UMC22 problems

[MonsieurPop]

Ok so I just bought a UMC22 for my shure SM58, but then when I plugged it in, I realized there was a lot of fuzzing and weird bacground noise. It's not really loud, but if I crank up the volume, it definitely noticeable. The problem is not with the mic itself or my room because even tho I unpplug my mic, the sound stays the same. Is this a common problem and is there any way to fix it. 

 

Thank you, you're the best!

[The Flying Sloth]

Crank up the volume on the interface (IE, audio out/headphones) or crank up the gain knob for the microphone?

If it's the volume on the interface it's possible that you accidentally have the direct monitoring button pressed and there are some grounding issues, otherwise it's possible that the cables going to your speakers aren't balanced and you're picking up interference there. If it's static over the headphone amp you're talking about, the UMC22 doesn't exactly have the most powerful amplifier chip and with 250ohm headphones like you use that's probably to be expected, aftermarket studio amplifiers can be had starting in the low 20ish dollar range.

If it's static on the mic gain, that shouldn't be coming through your speakers but could be visible in recordings, you're using a dynamic microphone which requires quite a lot of gain, hence my recommendation to utilise an inline preamp whenever someone considers using a dynamic mic. These will run about $20 for the basic Klark Teknik CT1 and honestly you don't need an expensive one.

Sloth

[MonsieurPop]

I don't run the output through speakers but on Voicemeeter. Monitoring is not pressed on my UMC22 and my headphones are plugged in my PC, not in the interface.

[The Flying Sloth]

3 minutes ago, MonsieurPop said:

I don't run the output through speakers but on Voicemeeter. Monitoring is not pressed on my UMC22 and my headphones are plugged in my PC, not in the interface.

If you're turning the gain all the way up and hearing a bit of static that's completely normal. I just checked with the bigger brother of your interface (UMC1820) and if I stick mic gain all the way up with nothing plugged in there's a very small but noticeable amount of static. This shouldn't be an issue if you don't turn the gain all the way up though and you really shouldn't ever have to (IIRC when a mic balanced is plugged it it mostly goes away anyway because it's grounded). Dynamic mics require a lot of gain and an inline preamp is a very common addition to be able to use them at manageable gain levels.

if it's not just a little bit of static here are some things it could be.

If it's only when you move the knob you have a dirty potentiometer and can use a contact cleaner like deoxit to clean it up, it's just a thing that happend over time and I honestly don't bother cleaning mine.
I'd test in Audacity just to make sure it's not Voicemeeter because I hate that thing with a passion and it's messed with my audio quality on far too many occasions, it's possible you have different sample rates set for your different audio devices so I'd set them all to 44.1khz and make sure you have the latest driver installed for the interface.

If it's still bad in Audacity after that (IE, static on mic gain without a cable plugged in to it or instrument in) it's a faulty preamp. Honestly that would be a new one for me because I've not encountered a DOA piece of gear from Behringer before and I've owned a tonne of the stuff (along with many other brands). that would really suck.

Sloth