AT2005USB Mic + MIC500USB Pre-amp

Testing audio from the Audio-Technica AT2005USB Cardiod Dynamic USB/XLR Microphone through a Behringer MIC500USB Audiophile Vacuum Tube Preamplifier, with final sound processing by Auphonic.com

Aug 24, 2024

Test Setup

This is a quick test of the Audio-Technica AT2005USB Cardioid Dynamic USB/XLR Microphone running through a Behringer MIC500USB Audiophile Vacuum Tube Preamplifier. The AT2005USB mic was connected to the MIC500USB pre-amp with an XLR cable and the pre-amp was connected to my laptop via a USB cable.

Audio was recorded directly into Audacity and exported as a .wav file in mono. I then uploaded the .wav file to Auphonic.com for additional processing. Auphonic output the final file in .mp3 format.

Filtering/Processing

In the first test (microphone test 1) no background noise is filtered out. You’ll hear my WIRES-X radio in the background as a conversation on the Kansas City Wide network is taking place. In the second test, the same source file is used but I enabled Noise Reducation as shown in the screenshot below:

The only difference in processing between test 1 and test 2 was enabling the Noise Reduction setting for test 2. The .mp3 files for test 1 and test 2 were uploaded to Soundcloud so that I could post links to the files here.

By the way, I mistakenly state the microphone is an Audio-Technica 2020. Wrong. That was stuck in my mind because I had just been looking at the AT2020 microphones. The mic I used for this test is the AT2005USB, not the AT2020 model.

Audio

Microphone test 1 (no noise reduction)

Nothing special done to this sound clip.

Microphone test 2 (with noise reduction)

Auphonic’s standard noise reduction filter is applied, set to “keep speech and music, remove everything else.”

Microphone test 3 (with noise reduction)

This is the same as microphone test 2 except I left the section in the middle where the unaltered recording has background sounds. In the filtered test 3 audio, you don’t hear any of the background. A new filter to remove breathing sounds was used at the 6 dB level.

Find test 3 and test 4 on SoundCloud at https://soundcloud.com/tomsalzer.

Microphone test 4 (with noise reduction)

This is the same as test 3 except I used a beta filter called Voice AutoEQ. This clip also has “Remove Breathings” enabled at the 6 dB level. I think I like this audio best of the four included in the test. It is slightly richer in tonal quality than the test 3 audio.

Conclusion

I’m liking the Audio-Technica AT2005USB mic in combination with the Behringer MIC500USB pre-amp. The audio sounds really good to me: slightly warm and little to no background noise or hiss. This is a natural sounding combination for my voice.

I think this combo is a keeper for my podcast recordings!

Let me know what you think!