Looking a good mic for ventrilo/mumble that can be configured very heavily.

[Bryce]

I'm looking for a good microphone for vent/mumble/livestreaming. This wouldn't be a problem, but I REALLY hate having to use push to talk in vent/mumble to say something and I'm a tank so I need to be able to call for cds on the fly and having my PTT open all the time is fine, people only hear me when I talk, but I have a mechanical keyboard with blue switches and let's just say people hate hearing the sound of it mid-fight.

Are there any mics out there, desk mic or headsets that I can configure to precisely only activate when I talk and not pick up my button mashing mechnical keyboard or am I shit out of luck with this?

Do the Blue Yeti w/condenser really work all that well? I know it has a directional setting that only picks up sound in one direction, but would that be enough for a loud mechnical keyboard or is any mic going to pick up the keyboard?

[Bryce]

That's what I was talking about and I have done that for both vent and mumble. If I set it low enough to pick up my voice it picks up the keyboard with just plain typing and not button mashing. If I set it too high, then I have to really raise my voice more than usual and it still picks up my keyboard. My keyboard is LOUD, but I love the keyboard to death as it's so freaking nice to type and game on.

[sgprounicycler]

The Blue Yeti will do a little better job for minimizing your background noise but if you are mashing your keyboard really hard it will still pick it up. Blue's next step, the Blue Spark, does a better job with getting rid of some of the that background noise and better sound quality but that also comes with the cost of needing to get a $40 Blue Icicle XLR-USB converter.

The Blue Yeti MIGHT be able to do the job for you just fine as long as your mouth is closer to the microphone than your keyboard and find that sweet spot in the voice sensitivity where it will pick up your voice and not the keyboard. Just be aware that with the Yeti you are supposed not supposed to speak into the top of the microphone. The microphone does a much better job if you speak into the side of part that will actually pick up the sound.

[George]

Consider using a foot pedal.

http://us.store.creative.com/Creativ...B003BQKCUI.htm

[Bryce]

The Blue Yeti will do a little better job for minimizing your background noise but if you are mashing your keyboard really hard it will still pick it up. Blue's next step, the Blue Spark, does a better job with getting rid of some of the that background noise and better sound quality but that also comes with the cost of needing to get a $40 Blue Icicle XLR-USB converter.

The Blue Yeti MIGHT be able to do the job for you just fine as long as your mouth is closer to the microphone than your keyboard and find that sweet spot in the voice sensitivity where it will pick up your voice and not the keyboard. Just be aware that with the Yeti you are supposed not supposed to speak into the top of the microphone. The microphone does a much better job if you speak into the side of part that will actually pick up the sound.

I could get a blue yeti or the blue spark with the usb converter and get a wall mounted hanger for the microphone couldn't I to keep it closer to my mouth than the keyboard if it sat on the desk.

With the Blue Yeti Pro, I wouldn't need the converter would I or what?

Never though of a foot pedal, seems kinda awkward to be using it though for me.

[sgprounicycler]

I could get a blue yeti or the blue spark with the usb converter and get a wall mounted hanger for the microphone couldn't I to keep it closer to my mouth than the keyboard if it sat on the desk.

With the Blue Yeti Pro, I wouldn't need the converter would I or what?

Never though of a foot pedal, seems kinda awkward to be using it though for me.

A wall mount would be kind of weird considering that the microphone and stand are one unit. As far as positioning would go you would want a significant more distance from your keyboard to the microphone (12 inch mouth to microphone, 3 feet keyboard to microphone). It is going to be pretty difficult to block out the sound of the keyboard completely because the keyboard is going to be so loud.

As for the your question of Yeti/Yeti Pro needing a converter the answer is no. It is a USB only microphone that will plug straight into your desktop and will transfer the audio through a 100% digital signal.

The optimal sound setting of the Yeti for your situation would be the cardioid mode.

[Bryce]

Yeah, I know what mode to put it in. But damn, $149 ($81 on amazon) for something that MAY help reduce the sound of a mechanical keyboard with blue switches is kinda a lot. May try buying it at Best Buy and get my employee discount on it so if it doesn't work I wouldn't of spent a lot on it.

[Biernot]

I think the OP is asking for the impossible.

The microphone will pick up noise, your keyboard makes noise. The source and type of noise does not really matter to the microphone, only the loudness. No special settings on the computer can alter that. The only hope to reduce the noise of keyboard is through actual physical arrangements:

1. Quieter keyboard
- get a different/quieter keyboard
- stop mashing buttons so hard
- put a soft mat underneath the keyboard, so the button presses do not get transmitted to the desk directly (with the keyboard directly on the desk, the whole desk will act as a resonance body)

2. Free floating microphone
- Use Headset
- if separate mic, do not set it on the same desk that your keyboard is on (-> e.g. microphone stand)

3. Distances
Loudness diminishes with the square of the distance. So having the distance mic - mouth smaller than the distance keyboard - mic will improve the "signal to noise ratio" (voice to keyboard). Obviously a headset is best for this, unless you want to have a mic pushed in your face (like radio moderators).

4. Directional Microphone
These will pick up sound best from a specific direction and try to lower the noise from all other directions. These are used e.g. in aviation headsets or other loud environments. Sadly, you will have a hard time finding something, that can be used directly with the computer and is affordable.
Some normal headsets already have a slightly directional mic, but don't expect any wonders here.


If you want to keep your keyboard, then this is probably the best course of action:
- get a soft mat for underneath your keyboard (e.g. Razer has a huge mouse mat that is big enough for keyboard + mouse: Goliathus)
- Get a headset with adjustable mic boom and set it as close to your mouth as possible, then set the voice activation at a fairly high level.

[Deleted]

1. Quieter keyboard
- get a different/quieter keyboard
- stop mashing buttons so hard
- put a soft mat underneath the keyboard, so the button presses do not get transmitted to the desk directly (with the keyboard directly on the desk, the whole desk will act as a resonance body)

To add to the keyboard bits: get yourself some o ring key dampeners. That will reduce the noise of your typical kb spam if you're bottoming out. http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.p...dampeners.html

[Bryce]

If you want to keep your keyboard, then this is probably the best course of action:
- get a soft mat for underneath your keyboard (e.g. Razer has a huge mouse mat that is big enough for keyboard + mouse: Goliathus)
- Get a headset with adjustable mic boom and set it as close to your mouth as possible, then set the voice activation at a fairly high level.

I have a headset with mic boom currently. I'll try a mouse pad underneath the keyboard, but I have a bad habit of bottoming my keys out during raids for some reason =/.

I was thinking a hanging mount for a blue yeti since you can tell the mic what direction of noise to pick up and it wouldn't be as bad, but the keyboard is probably 13 inches from my mouth (small desk i know).

To add to the keyboard bits: get yourself some o ring key dampeners. That will reduce the noise of your typical kb spam if you're bottoming out. http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.p...dampeners.html

I do like the tactileness of the blue switches, all the dampeners will do is reduce the noise right? It's not going to mess with any tactileness of the keys is it?

[Biernot]

I have a headset with mic boom currently. I'll try a mouse pad underneath the keyboard, but I have a bad habit of bottoming my keys out during raids for some reason =/.

That is where this mat will come in handy. It greatly reduces the noise from bottoming out, not the click of the Blue switches them self.

I do like the tactileness of the blue switches, all the dampeners will do is reduce the noise right? It's not going to mess with any tactileness of the keys is it?

Those rings will be placed between the key cap and the base of the keyboard. They will not directly interfere with the mechanic of the switch (so you will still have the same tactile feeling), but they will reduce the distance between the unpressed position and bottoming out. So the keys will actually stop shortly before your current bottom position.

Both above actions will reduce the noise from bottoming out, not the switch itself.

[Deleted]

OP is most certainly not asking for the impossible.

Just get a decent microphone or headset with a muffler on it and configure your Vent/Mumble/TS. No mechanical keyboard or mouse clicks or noise other than your voice will cause it to activate unless its ridiculously (almost ear-shatteringly) loud - in which case, you would have bigger things to worry about!

I use a rather expensive Sennheiser ME 3 cardoid microphone, but there are others that can do it as well for (much) cheaper these days, no doubt.

You should not need anything else, including fiddling with your keyboard (I have many keyboards including a mechanical).

[Bryce]

I just bought the Blue Yeti just now. I'm thinking what the other person is hearing may be fixed with a shock mount. But the other person can still hear my keyboard click sound.

What's the Gain for on this Blue Yeti?

[Bryce]

Been playing with it a couple days and I think I'm just going to return it. I just don't have the room for it to be far enough away from the keyboard, but still close to my mic and I'm a soft speaker =/.

Here's what it looks like on my desk atm so maybe someone here has an idea about it. I can't drop $100 on a swivel stand til Friday for it though and even then it's kinda pricey for a stand.