Selecting A Microphone for Computer Recording
Recently I was on the hunt for the best microphone for computer recording under $100 or so and I want to share a little of my experience with you.
Since we are underway recording our Blogging Your Passion 201 Course, I wanted to do what I could to get the best audio possible. Since we are using Skype to record the audio portion of our course, I needed a mic that worked well with Skype, but I also want something that is going to sound good for future webinars as well as our Podcast (to be rolled out later this year).
The big lesson learned
Audio is VERY subjective!
I figured that if I could just spend $100 or so on a well reviewed mic, I would have a pretty great solution. What I learned was that a $20 mic that I purchased a year or so ago outperformed (in my opinion) one that cost 5 times as much.
Have a listen for yourself
I decided to record each of the microphones side by side to get a good comparison between the two. When I did, I was very surprised with the results.
Mic 1: Samson G Track USB Microphone
Click here to listen to it.
This mic had a ton of great features, and I wanted it be great so badly, but after comparing it to the next mic I just had to return it.
Mic 2: Logitech USB Desktop Microphone
Click here to listen to it.
This mic is now my old faithful. At less than $20, I don’t think it can be beat for a cheap mic for recording on your computer or talking on Skype.
Another USB mic
I also tried out the Blue Yeti Microphone – which was a great sounding mic with tons of options (sorry I don’t have a recording for you), but it kept on freezing up on me. I make almost all of my business calls using Gmail and having a mic that freezes up just wasn’t an option for me. I didn’t see this issue in the reviews, so perhaps it was unique to my setup – not sure. Either way, I had to return it.
What I finally landed on
I remembered that I had a couple of good mics (SM58 and SM57) from my old band, so I came up with a solution that worked them together with the computer.
I bought a Tascam USB interface that allows me to plug an XRL or 1/4″ input in and it delivers the signal to the computer via USB. Since I had a couple pretty good mics I figured this would be a good solution for me.
And after playing with it for a while, I am really happy with the sound quality of it. It isn’t radio quality by any means, but it is a great intermediate step.
Anyway, that has been my process for picking out a mic for computer stuff. What about you? What do you use and love?
