0xStubs

System Administration, Reconfigurable Computing and Other Random Topics

Understanding USB Microphone Whine

I recently got my hands on a USB microphone, namely the Samson Meteor Mic, a large diaphragm electret condenser microphone that not only looks cute but also has overall good reviews online. However, when testing the microphone I was rather disappointed by the annoying background noise that is clearly audible when turning up the volume of the microphone. Have a listen:

Example of background noise
Same example as before but amplified

We hear two things here: One is relatively normal microphone hiss. The other is a high-pitched noise which you really do not want to have in your recordings. Let’s have a look at the spectrum of the recorded noise, using Audacity and its spectrum analysis (i.e., an FFT):

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Yet another IT related blog

One of the neat things in IT is that answers to a lot of questions can be found on the internet. Public documentation, forums and blogs contain lots of valuable information and if you face a problem it’s likely that some other people struggled with it before and already found a solution.

This blog is the place where I will post about issues I faced and where simple solutions were not available yet on the internet or did not fit my needs. So, yet another IT related blog… But hopefully it will be of value for some people, just as a lot of other blogs have been of value for me.