MIcrophone Help?

Harlequin565

Harlequin565

Messages
8,301
Name
Ian
Edit My Images
No
Hi folks,
I'm considering doing some podcasting (I know this is a video forum but hey ho) and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for a mic?
I've bought myself a Zoom recorder for the actual recording - which is fab, but the onboard mics pick up too much background noise. Likewise the lav mic I bought (£24) is good for on location stuff and interviews, but picks up too much noise when I'm recording at home. Just want to record speech of one person (me).

My budget is around the £100 mark.

Any recommendations? Research is turning up stuff that's either cheap and has issues (sub £50) or way out of my budget (>£200)
THanks in advance!
 
Which Zoom recorder? They usually have multiple settings in which you can choose surround sound or directional.

As for mics, I only have experience of the Audio Technica AT-2020, which is currently £73 on Amazon, excellent value for a mic of this quality, and it's also one that podcasters use. Only problem is, you'd need an audio interface, and they tend to cost more than an extra £100. So, you might like to check out another one that podcasters use, which is the Blue Yeti USB mic.
 
garryknight said:
Which Zoom recorder? They usually have multiple settings in which you can choose surround sound or directional.
Click to expand...

It's an H5. Time to dig out the instructions....
 
Usually a well positioned lavalier will give the best result, a more directional shotgun style such as rode video micro is worth having anyway.
I would try to avoid powered versions with batteries you have to remember to turn off or they are flat next time you want it.
 
If you are still picking up a lot of background with your lav. mic then you probably have too much background noise.
 
ah5168 said:
If you are still picking up a lot of background with your lav. mic then you probably have too much background noise.
Click to expand...

My thoughts also. Perhaps the space being used indoors is not too good acoustically from a sound deadening point of view. Difference between bathroom/kitchen with lots of hard surfaces and lounge/bedroom with curtains, soft furniture & carpets.
 
Thanks for all the replies folks.

I'm recording in my office. It's not backgound noise so much as cloth rustling from the lav every time I move a muscle, and the hum from the computer and mouse clicks as I move my notes on screen (easily fixed with a printout I guess). I see loads of talking head videos with people in offices and the sound is fab. I know I can probably do stuff to deal with it in post, but I hate post processing photographs. PP on sound files sounds even more tedious... If it's possible to get it right with a proper mic, I'd rather do that. It's an omni directional one rather than shotgun or cardioid which is why I assumed it was the problem.
 
I have had one of these for a long time Sennheiser MKE 400
_DSC7874a.jpg


Although it comes with this foam wind deflector I found a Gutmann one with long hairs dose a better job outside

DacFmbh.jpg


demo for sound and reach (from my camcorder)
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQI23VmWeCc


and that Guttmann demo in front of a desk fan. (listen to whole video)
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvEkZ_S3V7o
 
Last edited:
Harlequin565 said:
PP on sound files sounds even more tedious... If it's possible to get it right with a proper mic, I'd rather do that. It's an omni directional one rather than shotgun or cardioid which is why I assumed it was the problem.
Click to expand...

A top audio company called iZotope make a product called Rx which makes this kind of thing fairly easy, but it's really expensive. So, yes, you want a cardioid mic, and possibly a 'dead cat' windscreen on top of it. That won't help with noise caused by rubbing on a shirt, nor with road drills, mains hum, toilet flushes, etc, but can drastically cut down wind noise outside.
 
If you don't want the mic in shot then the best option is the lav. mic just spend some time fixing it to keep it away from your clothing and tape the cable to your body to stop it moving around. If you are happy to have the mic in the shot then you would probably get better results with something like a Rode NT1 A at about £125 on Amazon.
 
ah5168 said:
..you would probably get better results with something like a Rode NT1 A at about £125 on Amazon.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. I've done a bunch more research and ended up hovering over the NT1. It's now installed and working perfectly. Still got a bit of PC hum, but a couple of clicks in Audacity has cleaned that right up. Audio is fine - just the content that needs a bit mroe polish now :)

Thanks for all the help & replies folks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top