Mic Static

EunSoo · December 9, 2017

Hi! I recently recorded using my Antlion ModMic 5 and I noticed an uncomfortable amount of static. I am going to see if I can get it replaced (who would be easier to get it replaced by? Amazon or Antlion? I bought it in July) but before I do, I wanted to check to make sure it is most likely the mic at fault. I have heard that some motherboards are a little bad and may introduce static into the mic input. I have an Asus Z170-K motherboard if that helps. So I want to know if there is a way if that could be the problem and how I can figure out if it is. If it is, then would I need to get an external usb mic input thing? I see this but if I have more money could I get something better? Thanks!

Edited December 9, 2017 by SCGazelle

Vizard424 · December 9, 2017

The USB dongle works pretty well, I have the ModMic 4 and I found I get static when having it plugged through the front I/O port on my case. An easy check that I've done is plugging it into the back of the motherboard directly to see if the static goes away, but you have to make sure the wire isn't resting on any kind of power wire as that can introduce static as well.

AAJoe · December 11, 2017

hey @SCGazelle- This is a pretty common issue. The USB is likely to fix it, through Vizard is correct, be sure to check your back I/O ports first if you're plugged into the front. Replacing the mic will almost certainly not get rid of the issue.

This is simply because most mics you run into are USB mics, which acts as a filter against this noise. Because the ModMic is an analog mic (and quite sensitive) it picks up more EMI than most people are used to. We keep analog because it allows for a better "maximum" quality than a USB mic and allows you to easily use it with certain devices (controllers, field recorders, certain cameras, etc).

Anyway, our USB device or a similar one (Syba CM-UAUD) will solve it most of the time.

EunSoo · December 11, 2017

On 12/9/2017 at 3:59 PM, Vizard424 said:

The USB dongle works pretty well, I have the ModMic 4 and I found I get static when having it plugged through the front I/O port on my case. An easy check that I've done is plugging it into the back of the motherboard directly to see if the static goes away, but you have to make sure the wire isn't resting on any kind of power wire as that can introduce static as well.

It's already plugged into the back, directly into the motherboard and it has static. I have all my cables that go into my PC (including power and mic cable) bundled togethor. I'll try seperating the power out of it and see if that helps.

11 hours ago, AAJoe said:

hey @SCGazelle- This is a pretty common issue. The USB is likely to fix it, through Vizard is correct, be sure to check your back I/O ports first if you're plugged into the front. Replacing the mic will almost certainly not get rid of the issue.

This is simply because most mics you run into are USB mics, which acts as a filter against this noise. Because the ModMic is an analog mic (and quite sensitive) it picks up more EMI than most people are used to. We keep analog because it allows for a better "maximum" quality than a USB mic and allows you to easily use it with certain devices (controllers, field recorders, certain cameras, etc).

Anyway, our USB device or a similar one (Syba CM-UAUD) will solve it most of the time.

Is there a way to maintain that 'maximum quality' while solving the issue? For what I use it for, the noticeable difference will probably be negligable but I would still like to get the most out of the mic if I can.

AAJoe · December 11, 2017

@SCGazelle Well to really get the most out of an analog signal you'll need a high quality item for input. A soundcard can improve things, though I always hear mixed reviews about the quality differences, but there's a couple external solutions as well, including a mixer that can do 12v Phantom Power (pretty hard to find), the upcoming Mayflower Arc, or I just finished testing the Burson Play, which worked wonders for my machine at home (which also suffers from this problem). In the case of the latter two, its still actually just converting to USB, but its doing it cleaner than a 10 dollar USB dongle.

So which soundcard? I wish I had a perfect answer for this. As I mentioned earlier there are mixed reviews. For instance see this clip:

So you watch it and think "Hey, problem solved!" right? Except that in the comments there's a couple people who say they use the same setup and the issue didn't resolve either.

That's ... well, more common than I'd like in pretty much everything analog audio. It's why guys like Blue use USB, it's like the difference between making game for PC vs. Console. You know what you're getting with USB across the board... more or less. The problem could be coming from a variety of sources at a variety of intensity levels.

Anywho - In theory any GOOD sound card or DAC with mic input like the Mayflower or Burson Play or a good mixer with 12v phantom power and a XLR to 3.5mm converter should make a nice improvement. I'm not sure I'd go much beyond the DGX personally on price though, unless you're also having issues with your headphones.

EunSoo · December 12, 2017

22 hours ago, AAJoe said:

Anywho - In theory any GOOD sound card or DAC with mic input like the Mayflower or Burson Play or a good mixer with 12v phantom power and a XLR to 3.5mm converter should make a nice improvement. I'm not sure I'd go much beyond the DGX personally on price though, unless you're also having issues with your headphones.

Yeah the Mayflower and Burson Play are more than I want to spend. And I think my headphones are fine right now. I'll get the Asus DGX and return it if it doesn't work out and get a usb one.