Static Noise in Microphone - Nothing seems to work, please help!

[Shaun Doyle]

Hello there,

I have a 1byone USB Microphone that when plugged into a laptop sounds nice a crisp... However, in my PC it has a very noticeable background static hum..... Listen to the attached recording.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Oo0Bl_HQgix0H72vr3a7MH1T6AyZlNtN/view?usp=sharing

Overview of the noise:

This noise is almost entirely electrically-caused. I've plugged this microphone in a laptop (on battery) and had a near crisp experience. In my PC however we have an entire other kettle of fish. As you can also hear from my 'case', the static noise is reduced by a fair amount from touching the case.

Now, I have spent over £65 trying to solve this issue and it is driving me near insane as I just want this issue solved. Here is my troubleshooting and there things I've tried.

Trouble shooting:

* Placed my finger on all the USB ports to see if that drastically improves noise - It does not
* I have tried different wall sockets - No real effect
* I have placed the case on plastic(instead of the carpet it currently is on), as well as cardboard - No effect.
* I have attempted a DIY ground by connecting the case to my metal table leg via copper wire/tape - No effect
* I have unplugged power from monitor - no effect
* I have plugged out everything except power and microphone.... - No effect
* I have tried disabling various USB Hubs, no effect
* I have recently cleaned PC - no effect
* I have disconnected Ethernet sent via electrical wall socket - no effect
* I have untangled and seperated cables to limit interference - no effect

Fixes tried:

* Spent nearly £40 on a power conditioner to filter out interference in power - no effect (cries)
* Spent £20 on getting a powered USB Hub (powered via wall-socket) - No effect (super cries)
* I have bought pure copper tape and stuck around PC and floor - no effect
* I have moved Microphone to various USB slots and hubs (including 3.0 and 2.0) - No effect
*(I have disconnected everything except microphone, including headphones) - No effect

Currently it feels that whatever I do, I am doomed to fail and it is breaking my soul that I can't fix this obnoxious issue. Sure I can use work arounds like voice detect or edit out noise in post.... but having the freedom of having always-on mic is important to me.

Please, could someone offer advice or help? I am very much interested in 'ghetto' fixes as I've already spent so much on this.

My next suspicions is my Powersupply or motherboard... both I do not fancy replacing.

Below I am going to attach my specs as well as screenshots for various 'useful to know' things...


Specs:
Unknown ATX case
GTX 1060 6gb
i7-2600
16gb ddr3 Ram @ 1600mhz
Motherboard: P8P67 Rev B3
PSU: xilence psu r3 1000w tier (7-8 years old...yeah)

https://imgur.com/a/Pey88R1

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Thanks in advance!

 

[Dugimodo]

I don't have much to offer other than to say a table leg is not a ground, neither is anything else just by virtue of being metal. It needs to actually be connected to ground. If you want to try an actual ground to see if it would help stick a screw driver into the ground and run a wire from it to your case.

You could try adding a ferrite bead to the microphone cable, but it's clutching at straws at this point.

 

[readdyeddy]

Things you need to know when you buy a USB-based mic. USB based headphones/mic, do not use integrated sound card in your computer/laptop. It uses the sound driver that's integrated with your product. There are no updates or reinstallation to fix this issue. The issue is sourced from the product itself. Paying XX amount of money doesn't mean that you're invulnerable to potential problems.

Check online reviews whether or not other people have experienced similar problems regarding your specific MIC model and static. Other times, it can just be winter times. Winter is quite bad for electronics, as there are more static present. Lack of humidity causes more static to be present. Try buying a humidifer in the room (it won't damage your computer), and see if there are any improvements.

During very dry weather, my headphones experience static discharge, and can break by random power surges caused by static shock. Your mic is no different. Low humidity can cause abnormal static interference in your mic/headset.

 

[Dugimodo]

Now that I'm home and can listen to it, it does sound like Mains hum which would point at a noisy power supply causing a ripple on the 5V or ground rail.
Unfortunately that's not much more than a guess and I'm not confident replacing the PSU would fix it.

If you listen to the PC sound output with headphones or speakers at maximum volume with no sound playing can your hear the hum then? it's a different sound device but feeds from the same supply so I'd expect at least some trace of the hum if it's power related.

If it was an analogue connection I'd suggest feeding it through an isolating transformer, but mainly because earth loops cause this sort of thing as well. But unless the microphone has separate power supply you can't have an earth loop I don't think.

 

[Dugimodo]

A long read but see if any of this helps

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/solving-computer-audio-problems

 

[Shaun Doyle]

Things you need to know when you buy a USB-based mic. USB based headphones/mic, do not use integrated sound card in your computer/laptop. It uses the sound driver that's integrated with your product. There are no updates or reinstallation to fix this issue. The issue is sourced from the product itself. Paying XX amount of money doesn't mean that you're invulnerable to potential problems.

Check online reviews whether or not other people have experienced similar problems regarding your specific MIC model and static. Other times, it can just be winter times. Winter is quite bad for electronics, as there are more static present. Lack of humidity causes more static to be present. Try buying a humidifer in the room (it won't damage your computer), and see if there are any improvements.

During very dry weather, my headphones experience static discharge, and can break by random power surges caused by static shock. Your mic is no different. Low humidity can cause abnormal static interference in your mic/headset.

Thanks for the advice and extra knowledge! I feel I can safely rule out it being a product issue as I've used it on a laptop just fine and all the mics I've used before this have had the same problem. I should also say I got this microphone in the summer. It is just now that I wanted to fix the sound as a Christmas treat to myself as it is the only thing left in my PC that I want to 'upgrade'.

 

[Shaun Doyle]

Now that I'm home and can listen to it, it does sound like Mains hum which would point at a noisy power supply causing a ripple on the 5V or ground rail.
Unfortunately that's not much more than a guess and I'm not confident replacing the PSU would fix it.

If you listen to the PC sound output with headphones or speakers at maximum volume with no sound playing can your hear the hum then? it's a different sound device but feeds from the same supply so I'd expect at least some trace of the hum if it's power related.

If it was an analogue connection I'd suggest feeding it through an isolating transformer, but mainly because earth loops cause this sort of thing as well. But unless the microphone has separate power supply you can't have an earth loop I don't think.

Hello again!

I suspect you are close to the truth RE power related...

With my Analogue(3.5mm jack) Headphones I head no noise at all when max volume and pressed hard against my ears. With my 10W duel speakers at max volume I do hear that similar sounding hum, although with a subtle rip-effect occasionally. So, knowing this. I suspect it could either be a USB-power/circuit issue or the PSU on its last legs. Another option is possibly cable management or bits touching metal or motherboard where they shouldn't?

When you suggest it could be a mains power issue - do you mean from the wall socket, or from PSU? I initially assumed it may have been the wall power as I'm in a recent attic conversion, but that is why I bought the power conditioner that I was hoping would be my cure-all....

Anyways, knowing this extra info and this was your money/PC, what would you do or want more info of? I know it sounds a bit silly - but asides from a £38 keyboard, solving the noise issue was my end of year present to myself that....admittedly could have been put towards getting be a gold-standard PSU

Thanks!

 

[Shaun Doyle]

I don't have much to offer other than to say a table leg is not a ground, neither is anything else just by virtue of being metal. It needs to actually be connected to ground. If you want to try an actual ground to see if it would help stick a screw driver into the ground and run a wire from it to your case.

You could try adding a ferrite bead to the microphone cable, but it's clutching at straws at this point.

Thanks for this suggestion - I believe grounding could be atleast part of the issue due to the noise reduction... But it only reduces when I place a large proportion of my hand or feet against the case. A single finger won't do anything. I should also add that my speakers don't react at all when touching the case, despite it having that similar sounding hum...albeit very quiet.

Those Ferrite beads look interesting - I always what those things were around the old playstation controllers! But yeah, I can see what you mean about grasping at straws!

As for the screwdriver tactic - it is something i have considered, but since I am on the first floor it would be fairly impractical and annoying to test - especially as I would need to go buy a big chunk of copper cable from somewhere.

 

[Dugimodo]

If your building has copper water pipes they make a pretty good ground normally, just another option.

 

[Shaun Doyle]

If your building has copper water pipes they make a pretty good ground normally, just another option.

I'll keep my eye out for copper wire to try it (I might be able to hook it up to my sink) -

Would you know which is the best place to connect the cable to PC with? Where on the case, sockets, motherboard etc?

 

[Dugimodo]

Maybe on a case screw, I'm not all that optimistic to be honest.

 

[Shaun Doyle]

Maybe on a case screw, I'm not all that optimistic to be honest.

Thanks for this - I ran a really long piece of copper tape (with conducting adhesive) from case to copper piles and it made exactly 0 difference 🙁 That could be a false positive though as the tape is very thin....but I suspect electricity wouldn't case how thin it was.

In the meanwhile, I tried testing my old 3.5mm mic to see if it has the same hum in the 3.5mm slot and this is the attached sound file. As you can hear, this microphone is very broken - but it sounds as if there is no hum, unless it is hidden very well by the "SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" noise. What are your thoughts?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fW2L5fAWEf4X76Ua5bNByroPZB16Fv4L/view?usp=sharing

Done a little more digging and I found this video from my old Youtube channel I used to do back in 2012 (1-2 years after getting my PC) As you can hear, the hiss is still there from a headset 3.5mm microphone, but I suspect that might be due to it being a low quality microphone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJmaBCthIzo&ab_channel=ShaunAnMarkus

Perhaps I should throw more money at it by getting a usb-3.5mm adapter?

 

[Shaun Doyle]

New slight update - When I tested my speakers, I had forgot to plug them into PC! Once plugged in the audio jack, my speakers make no noise whatsoever when maxed out volume (They have their own power supply that plugs in wall)

 

[Dugimodo]

Well I'm afraid to say you've already tried everything I can think of.
I have a 20W amplifier I bought to use with the PC stored in my garage somewhere because it hummed when connected to a pc but was fine from any other source, sometimes you just don't win.

 

[Shaun Doyle]

Well I'm afraid to say you've already tried everything I can think of.
I have a 20W amplifier I bought to use with the PC stored in my garage somewhere because it hummed when connected to a pc but was fine from any other source, sometimes you just don't win.

Hey there,

Thanks for all of the advice you gave here. I think in future I will just build a new PC when my i2600 becomes too outdated and sell this PC outright - maybe a fresh start will solve the issue 😉 Have a lovely Christmas and new year! Out of curiosity, would you happen to know any free lightweight simple active noise-suppresion software out there? I tried the noise suppression filter on OBS and it got rid of the background noise perfectly! Sadly on sound/recording/properties I have no 'enhancements' tab like I do with my 3.5mm microphone which has an option for noise suppression....

 

[Dugimodo]

Not really, it's been a long time since I played with anything like that. Cool edit might be ok for removing Noise, that's the only one that comes to mind.
I used to use a free tool that was bundled with old versions of Nero and I think cool edit uses the same method - you sample a "silent" part of the recording as noise, then use that profile to remove noise from the whole recording. Won't do it on the fly but can clean it up afterwards.

I find that works best for predictable noise patterns, might get rid of the hum for example and was really good at removing tape hiss which is what I used it for.