How to fix Griffin iMic noise

Every once in awhile, I pull out the old Griffin iMic to record some quick voiceover. Because I do it so infrequently, I always forget how to set it up to get rid of the terrible buzz. Here's how to get a pretty quiet signal out of the iMic:

Open Quicktime Pro, and open a new audio recording. Put headphones on and turn the little volume slider on the left up so that you can hear the microphone passthrough. If you can't hear it, open system preferences, sound, select the proper input (iMic in this case), and make sure the input volume is turned up. Once you have it working, close and restart quicktime to make sure all of your input settings are being used properly.

Now, at this point I always have a fairly clear signal, but with an annoying underlying buzz.

To get rid of the buzz, I open a new Quicktime recording, and turn up the volume slider on it so I can hear the passthrough again. Then, I open the Audio Midi Setup in the Utilities folder, and mess around with the channels drop-down menu. In my case, it was set at 44.1kHz, with 2ch-16bit. Changing to 2ch-8bit produces a different, yet equally annoying noise tone. If I change to 1ch-16bit though, it's crystal clear (or at least as clear as the iMic is going to give me).

If you want to use 48kHz, you'll have to set it, then restart quicktime to test it out, as it will go silent otherwise.

I usually use a Seinheiser G2 wireless Lav Mic setup with the iMic. I don't have a sound booth, so by going wireless, I can leave the room and go into a nearby quiet room to do the recording. I use the lav because my only other choice is a shotgun, and the lav has a lot less ambient noise.

Comments

[peter]

hi

i found your post cause i'm having the buzz problem with imic on my macbook pro. i noticed too that the buzz (i'm talking about a very high-frequency sound) becomes less if i switch to 1-ch. i also noticed, that it will be even less if i unplug the power-supply. but its still there, even if i unplug the mic from the imic. and its a problem if i have to amplify or compress the recording... i wonder: how clear is "as clear as the imic is going to give you"? do you have a sample? and are able to use imic to do voice overs in final cut? best, peter from switzerland.

[John]

It's really quite clear. Definitely no buzz, but there's always the very subtle hum that you get with most audio recordings. That can easily be removed in Soundtrack Pro though if necessary.

I haven't used the iMic for direct FCP voiceover (using the voiceover tool), but it should be fine as long as you can get the quicktime method above working.

[Harry]

Hi,

I also experience the noise ('digital buzz')with the imic. When I use either Audacity or Audiograbber (Windows XP)with various settings it is just there - just too much to be annoyed. I thought it is just the laptop that's causing it. But I use my company laptop in which there is a soundcard that can boost my Sony ECM-DS70P microphone well enough so I can use its input to record: there is no noise anymore (so not using the imic), but when I use the imic with this laptop (both with Audacity or Audiograbber) the noise is still there. Anyone with similar experiences or maybe there is even a solution for my home laptop?? The things proposed in the posts above didn't solve it...