Stereo Tool

Hellos!

I'm just starting to get into free web radio broadcasting, and since my budget for hobby is a bit limited, I got myself a rather cheap USB microphone (Pronomic USB-M 910).

The mike is all fine, except for one problem. Each time I turn it on or off in my broadcasting software (and even when I mute/unmute it in Windows Mixer), there's a short crackle/pop noise. I'm not sure if that's a generic problem of USB mikes. The Pronomic one exhibits this behavior on another computer too.

So before I maybe return the mike, I was wondering if Stereo Tool has a filter that can help reduce that popping noise, like a way to filter out short sharp transients.

Any help is appreciated!

_________________
Kind regards,
Locutus

That USB mike turns on and off 5V that goes through usb and makes that what you hear.
You need to look how to make it always ON and find different way how to put it "on air"

Also way better solution is to have some standard mic and some small mixer. That cannot cost too much.

Hey Bojcha, thanks for your reply!

I'd immediately agree with your assessment, but there's a strange thing about that: The crackling occurs even if I'm using the mike at the same time in a "background process", e.g. run my audio editing tool and record from the mike. Which should mean that the mike has to stay 5V-powered all the time, and it should not get power-cycled when I toggle "Mike active" in the broadcasting tool...

You're right about a regular mike and an external mixer being better, but actually I wanted to try a USB device for a specific reason (i.e. being independent from the mike input of my soundcard). Didn't think it'd produce such issues.

_________________
Kind regards,
Locutus

This is probably not a short click or pop but a low frequency thing? Might be difficult to distinguish from - wanted - effects in music...

The noise itself is actually a high-frequency pop, but your message got me on track of testing something...

It seems the mike is producing an inaudible low-volume ultra-low-frequency booming noise in the background (maybe 50Hz from power line). It's clearly visible when I record and amplify from it with my audio editor. It's possible that the crack/pop when turning it off and on is related to that, since in the broadcaster software I use Gated AGC, bass EQ and compressor to amplify the signal considerably. It then even crackles a bit when I quickly change the mike volume as opposed to turning it off/on.

I tested some more then, since I noticed that the humming got stronger periodically. To be exact once per second, coinciding with my system monitor software (Rainmeter) updating its stuff. The periodic behavior stopped when I closed Rainmeter. So it has to do with processor/system activity. Maybe badly protected USB wiring on the board or so.

The effect was reduced when I turned off processor speed stepping in the BIOS.

Then I tried connecting the mike to an external, self-powered USB hub instead of directly to the mainboard. Now the effect is still there, but only very faintly, only just noticeable when the broadcast is totally quiet and you test it with headphones.

_________________
Kind regards,
Locutus