Audio-recording Microphone Recommendations

[CureAll]

Hello all, I'm getting into music making and would like to get some vocals going. I have a mic, but it's just a $100 corsair gaming headset. I'm looking for some recommendations on a good microphone for audio recording in music production.

Please leave recommendations below!

 

[Leeiuum]

Depends. It's hard to go off by the 100$ alone. Even for industry standards and during this time where everything is overpriced due to not enough stock it's hard to recommend anything specifically of a brand or product.

However, condenser microphones are generally used for voice-overs and singing in music-produced projects and dynamic microphones are used for vocals in concerts. The difference being that condensers are hyper sensitive (captures your voice perfectly in a well maintained room) and dynamics are very insensitive (which benefits singers in studios, so the microphone doesn't capture the noise of people's cheering, screaming, noise, etc.)

You'll be post-processing in music production anyway if you're in fact generating it, so I recommend a condenser microphone, and even that's hard to recommend within your budget. You can get a decent setup for $150 but for a really nice setup you would need around $300.

I would recommend getting a condenser such as the sE Electronics Magneto which has mostly a flat frequency making it sound as natural as possible, however to make the microphone work you would need an interface because it's through XLR, hence why it's approximately $300 worth of equipment, and then you'd want an acoustic foam soundstage which could cost you another $100.

However if you just want something to capture your voice at a decent level and post-produced and equalise your voice using software such as FL or Adobe Audition or Audacity, you can using a much cheaper product, though it may produce weird sounds. You can grab yourself one of these such as: https://tinyurl.com/y2qe3gul, whilst being off-brand there are a lot of soundboards designed into microphones that generally don't sound that bad.

Bear in mind, I'm not American so I don't know the current price market for microphones and audio equipment as well as the stock over there; but the information I have provided may have been useful.

 

[MarkElf]

For plug and play, the Blue Yeti is the go-to. Around the same budget is the HyperX Quadcast that I like just a bit more as it sounds slightly more natural. Going more professional, you're looking at spend $300+ and I can't recommend anything myself at that range that uses XLR.

 

[CureAll]

To be clear, I don't have a budget for this, I was just saying I currently have a $100 corsair gaming mic, I don't think that'd be considered industry-level though [DOUBLEPOST=1599487442][/DOUBLEPOST]

Depends. It's hard to go off by the 100$ alone. Even for industry standards and during this time where everything is overpriced due to not enough stock it's hard to recommend anything specifically of a brand or product.

However, condenser microphones are generally used for voice-overs and singing in music-produced projects and dynamic microphones are used for vocals in concerts. The difference being that condensers are hyper sensitive (captures your voice perfectly in a well maintained room) and dynamics are very insensitive (which benefits singers in studios, so the microphone doesn't capture the noise of people's cheering, screaming, noise, etc.)

You'll be post-processing in music production anyway if you're in fact generating it, so I recommend a condenser microphone, and even that's hard to recommend within your budget. You can get a decent setup for $150 but for a really nice setup you would need around $300.

I would recommend getting a condenser such as the sE Electronics Magneto which has mostly a flat frequency making it sound as natural as possible, however to make the microphone work you would need an interface because it's through XLR, hence why it's approximately $300 worth of equipment, and then you'd want an acoustic foam soundstage which could cost you another $100.

However if you just want something to capture your voice at a decent level and post-produced and equalise your voice using software such as FL or Adobe Audition or Audacity, you can using a much cheaper product, though it may produce weird sounds. You can grab yourself one of these such as: https://tinyurl.com/y2qe3gul, whilst being off-brand there are a lot of soundboards designed into microphones that generally don't sound that bad.

Bear in mind, I'm not American so I don't know the current price market for microphones and audio equipment as well as the stock over there; but the information I have provided may have been useful.

Thanks for the thought-out post! Is there a need for getting my audio to sound as natural as possible if it's going to be post-processed? I get using acoustic foam to avoid background noise / echos, but if in the end it's going to be modified to be not-quite-natural, then do I need to get a $300+ setup?[DOUBLEPOST=1599487536][/DOUBLEPOST]

For plug and play, the Blue Yeti is the go-to. Around the same budget is the HyperX Quadcast that I like just a bit more as it sounds slightly more natural. Going more professional, you're looking at spend $300+ and I can't recommend anything myself at that range that uses XLR.

Thanks, I'll take a look at the HyperX Quadcast, I'll have to do a bit more research on what makes it a gaming mic other than the fact that it's HyperX branded.

 

[Leeiuum]

To be clear, I don't have a budget for this, I was just saying I currently have a $100 corsair gaming mic, I don't think that'd be considered industry-level though [DOUBLEPOST=1599487442][/DOUBLEPOST]
Thanks for the thought-out post! Is there a need for getting my audio to sound as natural as possible if it's going to be post-processed? I get using acoustic foam to avoid background noise / echos, but if in the end it's going to be modified to be not-quite-natural, then do I need to get a $300+ setup?[DOUBLEPOST=1599487536][/DOUBLEPOST]
Thanks, I'll take a look at the HyperX Quadcast, I'll have to do a bit more research on what makes it a gaming mic other than the fact that it's HyperX branded.

You would want the best natural sounding input regardless if you're post-processing or using it as raw. If you equalise it for example, you'd want so much room to work with. Too high or low frequencies can tarnish the music project and make it sound terrible. It's very hard to pinpoint a very natural sounding microphone but several line ups from sE Electronics are very nicely designed (for their price) but have some flaws in their high frequencies.

I want to counter Mark's post though. Blue Yeti's are not at all good. The sound cards installed are very cheap and very unprofessional in terms of sound. The price you'd be paying Blue Yeti is more for the metal casing and for the ability to chose polar patterns. The Blue Yeti does have really nice build quality (though very heavy), which is also a flaw because it entices you to buy their on-brand stand that is insanely expensive towards other competitors so it's not at all good for being set up in an acoustic sound stage as previously mentioned in my last comment. Speaking this from personal experience when I had my Yeti around 7 years ago and even though I did not know a lot about audio back then, I still wasn't impressed.

The Blue Yeti is almost the complete opposite of natural sound. You can discover the diagrams featured on Google images if you type in "Blue Yeti frequency diagram", which you can compare them to the HyperX Quadcast. Out of the two Quadcast is by far your best option in terms of weight and soundcard installed in the microphone. Though the Quadcast still isn't perfect for frequency measurements, out of the two suggestions it is very distinctive.

HOWEVER, The Blue Yeti frequencies are very straight, so whilst the Quadcast is very natural, the Blue wouldn't jump and shift in different frequencies in-between bass and treble.

TL;DR I don't recommend you get either options. They're not that great.

 

[Voqoo]

The Audio Technica AT2020 is great imo.

 

[CureAll]

The Audio Technica AT2020 is great imo.

It looks like all the reviews for it are great, everyone says it's great. Got any idea what all I'd need to get it connected to my macbook?

 

[Leeiuum]

It looks like all the reviews for it are great, everyone says it's great. Got any idea what all I'd need to get it connected to my macbook?

You can either get the AT2020USB which is a plug and play, however you can get an interface which allows you more control over the audio. If you chose the interface, it can range from a large number of prices. I personally would recommend a Line UX2 but that's mostly for recording (which I do) but not for singing.

If interested in an interface, your only other requirement would be 48v phantom power (which most interfaces include, but not all).

 

[CureAll]

You can either get the AT2020USB which is a plug and play, however you can get an interface which allows you more control over the audio. If you chose the interface, it can range from a large number of prices. I personally would recommend a Line UX2 but that's mostly for recording (which I do) but not for singing.

If interested in an interface, your only other requirement would be 48v phantom power (which most interfaces include, but not all).

Would an XLR to USB adapter cause any quality loss?

 

[Leeiuum]

Would an XLR to USB adapter cause any quality loss?

Yes. It would lose a lot.

 

[CureAll]

Yes. It would lose a lot.

Is XLR noticeably better than USB? I'm worried about skimping out and wasting money on something that won't sound as good as it should.

 

[Leeiuum]

Is XLR noticeably better than USB? I'm worried about skimping out and wasting money on something that won't sound as good as it should.

I would say so, yes. USB almost has the same quality as XLR, though XLR has much more "cleaner" noise when capturing, reducing white noise more than USB and is more versatile for multi-use projects such as singing, recording, livestreaming and other media projects. Not to mention that you have more control of your audio with XLR, as with interfaces and mixers you have your own volume adjustment rather than using an USB with gain (isn't the same as volume).

Interfaces can improve the sound quality of a microphone a lot as an interface is a separate sound card designed for computers to decode the audio.

The problem is that USB is much more able for the average user to use. It's plug and play with the loss of some audio quality loss, but that's all. For professionals, XLR is your choice; but it requires an interface, mixer or separate sound card to use. Therefore if you're a musician or singer and you move around a lot, then having an XLR setup is going to be more troublesome to move around with you.

There are many pros and cons to both and it's mostly about flexibility than something better - unless you're an audiophile.

 

[CureAll]

I would say so, yes. USB almost has the same quality as XLR, though XLR has much more "cleaner" noise when capturing, reducing white noise more than USB and is more versatile for multi-use projects such as singing, recording, livestreaming and other media projects. Not to mention that you have more control of your audio with XLR, as with interfaces and mixers you have your own volume adjustment rather than using an USB with gain (isn't the same as volume).

Interfaces can improve the sound quality of a microphone a lot as an interface is a separate sound card designed for computers to decode the audio.

The problem is that USB is much more able for the average user to use. It's plug and play with the loss of some audio quality loss, but that's all. For professionals, XLR is your choice; but it requires an interface, mixer or separate sound card to use. Therefore if you're a musician or singer and you move around a lot, then having an XLR setup is going to be more troublesome to move around with you.

There are many pros and cons to both and it's mostly about flexibility than something better - unless you're an audiophile.

Hm, I might go with the USB to start then. I'm not expecting to make any major productions or anything, just want some decent sounding stuff. In the future if I decide to be more dedicated I'll look at upgrading my setup. You've been a great help, thank you very much!

 

[Leeiuum]

Hm, I might go with the USB to start then. I'm not expecting to make any major productions or anything, just want some decent sounding stuff. In the future if I decide to be more dedicated I'll look at upgrading my setup. You've been a great help, thank you very much!

USB is definitely the right way to go if you're starting off.

You can check out "Podcastage" on YouTube to find more about microphones, comparisons and to select the right microphone if you ever want to check it out, in case you have any doubts or just want to learn more.

Whichever purchase you chose, I hope you like it, and hopefully you find all of our information useful.