is the computer and space.
 
It's really freaking me out, and it will go away for a long period of time. It;s intermittent.
 
I have a M-audio Fast track ultra, and m-audio Nova, mic and an MXL 990. Like I said, the sound card doesn't matter, because it did the same thing with my emu PCI card, so it doesn't matter if USB or PCI. I've tried different cables too.
 
I'm going to try a totally different computer in the same space and see what happens.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Both mics?

Intermittent?

Hmmmm,

Two thoughts... if it's one mic, it might be a cap going bad inside the actual mic and causing some DC to leak onto your signal.

Another thought.... are you at a high gain setting? It surprising what is going on at low level down in the low frequencies. When I use real;ly high gain it's easy to hear the neighbors AC unit through my walls... and the neighbor is thousands of feet away. That's what a lo-cut on the mic is for.

Third thought: it could be just about anything else.

My ribbon mics are noisy... I usually use them at high gain settings... so the rumble can be a problem if I don't work with it and find a good balance.

best regards,
mike

Seem to have just "went away". I don't know what I did. Except just start using it anyway at a really low gain setting, then brought it up once the the "ghost wind rumbling" went away.

Maybe it just likes to be used more often...... Electronics like to be used....

That's good news!

That might indicate an unfulfilled capacitor rather than a leaky one.

I agree with you, electronics benefit from frequent use.

best,
mike

mike_mccue


That's good news!

That might indicate an unfulfilled capacitor rather than a leaky one.

I agree with you, electronics benefit from frequent use.

best,
mike

Maybe just too humid. Capsule might have dried out.

I've read about humidity affects, and simliar problems. It's been very humid here, and I'm in the basement.

Sump pump.

Seriously though, I've heard this sort of noise with cheaper preamps before.  It's seemed to me that the pot was making poor contact...possibly dust or something in there causing it to make "partial" contact...

I believe I know the sound you're talking about.  Not so bad that it's a problem while you're playing, but certainly above the normal noise floor if you'r not playing?

When you're having the problem, have you taken to gain knob and cranked it back and forth?  I'd be curious if the sound changed, or even went away at certain points of the rotation.

Just a thought.

My LDC mic's were acting up again. After reading on some forums about humidity having negative affects. I turned on the AC overnight (it was 93% humidity), then in the morning I put a mic under an incandescent bulb for 15 minutes.
 
Plugged the mic in, cranked the gain, and voila! No strange ghost noise, perfectly quiet, except for expected ambient noise.
 
I don't know if because they are "cheap" mics, that they are more susceptible to this or what. But I need to find a way to keep the things away from humidity, storing in a dessicant chamber or something.
 
I realize I need another test to really confirm this, and it's not just coincidental, but I'm pretty confident I found the cause of my problems.

guitardog247


My LDC mic's were acting up again. After reading on some forums about humidity having negative affects. I turned on the AC overnight (it was 93% humidity), then in the morning I put a mic under an incandescent bulb for 15 minutes.
 
Plugged the mic in, cranked the gain, and voila! No strange ghost noise, perfectly quiet, except for expected ambient noise.
 
I don't know if because they are "cheap" mics, that they are more susceptible to this or what. But I need to find a way to keep the things away from humidity, storing in a dessicant chamber or something.
 
I realize I need another test to really confirm this, and it's not just coincidental, but I'm pretty confident I found the cause of my problems.

You can try storing the mic in a air tight box with a silica gell.  That should do it. Shouldn't even need to be air tight in most cases. Most mics are shipped with a silica gell packet in the box but you can buy them on e-bay and other places. Gun collectors and all kinds of folks use that stuff for storage it's dirt cheap.

Condensor mic capsules are very high impedance and just an air gap cap so any humidity can cause noise.