Xenethra
Member
They have the most exposure, I would argue you could get better for the price if you looked around.
Microphones
- Thread starter RedFox
- Start date
SomeGuyDude
Just some guy, dude.
Hoo boy...
Condensers are always going to be optimal in "studio" recording situations unless you have so much background noise you're unable to mitigate it. There's a reason they use dynamic mics in radio and condensers in the studio and why dynamics are heavily favored in live settings. To say what we "need" as amateur recorders is pretty foolish. Strictly speaking, we don't "need" anything beyond a gaming headset. You can "get away" with a simple-a** Logitech G430 if all you're talking is what you "need". We don't "need" any of what we use. A Let's Player could use a laptop webcam and a gaming headset and record at low-res, but the point of this is to get the best end quality, right? Right?
This is 100% incorrect. 100% absolutely wrong. Condenser mics are THE mics for studio voiceover work. You see this?
That's John DiMaggio recording voiceover work for Futurama (not singing), and that in front of him is a Neumann U87, a $3500 behemoth of a condenser microphone that's basically the industry standard and you'll find it in recording studios worldwide. Seriously, look up most voiceover guides or tutorials and there's a high chance if it's a pro setting you'll see a U87 there. Don LaFontaine (as in the movie voiceover guy) used a Manley condenser. If you're listening to studio work, there's a 99% chance there's a condenser in front of the speaker/singer/player for the simple reason that it's going to catch all the details of the voice/instrument, and because they're in sound-treated studios they don't need to worry about background noise.
This doesn't even make sense. The "wide range" you're referring to that condensers pick up isn't in the frequencies at all, it's in the sensitivity where the little details reside. There is literally nothing in the "wide range of vocal sound" that is affected by a dynamic or condenser microphone. That's not how this works. Actually you've got it backwards because a singer is usually backed up by a bunch of instruments that would swallow up a lot of those details anyway. The same could be said for gamers playing over a hectic video game, but that's a different point entirely.
Oh no you do not. Not even a little bit. And it makes sense as to why: they're directional. The STRENGTH of a dynamic mic is that it captures what's right in front of it and nothing else, which is why they're awesome for recording in "dirty" environments like radio booths or live settings. However, that also means that they need to be RIGHT in front of your mouth to sound right. If you're holding a dynamic mic and you move around, turn your head or whatever, the audio is going to vary like crazy. You DEFINITELY can't just stick the mic anywhere. I ran into this a lot, especially doing an LP with something like the Oculus Rift where moving around meant losing sound.
Again, this should make sense, because the nature of condensers is that they pick up everything and dynamics do not. The mic doesn't magically know that you want to hear your voice and not keystrokes when neither are what's right in front of it.
Dynamic microphones can be great. I used a Shure SM7B for a while and it sounded awesome. But I prefer the clarity of a condenser because they ARE clearer, crisper, and more open sounding. I don't know where you got this idea that condenser mics are these insane nightmares of echo and background noise, but they're not. Yes, if you're using them in a room with windows open and a dog running around then there's going to be some serious problems, but if you can stick yourself in a bedroom and hang a couple blankets on the walls you're going to be good. And guess what? I don't do any editing on my audio aside from compression to even out the dynamics. One plugin in Premiere and that's just because I go from low speech to screaming and need it evened out. No noise removal, no de-essing, no gating, nothing. Just a compressor and done.
What mic is "best" depends on everyone's situation, but the general thing is that if you are recording in a quiet room that isn't just a concrete cube, get a condenser. If you have a lot of issues with background noise and boxiness or echo, get a dynamic, because I am 100% of the belief that fixing what goes INTO the mic is better than trying to edit what comes OUT of it.
It's great that you did research, but you didn't do enough to start coming on here like you're the expert wading through a sea of amateurs telling everyone "well since I know how microphones WORK let me tell YOU a thing or two."
Xenethra
Member
Excellent write up. Low gain + Dynamics processing is working wonders for me as far as background noise goes.
TigerXtrm
I Love YTtalk
I did say "unless you are in a professional studio or a padded room"... Obviously a condenser is the way to go if you have a room dedicated to cancel out background noise. But the majority of us don't have that luxury, which was why I wrote what I did in the first place.
What I meant was that you could place the microphone at a small distance while still having it targeted at your mouth. What I found with condenser mics is that unless you're up close and personal to them, like the image you posted, it's going to sound hollow and distant. With a dynamic microphone you can take a step back, talk towards the mic and still have a good quality sound. Of course there are also condenser microphones that are directional, like boom mics and stuff, but those might get expensive quickly and would still pick up every keystroke if you would hang them overhead.
When it comes to just voice over work for YouTube videos, I honestly don't hear much difference between a condenser and a dynamic, nor do I think that difference warrants having to fiddle with background noise, closing my windows and shutting off everything in the room that makes the slightest hint of sound. The times I did hear the difference I thought the dynamic sounded better (for internet video purposes, anyway).
Agreed 100% with that.
justdarrell
I've Got It
Get an at2020,the yeti picks up a lot more background noise and even noise removal cant remove that because there is just too much.
Honestly if you wanted professional quality you should get an interface/mixer and get an xlr mic.
Just make sure you use audacity or audition to record, noise removal > compress > bass, etc.
After doing so you will sound a lot more energetic and a lot more interesting to listen to.
Honestly if you wanted professional quality you should get an interface/mixer and get an xlr mic.
Just make sure you use audacity or audition to record, noise removal > compress > bass, etc.
After doing so you will sound a lot more energetic and a lot more interesting to listen to.
SomeGuyDude
Just some guy, dude.
Except you don't need a "professional studio". Heck most of my old videos are me just in a hotel room and there was no issue. I only ran into an issue at the new house because my room is particularly small with no carpet and there was a lot of "boxy" sound. So I hung a couple bed pads on the walls and bang. Room noise gone.
You don't "cancel out background noise". That's not a thing we do. There are VERY few people out there with actual soundproof recording rooms. Even lots of pro studios don't do that because it's ridiculously difficult. All you need is for the room not to be crazy noisy. Hell in 99% of the videos I've made over the past while there have been people watching TV in the next room but you can't hear that. Condenser mics are sensitive, but they're not insane unless you have the gain cranked.
This is backwards. Condensers, being much more sensitive, allow you to speak into them from a distance. Actually you DON'T want to be up close to a condenser because they're frequently victims to the proximity effect. Dynamics are build to be spoken into from close up, it's part of why they work so well at eliminating background noise. If a dynamic mic was good at picking up sounds at a distance... well it wouldn't do any good at eliminated background noise, now would it? The main technique of a dynamic is to have it practically against your teeth:
(yes it's studio work, after all Michael Jackson recorded Thriller with an SM7b, but the point remains)
There are a ton of problems here. You can't just hear the difference between a condenser and a dynamic from listening to the audio. That's like thinking you can know what kind of camera they used on sight. Secondly, what dynamic was it that you thought sounded better than the condenser? And what condenser sounded worse than the dynamic? What microphones are you comparing? You can't just say "I thought the dynamic sounded better" without specifying what microphones you're talking about because a $60 Blue Snowball is a condenser and so is the $6000 Bottle. You could say a phone camera looks better than a dedicated video camera, depending on which phone and which camera, but you'd be a lunatic telling people that phone cameras are better than dedicated.
Not to mention you're missing one big thing with dynamics: gain. Dynamic mics need a LOT of gain going and most interfaces won't provide it, so you'll need to snag something like a CloudLifter or a preamplifier of some kind, which adds cost as well as any other issues that having more pieces of hardware may bring (cable management, outlet space, etc). If you buy like an M-Audio M-Track for your Electro Voice RE20 you're gonna wonder why you can't get it loud enough.
If a dynamic fits the application better, then by all means use one. Or if you just like the sound of a particular mic, get one. But you have to know WHY a certain mic fits your needs better, and you have to know what you're getting into with each situation, and realize what are and are not the various shortcomings. For a home studio voiceover application, BOTH can work and sound gorgeous. With the right settings and tweaks, you'll likely be hard pressed to tell several mics apart if you're not told beforehand what they are. I'm just trying to knock back a lot of misinformation being thrown around here.
Auto-Mafia
Liking YTtalk
I use a Samson C01 and a Rode VMP Pro
TheKirkyLife
The Real James T. Kirk
I use another condenser mic the AUNA MIC-900. Gorgeous piece of equipment.
My Yeti Died, which is what I used before, but honestly it was a happy day more then sad!
XtremeConditioning
Active Member
You know for someone just starting out, a simple Logitech USB mic with a stand, a wind filter and a pop filter is just fine. I'd link my video, but it's not allowed...
I use my old Guitar Hero World Tour USB mic and a wonky microphone stand that doesn't even fit the mic LMAO, and the foam piece over the mic, and a pop filter attached to the stand. Sounds almost as good as the best of em, with WAY under $100 (more like $60-ish) for the whole setup, where a "good" mic alone will cost you over $100 typically just for the mic, now you need a pop filter, possibly a stand, etc.
It would cost you well over $150 for the setup, and I cut that in 1/3 with my setup and sound comparable to people with great mics. Then just record with Audacity and export your file into editing software or whatever... Done!
I use my old Guitar Hero World Tour USB mic and a wonky microphone stand that doesn't even fit the mic LMAO, and the foam piece over the mic, and a pop filter attached to the stand. Sounds almost as good as the best of em, with WAY under $100 (more like $60-ish) for the whole setup, where a "good" mic alone will cost you over $100 typically just for the mic, now you need a pop filter, possibly a stand, etc.
It would cost you well over $150 for the setup, and I cut that in 1/3 with my setup and sound comparable to people with great mics. Then just record with Audacity and export your file into editing software or whatever... Done!