Does this mic sound okay to you?

How does the mic sound?

  • Not great.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • It'll do.

    Votes: 2 50.0%

  • Sounds great!

    Votes: 2 50.0%
  • Total voters
    4
M

MatthewP

New member
Hello! I'm new here, and I have a question! :D

I'm going to be doing some narration, and I've been looking at the various mics available (condensers). They're pretty pricy, so I think I will wait for a while until I purchase a good one.

In the meantime, do you think that the audio quality of this mic is any good? View attachment Electret Test.mp3

It's a tiny little electret microphone that I salvaged from a [very old] laptop, which I've soldered some shielded wire to. It then goes into the mic-in on my Zoom H1 (which is plugged into my PC, and is functioning as a USB mic).

The highs and upper mids seem quite crisp to me, but I'd really like some input from ears other than my own. :) Thanks.

P.S. I don't always sound that boring, if I so choose. :thumbs up: Bit tired atm.
 
My instinct was to say forget it. Use the built in mics on the zoom, but wow.
I listened to the clip and it's very clear and full sounding.

Part of me thinks you're bluffing.

Carry on. :)
 
Well, that you think I'm bluffing is a good sign for this little mic! I just did a test versus my H1... and I can't quite believe it myself.

Either my H1 is faulty, or this is one killer electret! Take a listen...

View attachment electret vs h1.mp3

I know my status as a new member isn't exactly trust inspiring, but I'd have to be a pretty big looser to fake/bluff about a microphone, lol.
 
That little electret is much fuller and warmer sounding, to the point where it's almost too bassy.

Do you have it in an enclosure or anything like that?
 
Perhaps a low cut will help the slightly heavy bass?

It's kind of in an enclosure. Are you familiar with those really cheap "media microphones" that you used to get with PCs in the early 2000s? I've put it in one of those. A picture speaks a thousand words...

P1030556.JPG
 
Yeah, a low cut/high pass would do the trick.
It depends what you want; It might be fine as is.

Well done, and thanks for sharing. :)
 
Cheers. I'm pretty pleased that it's got your approval; should do me for now, until I can afford something better! :)

The laptop model it was out of, if anyone's interested, is a Dell Latitude C PPX. Might find one in a scrap pile somewhere (yeah, it's THAT old!)
 
I have an old IBM Thinkpad with a beautiful sounding mic I used to record an acoustic guitar after I discovered it beat my R16 built-in condensers. I suppose I might have to tear the thing out of there now!
 
I'm actually not surprised by this...there have been some amazingly good electret capsules dirt cheap around for a few years now. Back in the UK, I'd often use some cheapies from CPC for the typical hairline/over ear miking we do in the theatre. The were about £5 each and, while not quite as good as a £180 Sennheiser MKE2, a bit of EQ could make them sound fine and, treating them as a disposable meant I wasn't struggling to keep an expensive mic going despite sweat out problems.

I agree that the attached file is bass heavy--maybe proximity effect?--but I had a quick play and some gentle EQ below 250Hz seemed to help a lot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top