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microphone recommendations for me?
posted in Hardware
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#1
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#2
3 Frags +

I currently have the blue Yeti. While I would recommend it overall, I'm not going to this time, because not only does it pick up any and all background noise, its price is way above your budget.
I'd recommend the snowball, it's cheap, small (aka portable), and sounds great.

I currently have the blue Yeti. While I would recommend it overall, I'm not going to this time, because not only does it pick up any and all background noise, its price is way above your budget.
I'd recommend the snowball, it's cheap, small (aka portable), and sounds great.
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#3
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#4
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I've used both the blue snowball and the modmic, the latter is my current mic
Blue snowball was great but I eventually just got annoyed with not having space on my desk. If that's an issue you could try a microphone arm but idk if you'd want something kinda in your face. Sound quality is great but even with a pop screen it picked up more background noise than I had hoped (albeit i was living in a dorm at the time)
Modmic is perfect for me personally because I can use it with any pair of headphones and have plenty of space on my desk. Quality is good and doesn't catch much background noise.
I don't really have any recommendations outside of those two but yeah they're both solid choices, but personally I prefer the modmic

I've used both the blue snowball and the modmic, the latter is my current mic
Blue snowball was great but I eventually just got annoyed with not having space on my desk. If that's an issue you could try a microphone arm but idk if you'd want something kinda in your face. Sound quality is great but even with a pop screen it picked up more background noise than I had hoped (albeit i was living in a dorm at the time)
Modmic is perfect for me personally because I can use it with any pair of headphones and have plenty of space on my desk. Quality is good and doesn't catch much background noise.
I don't really have any recommendations outside of those two but yeah they're both solid choices, but personally I prefer the modmic
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#5
4 Frags +

I've used the blue snowball, yeti and modmic and agree with the people above, the desktop mics (yeti + snowball) sound great but pick up pretty much any background noise so if like me you have a loud mechanical keyboard they are probably not the best choice. The modmic is much better about cancelling out background noise and is pretty clear (hard not to be cause it's right next to your mouth) but it's kind of a pain if you have a bunch of different pairs of headphones (one of mine ended up breaking, and I ended up losing the adhesive magnetic bits lol) and obviously don't work with earbuds. I use a yeti with a mic arm which is pretty nice because it's got settings to not be completely omnidirectional (picks up everything) and it doesn't pick up my keyboard nearly as much and can be closer to my face, but obviously that's way out of your budget. I'd say go for the modmic or if you want to really cheap out the $5 zalman mic is apparently pretty good though ive not personally used it myself.

I've used the blue snowball, yeti and modmic and agree with the people above, the desktop mics (yeti + snowball) sound great but pick up pretty much any background noise so if like me you have a loud mechanical keyboard they are probably not the best choice. The modmic is much better about cancelling out background noise and is pretty clear (hard not to be cause it's right next to your mouth) but it's kind of a pain if you have a bunch of different pairs of headphones (one of mine ended up breaking, and I ended up losing the adhesive magnetic bits lol) and obviously don't work with earbuds. I use a yeti with a mic arm which is pretty nice because it's got settings to not be completely omnidirectional (picks up everything) and it doesn't pick up my keyboard nearly as much and can be closer to my face, but obviously that's way out of your budget. I'd say go for the modmic or if you want to really cheap out the $5 zalman mic is apparently pretty good though ive not personally used it myself.
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#6
3 Frags +

no matter what u do ull always sound like yogi the bear.

no matter what u do ull always sound like yogi the bear.
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#7
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#8
3 Frags +

Modmic is pretty good, but the 3.5 mm jacks caused a bit of issue for me as it picked up quite a lot of static noise from my motherboard as I don't have any sound card or DAC to use.

https://antlionaudio.com/products/antlion-audio-usb-adapter
I'm not sure at all if this is all that decent though (might get it if I would buy a Modmic again), but I would recommend getting it anyways as even the cheapest USB microphones that I've used sound better than Modmic plugged to your motherboard through the 3.5 mm port, allowing your Modmic to sound a lot more better and upgraded by just a simple adapter.
If someone else knows more about this, I'd be happy to hear more of it as well.

That, and also the wire on Modmic 4 broke for me after a year of use but looking at Modmic 5 features that would seem to last for even a longer amount of time.

Modmic is pretty good, but the 3.5 mm jacks caused a bit of issue for me as it picked up quite a lot of static noise from my motherboard as I don't have any sound card or DAC to use.

https://antlionaudio.com/products/antlion-audio-usb-adapter
I'm not sure at all if this is all that decent though (might get it if I would buy a Modmic again), but I would recommend getting it anyways as even the cheapest USB microphones that I've used sound better than Modmic plugged to your motherboard through the 3.5 mm port, allowing your Modmic to sound a lot more better and upgraded by just a simple adapter.
If someone else knows more about this, I'd be happy to hear more of it as well.

That, and also the wire on Modmic 4 broke for me after a year of use but looking at Modmic 5 features that would seem to last for even a longer amount of time.
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#9
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#10
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I have no idea how the Modmic 5 and 4 sound like, but I do know that up to the Modmic 3, they were really quiet even with a soundcard. My Modmic 1.0 still sounds and works great, but I've had to max out microphone boost in Windows and turn up the gain significantly in some applications in order to be decently audible (at the cost of some white noise being present).

You might also want to consider a dynamic mic (e.g., ATR2100) if you want to reduce background noise as much as possible. The drawback is that you'd need to have the mic close to your mouth, which would require the use of an arm or a taller stand.

I have no idea how the Modmic 5 and 4 sound like, but I do know that up to the Modmic 3, they were really quiet even with a soundcard. My Modmic 1.0 still sounds and works great, but I've had to max out microphone boost in Windows and turn up the gain significantly in some applications in order to be decently audible (at the cost of some white noise being present).

You might also want to consider a dynamic mic (e.g., ATR2100) if you want to reduce background noise as much as possible. The drawback is that you'd need to have the mic close to your mouth, which would require the use of an arm or a taller stand.
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#11
Spaceship Servers
1 Frags +
r1ceI currently have the blue Yeti.

I do as well, it's a pretty solid mic, sounds great, but if you have it on your desk it tends up to pick up all your keystrokes as booming bassy clicks and i can imagine that'd be annoying for others to listen to.

also yeah thats way over op's pricerange

[quote=r1ce]I currently have the blue Yeti.[/quote]


I do as well, it's a pretty solid mic, sounds great, but if you have it on your desk it tends up to pick up all your keystrokes as booming bassy clicks and i can imagine that'd be annoying for others to listen to.

also yeah thats way over op's pricerange
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#12
2 Frags +

modmic is nice

modmic is nice
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#13
4 Frags +

I've used both products.

The mod mic was nice because it was attached to my headset and so I didn't have to worry about moving it around - it was reasonably insensitive, and if you put some nice foam covering over it beyond what they give you it should work fairly well for muting out background noises - unidirectional would be idea as that will also cut down on the ambient noise it picks up (I'm not sure if mod-mic has gone to unidirectional mics yet).

The Snowball is pretty handy too - I still haven't built a fancy stand for mine yet, but it works well enough on the desk - but is MUCH more likely to pick up ambient noise than the mod-mic was because it's right next to my keyboard and I use blue switches so they're really clicky :D But the audio quality is fine.

Mod mics also get *really* bass-y so if you've got a voice like Tony Swan it may make you difficult to understand.

I've used both products.

The mod mic was nice because it was attached to my headset and so I didn't have to worry about moving it around - it was reasonably insensitive, and if you put some nice foam covering over it beyond what they give you it should work fairly well for muting out background noises - unidirectional would be idea as that will also cut down on the ambient noise it picks up (I'm not sure if mod-mic has gone to unidirectional mics yet).

The Snowball is pretty handy too - I still haven't built a fancy stand for mine yet, but it works well enough on the desk - but is MUCH more likely to pick up ambient noise than the mod-mic was because it's right next to my keyboard and I use blue switches so they're really clicky :D But the audio quality is fine.

Mod mics also get *really* bass-y so if you've got a voice like Tony Swan it may make you difficult to understand.
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#14
3 Frags +

with my directional mod mic it was easy to hear my voice in a crowded loud room
I had to get one of those usb adapters though to make it loud enough

with my directional mod mic it was easy to hear my voice in a crowded loud room
I had to get one of those usb adapters though to make it loud enough
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#15
0 Frags +

I don't know US music shops so i'm going to assume prices are similar.

https://www.thomann.de/fr/lexicon_alpha_studio.htm
50
https://www.thomann.de/fr/the_tbone_tb312s_schwanenhalsmikro.htm
30
or
https://www.thomann.de/fr/the_tbone_lc97_tws.htm
30

I don't know US music shops so i'm going to assume prices are similar.

https://www.thomann.de/fr/lexicon_alpha_studio.htm
50
https://www.thomann.de/fr/the_tbone_tb312s_schwanenhalsmikro.htm
30
or
https://www.thomann.de/fr/the_tbone_lc97_tws.htm
30
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#16
2 Frags +

If you want a USB microphone, buy the samson meteor mic. From my experience it is the best USB microphone and it is 70 dollars also. I've used both the blue snowball and blue yeti. Both are decent but from all of the USB mics I've tested the samson meteor mic was definitely the best.

If you want to invest in good audio quality in the future though. Buy an XLR microphone and a preamp. The sound quality you get far surpasses the quality a usb microphone can offer. XLR microphones I would recommend are the shure sm58, audio-technica AT2020 (the xlr version not the usb version) and the shure beta 58a which is the one I use. Preamps I would recommend to go with those are the focusrite scarlet solo, presonus audio box and art usb dual pre. You can buy all of those xlr microphones and preamps for less than retail value if you use ebay. I highly recommend buying a preamp if you're investing in audio equipment though because it opens you up to to an extremely vast catalog of microphones. If you're interested in buying any of those microphones I would highly recommend getting a boom arm unless you're content with holding the microphone in your hand while you play because none of them come with stands. Also if you're buying XLR cables you should buy shielded ones not the shitty cheap ones amazon recommends.

Good luck.

If you want a USB microphone, buy the samson meteor mic. From my experience it is the best USB microphone and it is 70 dollars also. I've used both the blue snowball and blue yeti. Both are decent but from all of the USB mics I've tested the samson meteor mic was definitely the best.

If you want to invest in good audio quality in the future though. Buy an XLR microphone and a preamp. The sound quality you get far surpasses the quality a usb microphone can offer. XLR microphones I would recommend are the shure sm58, audio-technica AT2020 (the xlr version not the usb version) and the shure beta 58a which is the one I use. Preamps I would recommend to go with those are the focusrite scarlet solo, presonus audio box and art usb dual pre. You can buy all of those xlr microphones and preamps for less than retail value if you use ebay. I highly recommend buying a preamp if you're investing in audio equipment though because it opens you up to to an extremely vast catalog of microphones. If you're interested in buying any of those microphones I would highly recommend getting a boom arm unless you're content with holding the microphone in your hand while you play because none of them come with stands. Also if you're buying XLR cables you should buy shielded ones not the shitty cheap ones amazon recommends.

Good luck.
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#17
1 Frags +

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#18
1 Frags +
unskilledi appreciate all you've said, vari, but a preamp seems like too much effort

Yeah you might be right but it's for if you wanted to invest in better audio quality in the future. I'm not saying you should shell out the money now.

Hence why I said "If you want to invest in good audio quality in the future though."

[quote=unskilled]i appreciate all you've said, vari, but a preamp seems like too much effort[/quote]

Yeah you might be right but it's for if you wanted to invest in better audio quality in the future. I'm not saying you should shell out the money now.

Hence why I said "If you want to invest in good audio quality in the future though."
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#19
2 Frags +

I've been using an earlier model of this mic https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007JX8O0Y?ref=emc_b_5_t since about 2011. If you can get a proper mic stand I'd say one like this is well worth it.

EDIT: I always use the USB interface, works really well. I did use the XLR interface for a while but found it unnecessary.

I've been using an earlier model of this mic https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007JX8O0Y?ref=emc_b_5_t&tag=teamfortresst-20 since about 2011. If you can get a proper mic stand I'd say one like this is well worth it.

EDIT: I always use the USB interface, works really well. I did use the XLR interface for a while but found it unnecessary.
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#20
2 Frags +

Snowball

Snowball
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