New Mic Suggestions?

[SumthinRS]

Hey guys,

So I make gaming videos and I've been using a headset to record my voice with (Turtle Beach PX21's to be specific) and it gives a good quality sound but there's no protection from pop noises (by that I mean like hard sounds whilst speaking like T's, P's etc.). Sometimes you can hear my mic rattling around since it's attached to my head, so I want to get a microphone that's on a stand and that has a pop filter that also provides good quality.

I'm willing to go between the £100-£150 (or equivalent to that in $) mark in terms of budget, and I've been looking at the Blue Yeti (http://www.bluemic.com/yeti/#/desc/), but I'm just wondering if you guys have any tips or suggestions for other mics that might suit my needs.

When I say I want a mic on a stand, I mean one of those tall ones so that I can have the mic above my head or something and move it around as I don't have much space on my desk. I don't know too much about mic stands and pop filters so I'll need to know what stands and filters would go with the mics that I'm looking at.

Thanks in advance

 

[SamaJaffa]

I use this mic and it is absolutely amazing! http://www.musicmatter.co.uk/samson-gtrack?gclid=CL-J3aXl-bECFQcOfAodeQcADQ also, if you want to get rid of pop sounds you must buy a mic condenser. There's plenty of these so you can easily find one!

 

[BengaFX]

I Use Turtle Beach PX3. Nice Sleek Headphones

 

[TickledBunny09090]

You don't need to spend a shitload of money to get a really good sound. There are some much more reasonable prices than 180 - 200 dollars. Personally, I would recommend a Samson C01U - it's a USB condenser microphone with good sound reproduction and isn't easy to peak with. It's a really simple microphone that's basically perfect for anything you need.

What you're paying for with a microphone is basically sound quality and lack of peaking, which is where if you talk loudly or yell the sound distorts or just becomes s****y. A good microphone doesn't peak very easily and keeps a pretty normal sound level, meaning if you're talking really quietly, it should sound pretty similar in volume to when you're nearly yelling. Really high-end microphones allow you to basically scream at the top of your voice and not have any peaking at all and some of them come with built-in EQ settings, so you can try to get the best sound without having to do any post-editing.

With the C01U, it performs extremely well for its price, is a USB, and if you're willing to learn a little sound editing (which is really easy to do) you can get a perfect professional/studio quality sound from the microphone. If you don't want to edit at all, it still performs extremely well, but if you edit the sound, it will sound gorgeous. Last thing, make sure you buy a pop filter, they're really cheap and they go a long way to making the sound quality perfect (you need one for basically any microphone).

I've ordered my Samson C01U, and I'm anxiously awaiting its arrival

 

[Hardisk]

I can't believe no-one here talked about the Rode Videomic

You can get it for 95 euros , and it's the best thing out there, sounds awesome and I always see it used by pro youtubers.

EDIT : Tough you were talking about a camera mic. Sorry.

 

[Socotra]

You don't have to spend a load of money to have a really cool mic. I got mine for 15 english pounds and it's the same one Syndicate uses. It's really good quality and has a pop filter. It's the Microsoft lifechat lx 3000 and it's awesome!

 

[SumthinRS]

Thanks for the suggestions, I went with the Blue Yeti anyway after comparing it to the stuff you guys suggested. Something about the sound it produces just made me want it, and you can also screw it right on to a boom mic stand which is perfect for me. Found it for £90 on simply-electronics which is fairly cheap compared to usual prices

Still need a pop filter but I've seen a lot of people say that pop filters don't fit onto the Blue Yeti properly without having to make modifications, but I'm thinking I could just make one of those DIY pop filters with coat hanger wire and stocking and wrap that around the mic or something

 

[Alex B]

Blue snowball is an amazing mic. You can get it off amazon for 65-70 dollars including shipping and handling.

 

[NiCl]

Buy a snowball mic.

 

[bwochinski]

Thanks for the suggestions, I went with the Blue Yeti anyway after comparing it to the stuff you guys suggested. Something about the sound it produces just made me want it, and you can also screw it right on to a boom mic stand which is perfect for me. Found it for £90 on simply-electronics which is fairly cheap compared to usual prices

Still need a pop filter but I've seen a lot of people say that pop filters don't fit onto the Blue Yeti properly without having to make modifications, but I'm thinking I could just make one of those DIY pop filters with coat hanger wire and stocking and wrap that around the mic or something

Firstly, great choice! (IMO) I just got the Blue Yeti myself for gaming commentary, and though I've only done one serious recording session I love the sound already. As for a pop filter, I just got a cheapo brand one for $15 and found a place to clamp it on the desk stand that comes with the Yeti. Not really any trouble. Additionally, if you're going to be threading the Yeti onto a floor stand, most pop filters are intended to be clamped to the stand rather than anywhere around the mic.

One piece of advice I have from my first recording experience on it is to make sure the mic is isolated from your desk, either with a shock mount, or in your case the floor stand might be enough. The stock Yeti stand has very little padding so vibrations come through quite loudly. I found out when listening back that any typing I did came through like I was playing the drums on my desk, so that's the issue I'm solving for next session.

P.S. - I thought I wouldn't like using the the zero-latency monitor jack built into the mic, but I completely love it.