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Hello Guys, I recently purchased the Blue Yeti microphone and often it picks up me clicking on the mouse and typing on the keyboard etc. I plan to do live commentaries of video games so I need to find out how to eliminate the background noise. Thanks for your time.

Comments

djmukilteo Sun, 09/11/2011 - 13:35

For professional voice you need a mic with a good pop/wind screen with a narrow directional pickup pattern (cardioid).
If this is sitting on your desk in front of the computer keyboard and mouse and not shock mounted it will pickup everything surrounding it! No way around that. The vocalist and mic to be noise free from surrounding outside sources usually is in a sound proof vocal booth. There are also mic reflection filter screens that you can get to wrap half way around a vocal mic that will somewhat eliminate outside noise.
If you were to use an actual broadcast type mic like the Shure SM7B or the Electro-Voice RE-20 mounted on an overhead boom with shock mount it would be much better (like a radio announcer in a booth) and only pick up your voice. They are used for very close up vocal micing and reject surrounding noise pretty well.
I'm afraid with what you have there your going to have to get it off the desk and as far away from the noises and try to isolate and get a close focused voice pickup pattern (cardioid).

Dardin Kay Sun, 09/11/2011 - 14:12

djmukilteo, post: 376139 wrote: For professional voice you need a mic with a good pop/wind screen with a narrow directional pickup pattern (cardioid).
If this is sitting on your desk in front of the computer keyboard and mouse and not shock mounted it will pickup everything surrounding it! No way around that. The vocalist and mic to be noise free from surrounding outside sources usually is in a sound proof vocal booth. There are also mic reflection filter screens that you can get to wrap half way around a vocal mic that will somewhat eliminate outside noise.
If you were to use an actual broadcast type mic like the Shure SM7B or the Electro-Voice RE-20 mounted on an overhead boom with shock mount it would be much better (like a radio announcer in a booth) and only pick up your voice. They are used for very close up vocal micing and reject surrounding noise pretty well.
I'm afraid with what you have there your going to have to get it off the desk and as far away from the noises and try to isolate and get a close focused voice pickup pattern (cardioid).

Shockmount and reflection filter. Any of those that you would recommend for the blue Yeti?

djmukilteo Sun, 09/11/2011 - 14:38

Don't know how that mic could be mounted on an overhead boom with shock mount because it looks like it sits on a desk like typical USB podcast mics.....maybe a screen like this around the mic would help if you can't move it off the desk.

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You should try to keep everything as quiet as possible. Make sure it's in the directional cardioid pattern and set the level/gain such that you have good voice level when you get close up to the mic but not too much gain/level to pickup all the background noise....after all it is a microphone, so it's doing what it does....it picks up sound....you just need to set it up so it's not sensitive to pick everything up.
That screen would certainly help isolate outside noise! If you mount that on a stand in front of you away from the computer that would also help.
Most people who do this sort of thing do this as a voice over where you have the video done and you do the voice part afterwards in a booth....but I know you said you want to do this live....soooo you'll just have to be careful what the mic picks up which is everything!

Good luck

Dardin Kay Sun, 09/11/2011 - 14:50

djmukilteo, post: 376142 wrote: Don't know how that mic could be mounted on an overhead boom with shock mount because it looks like it sits on a desk like typical USB podcast mics.....maybe a screen like this around the mic would help if you can't move it off the desk.

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You should try to keep everything as quiet as possible. Make sure it's in the directional cardioid pattern and set the level/gain such that you have good voice level when you get close up to the mic but not too much gain/level to pickup all the background noise....after all it is a microphone, so it's doing what it does....it picks up sound....you just need to set it up so it's not sensitive to pick everything up.
That screen would certainly help isolate outside noise! If you mount that on a stand in front of you away from the computer that would also help.
Most people who do this sort of thing do this as a voice over where you have the video done and you do the voice part afterwards in a booth....but I know you said you want to do this live....soooo you'll just have to be careful what the mic picks up which is everything!

Good luck

Just ordered it, thanks a bunch! I hope this helps :D

djmukilteo Sun, 09/11/2011 - 23:04

Yes....any suspension type shock mount you can find that will fit that mic will be a good idea along with some sort of boom style mic stand to get it off the desk.
I think the combination of that and the reflection screen will get you a pretty fair vocal track. Get an inexpensive adjustable Pop filter in front of the mic as well!
Be sure to post an example of your audio/video production for a listen and critique of the sound quality, maybe even do a before and after example to show the improvement.

Dardin Kay Mon, 09/12/2011 - 22:44

djmukilteo, post: 376154 wrote: Yes....any suspension type shock mount you can find that will fit that mic will be a good idea along with some sort of boom style mic stand to get it off the desk.
I think the combination of that and the reflection screen will get you a pretty fair vocal track. Get an inexpensive adjustable Pop filter in front of the mic as well!
Be sure to post an example of your audio/video production for a listen and critique of the sound quality, maybe even do a before and after example to show the improvement.

Thanks for the ideas, will definitly get on that and I will! I hope this helps others as it was a pain for me to find help.