After first unboxing my CAD U37 USB microphone and plugging it in I made some immediate notes. First, it was incredibly easy to use. Definitely plug and play as advertised. Second, the sound was extremely clear. And third, it is remarkably sensitive. Unfortunately, that isn’t always a good thing. After prowling the internet for a solution I could only find many other people complaining about the same issue. One forum poster described the issue pretty well:
“I can fart in my bathroom some twenty feet away and the waveform maxes out. I turned down the master and track volumes to nada, zip, zilch, nothing. Still pegs. Seriously, this thing is picking up mouse clicks at three feet away.”
Having no success in my search I just decided to get in contact with CAD support and see if they could help me out. Being the great company they are, a National Sales Manager replied to my e-mail with a solution.
While I am using a Mac with the U37, to resolve the issue you must plug the mic into a Windows computer. Not really that huge of an issue for most people. Here is the fix:
- Click on the start menu > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Click on the audio tab.
- Under “Sound and Recording” click the volume tab.
- Click on “Options” in the top of the window and click “Advanced Controls.”
- Under the “Other Controls” window, unclick the checkmark under “AGC or mic boost.”
This will dramatically reduce the sound. It will not take out so much sensitivity to make it useless for people wanting that but will definitely help anyone recording in a less than soundproof room. Hope this helps anyone who has been having any issues.
my CAD is not at all sensitive (grrrr!!) even when i keep
it closest to mouth it hardly produces better sound than an
ordinary dynamic mic..its really frustrating. please suggest a
solution. thx
Hmm. Are you using a Mac or PC?
I am using Wndows Vista Home Premium.
I’m not entirely sure as most people seem to have the opposite issue. One thing to check is that your mic volume is turned up to a high enough level. This may seem obvious but is sometimes overlooked.
You could also try contacting CAD directly. They’re pretty good about responding.
The other option would be to return/exchange the mic.
Thanks alot bro. This article was well put together and it helped me as it was intended too.
Glad to see it helped!
So what you are saying is that if I want to use this mic with a MAC I need to buy a new mic? I don’t want to constantly boot back and fourth between windows and MAC to fix this issue — what a waste of time!
Not at all. You just have to do it once and the mic is fine.
OK I will boot into Windows and see if I can follow this process and make it work then! Thanks for the quick response!
I was going to buy the blue snowball instead but this was cheaper and I heard a comparison test between the two and this one sounded better in the test so I went with it.
Hopefully this all works when I do whatever I gotta do in Windows!
LMFAO it is so crazy right now that my GAS PILOT LIGHT 30 feet away on my furnace is causing it to hit 50% on the decibel meter in OS X!
Alright — It’s going back to Guitar Center tomorrow… I booted into Windows 7 and XP on my mac and it doesn’t even show up as a recognized device. I don’t have a straight up windows box anymore (only a laptop with a broken screen I’d need to go through all kinds of BS just to boot into.
Since they put “MAC and PC” on the packaging and it is definitely NOT mac compatible — I’m already done with this company unfortunately.
I guess I’ll get the Blue Snowball which they sell at the Apple Store so at least I know it will work.
LOL — O.K. I had to satisfy my curiousity…
I dug up my old Windows XP laptop, hooked up a screen to it, and booted it up, plugged in the CAD u37 mic into it, went through the whole process and even double checked to make sure the ACG was un-checked.
Plugged it back into my mac and it is behaving the exact same way. I have my input levels set to ZERO and I can’t even whisper from 20 feet away without clipping and the gas pilot light on the other side of my basement is causing the decibels to hit the 50% mark on the graph.
This just ain’t gonna cut it even for my ghetto podcast needs!!!
Too bad because from what other people have said in reviews this is supposed to be a good mic for the price.
I figured out how to get it to register in the Windows Virtual machine on my mac even… I unchecked the AGC box, closed it — re-confirmed that it was checked… went back to my MAC os and NO CHANGE. The thing is CLIPPING as I type on the keyboard 3 feet away.
It’s like one of those crazy “SPY” microphones designed to pick up a whisper from 1,000 yards. I have never seen such a ridiculous microphone in my life, and I have used lots of different ones.
The Blue Snowball sounds cold and not as full as the tests I heard people do with this one, but since I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get it to chill out and not BLOW OUT at the sound of a pin drop — I just can’t use it for anything.
I actually haven’t put mine to good use in a while but do remember how sensitive it was. Ticking clocks were the worst.
Haha, I remember hearing clock ticking in my old setup I used to have but not really bad… But a Gas Pilot Light is pretty bad… Granted it is a tad louder than a normal modern pilot but if I was using a dynamic mic you would never hear it.
I thought this mic had a cardioid pattern so that it wouldn’t pick up sounds from that direction but it picks up everything.
When it wasn’t clipping out I did like the sound though. It sounds richer than the Blue Snowball mic I am going to pick up tonight based on reviews I’ve heard it tested on and such. I think I can fix those issues with a slight EQ adjustment in post production though so I’m not worried about it.