Which Mic and USB Audio Interface for game streaming?

Procaster or AT2035

  • R0de Procaster

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • Audio Technica 2035

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    1

Stuartd

New member
Oh man,

Hi everyone this is my first post so be gentle, I have been looking to get into some game streaming over on Twitch.tv. After many hours I am no closer to knowing what to buy. I am also new to anything above USB mics audio wise.

As my room is not treated and there can be road noise as well as chair, keyboard and mouse clicking. Let me start with rejected setup;

R0de Procaster > Behringer X1204USB £251

Looking online the beyringer does not get great reviews so I ruled it out.

R0de Procaster > Focusrite 2I2 £215

R0de twitter put me onto Focusrite, Focusrite then suggested the 2I2, however looking online people say it doesn't have enough gain and you need a good 56db for the procaster. I don't however due to cost reasons want to buy a Cloudlifter or similar as it seems to be getting overly complicated and expensive. The last thing I want however is low levels for live recording as I can't bump it up afterwards in post. Next

R0de Procaster > Focusrite 6I6 £278 Possible setup

Contrasting opinion about whether this actually has 60db of gain but people say this has enough grunt, seems like a gamble though and how much noise is getting right into the top end of the gain going to create.

Audio Technica > Focusrite 2i2 £222 Possible setup

So I started thinking of ditching the procaster and using a the AT2035 condenser, I know this is decent entry level and the Focusrite has Phantom Power so it will have enough juice to retain decent levels. Obvious downside to this is that there will potentially be much more noise introduced this way. However better that than having a really quiet mic.

So that's about where I am at, I have looked at lots of different USB Audio Interfaces and they all seem to top out at around 60db, however that's not accounting for noise introduced when pumping gain and there is nowhere near me where I could try the above setups out.

I really need to get this right first time, hope you can help me :)
 
For that money you could buy a nice mic and preamp like in the last example. SO much more adjustment and usability for the future.
 
For that money you could buy a nice mic and preamp like in the last example. SO much more adjustment and usability for the future.

Thanks for the reply.

I am thinking of getting an Audio Compressor so that I dont peak to loud or sound to quiet and when gaming there is never a really stable balance depending what is happening.

What about this, is this viable;

Is it possible to have a Audio Technica > Focusrite 2I4 > DBX 266XS Compressor

What is the correct order, would this work and how do I get the audio back to the PC, confused?

Not sure if this sort of thing is possible, would probably have to use a USB preamp mixer to get this setup working instead of the Focusrite?
 
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Thanks for the reply.

I am thinking of getting an Audio Compressor so that I dont peak to loud or sound to quiet and when gaming there is never a really stable balance depending what is happening.

What about this, is this viable;

Is it possible to have a Audio Technica > Focusrite 2I4 > DBX 266XS Compressor

What is the correct order, would this work and how do I get the audio back to the PC, confused?

Not sure if this sort of thing is possible, would probably have to use a USB preamp mixer to get this setup working instead of the Focusrite?

The 2i2 doesn't have channel inserts, and only has 2 inputs/outputs, so it wouldn't be able to both deliver phantom power to the AT2035 and loop the compressor into the signal chain.

I wouldn't worry about a hardware compressor at this point.
 
The 2i2 doesn't have channel inserts, and only has 2 inputs/outputs, so it wouldn't be able to both deliver phantom power to the AT2035 and loop the compressor into the signal chain.

I wouldn't worry about a hardware compressor at this point.

I see what your saying, however back when I was making Youtube recordings my audio would clip quite often and it was the most annoying thing that can happen, granted that was with a Samson USB mic and now I would be using a AT2035 XLR.

Can anyone recommend a setup that includes the following;

Audio Technica 2035 > Pre Amp > Compressor > PC
 
How about a dbx 286s Channel Strip in front of the interface. It also allows a bit more tweaking of the sound. Line out of the 286s would go the Line in of the interface.

Audio Technica 2035 > DBX 286s > interface > PC

I do own the DBX 286s and it's a decent piece of gear.

Wow thanks for the reply this looks to be just what I am looking for, I will need an interface with ¼” TRS Input Jack?

Something like this;

Audio Technica 2035 > DBX 286s > FOCUSRITE SCARLETT 6I6 > PC

The Scarlett costs more than the DBX but not many seem to have Inputs other than the XLR.
 
The input jacks on the 2i2 are combo jacks, that can accept XLR or 1/4" inputs. And I believe that they are switchable between mic and line input levels. Might need to consult the manual on Focusrite's website just to make sure.

EDIT: arcaxis beat me to it!
 
Focusrite 2i2 will likely be adequate for you. 1/4" is TRS.

That looks spot on thanks and will save me quite some money over the 6I6, shows how new I am to this type of gear. Would you set the gain right down on the Scarlett then or leave it in the middle?

As far as input levels it says the following on the website, I also looked at the specs but didn't know what I was looking for really;

Use the front panel high quality XLR/jack combination inputs to connect line and instrument level signals as well as microphones – perfect for recording a synth or stage piano, or at the flick of a switch, an electric or acoustic guitar.

Just a thought as well,

As I said my room isn't treated and so I'm a little worried about the AT2035 in terms of pickup, I see the DBX has 60db of gain, would it be worth switching to the Rode Procaster now over the AT2035?
 
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Thanks for all the replies and help,

Now I know what I am getting with regards to equipment I have put a poll onto this thread so I can hopefully get some opinion on which mic to choose.

Is the Audio Technica a better quality mic than the Procaster ? My room is untreated like I said and there could be some leakage from the outside, as well as keyboard and mouse clicks. However I'm assuming the Procaster will pick up keyboard sounds and mouse sounds to a lesser extent.

Last part of the puzzle
 
Hi everyone,

So I went ahead and bought the following;

R0de Procaster > DBX286s> TRS Jack from Output to Scarlett Focusrite 2I2 > PC

Should I set the front of the 2I2 to Line or Inst, if you look at the file I have attached it would seem that using Inst makes the most sense and it is louder than when I was using Line for sure. Would getting a TRS to XLR make any difference to the sound quality or am I perfectlt fine with the current setup?

Also when using Inst if I have the gain all the way up I have to turn down the output on the DBX 286s so that it doesn't clip, I have it set to +60 on the gain and then -10 on the output, although the focusrite still flashes orange and red sometimes on the led.

For anyone that has the DBX286s which part controls how much your voice is being compressed, I was suprised to still get some clipping when using this, I think it has a -30db total clip so is it that I am going to high for the compressor to handle? I have watched a few Youtube videos and used their settings as a baseline but its hard to know what to do as a beginner.

Thanks
 

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Yeah, if you had the input gain maxed out, then it's no wonder it was clipping. Adjust the input gain until you're only occasionally illuminating the yellow/0 LED during the loudest parts of your program material. Adjust the output gain until you're getting a reasonable signal on the Focusrite. Set the Focusrite inputs to line level.

As for all of the fiddly things in between the input and output of that channel strip, that's going to take a lot of experimentation to get something that works for your material. I'd start with very subtle settings and only add more compression/gate/expansion if you feel you need it. It will get very overcooked and weird sounding in a hurry with too much processing.
 
The output of the 286s is line level, so set the 2i2 to line level. If you used XLR into the 2i2 you would be going through the mic preamps in the 2i2 which you don't need to do with the 286s as the preamp. INST is for an instrument such as guitar or bass which has a high impedance and gain and would likely be unbalanced.

The compressor in the 286s is a bit different than typical compressors, but does pretty much the same. The "Drive" sets the amount of compression. "Density" controls the speed at which the compression occurs. You may have to readjust the output when you adjust the compression to maintain the same level at the output.

Where were you getting the clipping? On the 286s, mic preamp or output or on the 2i2?

I have changed it back to line, with the 286s at +60db of gain and the output at 0db now, however compared to when using Inst the mic is a lot quieter. I have the 2I2 gain set to nothing the dial is all the way down, at first I was getting line noise but realized it was due to the gain on the 2I2 being active.

I am getting the clipping on the 2I2, I have seen it very briefly on the 286s but its the leds on the 2I2 dial that cause are glowing orange and red instead of the default green.

Thanks for all the help I really appreciate it :-)

I will have a mess around now to see what I can do with the output before it creates line noise
 
I have added plus 10db on the output and it seems to be as loud as when Inst was being used. I am surprised how much this mic picks up, I thought I would have to be really close to it, the manual says to keep the mic 2" - 5cm away. I thought I would have to get right up to it being a dynamic. Was hoping it would pick up a bit less.

Basically my goal is to make the output at a decent level so people don't have to turn the volume up just for my stream.
 
Turn down the preamp, having it cranked all the way up is just going to add hiss and other noise. Set the input gain to a comfortable level, and use the output level to control the level going into the 2i2.

Are you live streaming, or will you be post processing your audio? If you're post processing, don't worry about overall loudness, just get your gain staging right. Add loudness with a software compressor/limiter after you're finished recording.
 
Turn down the preamp, having it cranked all the way up is just going to add hiss and other noise. Set the input gain to a comfortable level, and use the output level to control the level going into the 2i2.

Are you live streaming, or will you be post processing your audio? If you're post processing, don't worry about overall loudness, just get your gain staging right. Add loudness with a software compressor/limiter after you're finished recording.

Hi and thanks for the reply, I am live streaming so my levels need to be on point to begin with.

For the most part with this setup you can really ramp up the gain before you run into any trouble with hiss, I have turned the input gain down from 60 to around 51 and have the out put at +10db, When I am talking into the mic I am getting the -10 led and I really have to raise my voice to get the 0db to light, I have noticed that the clip light does flash occasionally on the output gain, usually when I first start talking.

I basically don't want people to have to really turn up the volume on their device to be able to hear me, but I also don't want to sound distorted or anything like that.

I am just getting used to the mic as well, according to the manual you should be right up at 2" or 5cm from the mic, this makes it a bit harder to see my second monitor but for the most part it is ok and I can see hear the difference in quality when I am closer to the mic.

I have also played around with the Gate and basically made it so chair and keyboard sounds no longer get picked up which I have pleased about.
 
What software are you using to stream? Just curious if it has any sort of leveling amplifier built in, or if it can host VST plugins. I'm still thinking that the preamp/channel strip isn't the place where you're going to want to try to get your final volume up to broadcast levels. But I'm not really familiar with the common streaming software. I've looked into one or two but I basically just sniffed around them for an hour and never used them. I'd like to know what the more successful game commentators use for broadcast leveling.

Oh, also...nice job getting the gate set. That can be tricky, but it sounds like you found the right settings for you.
 
What software are you using to stream? Just curious if it has any sort of leveling amplifier built in, or if it can host VST plugins. I'm still thinking that the preamp/channel strip isn't the place where you're going to want to try to get your final volume up to broadcast levels. But I'm not really familiar with the common streaming software. I've looked into one or two but I basically just sniffed around them for an hour and never used them. I'd like to know what the more successful game commentators use for broadcast leveling.

Oh, also...nice job getting the gate set. That can be tricky, but it sounds like you found the right settings for you.

Thanks

Had more of a play this afternoon here and I think that I am getting there, looking at articles on the Procaster people seem to say it needs around 56db of gain to get good levels, basically this is now what I have done.

DBX286 +60db on the preamp >0db Output> 0db on the focusrite 2I2

This records at -10 on the DBX286s LED's with occasional blips into 0db but it also leaves me some headroom to raise my voice without running into any form of clipping, I also recorded some audio and then played it back on my iPad which is where I normally watch streams and I would say that I am about the same volume so that's good.

Also when recording in Audacity I am around -9 to -6 on the level meter, what makes this a decent is the drive setting on the compressor normalizing my volume even when I am speaking much quieter, its also dropping down the high levels. I think for live recording this is essential, when I switched it off and talk at normal levels its obviously much lower volume making it harder to get good levels.

I know that most top tier streamers will use a XLR Preamp Compressor, I am glad that I went with the DBX286s now for sure.
 
Want to explain something to me..... I'm not a gamer. Why does one want to stream audio for a game? Is it for narration of what's going on or simply to talk to other players? You and others seem to put a fair amount of money into it to get decent audio.

Basically you are playing the game for other people to watch and you are a personality that's adding color commentary to the game and interacting with the viewers through the text chat.
 
Just a quick question,

When setting this sort of stuff up, when it comes to mic levels what I am looking for, at the moment like I say I am hitting -12 to -9db and peaking into -6db, I can basically do what I want at this volume with my voice and it sounds the same even when almost shouting.

When I look in OBS which is the streaming software I am around 55% of the full bar, what should I be aiming for db wise?

Been playing with this for most of the day now and feeling a little fatigued to say the least, I am wondering if I made the correct choice with the podcaster. Even at +60db with +5 output gain it still seems a little low.

In OBS there is a Mic Boost but I feel like I should be able to get a decent level with the hardware alone.

Not sure what to do other than sleep on it as the Audio Technica has Phantom Power therefore requiring less gain and being generally at a decent level, with the gate you can get rid of most of the background noise.
 
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I have just relaized that the TRS cable that I am using is Stereo, does that matter? Not sure why I haven't noticed before.
 
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