Microphone distortion

ChuckW · Post by **ChuckW** » July 13th, 2018, 12:55 pm

So I've been running into a recurring problem with all of my recent recordings. At odd intervals, the entire recording will come out distorted and muddled, usually sounding pretty incomprehensible. The level of distortion varies from recording to recording; I've included four separate recordings below (all included in one sound file) to give you an idea of what I'm working with. I don't know if I need to change some of my settings or replace the USB cable or just get a new microphone. Any help?

https://librivox.org/uploads/bloopers/horriblenoise.mp3

As for my set-up, I am using a Blue Yeti USB microphone and an old Macbook.

tovarisch · Post by **tovarisch** » July 13th, 2018, 1:51 pm

Try a different USB cable and/or port.

To realize it's not your microphone, try it on a different computer (and with a good USB cable).

Post by **Availle** » July 13th, 2018, 4:29 pm

Yes, it does sound as if something's broken. May be as simple as a connection problem in the cable and/or port, or just that your microphone and/or computer slowly dies...

As tovarisch says, trying different options to see what is the culprit is the best thing to do at this point.

ChuckW · Post by **ChuckW** » July 13th, 2018, 4:34 pm

Availle wrote: ↑July 13th, 2018, 4:29 pm Yes, it does sound as if something's broken. May be as simple as a connection problem in the cable and/or port, or just that your microphone and/or computer slowly dies...

As tovarisch says, trying different options to see what is the culprit is the best thing to do at this point.

tovarisch wrote: ↑July 13th, 2018, 1:51 pm Try a different USB cable and/or port.

To realize it's not your microphone, try it on a different computer (and with a good USB cable).

Thanks. I'll try it out on one of the computers at work. I hope this isn't a big, expensive hardware problem -- I don't think I could afford to replace either the microphone or my computer. :-/

tovarisch · Post by **tovarisch** » July 13th, 2018, 4:48 pm

If your computer has more than one USB port, try a different port. If you have an extra USB cable, try a different cable (and if it doesn't help in the same port, try a different port

).

There is no need to change your computer if it works OK for everything else. And Yetis are usually reasonably well made (although I did have to replace mine on warranty when something in its electronics went kaput, luckily it was within the two year replacement, I still needed to pay shipping one way).

I do suspect that your cable or the port is to blame. Although, there is another port we usually discount - the Yeti's. If that one is bad, nothing you can do except to send it to Blue for repairs (not sure if it's easier just to get a new one, though)