Author Topic: Audio question - Samson Meteor Mic  (Read 11044 times)

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Offline Fragil1ty

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Audio question - Samson Meteor Mic
« on: Fri, 06 February 2015, 00:13:17 »
So essentially guys, I went ahead and bought this mic:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samson-Meteor-USB-Microphone-Chrome/dp/B004MF39YS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423203006&sr=8-1&keywords=samson+meteor+mic

But I didn't get the chrome version, I just got the standard silver version and it would appear that they have updated their specs and models since then, but here are the issues.

I want to get a new microphone, there are no issues when I use it on Mumble/Teamspeak, but if I do traditional voice recordings via: Sound Recorder on windows, there is background noise, I have the mic at 80% and there is still background noise (fan noise and all that jazz).

Is this because of the pick-up pattern, bad microphone batch or what? as I've heard people use it on Twitch and they get no background noise what so ever, I don't want to buy the same mic twice if it will continue to happen. I am looking at the Blue snowball, any advice?
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Offline Spopepro

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Re: Audio question - Samson Meteor Mic
« Reply #1 on: Fri, 06 February 2015, 00:31:02 »
That should be a solid enough mic.

Are you using usb or the trs connection? (Use the usb)

How close are you to the mic? What is the software "preamp" set at? (I forget what windows calls it) Getting closer will allow you to turn the "gain" down and pick up less background. (Quotes because it's all in software)

My experience is that the windows sound stack sucks. Consider the asio drivers. I was doing instructional recordings with a shure sm7b and a sound devices usb pre 2 (it doesn't get much better) and things were fuzzy until installing asio.

Offline Fragil1ty

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Re: Audio question - Samson Meteor Mic
« Reply #2 on: Fri, 06 February 2015, 18:14:38 »
That should be a solid enough mic.

Are you using usb or the trs connection? (Use the usb)

How close are you to the mic? What is the software "preamp" set at? (I forget what windows calls it) Getting closer will allow you to turn the "gain" down and pick up less background. (Quotes because it's all in software)

My experience is that the windows sound stack sucks. Consider the asio drivers. I was doing instructional recordings with a shure sm7b and a sound devices usb pre 2 (it doesn't get much better) and things were fuzzy until installing asio.


Using a USB connection and the microphone is quite close to me (arms length away).
The Samson Meteor mic doesn't come with any software or anything, so it's just essentially a plug and play microphone, so not entirely sure what I can do to fix this and what not. Don't want to fork out on a new microphone if I don't have too.
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Offline brimborion

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Re: Audio question - Samson Meteor Mic
« Reply #3 on: Fri, 06 February 2015, 18:49:23 »
Samson makes decent microphones. The meteor is a Cardioid pattern, so it will mainly pick up sound from the direction it is facing, but that doesn't mean it won't pick up anything else.

The better the microphone, the more sound it picks up. Sometimes there are filters built in to protect from low frequency transients, like mic bumps, but generally it will pick up everything.

Some possibilities


- Maybe your fan is louder or closer than these others you are hearing on Twitch. Sometimes a few inches matters. Some video cards are terribly loud.
- Some chat software includes its own stuff for echo cancellation, noise reduction, and feedback protection.  I don't use Mumble or Teamspeak, but that may account for why they don't annoy you but raw recording does.
- Too much gain; make sure it's just adjusted to the point where you can hear yourself talking with your headphones on. Even if the microphone doesn't come with software, Windows will provide basic settings from the right click menu on the speaker taskbar icon, and that should include gain.
- If you are doing home recording you will want to eliminate sources of noise. That means isolating yourself from the computer as much as possible, using less CPU/GPU or otherwise quieting the fan. If you can't do that, you need to use a noise gate that will only let sounds of a certain volume through (though this can't completely fix your issue.) You can also remove noise from your recordings with plugins that sample some of the background noise, invert it, and apply it to places in the recording that are quiet. This also is not perfect.
- Headset mics are a lot better at keeping noise at bay because they are near field and don't need to be very sensitive to pick up sound that is an inch or two away.
- Your house might be louder than you think. You get used to the noise floor in your home pretty quickly.
- If it were hum, it could be a ground loop, but that isn't very likely with a USB microphone, and you said fan noise.
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Offline Spopepro

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Re: Audio question - Samson Meteor Mic
« Reply #4 on: Fri, 06 February 2015, 19:30:27 »
Arms length is a long ways in vocal diaphragm mic land. Look at how singers position their mics--they are practically swallowing them. I'd try and arrange it so you are 1ft or less mouth to mic.

ASIO is a system level sound driver for windows that allows for direct hardware access to external sound devices. It is not device specific.

Have  you tried recording into audacity? It could be instructive.

Offline TheSoulhunter

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Re: Audio question - Samson Meteor Mic
« Reply #5 on: Wed, 25 February 2015, 09:06:19 »
I use the old chrome version...
Not much background noise, but I have it much closer (25-30cm) and set at ~25%

Offline jedward57

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Re: Audio question - Samson Meteor Mic
« Reply #6 on: Sat, 21 January 2017, 14:12:57 »
I had the same problem with the Samson Meteor - it's a nice mic, but it picks up too much background noise. I e-mailed Samson tech support, and they told me about Samson Sound Deck Mac OS X, a little utility program for $3.99. It lives in your system preferences, and you can check a box to digitally reduce noise while recording. It works pretty well, easier than messing around with gain, and length you have to set your mic away from the sound source. And for under $4.00, it's a no-brainer. If you are a PC user, they may have something similar for the PC - just go to samsontech.com and put in a tech support question.

Here's the link that tells about it:
http://www.samsontech.com/samson/products/microphones/usb-microphones/sounddeck-osx/

Here's where you go to buy and download it:
http://partners.andreaelectronics.com/samson/

Update: By the way, just noticed on the andreaelectronics page, they do offer one for Windows as well, same price.
« Last Edit: Sat, 21 January 2017, 14:17:53 by jedward57 »

Offline Spopepro

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Re: Audio question - Samson Meteor Mic
« Reply #7 on: Sat, 21 January 2017, 14:31:42 »
Go into your recording device settings. You can check the level of "pre-amplification" there, and adjust it down if you're clipping.

Also SUPER important for some applications is to uncheck "turn on audio enhancements". (Or it could say enable). Captivate, for example, won't work with any mic with this turned on.