AT2020 USB Light Hissing... Any Tips?

S

Semantics

New member
I just got my Audio Technica AT2020 USB today, and I have it on a regular old tripod stand. It is inside a Samson Shock Mount, with a Nady pop filter in front of it. I believe it is 6". I use logic express 9. Whenever I press the R for record to preview the microphone sound, I hear an annoying little hissing in the background. I turned down the high frequency EQ but it is still there, unless I eliminate pretty much all of the midrange too... but then I can hardly hear my voice. My lights were off, no fans or air conditioning, windows closed... and that did not help. When I turned the gain down on the track down to about -40.0dB it did sound a little bit better, but the hissing was still there. Let me know what I can do!

Thanks
 
I would say turn the gain down when recording but im not sure how USB works....also...my AT2020 XLR is phantom power required...is the USB the same?
 
Maybe it's just a noisy microphone. That's just a guess. I don't have that microphone and can't say for sure. What about a computer fan, could it be that? I wouldn't touch the eq to kill hiss.
 
USB mics are indeed powered through the USB because it'd be pretty pointless if you needed a separate PSU for it. Hard to say what's causing the hiss (are you sure it's not the computer fan or hard drive noise or something like this?), but I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that it's the cheap preamp amplifying the mic's own noise (the AT2020 is known to be a bit noisy).
 
krushing said:
USB mics are indeed powered through the USB because it'd be pretty pointless if you needed a separate PSU for it. Hard to say what's causing the hiss (are you sure it's not the computer fan or hard drive noise or something like this?), but I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that it's the cheap preamp amplifying the mic's own noise (the AT2020 is known to be a bit noisy).
Click to expand...

I mean thats what i figured that makes the most sense i just never dealt with one. Mines not bad but i run it thru a steinberg mr18csx
 
Also Having HISS issues on AT2020 USB mic setup

I know this post is old, but I am having this problem as well. The mic records pretty good quality for what it is, I'm no expert - but there is a hiss that I thought I had isolated to the laptop I was plugging it into (AT2020 USB mic) but now on my desktop as well, I get hissing.
My issue is this hissing is not noise floor hissing, its after mic hissing, so when pushing gain down to get the right levels, the relative presence of the hiss is amplified and certain if not all instrumentals are therefore always in need of noise reduction - which depending on the source audio can be a disaster to the audio quality produced.

I plugged in a Blu Yeti and no hiss or at least not at these levels (note the Yeti has mic side gain control as well where the AT does not) but the audio quality isn't there for this mic, I was quite happy with the sound I was getting from the AT2020.

I saw some people post that the AT2020 was just a noisy mic, but I don't think it should be like this... Anyone can offer some help here?

Is it possible this hissing is mic side? In need of repairs? Something I can do to the environment, PC settings, Macbook settings?

Ultimately I want to have a setup that goes through a preamp or mixer to be able to set mic levels before the PC sound card, but this is what I can afford right now...
And, I am sure the mic isn't meant to be THIS hissy... Its at levels that cloud any recording and being such a sensative mic, you have to record almost anything with the levels WAY down, which is great for noise floor - but the Hiss is amplified in relation here so this just cannot be right.

I've contacted the manufacturer's rep for support but nothing yet...

Any thoughts?
 
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