Best settings for Blue Yeti?

WolfWraith

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Sounds like the positioning is ok then.

For the settings, I don't have the blue yeti myself but it sounds like there's a gain dial on the mic itself as well as the gain settings via the software ? I'm not sure. On my mic (Samson go mic) there are just 3 settings (one directional, cardioid and bi-directional) and the gain is only controlled through the software. For my commentaries, I use cardioid and have the gain around 75%. After recording, I do some noise reduction and normalization. Maybe record 5 seconds of you breathing normally, but not saying anything at the beginning and then run the "noise reduction" filter to filter it out at the end ?
Actually that's a good idea, Tarmack suggested doing that but I was only leaving like 5 seconds not breathing or anything, I thought it had to be like proper background noises. I'll try that though, just a few seconds of me breathing lol that sounds odd when I say it... I've been using noise removal which has only helped reduce background hums a lot.


It's around half a meter from me, it's sites on the other side of my keyboard :)
Okay so roughly the same distance. Did you have issues with it picking up a lot of vibrations? I had to order the stand for that reason, on my desk it would pick up the vibrations from the keys as well as the key typing itself.[DOUBLEPOST=1385460473,1385460379][/DOUBLEPOST]Also does anyone have any tips for fans? lol I don't have air con at my house and it can reach literally 30-35 celcius in my room (rest of the house is like 25-28 -.-) and I can only have a fan running but the mic will definitely pick up the noise even without air blowing over it, or is it just something I'll have to get over?
 

Tarmack

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Mic basics. You want your gain set as high as possible without distorting. As long as you have no distortion, you can clean up the rest in post processing. You shouldn't need to do any keyframe adjustments if you become familiar with audio compression. A good starting point is to set all of your dials and sliders at 50%. So in windows, set the mic recording volume to half, set your gain knob to 12 o'clock. And adjust from there. If it's too high already, turn them both down slightly. What you don't want is the windows volume at max while the gain knob on your mic still hasn't left single digits.

Fans are always a problem. Don't block the fans but put something between them and the mic. Large sheet of cardboard maybe.

Noise reduction doesn't work very well on clicks or breathing. It's purpose is to remove ambient noise, not active. So the steady hum of the furnace, the sound of a fan, etc. These are consistent noises that you can grab the pattern of and remove to some degree. Breathing will be a different sound signature every time, so it won't remove well. Recording some silence at the beginning just ensures that you have a pure section of nothing but ambient noise to sample for removal.
 

WolfWraith

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Mic basics. You want your gain set as high as possible without distorting. As long as you have no distortion, you can clean up the rest in post processing. You shouldn't need to do any keyframe adjustments if you become familiar with audio compression. A good starting point is to set all of your dials and sliders at 50%. So in windows, set the mic recording volume to half, set your gain knob to 12 o'clock. And adjust from there. If it's too high already, turn them both down slightly. What you don't want is the windows volume at max while the gain knob on your mic still hasn't left single digits.

Fans are always a problem. Don't block the fans but put something between them and the mic. Large sheet of cardboard maybe.

Noise reduction doesn't work very well on clicks or breathing. It's purpose is to remove ambient noise, not active. So the steady hum of the furnace, the sound of a fan, etc. These are consistent noises that you can grab the pattern of and remove to some degree. Breathing will be a different sound signature every time, so it won't remove well. Recording some silence at the beginning just ensures that you have a pure section of nothing but ambient noise to sample for removal.
Okay I will have to try it that way. Just out of curiosity though, what's a good level to keep the volume at in Audacity, I mean from the 0db line, should I be keeping it at 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 etc... higher or lower, and then doing the normalize and compress or would I have to just go by my own hearing to decide on that kind of thing?
 

Tarmack

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Okay I will have to try it that way. Just out of curiosity though, what's a good level to keep the volume at in Audacity, I mean from the 0db line, should I be keeping it at 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 etc... higher or lower, and then doing the normalize and compress or would I have to just go by my own hearing to decide on that kind of thing?

I've seen a bunch of people recently talk about -12db or some such nonsense. You want the level to be as high as possible without clipping.

That's basically the whole purpose of the normalize compress combo action. If you bring the peaks in line with compression, then normalize the whole thing, you get the bulk of the signal close to 0db but without any individual spike clipping or distorting.
 

Andrew Flint

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Actually that's a good idea, Tarmack suggested doing that but I was only leaving like 5 seconds not breathing or anything, I thought it had to be like proper background noises. I'll try that though, just a few seconds of me breathing lol that sounds odd when I say it... I've been using noise removal which has only helped reduce background hums a lot.



Okay so roughly the same distance. Did you have issues with it picking up a lot of vibrations? I had to order the stand for that reason, on my desk it would pick up the vibrations from the keys as well as the key typing itself.[DOUBLEPOST=1385460473,1385460379][/DOUBLEPOST]Also does anyone have any tips for fans? lol I don't have air con at my house and it can reach literally 30-35 celcius in my room (rest of the house is like 25-28 -.-) and I can only have a fan running but the mic will definitely pick up the noise even without air blowing over it, or is it just something I'll have to get over?
Ive never had a problem with it picking up keyboard sounds, I used to have a mechanical keyboard and it hardly picked that up either because the mic wasn't pointed down towards the keyboard it was pointed up towards me.
 

WolfWraith

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Okay, thanks guys, I'll play with the settings some more and try out your suggestions, I'm trying to find something that I can use that works and is consistent. Lately these past few videos I've made are on and off with audio quality lol
 

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I have the gain pointing at the A of Gain for all my PC use.. works fine for me :)

I also use the 3rd pattern :) (Omni)
I wouldn't recommend Omnidirectional if you're using it close to your mouth. Cardioid is probably your best bet. Omni means it's picking up from all directions. So, yes it's picking up your voice but it's also picking up all the other sounds in the room. With cardioid, it'll only pick up what's in front of it. Omnidirectional would be good if you have four or five people sitting around a table talking.
 

Andrew Flint

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I wouldn't recommend Omnidirectional if you're using it close to your mouth. Cardioid is probably your best bet. Omni means it's picking up from all directions. So, yes it's picking up your voice but it's also picking up all the other sounds in the room. With cardioid, it'll only pick up what's in front of it. Omnidirectional would be good if you have four or five people sitting around a table talking.
woops my bad, I mean't to put Cardioid but I typed Omni :') I do actually use Cardioid, I just got my words mixed up :p
 

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I actually have my Yeti gain set to the least amount to reduce the amount of echo it picks up. None of my rooms are properly treated for sound, so I have to make that compensation. The mic is about six or seven inches from my mouth and I have my Audacity mic level set to 0.6. Those settings have allowed for more flexibility in my voice as I have a very large range of inflections naturally.

Those settings also allow for more wiggle room if I need to balance my audio levels in my video editor. I also sound check everything at 50% volume. If it's fine at that volume, I figure it'll be okay at higher volumes, also. But I'm not sure if what I'm doing for that is the best option.
 
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