Audio distorted

[JSturm]

We're using Zoom Rooms with a Mac mini controller, Neat pad tablet, HDMI display and MXL AC-360-Z V2 microphones.  The audio is frequently scratchy and distorted from the microphones.  Users within the room can hear audio from remote participants, video quality is excellent, just the microphone is giving us inconsistent results.

We have another room with a Shure mic that works well.  The acoustics in this room weren't good for the Shure so we're trying the MXL.  Has anyone else encountered this and/or found a fix?  It's frustrating that out of the 3 microphones we've tried to date, only one has worked at all with the Zoom app.  (The first one was a Bluetooth speakerphone that also gave us distorted audio.)

[shaneatzoom · Accepted solution]

Haven't seen this before @JSturm, but I'd think that you may be having a hardware issue with the MXL if you're not having the same experience in the other room with different hardware.  Another thing you might be able to try before contacting MXL for assistance is to carry the MXL into the working room and try it there.  If it works well in that room, it's likely a cabling problem inside of the current MXL room.

Please mark 'Accept as Solution' if this is helpful!

[Ohkawa]

Hi,JStrum

I have never used MXL AC-360-Z V2 microphones, but I know the following as common causes.

If there is a fan (projector, PC, etc.) near the noise-canceling microphone, the voice will be distorted to cancel the sound of the fan.
This can be corrected by moving the microphone away from the fan.
This problem is more noticeable with microphones with high microphone sensitivity and strong noise cancellation function.

It may also occur in rooms where voices tend to reverberate. In this case, it is better to change the microphone.

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[shaneatzoom]

Hi @JSturm, a few responses above.  If either was the help you needed, please mark 'accept as solution'.  we'll change the thread over to read-only in a few days if you don't get a chance to update us on the issue.  Thanks!

[sajithkumar]

I noticed the same issue with Zoom Room with Mac mini, Biamp TesireForte DSP and Shure MXW Microphones.  Since the issue is only over Zoom (local room audio is fine) suspect, this is related to Mac Mini where the audio is connecting to Zoom via USB. Changing the Mac mini or USB port in Mac mini will help. 

[JSturm]

To follow up on this issue--the problem was the USB cable length.  Ours was about six meters.   It should have worked as I don't think that exceeds the USB spec, but when we changed it for a USB-over-IP extender the microphones worked fine, and have ever since.