Suggestions for cardioid microphone, please.

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Peter Why
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Location: Chigwell (North-East London, U.K.)

Post by Peter Why »

I've been using a Blue Yeti for some time now, and am very happy with the sound quality. But where I am living at the moment, the background noise level is quite high. It's mainly traffic, but there is some refrigerator noise and clock noise from the next room. Of course I can record late at night or in the early morning, with the fridge switched off and the clock moved to another room, but I would prefer to use a microphone which can eliminate these noises.

So it should have a cardioid pick-up and, if this is possible, it should pick-up from only a small area in front of it. I don't mind recording from fairly close to the microphone, and have a very quiet computer. I'm using Windows 10 in a desktop.

Has anyone any suggestions, please?

Peter
"I think, therefore I am, I think." Solomon Cohen, in Terry Pratchett's Dodger
carteki
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Post by carteki »

pdyer
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Post by pdyer »

Peter, the Blue Yeti's I've seen have multiple patterns and one of the selections is cardioid, maybe yours if different -- I'm no Yeti expert!

But even with a cardioid pickup pattern, sometimes the background noise is still too much. A headset with a noise cancelling microphone, as in the thread that Kim posted, might be a good choice.
Philip
Peter Why
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Joined: November 24th, 2005, 3:54 am
Location: Chigwell (North-East London, U.K.)

Post by Peter Why »

I'm using the Yeti with the cardioid setting; the mike is just too sensitive for my environment.

Thank you both for your help; I'll see if the headset is on our microphone comparison. I don't want to swap background noise for a sound quality that I wouldn't be happy with.

Peter
"I think, therefore I am, I think." Solomon Cohen, in Terry Pratchett's Dodger
carteki
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Post by carteki »

There's a link to the recording in the thread above...
Peter Why
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Joined: November 24th, 2005, 3:54 am
Location: Chigwell (North-East London, U.K.)

Post by Peter Why »

Thanks; I've checked now and the sound qualtiy does seem good. However, according to the reviews on Amazon, the quality of construction of the headset is poor (and, as far as I can tell, it's not available in the U.K.). I think I'm just going to have to spend some time on Amazon reading reviews of other cardioid microphones.


If I do buy one that's really useful, I'll put a note on the forum.

Peter
"I think, therefore I am, I think." Solomon Cohen, in Terry Pratchett's Dodger
kayray
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Post by kayray »

I don't know if it's any help to you, but I adore my Zoom H2. You can turn the gain down and put if close to your mouth and probably not pick up much room noise. For a sound sample, listen to my current Dracula solo. No noise cleaning or other filters, just a little 10-band EQ.
Kara
http://kayray.org/
--------
"Mary wished to say something very sensible into her Zoom H2 Handy Recorder, but knew not how." -- Jane Austen (& Kara)
Peter Why
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Joined: November 24th, 2005, 3:54 am
Location: Chigwell (North-East London, U.K.)

Post by Peter Why »

Thanks, Kara; I do have an H2, which I bought years ago, but I could never get it to work well (the volume was too low). I'll have to have another go at it.

Peter
"I think, therefore I am, I think." Solomon Cohen, in Terry Pratchett's Dodger
kayray
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Post by kayray »

There's a gain switch on the side. Try sliding it to "h". Then, once you're at the recording screen, you can turn the gain up still further with the right arrow button.
Kara
http://kayray.org/
--------
"Mary wished to say something very sensible into her Zoom H2 Handy Recorder, but knew not how." -- Jane Austen (& Kara)
Peter Why
Posts: 5815
Joined: November 24th, 2005, 3:54 am
Location: Chigwell (North-East London, U.K.)

Post by Peter Why »

Thanks; I'll have a go this weekend.

Peter
"I think, therefore I am, I think." Solomon Cohen, in Terry Pratchett's Dodger
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