Trying to get rid of mechanical keyboard sounds from my mic

[Zero158adf]

So I have a AT2020 hooked up to an Audiobox USB 96 and I cant, for the love of god, get my mechanical keyboard clicks to become quieter / gone. I will have an image of my audiobox's interface settings and my mic's position below as a guide to what I am dealing with. I'm tryin g to make my mic have a normal volume while still having little to no clicking in the background while talking to people in Discord and TeamSpeak. (my clicking pisses my friends off lol) 

[Spaceman3600]

put some o rings on your keyboard that should help

[Zero158adf]

14 hours ago, Spaceman3600 said:

put some o rings on your keyboard that should help

bot gonna happen chief ill just live with it

[jasonvp]

A few things to do that will help a little:

 

1.  Get the mic closer to your chest and aim it upwards towards your head.  That vs talking sideways into it.  With the mic positioned the way you have in the image, there's basically nothing you can do to prevent it from picking up the keyboard.  Aiming the mic upwards will help reduce the sound from the keyboard, but won't eliminate it completely.

 

2.  PTT.  That should be a requirement for any and all communication software anyway, but unfortunately it's not.  For the love of all that's holy, turn PTT on and stop with the open mic!

[Zero158adf]

5 hours ago, jasonvp said:

A few things to do that will help a little:

 

1.  Get the mic closer to your chest and aim it upwards towards your head.  That vs talking sideways into it.  With the mic positioned the way you have in the image, there's basically nothing you can do to prevent it from picking up the keyboard.  Aiming the mic upwards will help reduce the sound from the keyboard, but won't eliminate it completely.

 

2.  PTT.  That should be a requirement for any and all communication software anyway, but unfortunately it's not.  For the love of all that's holy, turn PTT on and stop with the open mic!

Thanks, ill try and angle my mic up

[kasugatei]

What you have there is large diaphragm condenser microphone.  And I will have to repeat myself for millionth time:

- those types of microphones WILL pickup clicks from mechanical keyboard. O rings will help a little to none. There is no way to completely isolate keyboard noise, you can just make it a slightly less annoying. They are just way too sensitive.

- get a noise gate (software one is ok). Think of it as a automatic mute button which will engage if the sound input is below the certain level. It will help to eliminate any noises while you are being silent, but will NOT eliminate surrounding noises while speaking.

[thisiscam]

If you are looking for a software solution, I built an app called Noise Blocker to help solve this for myself (keyboard with blue switches resulting in annoyed friends on Discord). 

Basically, you record samples of noise you want to block (i.e typing on your keyboard) and it will suppress the incoming audio accordingly. Here a short video of it in action.  Full disclosure, it's a paid solution (currently on sale) but it's free to try out to ensure it actually works for your audio setup.  Hope it helps!

[SegueMan]

What kind of PTT solutions are good?  It'd be cool to have a foot pedal, but if you're recording while gaming, it'd seem really easy to accidentally forget to hit the PTT button/pedal/switch/whatever.  Maybe the noise gate is best since it's automatic.  Like if your keyboard is 45 dB and your voice is 55 dB, set the noise floor in between or something.

 

Also, @Zero158adf, I gotta ask:  What key switches are you using?

[jasonvp]

On 12/3/2018 at 9:39 AM, dahoff said:

What kind of PTT solutions are good? 

My solution is simple: thumb buttons on my Logitech mouse.  I've used Logitech mice for... ever ... basically.  And the ones I've used have all had thumb buttons on them.  I use Logitech's software de'jour to map a single key press (eg: Home, or End, or some other key I'll never use in games).  Then in the comms software, map the PTT button to that same keyboard press.

 

Press and hold thumb button, make comms call out, release thumb button.

 

Done.

 

People that have open mics for comms are obnoxious.  I don't want to hear your sneezes, or sniffling, or any other bodily noises.  I don't want to hear any of the noises in your room, either.  I want to hear you making call-outs.  Again for the love of all that's holy: use PTT!

[GoldenSound]

Get a shockmount. This will help eliminate vibrations getting picked up by the mic that are being transferred from the keyboard through the desk and arm itself.