4 USB Microphone Types for Virtual Meetings or Recordings
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- Опубліковано 3 лип 2024
- In this video I will cover the 4 most common types of USB Microphones that you can use for your virtual meetings or recordings.
This isn't microphone-specific, but more of a general overview of the types, the best way to use each type, and the pros and cons of each type of USB Mic.
Hopefully some of this information is helpful to you in your search for a USB Microphone.
Below are some affiliate links that help me support this channel!:
Cheap, but good USB Condenser Mic: amzn.to/3hKrM2I
Awesome shotgun mic that's also a USB Mic: amzn.to/3etBWT6
Inexpensive Dynamic Mic Samson Q2U: amzn.to/3hL3gyf
Audio Gear I use:
Awesome shotgun mic that's also a USB Mic: amzn.to/3etBWT6
Industry Standard Headphones, Sony MDR-7506: amzn.to/3evQH87
Rode Wireless Go: amzn.to/3z77Xsf
Cameras used to film this video - Sony A7iii: amzn.to/3ksEsNh
Tamron 17-28 f2.8 lens for Sony A7iii: amzn.to/3z9bqGD
B-Roll Camera and cut-away/side shots - Panasonic GH5: amzn.to/3ilpZjM
Panasonic 12mm f1.4 for Micro Four Thirds: amzn.to/3ex6xiH
Other cool camera gear I use:
Manfrotto Pixie Tripod: amzn.to/3eiMT9l
Smallrig Mini Tripod: amzn.to/3zadSwx
Articulating arm for my microphone: amzn.to/3etHw86
Backup and Cheap Microphone - Movo VXR10: amzn.to/3z597nY
K&F Concept Camera Tripod (Goes up to almost 7 feet!!): amzn.to/3BqEIme
External Monitor, Atomos Shinobi: amzn.to/3exJbJP - Навчання та стиль
This literally squeezes tons of web-based and UA-cam reviews in one single video. Way underrated. Thanks a lot.
I’m so glad this video helped you, happy Streaming and recording!
Great video man. Clear, concise. confident and most importantly, helpful.
Thank you so much, and I'm very glad the video helped :)
You've explained clearly all that are needed to be heard and learned from these types of microphones. You are a great teacher. Subbed.
HI there Alexander. Thank you so much, I really appreciate the comment and kind words. I do like the teaching-aspect of making videos!!
Really great videos, all very well explained. Thanks for this content!
Thank you so much Brad, I appreciate it!
Amazing content, was just looking for reviews on earbuds for virtual meetings but you sold me on the shotgun lol! TY
Thank you. It’s been a great choice for me. To make it better, just make sure your room isn’t too reverberant. Soft goods in your room (carpet, pillows, curtains) will help absorb the reverb and help the overall sound. Good luck!
Excellent!!! V informative - loved it
Thank you so much, I'm so glad it helped!
Very useful information. Thanks
You are welcome!
This was super helpful. Gonna get the Rode videomic NTG thanks!
Thanx Dan! I’m glad it was helpful for you :) and yeah, I’m super happy with my Røde VideoMic NTG, it’s a really nice mic, sounds great, lots of functionality. Good luck!
Thanks so much! I’ve been trying to find a good microphone solve for desktop video calls and didn’t want a typical mike in my face or in view on calls. Literally had a hard time finding this type of content/solution. I realize I’m late to the party with this comment, but yeah lol.
Glad I could help!
Perfect! I'm a total noob to this subject, and this video taught me a LOT! I now see that I also need a shotgun mic, because Iive near an airport. But for this video I would have chosen the wrong mic. Thank you Marcus.
Hi there. You're welcome, I'm glad my video helped! Happy Recording, and keeping those airplane noises out of your audio :)
Great video! Now there is the smaller brother of the shotgun you mentioned. The videomic go II. For approximately 100 dollar. Can imagine that, that is a nice solution for people who are looking for a zoom call mic. At least I just bought that for that purpose. Many thanks!
Hi there. Thank you, and you're welcome. And yes, the VideoMic Go ii wasn't announced/released until almost a year after I made this video, and even though I don't have that mic (yet)....I agree it's a great, smaller, less-expensive option.....and I'm sure I'll find a "need" for it soon :) Cheers!
@videoherebob: had to repost this one but wanted to make sure you saw my reply to your original comment about a non USB dynamic mic for vocals.
Hi there. That is a tough question for sure! I ran a concert-wedding venue for 10 years, and we stocked SM58's and a single Beta 87. 2 very different mics for sure. Since we were a venue, our stock of mics was fairly "standard," using mics like SM58's because if local a band came through and needed to use our mics, then we didn't want to have specialty mics, just something everyone could use. If a touring band came through that had specific needs like different vocal mics, they would usually just bring their own mics. One mic on a different person's voice will sound better, but may sound worse on a different person. Beta 58's kind of solve some of the issues of the SM58. AKA, I ALWAYS have to high pass and roll off a lot of low-end with SM58's. Beta 87's are more crisp, but don't always sound good on someone's voice that is already crisp and sibilant. I know this isn't much of an answer, but sometimes vocal mics are trial-and-error and dependent on the vocalists voice. However, A Beta 58, Shure KSM9, Audix OM3,, Sennheiser e945, or a Beta 87, depending on your needs. Usually can't go wrong with Sennheiser mics. Typically I stick to the standards for live vocals.
Rode ntg video is the mic to buy. It can do many things and do them well.
Thank you so much for this review! Only one I watched that helped so far. Subbed! Although I am still not sure which kind would be best for my specific purpose. I am a therapist who does a lot of virtual sessions with clients and I am looking for good quality of sound, convenience and the microphone should not pick up the sound of me writing on my (pretty quiet) keyboard. I can either use the camera of my Lenovo Yoga duet or use my iPad Mini 6. Advice would be greatly appreciated :)
Hi there. You're welcome. And thank you so much.
The biggest challenge in your question is "the microphone shouldn't pick up the sound of me writing (I'm assuming typing?) on my keyboard.
The one thing to keep in mind is that microphones aren't magic. If there's sound in the vicinity, it will pick it up....and because our mics are almost always pointed near our mouths/chest, the keyboard and its clicks aren't far away.
The only thing I've found that can reduce keyboard clicks is using the built-in audio controls within programs like Zoom. You have to turn on the "Zoom optimized Audio" setting and then choose "medium" or "high" option which can help in reducing or completely getting rid of keyboard typing sounds. However, that is only in Zoom. Google meets doesn't have many options for audio-control. So, you'd be reliant on the meeting platform for trying to negate keyboard click sounds.
You could try using a cardioid lavalier mic, I have this one from Fifine: amzn.to/3UGTsqT. I suggest a cardioid mic vs an omni lav mic because Cardioid rejects sound to the rear, and since a lav mic would be pointed UP at your voice, it would reject MORE sound from behind the mic.....which is where a keyboard would normally be, below your voice/below the mic, etc. However, again, it's just sound waves, and even though cardioid mics reject MORE sound from the rear, they're still not going to completely get rid of unwanted sounds in the area because mics don't know WHAT sound you're trying to pick up or not, they just respond to sound waves.
Plus with a wired USB mic, you'd be attached to the mic and therefore attached to the computer and you might forget to take it off before you leave your desk and accidentally pull the laptop with you!!
Otherwise, if you just want a great sounding mic, and NOT go with a wired option, at this juncture, I'd probably go with the Rode Wireless Go ii, it's a great sounding USB mic and easy to use. It won't do anything special for keyboard click removal, and if you keep it on your desk on a small stand, I'd use the Rode Central app and turn ON the low-cut filter and keep it at 150Hz roll-off setting to keep the low rumbles.
The Rode VideoMic Go ii didn't exist yet when I did this video, it sounds *almost identical to the Rode VideoMic NTG but it's cheaper than the RodeVideoMic NTG.
Rode VideoMic Go ii:amzn.to/3KAV9lc
So, try those meeting-platform audio controls for keyboard-click removal. And good luck!
nice content,
Thank you so much! I hoped it helped you :)
I am a relatively advanced user of microphones of different types, but I really appreciate your summary of mic types, especially since you address a concrete use and the practical disadvantages. It really shows that you are familiar with sound recording and processing, and you make a youtube from your experience and knowledge, as opposed to youtubers that are discovering microphones but don't have a rationale, or the purely technical/engineering analyses with no practical experience. As you point out, it is a choice whether the microphone appears in the frame, but when the microphone covers half the face of the speaker .... what is the point of having a video of the covered talking head? Also, it is a choice the kind of sound you want, but there is a fashion of using large diaphragm condenser microphone with a proximity effect and speaking very close to the mic in order to increase low frequencies and sound more "radio professional" with a "big fat deep" voice but at the end the sound is muddy and it loses intelligibility ... so, put your mic close, but not too close for a nice voice recording. And you have convinced me about going with a shotgun (those Texans and their shotguns....). Sorry for being so verbose.
Thank you so much!! And yes, I am totally coming from my professional world of live-and-recorded event production, while also just trying to teach basic concepts for the every-day person, and I'm glad that comes across in this video. I really like all of your comments here, VERY VERY good points. At the moment, I'm just not a fan of having a microphone right in front of me. I don't get it either, because a lot of people just want to show off that they're using this-or-that mic. If I'm doing strictly a voice-over, sure, I'll have a mic closer to my mouth for, as you said, that "radio announcer" voice, but otherwise, I just want to speak to the viewer without always having the distraction of the mic........even if it's the mic that I"m talking about. And don't worry, you're not verbose......I'm actually a native Texan and live in Austin......but I'm also not exactly "Texan" in many senses of the word ;). Cheers!
@@MarcusHutsell I hope the quality of your videos will get more attention and you increase the subscribers .... one good point is that you get often more views than subscribers ... so people are really paying attention to your content, and probably this will create a virtuous loop, (almighty youtube algorithms willing) ... and don't hesitate to be more detailed and low-level when speaking about microphones ... youtubers will appreciate and anyway audio professionals will not be looking at this content.
@@blaspayri Thank you Blas, I really, really appreciate your comment here, as well as your constructive feedback and conversation. Much appreciated, now I just have to keep coming up with ideas for videos!
Excellent summary. I haven’t been able to find out though if the lavalier microphones are fundamentally different from the usual in-line mic from a headset, such as the EarPods. I find my earpods pick up a lot of ambient noise and unless I hold it close to my mouth, it isn’t really usable. Thank you
Airpods (the actual Apple brand) aren't bad. Their audio mic quality does get reduced when using them as mic-and-speaker, but, I use them all the time and listen to other people IN my meetings using them as well. And, for daily stuff, they're fine, and overall I actually think the airpods sounds pretty good.
but as far as lavalier mics, I do have a USB Lavalier mic, but I don't use it really, mainly because I don't want to be tethered to my desk (I'd probably forget, get up, and take the whole laptop with me because I would forget to detach the mic from my shirt).
I use my Rode videoMic NTG when I'm at home, and I use a cheap, LyxPro CMG50 shotgun mic with a Behringer UM2 at work. For the cheaper LyxPro CMG-50, since it has a lot of self-noise, I run it through OBS and put a noise-filter and compressor on it there before sending that audio to my meeting platform. Overall it sounds really great still.
As far as any mic, airpods, lavaliver, etc, picking up ambient noise.....that can most often be because of your environment. If your environment, office, home office, etc, is very reverberant (has a lot of hard surfaces, etc), then the mic is going to hear what your ears hear. the best thing to do is treat your space. carpet, blankets, sound foam, anything soft that can absorb sound and keep it from bouncing around is the best thing to do to start.
And thank you, I'm very glad you found my video helpful. Cheers!
@@MarcusHutsell Thank you for your reply! I do look forward to your other videos, and am sure if you continue posting this type of quality the channel will further grow.
I actually meant the wired earpods - like the style that came with the phones in the past. The microphone that is inline on the wire seems to pick up a lot of background noise, but lavalier mics don't despite being similar size. Is the technology different?
The rode shotgun you are using seems like what i've been looking for, however i assume when making this vid, you probanly edited audio or something like that, how different would it be for streaming (?, (edit) also is important for me to have out of frame
Hi Marcus, great video. I am looking for microphone for MS teams for work. I really like the shotgun but can I monitor the sounds from the headphone Jack of the PC/laptop?
Hi Jose. Thank you. If you get/use the Rode VideoMic NTG, then yes, but you have to use the 3.5mm output ON the VideoMic NTG, not the headphone jack on your computer.
The 3.5mm output on the Rode VideoMic NTG send the microphone audio directly out the 3.5mm port so you can hear yourself in real time.. I do this every day at home when I'm on a virtual meeting.
And, you can tell the computer (or Zoom, Teams, etc) to also send either the comptuer-system-sounds or Zoom/Teams audio to the videomicNTG via USB, so you can hear yourself AND your virtual meeting out of the 3.5mm headphone port on the VideoMic NTG.
So, the only issue with trying to listen to a USB mic through the headphone jack of the COMPUTER is that most laptops will NOT automatically allow you to do that....they just (usually) won't send the incoming audio directly to the headphone jack, at least Apple laptops will not. And you usually have to route incoming audio through software (and be good at routing) to get it to come back out of the laptop headphone port. You can do this via software like Adobe Audition, or even Garageband, but that's certainly an extra step that you'd always have to do just to hear yourself.
I use OBS to run my audio and video through to process it and send to my virtual meetings, but even though I CAN route my audio using OBS, the main issue with OBS is is does NOT have a low-latency option, so routing my USB mic audio through OBS and back to my headphones means I'd hear my audio about 1/2 second later, and you can't really keep talking while hearing yourself a 1/2 second later. So, even though I process my audio through OBS, I can't hear those effects (compression, noise reduction) unless I record myself and listen back. Adobe Audition/Garageband, etc, will have settings for latency and you can listen through those applications in low-enough latency that you can use a real time monitoring, but again, an extra step for sue.
Your best bet would be to get a USB mic that has a headphone jack (like the VideoMic NTG) and listen that way. You can use the 3.5mm output as a headphone jack and it will send the mic/your voice directly to the headphones in real time, no delay at all. The only thing is that you will not hear ANY processing that you might do over at your computer, because the headphone jacks on mics like that are literally direct from the mic-capsule.....they send audio to the headphone BEFORE it gets to the computer.
So, in my case, I use a 3.5mm extension cable (about 10') and run that OUT of the VideoMic NTG, back behind my desk, and it ends down at my left side under the desk so I can plug my headphones in there, and this way my headphone cable isn't having to go "up" to my mic. I hope that makes sense.
I hope that helps. Cheers!
@@MarcusHutsell Thank you so much for the detailed information. You are a problem solver. I learned a lot. 👍
How do I make a video mic pro + work for a Zoom mic? I'm really struggling with it
Are you talking about ZOOM the meeting software we all use for virtual meetings? Or a Zoom (brand) recorder?
I have guests on my podcast via zoom calls, will dynamic work for that? will I able to hear the other person's voice if i use dynamic mic?
HI there Neel. It's not just the mic that matters, it's the preamp/interface, and ensuring you can gain up the microphone enough with your chosen preamp-interface combination to get enough level into the computer. That being said, dynamic mics need a lot more gain than condensers, and, more importantly, using a dynamic mic means you're going to get a better level by being VERY close to the mic, almost right up on the microphone grill. If you are far away from (any) mic, and specifically dynamic mics, you'll have to increase the gain on your preamp/interface/system and that will also start adding more "room" sound because you're far away.
As far as hearing the other person's voice, I'm not sure what you mean, because the microphone that YOU use has nothing to do with hearing someone else's voice.
If you want a breakdown on gain structure using any mic, I have a video talking about this topic where I use my Rode VideoMic NTG, but the same signal flow and gain structuring steps still apply to any microphone > audio interface > preamp > computer signal chain.
Here's a link to my other video.....follow the signal chain: ua-cam.com/video/1VTtIRpsGXU/v-deo.html
Good luck!
Can speakers be used in conjunction with the mics for teleconferencing? Or is it limited to headphones?
Hi there. With any set up, you can always use speakers on your desk when video conferencing… You just always have to be careful about having the microphone too close to the speakers, otherwise you can get feedback. That goes for any microphone near any speaker, you can get feedback that way.
I talk about this a little bit in one of my other videos, you can watch the video here if you like.
ua-cam.com/video/ysZqf1cJs40/v-deo.html
most meeting software (Zoom, etc) will handle some amount of feedback control and gating if you're using speakers. This can cause some other issues like your voice potentially being cut-off just a bit when you start talking, which may not be apparent to you, but may affect how other people hear you on the meeting. But I use my Rode VideoMic NTG in my virtual meetings all the time, using my desk-speakers
you could have recorded the scrip with the respective mic for demo
Yep, I could have done that, at this point I'm not sure why I didn't do that......but have definitely been trying to do that more when I talk about specific mics, etc. Thank you for the feedback.
On the conclusion You said, that most important for mic is to be close to You. And that got me thinking, isn't the mic on the gaming headset would be the best choice then? Due to it being almost in your mouth basically.
Hi there Fjord. Well, if sound-isolation and a clear voice without a lot of room-sound or reverb from your room, then, yes, a gaming headset with the mic right in front of your mouth will certainly give you the best "voice-only" sound. Of course, you have to take into account the QUALITY of the mic on the headset, as they can vary in quality. But, I have a $25 SADES USB headset/headphones/mic that sounds VERY good......it just looks like I'm a helicopter pilot with a 2 ear muff and a mic......but, it sounds great!
@@MarcusHutsell great advice Marcus. Thank You! Will look forward to it.
@@MarcusHutsell any chance You can check the model? Because I amazoned "sades headset" and there a lot of it 🤯
@@vitalino1981 Hi Fjord. Sure, it's this model amzn.to/3yOgYb0, the Sades R7......but it looks like that exact one is no longer available. Amazon/Sades says that the SA902 is the "newest model" (amzn.to/3aJ4I3z), but I have NOT tried that model. It's a shame because the model I bought was really inexpensive, under $30, and the mic sounded great. The headphone part is pretty good, the only issue I had with it is that the left ear muff didn't quite sit on my ear perfectly, but, hey, my head is probably oblong :) I tried a few models before I kept the sades, just making sure i could return any models I didn't like. But the Sades worked well, and it has an in-line mute switch for the mic so you can mute the mic itself with the switch that's on the cable. that was handy.
actually, looks like they may have the model I bought on Newegg.com: www.newegg.com/p/1VH-00YA-00016