Ableton Forum

I have tried searching but didn't find anything about my specific problem.

I have a Samson C01U USB condenser mic connected directly to my ASUS laptop.

When I monitor the mic input in Ableton I can hear a prominent hiss (white noise type) and with a few tonal elements which could be from the laptops internal organs.

What has confused me is I have tried putting the mic outside the room covered by a blanket and closing the door, but the noise seems unchanged. It's as though the background noise is being picked up through the USB cable.

Has anyone had any experience with this problem? Any idea what I can try to solve it?

Thanks in advance

I guess you only tried searching on here and not via Google then.....

It seems the general consensus that this mic is hissy.

A Sound On Sound review I found called it a low end mic, and as it costs around £70 I'd have to agree.

You'd be far better off with a standard mic and an external USB pre-amp or sound card with a mic input.

....but since you do have it

you might make it better by lowering the mic/rec levels in your computer, make sure there is no mic boost on...try to find the right balance

last resorts..eq8 on the channel to minimize the hiss...and noise reduction after the fact...

@102455

I intend to invest in some new gear in the near future but until then I will have to do the best with what I have. I'm fully aware it's a low end mic, I paid under £50 for it. If the hissyness is something I can't avoid without investing more money then I will just have to put up with it! I'm only recording for fun at the moment so it will suffice.

@simmerdown

I have played with the mic level and there are no boost settings. It makes a slight difference but I guess I will just have to deal with the hiss until I get a new mic.

Thanks all for the help.

try a quality powered USB hub. laptops have notoriously noisy power supplies, they're not made for audiophiles. a USB cable with a 'choke' in it might help.

Ah thanks Tone Deft, I have a D-Link USB hub somewhere. Is it worth digging out you think?

wouldn't hurt to try it, I doubt it'll be any worse. I'd be curious to see what the results are.

I have a similar problem but I think there's a different solution. I have this same problem with my at2020 usb mic. At first I hadn't downloaded the asio driver that was recommended. The mic was clear and recognizable but had a lot of latency. (This being the reason I installed asio4all) now there is no latency but a background noise I have a hunch is the same as the problem here. After checking the options/prefrences I noticed that my mic was not included on the list of input devices the recordings I was getting were from the built in computer mic. ( reason for bad quality) I think this might be your problem as well. Any thoughts on this? Thanks to user dot3 I have come this far. My gut tells me this is a soundcard issue of some kind.