What mic should I get?

[The Domino]

I am looking to buy a mic to use as I have great headphones but I am currently using the mic on my webcam which is aweful. I was looking at the audio techinca at2020 and it seems really good but I am not sure I want to spend so much money on a mic as I will only be using it to talk to people as I dont do youtube or anything like that. i was also lookintg at the blue snowball but i am not a huge fan of the way it looks (I know looks shouldnt make me dislike it but I much perfer the look of the audio techinca at2020). Is there a mic out there that is around £60 that is good and is not the blue snowball? Should I just get the audio technica at2020, blue snowball or a different mic? Any help will be hugely appreciated.

 

[zeke15]

Tee best one out there in this price range that I know of is the Samson Go Mic (Not Samsung). It is 40 USD and sounds way, way better than the blue snowball. It is low profile and looks nice.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samson-SAGOMIC-Mic-Clip-Microphone/dp/B001R76D42/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462467967&sr=8-1&keywords=samson+go+mic

 

[gondo]

There are 3 to consider. You can get more expensive mics that are better and have more pickup patterns, but for PC use you only really need cardioid pickup. Unless you have 2 people podcasting from each side of a table, or other situations you are good with cardioid.

#1 - Modmic. It's a clip on 3.5mm mic for $50. It works well, is on your headphones so it won't pick up background or keyboard noise, and it has noise cancellation that works well. The sound quality isn't as good as better USB mics but it's pretty darn good for PC chatting.

#2 - Blue Snowball. $50 and good quality USB mic. Being USB it has no hiss unlike 3.5mm versions. To eliminate desk thumps and keyboard noise get the $25 chockmount for it, and a $25 deskmount or wall mount arm/boom. That'll turn it into a broadcast station type setup and get the mic off the desk and forward of the keyboard towards your mouth to eliminate backgorund noise.

#3 - Samson C01U. Similar to the blue snowball only it uses hypercardioid pickup. This eliminates keyboard noise a bit better. It's probably the better of the 3.

The most popular mic is the modmic, but that is only because people don't use shockmounts or arms with their mics. So they falsly believe the modmic is better. For the extra $50 or so for a shockmount and arm the Samson is the better choice, with the Blue Snowball also being good. Position the mic 6" form your mouth, and adjust the mic sensitivity to not pick up keyboard noise. People don't do this and just leave the standard mic on the desk and think it's garbage. Why do you think radio stations have the mics on an arm in a shockmount? It's not for looks.

You must buy the matching shockmount from either Samson or Blue. The microphone arm is pretty standard and the $25 ones are deskmount. You can get a bracket for $20 that screws to the wall and the deskmount arm will slip into that to make it more solid. Wall mount is more solid than a cheap desk clamp.

For ease of installation the modmic is king. Personally i use my headphones for music, movies, etc... so I don't want a mic attached to them. I prefer a desk mic on an arm I can swing out of the way when I don't want the mic. I don't want a mic and extra cable attached to my headphones all the time. For headphones that are strictly for gaming then the modmic is a good choice and the sound quality is pretty identical to the USB versions. Very high quality.

 

[Sherylinrm1]

Just as an aside.

If you get some cheap foam pads from the dollar store you can cut a piece the size of the mic stand for it to stand on and it will help absorb some keystroke shocks.

The pads are often a 1/16 inch thick and can simple be glue on with a little bit of white glue.
Don't use to much as it will harden and defeat the purpose of the foam. I have used 4 layers and just a dab of glue on the edges and one or two spots on the bottom of the stand.
Because the mic never moved, this worked fine for me until I could get a thicker piece of foam later.

Hope this helps

 

[The Domino]

Thanks fo rthe info, I may get the samson CO1U, I was just wondering how much the shock mount will benifit me as it does make things a little expensive. Am I right in thinking the shcok mount removes sound that will come from vibrations from my desk and through the arm stand? if so could I simply attach the arm stand to my second desk as my keyboard would not be touching that one?

 

[gondo]

The shockmount removes all sound from vibrations through the desk and bumping the mic around. Thumping. Yes if the arm is on a different desk it would help and you could hold off on the shockmount for now. Some microphones have built in shock mounted element.

You can also get a pop filter. A piece of foam that goes in front of the mic. This removes the pppp ppp pppp or taaa taaaa taaaa or spitting sound as you talk.

The arm is recommended to get the mic up in the air and 6 inches from your mouth. Then you adjust the sensitivity in windows to pick up your voice and not the keyboard in the background.

 

[zeke15]

Keep in mind though, that for taling to your friends, you really don't need a shock mount or even a pop filter (btw you can make a pop filter out of an old sock). Unless you plan on making voice recording serious in the future, don't spend extra. You will be fine with just a mic and arm/stand.