Background Mic Buzzing

[TomPot]

Hey y’all,

I’ve noticed recently with my usb condenser microphone has a weird buzzing in the background of everything I record. Any ideas on what could be the problem and/or solution? Thanks!

 

-TomPot

 

ps: This is an extremely cheap mic, the Neewer NW-7000, but I have seen tests online of it working completely fine, so that’s why I’m asking all of y’all about this.

[Freakwise]

what software are you used to record with?

 

you could apply a (noise) gate plugin to get rid of the noise in post

 

(oh btw how bad is the buzzing?)

Edited November 12, 2021 by Freakwise

[TomPot]

22 minutes ago, Freakwise said:

what software are you used to record with?

 

you could apply a (noise) gate plugin to get rid of the noise in post

 

(oh btw how bad is the buzzing?)

Okay, I’ll look into that plug-in. But yeah, the buzzing is a very noticeable problem. Thanks for replying!

[Stagea]

1 hour ago, TomPot said:

Okay, I’ll look into that plug-in. But yeah, the buzzing is a very noticeable problem. Thanks for replying!

What mic is it? Almost all condenser mics have some level of self noise (Johnson noise - some form of continuous hissing/humming and Poisson noise - pulsing/popping/ticking noise). Good ones will have much less of it (cheaper ones would need more noise reduction done either in real-time or in production).

 

It can also be noise introduced by USB power or RFI. If moving the mic to another computer / location fixes it, then this can be the culprit.

[TomPot]

6 hours ago, Stagea said:

What mic is it? Almost all condenser mics have some level of self noise (Johnson noise - some form of continuous hissing/humming and Poisson noise - pulsing/popping/ticking noise). Good ones will have much less of it (cheaper ones would need more noise reduction done either in real-time or in production).

 

It can also be noise introduced by USB power or RFI. If moving the mic to another computer / location fixes it, then this can be the culprit.

It is extremely cheap, the Neewer NW-7000 usb. And would this problem be solved by a noise gate plugin?(previously recommended)

[Stagea]

On 11/13/2021 at 11:11 AM, TomPot said:

It is extremely cheap, the Neewer NW-7000 usb. And would this problem be solved by a noise gate plugin?(previously recommended)

If you don't plan on recording the fainter sounds, then the plug-in will mask the problem.

 

It should be a relatively faint buzz (the software will block audio below a certain level that you'd set in the gate). If it's a loud buzzing, then you might have gotten a defective mic.

[The Flying Sloth]

6 hours ago, Stagea said:

If you don't plan on recording the fainter sounds, then the plug-in will mask the problem.

 

It should be a relatively faint buzz (the software will block audio below a certain level that you'd set in the gate). If it's a loud buzzing, then you might have gotten a defective mic.

A noise gate will only block the buzzing while there is no other sound, meaning, when you talk there will still be buzzing.
A proper inverse polarity ANC plugin like Klevgrand Brusfri is much closer to what you would need.
Izotope's RX line also has similar functionality if you have the big bucks.

In reality, it's a cheap mic and the price probably has quite a lot to do with the quality of the sound.