Unboxing & Testing Maono Studio Microphone AU-A04

[@DROIDOFILE]

Hey that's a great review vid! This comment might be bit of a stretch but,Just wanted to ask if you did some editing on the audio sample. Have you tried connecting it to a phone? And Does it produce any sort of buzzing/hissing sounds of it's own?

[@KevinJTracy]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. KZbin marked your comment as spam. No worries, I rescued it. Firstly, thank you for the positive feedback. Second, I didn't do any editing to the audio. I recorded it in OBS using the default settings in there. The audio for the G35 headset did have a noise filter turned on; which I forgot to disable for this review. Regarding the buzzing or hissing, this is a transformerless microphone; which is usually the culprit for the buzzing sound in other microphones I've used in the past. This microphone is completely silent when recording. No pops, buzzing, hissing, or any other noise. It's worth mentioning that OBS does show this microphone as picking up some low level background noise; which I thought was from the fans in my PC located directly behind it. However, it wasn't audible for me on playback. Let me know if you have any more questions. If you're curious, I've written a more detailed review on my website here: www.ktracy.com/2019/06/29/maono-au-a04-studio-microphone-review/

[@DROIDOFILE]

@@KevinJTracy I really appreciate your help. Thank you very much for spending in time and clearing up my doubts.

[@KevinJTracy]

No problem! If you haven't picked it up yet, purchasing through the amazon affiliate link in the description will give a small kickback to this channel to help me continue making terrible product reviews. lol :) Either way, I wish you luck with whatever it is you're recording!

[@DROIDOFILE]

@@KevinJTracy well I would be glad to do that but paying up for those exports will be a pain. I 'll definitely buy it up for podcasts and your review has helped me a lot! Thank you once again.

[@KevinJTracy]

@@DROIDOFILE No worries! I'll check out your channel once I get my Friday video finished. lol

[@soly8354]

if i use a boom arm not a tripod, will it pick up the keyboard noise (let's say a membrane keyboard or a brown switch keyboard) ? or should i go for also a budget dynamic microphone like the behringer xm8500 ?

[@KevinJTracy]

Sorry for the late reply, Soly. Your comment was automatically flagged as "Likely Spam." The answer to your questions depends on a lot of variables, including the position of the microphone relative to your keyboard, how loud of a typist you are, and how loud your keyboard itself is. I can't speak to the xm8500, but I have this Maono microphone about 14 inches away from my keyboard. The keyboard is slightly behind and (relative to the microphone; which is upside down in my boom arm) mostly above the mic. The keyboard isn't as loud as an old IBM keyboard from back in the day, but it is decently loud nonetheless (you can hear it in my reviews of the Aula BeFire keyboard: kzbin.info/www/bejne/inyxg4VsiJt9bpI and kzbin.info/www/bejne/eV6xepaBecl2r8k). With that said, I have never noticed my keyboard while reviewing a livestream via OBS Studio. I'm also not using any noise-reduction filters. That's not to say the keyboard can't be heard, only that if it could be heard, it was not distracting. And I tend to be a VERY loud typist. The boom arm that comes with the Maono microphone comes with a shock mount that eliminates the vibrations from both my typing and my nervous leg bouncing that typically shakes my desk, the floor, and my wife says the entire house. lol I think the biggest factor regarding keyboard noise with this microphone is the placement of the keyboard relative to the microphone. This microphone is a directional mic, so noises coming from behind the microphone have to be really loud to be picked up. The further behind the microphone the keyboard is, the less likely it will be that you'll have noise from it in your stream or recording. If you have the keyboard anywhere in front of the microphone, it's going to be picked up. For what it's worth, I haven't done a ton of gaming with this microphone. It's mostly been recording narration and commentary for my videos. The quality of this microphone is really great. If you can configure your desk to make sure the keyboard is behind the microphone, I would recommend it for gaming streamers.

[@jinx8724]

I have this mic but it has some sort of background noise do you know how to fix this

[@KevinJTracy]

So, without knowing your exact setup, it's hard to give personalized advice. However, here are some things that immediately come to mind. 1. Easiest first: Make sure you are using the condenser and pop filter. 2. Make sure the Maono logo on the microphone is facing you and is facing away from your computer. This is a directional microphone, so it's going to pick up everything coming from the direction of the Maono logo. 3. Make sure you don't have any fans circulating air over the microphone. The condenser should help with that, but it can't hurt. 4. Isolate the microphone and stand. As you saw in this video, I got the microphone with the arm. The arm is clamped to the desk and the noise reduction built into the arm (and the other stands Maono offers) is enough to eliminate the noise from my computer. However, from time to time, the arm will make physical contact with the edge of one of my monitors. When this happens, I do get a little bit of noise. If this fails, try attaching the microphone to another surface besides your desk. 5. If the noise is barely audible and only really noticeable because you see the the noise in your recording software, try using noise reduction. I suspect a little bit of noise like this is common unless you pay top dollar for a microphone with software built in to eliminate this noise. The reason being that nothing is totally silent. Your home's HVAC system is naturally circulating air, you're shifting in your chair or sliding your feet on the floor. To get total silence, even a professional studio won't cut it. You'd need a sensory deprivation chamber. So some noise reduction will likely be necessary no matter what. If you're on a budget and Adobe software is not in that budget, consider an open source alternative like Audacity. It's great software and I only stopped using it when I subscribed to the Adobe Creative Cloud. 6. Try using it to record in a different part of your room (or a different room all together) and see if you're getting the same noise. If so, there may be a problem with the microphone itself. These were ultimately made in China and it won't be the first time there was a quality control issue with a Chinese made product. However, I do still strongly recommend this microphone at this price point. Don't be afraid to send it back for a replacement. Let me know if that helps.

[@jhon9362]

Hey great video I would just like to know how good the microphone is at rejecting background noise

[@KevinJTracy]

So, from behind the microphone, it's excellent. I have the microphone positioned less than 2 feet from my PC with 2 traditional hard drives spinning away, 8 fans, including an overpowered CPU cooler and the side of the case is removed (because the CPU cooler wouldn't fit otherwise) so it's creating some pretty noticeable white noise in the background. The microphone is aimed at me (with me "in front" of it) and the PC behind it. When I record, there is no background noise being picked up that I have ever been able to hear. With no editing, Audacity's (my software of choice for recording audio in my last video) waveform only shows a simple flat line. OBS (which I use for streaming) does show some very minor waveform activity, but I've never actually heard anything on a recording. Regarding other background noise, when I was recording the audio for my drawing of a Catholic Mass (kzbin.info/www/bejne/gYGcmoGee8iHadk), my wife was in the next room watching Supergirl on the TV. Even with my door shut and over-ear surround sound headphones on, I could hear it very clearly. After recording a couple takes of one part, I went in and asked her to turn it down. Well, when I was listening to the audio I recorded, I couldn't tell what I recorded before or after she lowered the volume. So, these did pretty well there. On the other hand, my Irish Terrier mix has been picked up barking from time to time in my audio and I've had to edit him out of my audio or re-record. I suspect if you have a crying baby or screaming kids, they would also be picked up. But if you're just operating out of an apartment and you're worried about the neighbors above you or a polite conversation in another room, you should be okay. I hope this helps!

[@jhon9362]

@@KevinJTracy thank you so much for this reply i am definitely buying this microphone with this information .

[@KevinJTracy]

@@jhon9362 Thanks for the feedback! I'm happy I was able to help you make a decision. Have fun with your new toy!