Here is the link to the instructional zoom meeting about microphones held on December 10, 2021.
https://youtu.be/sVFIIPdz42I
Lots of great information about mics, so enjoy. !!
ZOOMING IN ON MICS - video link - Dec 2021
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philchenevert
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lightcrystal
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Thanks for this! I have learnt something.
In 2020 I knew nothing about microphones. I bought a Blue Snowball Ice to play team computer games through Discord. Now that I know it's a condenser microphone I realise why it was a bad choice for gaming; other players told me that they heard the bird noises outside my window! One player asked me if I lived in a swamp full of frogs!
Anyway a few months ago I started in LibriVox with the same Blue Snowball Ice USB microphone , on Ubuntu Studio Linux 20.04 as my OS. Thus it's always an issue to find a microphone that works on Linux. Why don't I make my life easier by using Mac or Windows? That would be another discussion. To be succinct there is an Iranian proverb " a jail made of gold is still a jail".
The first thing that I did with my Snowball Ice: I covered up the red on light. It whacks my eyes out. I was surprised that nobody mentioned this in the video. I have covered the light with layers of perma paper rolls that look a bit like bandaids. I can still see that it's on or off; the red light is strong enough to get through slightly. I hope that I haven't covered up any of the sound/grate/speak into part.
Then I had dramas getting the microphone to stand up. I feel stupid. But it's not me; the reviews of the Snowball, both Ice and the full version, say that this is a poor design feature of the Snowball product line! They are right! In the end I have it sticky taped to my desk. Yes, I know that is bad because then I pick my mouse clicks. I know. I can't get fancy shmancy yet with some Simian upside down gymnastics.
I am finding that the lowest background noise in the checker that I can get is 24.2 dB. I have noticed that other checker results in the 1 minute tests are 24.2 also. It makes me wonder if the "noise floor" not being adjustable in a USB microphone limits noise reduction asymptotically.
I don't seem to have a lot of headroom; if I raise my voice a bit I get a red peak line in Audacity. For the moment I will continue with this Ice Microphone. Whether it would be in my interest to get something better, I don't know.
In 2020 I knew nothing about microphones. I bought a Blue Snowball Ice to play team computer games through Discord. Now that I know it's a condenser microphone I realise why it was a bad choice for gaming; other players told me that they heard the bird noises outside my window! One player asked me if I lived in a swamp full of frogs!
Anyway a few months ago I started in LibriVox with the same Blue Snowball Ice USB microphone , on Ubuntu Studio Linux 20.04 as my OS. Thus it's always an issue to find a microphone that works on Linux. Why don't I make my life easier by using Mac or Windows? That would be another discussion. To be succinct there is an Iranian proverb " a jail made of gold is still a jail".
The first thing that I did with my Snowball Ice: I covered up the red on light. It whacks my eyes out. I was surprised that nobody mentioned this in the video. I have covered the light with layers of perma paper rolls that look a bit like bandaids. I can still see that it's on or off; the red light is strong enough to get through slightly. I hope that I haven't covered up any of the sound/grate/speak into part.
Then I had dramas getting the microphone to stand up. I feel stupid. But it's not me; the reviews of the Snowball, both Ice and the full version, say that this is a poor design feature of the Snowball product line! They are right! In the end I have it sticky taped to my desk. Yes, I know that is bad because then I pick my mouse clicks. I know. I can't get fancy shmancy yet with some Simian upside down gymnastics.
I am finding that the lowest background noise in the checker that I can get is 24.2 dB. I have noticed that other checker results in the 1 minute tests are 24.2 also. It makes me wonder if the "noise floor" not being adjustable in a USB microphone limits noise reduction asymptotically.
I don't seem to have a lot of headroom; if I raise my voice a bit I get a red peak line in Audacity. For the moment I will continue with this Ice Microphone. Whether it would be in my interest to get something better, I don't know.
I use Linux. I also like penguins.