noise-canceling mikes, how to use them

noise-canceling mikes, how to use them

[Chuck Hallenbeck]

Hi,

I have a simple headset with a mike on a boom, and would like to
capture audio from the mike using a mike input on my soundblaster sound
card. A normal high-impedance mike works great, but simply switching to
the headset mike, a noise-canceling device, the result is pretty
dismal: very low amplitude, very poor quality, lots of noise, even with
the mike boom lowered to the proper position. 

Any tips on how to use this type of mike would be greatly appreciated. 


Thanks,
Chuck

-- 
The Moon is Waning Crescent (35% of Full)
             My web site:           www.hallenbeck.ftml.net
                Audio editor weblog: edway.wordpress.com
                                --------
Yesterday is a memory, Tomorrow is a vision, Today is a bitch!

Re: noise-canceling mikes, how to use them

[Kitty Litter]

    Buy a mixer.

Re: noise-canceling mikes, how to use them

[Chuck Hallenbeck]

Hi,

On Fri, May 07, 2010 at 02:57:44PM -0400, Kitty Litter wrote:
>    Buy a mixer.

Have you used a noise canceling mike via a mixer? If so, what mixer?
Are there any more direct ways of taming such a mike that anyone has
used successfully? 

Chuck


-- 
The Moon is Waning Crescent (34% of Full)
             My web site:           www.hallenbeck.ftml.net
                Audio editor weblog: edway.wordpress.com
                                --------
Yesterday is a memory, Tomorrow is a vision, Today is a bitch!

Re: noise-canceling mikes, how to use them

[Kerry Hoath]

Often hidden in the mixer is a "mike boost" option which can help a lot,
Of course it goes without saying that you have your mike volume nice and 
high?

Most  sound cards provide plug-in power for condenser microphones and some 
do not.
Perhaps your high impeedance microphone is a dynamic rather than condenser 
type? This would explain why it works and the other one doesn't.
Also make sure with noise cancelling microphones that the flat side of the 
mike is in line with your mouth, even a twist out by 15-20 degrees can 
cancel your noise.

Some microphones are on a fixed boom so twist with care.

It has also been my experience that some headsets have a mute switch, check 
that because sometimes even when muted a little noise gets in to make you 
think it is working. Unmuting it gives you far more spectacular results.

Hope some of this helps.
Regards, Kerry.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chuck Hallenbeck" <chuckh@ftml.net>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Saturday, May 08, 2010 4:57 AM
Subject: Re: noise-canceling mikes, how to use them


> Hi,
>
> On Fri, May 07, 2010 at 02:57:44PM -0400, Kitty Litter wrote:
>>    Buy a mixer.
>
> Have you used a noise canceling mike via a mixer? If so, what mixer?
> Are there any more direct ways of taming such a mike that anyone has
> used successfully?
>
> Chuck
>
>
> -- 
> The Moon is Waning Crescent (34% of Full)
>             My web site:           www.hallenbeck.ftml.net
>                Audio editor weblog: edway.wordpress.com
>                                --------
> Yesterday is a memory, Tomorrow is a vision, Today is a bitch!
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> 

Re: noise-canceling mikes, how to use them

[Chuck Hallenbeck]

Hi Kerry,

It was the mute switch that did the trick. Many thanks. My older set of
headphones, which did not have a mike, had a switch selecting between
stereo and mono, but this one has the mute switch which you mentioned,
and unmuting it makes it work fine. 

Chuck


On Sat, May 08, 2010 at 06:27:13AM +0800, Kerry Hoath wrote:
> Often hidden in the mixer is a "mike boost" option which can help a lot,
> Of course it goes without saying that you have your mike volume nice
> and high?
> 
> Most  sound cards provide plug-in power for condenser microphones
> and some do not.
> Perhaps your high impeedance microphone is a dynamic rather than
> condenser type? This would explain why it works and the other one
> doesn't.
> Also make sure with noise cancelling microphones that the flat side
> of the mike is in line with your mouth, even a twist out by 15-20
> degrees can cancel your noise.
> 
> Some microphones are on a fixed boom so twist with care.
> 
> It has also been my experience that some headsets have a mute
> switch, check that because sometimes even when muted a little noise
> gets in to make you think it is working. Unmuting it gives you far
> more spectacular results.
> 
> Hope some of this helps.
> Regards, Kerry.
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chuck Hallenbeck"
> <chuckh@ftml.net>
> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
> Sent: Saturday, May 08, 2010 4:57 AM
> Subject: Re: noise-canceling mikes, how to use them
> 
> 
> >Hi,
> >
> >On Fri, May 07, 2010 at 02:57:44PM -0400, Kitty Litter wrote:
> >>   Buy a mixer.
> >
> >Have you used a noise canceling mike via a mixer? If so, what mixer?
> >Are there any more direct ways of taming such a mike that anyone has
> >used successfully?
> >
> >Chuck
> >
> >
> >-- 
> >The Moon is Waning Crescent (34% of Full)
> >            My web site:           www.hallenbeck.ftml.net
> >               Audio editor weblog: edway.wordpress.com
> >                               --------
> >Yesterday is a memory, Tomorrow is a vision, Today is a bitch!
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >Speakup mailing list
> >Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> >http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> >
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

-- 
The Moon is Waning Crescent (33% of Full)
             My web site:           www.hallenbeck.ftml.net
                Audio editor weblog: edway.wordpress.com
                                --------
Yesterday is a memory, Tomorrow is a vision, Today is a bitch!

Re: noise-canceling mikes, how to use them

[Janina Sajka]

Hi, Chuck:

Not too sure what to tell you. I guess the obvious ...

Are you sure it's your capture of the mic signal? Are you sure the mic
is actually quality stuff? I guess you'd find out by testing it in some
other device.

PS: I've been using Sennheiser PC166 headsets for a bit over a year now.
I was so taken with the quality, I got a second one for my briefcase. I
strongly recommend it, if you decide your back in the market. Awesome
audio quality, and you get to run over USB with the included dongle.
Alsa just comes up recognizing it.

I know that doesn't solve your problem, but I thought I should toss this
out. I've seen a lot of poor headsets out there.

Janina

Chuck Hallenbeck writes:
> Hi,
> 
> I have a simple headset with a mike on a boom, and would like to
> capture audio from the mike using a mike input on my soundblaster sound
> card. A normal high-impedance mike works great, but simply switching to
> the headset mike, a noise-canceling device, the result is pretty
> dismal: very low amplitude, very poor quality, lots of noise, even with
> the mike boom lowered to the proper position. 
> 
> Any tips on how to use this type of mike would be greatly appreciated. 
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> Chuck
> 
> -- 
> The Moon is Waning Crescent (35% of Full)
>              My web site:           www.hallenbeck.ftml.net
>                 Audio editor weblog: edway.wordpress.com
>                                 --------
> Yesterday is a memory, Tomorrow is a vision, Today is a bitch!
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

-- 

Janina Sajka,	Phone:	+1.443.300.2200
		sip:janina@asterisk.rednote.net

Chair, Open Accessibility	janina@a11y.org	
Linux Foundation		http://a11y.org

Chair, Protocols & Formats
Web Accessibility Initiative	http://www.w3.org/wai/pf
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

Re: noise-canceling mikes, how to use them

[Chuck Hallenbeck]

Hi Janina,

Thanks for the recommendation. I'm dealing with a really
bottom-of-the-barrel gismo from Walmart for $19 at the moment, so I'm
not expecting super quality from it. Kerry called my attention to the
mute switch in the headset cord, and between the muted state and the
unmuted state, the latter is orders of magnitude better than the former
<smile> and will do for my needs just fine right now. 

But it's always nice to know in which direction the upgrade path lies.

Chuck


On Fri, May 07, 2010 at 07:21:06PM -0400, Janina Sajka wrote:
> Hi, Chuck:
> 
> Not too sure what to tell you. I guess the obvious ...
> 
> Are you sure it's your capture of the mic signal? Are you sure the mic
> is actually quality stuff? I guess you'd find out by testing it in some
> other device.
> 
> PS: I've been using Sennheiser PC166 headsets for a bit over a year now.
> I was so taken with the quality, I got a second one for my briefcase. I
> strongly recommend it, if you decide your back in the market. Awesome
> audio quality, and you get to run over USB with the included dongle.
> Alsa just comes up recognizing it.
> 
> I know that doesn't solve your problem, but I thought I should toss this
> out. I've seen a lot of poor headsets out there.
> 
> Janina
> 
> Chuck Hallenbeck writes:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I have a simple headset with a mike on a boom, and would like to
> > capture audio from the mike using a mike input on my soundblaster sound
> > card. A normal high-impedance mike works great, but simply switching to
> > the headset mike, a noise-canceling device, the result is pretty
> > dismal: very low amplitude, very poor quality, lots of noise, even with
> > the mike boom lowered to the proper position. 
> > 
> > Any tips on how to use this type of mike would be greatly appreciated. 
> > 
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > Chuck
> > 
> > -- 
> > The Moon is Waning Crescent (35% of Full)
> >              My web site:           www.hallenbeck.ftml.net
> >                 Audio editor weblog: edway.wordpress.com
> >                                 --------
> > Yesterday is a memory, Tomorrow is a vision, Today is a bitch!
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Speakup mailing list
> > Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> 
> -- 
> 
> Janina Sajka,	Phone:	+1.443.300.2200
> 		sip:janina@asterisk.rednote.net
> 
> Chair, Open Accessibility	janina@a11y.org	
> Linux Foundation		http://a11y.org
> 
> Chair, Protocols & Formats
> Web Accessibility Initiative	http://www.w3.org/wai/pf
> World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

-- 
The Moon is Waning Crescent (33% of Full)
             My web site:           www.hallenbeck.ftml.net
                Audio editor weblog: edway.wordpress.com
                                --------
Yesterday is a memory, Tomorrow is a vision, Today is a bitch!