What Mic to buy

P

PumaHD

New member
Hi Community,

I'm going to start vlogging. I'm looking at shotgun mics and an overhead mounts but that's too expensive. Do you have any recommendations for some really nice microphones that will work as overhead?
My maximum budget is around $200...

I'm currently looking at the Yeti Pro. What do you think of it?

Please link everything
 
I've never used a Yeti but there was another thread here in the singing forum about loud vocal problems.
 
I'd personally recommend a lav mic, but if your overall budget for the recording stuff is $200... You're going to be pretty limited.
 
Hi, first of, good idea to buy mics but i'd say you should buy 2 at the same time so you have can go stereo if you want to, i'd suggest the Neumann U47 its really a go around mic and its not really so expensive for the sound it gives, the other mic i'd suggest is a Neumann U87, a little more expensive but the sound is really good. You can't record with bad microphones can you? I personally own 12 mics, 2 U87, 2 U67, 2 U47, 4 Sm57 and 2 AKG C 451 and i couldn't do anything without good microphones
 
Vigo you have a great mic collection - it embarrasses me to say what I own - but this is probably a kid with a paper route
 
Yes, sorry to break it to you but my job does not leave much money to do this, which is what I love. I'm currently looking at the CAD GXL2200 what do you think of it? Its pretty inexpensive and has good reviews. Would it work well on overhead and do you think it would pick up my voice nicely?
 
TBH you need to get busy with your vlogging so get the CAD GXL2200 and it won't break your budget and will do you fine for starters. Play with it and try different settings etc and get familiar with it. And when your budget gets bigger move ahead to a more expensive mic. The most important thing is to move forward and buy what you can afford. The reviews look positive so...
 
Vigo said:
Hi, first of, good idea to buy mics but i'd say you should buy 2 at the same time so you have can go stereo if you want to, i'd suggest the Neumann U47 its really a go around mic and its not really so expensive for the sound it gives, the other mic i'd suggest is a Neumann U87, a little more expensive but the sound is really good. You can't record with bad microphones can you? I personally own 12 mics, 2 U87, 2 U67, 2 U47, 4 Sm57 and 2 AKG C 451 and i couldn't do anything without good microphones
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Did you even kind of read his budget? You're listing off multi-thousand dollar mics, man.
 
PumaHD said:
I want to connect this mic to a 3.5mm headphone input.
Click to expand...

I think you need to stop and not buy anything yet. The last thing you want to be doing is connecting a mic to your onboard soundcard. You will have nigh on zero control and it will sound crap at best.
 
Hmm, pains me to say it but I think in this case the OP would be better served with a modest USB mic?

The thread really should have started in the newb section because of course to make any kind of decent recordings and to have any sort of level control he needs to start looking at Audio Interfaces before he even THINKS about microphones.

BTW I Googled "vlogger" just to confirm my instinct (YES! I AM an old fart that does NOT do social buggerings about!) and a demo vid said I needed a another Video player "for the best experience" ? Well, I just wanted to see and hear! It got quite sniffy when I did not comply...HTML5 or sommat?

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Hmm, pains me to say it but I think in this case the OP would be better served with a modest USB mic?
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I was going to do the same. I actually did then edited my post. I just couldn't bring myself to recommend a USB Mic but in this instance, it'll most probably serve the OP better than what he is thinking of purchasing.

I also had no idea what a vlogger was. I thought it was a typo at first :laughings:
 
3.5mm jacks are pretty common even on nice camera equipment. But to plug a mic into one I would REALLY suggest getting one of these or similar. It appears this one can even mount to the setup out of the way. The ones we had in college were hook and loop on the side and it sucked because it made the camera balanced weird.:

Rolls MX36 Cam-Mix 2-Channel Microphone Mixer MX36 B&H Photo

So once you have one of those as a method for getting a whatever mic you want into the camera I would personally recommend either a lav mic (could even be wired) or a boundary mic. If you go boundary, you can tape it to the ceiling in omni and be just fine. You will get a lot of room sound that way though. If you can go lavalier mic I would do that instead honestly. There are non wireless options if you need to save on money. Just make sure you either pick up a phantom power unit as well, OR pick a lavalier mic that will accept a battery.

Good luck with the choice.

EDIT: Yeah I missed the budget part. Maybe a hyper cardiod is the best option. I would like to know what the camera is first though (and if it does have controls for input gain). Maybe this guy:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...SjOA5QKBfbyIZboaVhoCv5bw_wcB&is=REG&A=details
 
Mr Clean said:
I think you need to stop and not buy anything yet. The last thing you want to be doing is connecting a mic to your onboard soundcard. You will have nigh on zero control and it will sound crap at best.
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Depending on the camera this is totally false. I know this is mostly an audio community so I don't expect most here to know this but a lot of higher end HD video cameras (think over $2k) will have gain controls for the audio input. Many even have peak limiters built in and are totally fine for capturing voice.

Speaking from experience, lining up audio with video is a pain in the ass.
 
Okay...do you want to plug the mic into a camera or are you going into your computer?

If it's into a camera and that has 3.5 mm connectors then you're stuck with getting a mic that can go that way.

If you're going into your computer, you have other options.

Way up above somebody suggested a lav mic and for simple video work I think that suggestion was spot on. Lot's of lavs cost hundreds of dollars but just lately I've been buying some cheap Chinese lavs for radio mic use and I've been pleasantly surprised at the quality for the money.

The mics I've been buying are from THIS EBAY OPERATOR. I've placed a couple of orders and they've been prompt on their deliveries and seem pretty above board.

From their range, you have a couple of options. If you're going into a computer, buy the black clip on with an XLR connector that can run on phantom power, then take the money you've saved and buy a USB interface like a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 or M Audio M Track. Either would be day and night ahead of trying to go into an on board sound card.

If, on the other hand, you're going into a camera, check the connector you need and whether your camera provides a bias voltage for an electret mic--most do. If so, just order a mic with the right connector. If not, somewhere on that site is a bias voltage adaptor for their basic mics.

One other thing...they list a cheap shotgun. I have no idea if it's any good or not so if anyone buys one to try, let me know how you get on!
 
Guitargodgt said:
Depending on the camera this is totally false. I know this is mostly an audio community so I don't expect most here to know this but a lot of higher end HD video cameras (think over $2k) will have gain controls for the audio input. Many even have peak limiters built in and are totally fine for capturing voice.

Speaking from experience, lining up audio with video is a pain in the ass.
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Yeah, depending on the camera but I don't expect that Joe Vlogger, posting on this forum, is going to have a $2k+ camera, do you? It's highly-unlikely. If he had a half decent camera I wouldn't think he'd need a Mic for recording voice as most decent cameras have more than adequate mics for talking/vocals.

I made the assumption he'd be recording it into a PC, probably with a clip on cam or built in laptop webcam jobby. In which case my statement is correct.
 
PumaHD said:
Hi Community,

I'm going to start vlogging. I'm looking at shotgun mics and an overhead mounts but that's too expensive. Do you have any recommendations for some really nice microphones that will work as overhead?
My maximum budget is around $200...

I'm currently looking at the Yeti Pro. What do you think of it?

Please link everything
Click to expand...

Try this:

Electrovoice 635A

http://www.electrovoice.com/product.php?id=100

That and a simple M-Audio XLR-USB interface should suffice.

Check pawn shops! I found my 635A and my M-Audio XLR-USB interface each for only $29.95!
 
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Guitargodgt said:
Speaking from experience, lining up audio with video is a pain in the ass.
Click to expand...

However, it looks like this person is sitting at a desk with it all going into a PC, so my comment below may be moot.

Agreed, but for a person with no real budget, some pain may be the best bet. He/she did not say how the video was to be edited, which is an important aspect.
 
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