snowball...quiet

mathew perkins

mathew perkins

Active Member
My blue snowball mic is way quiet and I'm thinking about selling it because My laptop built-in mic is louder than the snowball. Is there any way I could boost the volume of the snowball so that it will be heard clearly. SPECS: Blue snowball mic, roxio editing software and audacity.:thanksthumbs:
 
I have the iCE variant, and I did have to adjust recording volume, but that solved the issue simply enough. I do have a slight issue with picking up room echo/voice boom, but just speaking directly into the mic resolves a lot of that as well. I think it's a good mic, but you get what you pay for :P
 
PeezInK said:
I have the iCE variant, and I did have to adjust recording volume, but that solved the issue simply enough. I do have a slight issue with picking up room echo/voice boom, but just speaking directly into the mic resolves a lot of that as well. I think it's a good mic, but you get what you pay for :p
Click to expand...

Room echo is primarily an issue of mic distance more than anything else. Talking "into" the mic, increases the source volume of your voice such that the echo (which is still there) isn't loud enough to be audible.
 
Tarmack said:
Room echo is primarily an issue of mic distance more than anything else. Talking "into" the mic, increases the source volume of your voice such that the echo (which is still there) isn't loud enough to be audible.
Click to expand...

I did figure this one out after messing around for a bit, but thanks for the tip! :D
 
PeezInK said:
I have the iCE variant, and I did have to adjust recording volume, but that solved the issue simply enough. I do have a slight issue with picking up room echo/voice boom, but just speaking directly into the mic resolves a lot of that as well. I think it's a good mic, but you get what you pay for :p
Click to expand...
I figured out how to fix the volume issue after messing around with the settings, I can normalize the quiet parts and It fixes it but it picks up more background noise how ever I'm completely fine with that I will try to get that fixed in the future. thanks for your help.
 
mathew perkins said:
I figured out how to fix the volume issue after messing around with the settings, I can normalize the quiet parts and It fixes it but it picks up more background noise how ever I'm completely fine with that I will try to get that fixed in the future. thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

You're too far from the microphone if you have a significant background noise. Get the mic up to within about 6-8 inches from your face and offset about 45 degrees to either the left or right. Then set your volume in windows so that it is just below clipping in your audio recording program.
 
Been using a snowball too, and just said in my latest video how s**t i think it is :D
It is very very quiet, im just going to have to upgrade
also the usb cord seems very hard to get out of the port somtimes, is that just me!?
 
  1. Make sure the phantom power is active - There should be a little red light on the front of your mic, this will signify that the mic is getting power, if this is not on try another USB port or powered USB hub.
  2. Make Sure your gain settings are turned up. Click on the speaker icon in your system tray and go to Recording Devices>Blue Snowball>Turn those levels up!
  3. Distance: Remember, sound falloff is logarithmic, so for every doubling of distance you lose 6db, make sure to get as close as you can!
If your signals are weak like they are in your video, compressing will just make both the good and bad signals louder, this is called Signal to Noise ratio (the higher the signal to noise, the better). Compressors don't know the difference between noise and voice so they will just make everything louder...make sure you are getting strong signals before you even get to post production.
 
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