Audio Gear What is the highest quality mic that you can buy at a low price?

[OceanShip]

I currently use my laptops built in mic, which isn't the greatest sound quality, any recommendations?

 

[SILTHW]

Price range matters. Low price means different things to different people.

Given you are mostly doing voice-overs (correct me if I'm wrong, that is what I saw with a quick look), I would go for the Elgato Wave 3 as a simple answer.

 

[Randomlifestylevlog]

You could a simple Shure SM58 mic with a desktop stand. I think they are about £80. You can go cheaper of course but i would explore brands like Shure AKG RODE etc

 

[BraveStar]

Price range matters. Low price means different things to different people.

Given you are mostly doing voice-overs (correct me if I'm wrong, that is what I saw with a quick look), I would go for the Elgato Wave 3 as a simple answer.

I've heard good things about this mic. I recently bought a Blue Yeti Nano and I love it. Best mic I've ever owned and it's just $99 USD

 

[Damon]

Giant Squid. Get a Giant Squid: http://darren-nemeth.squarespace.com/omni-mono

 

[TubeBuddy]

Price range matters. Low price means different things to different people.

Given you are mostly doing voice-overs (correct me if I'm wrong, that is what I saw with a quick look), I would go for the Elgato Wave 3 as a simple answer.

Great mic and good quality! Another choice is the blue snowball same internals as the yeti, not as much.

A lot of it is too, the room you're recording in, so keep that in mind.

 

[Real Truth]

I've heard good things about this mic. I recently bought a Blue Yeti Nano and I love it. Best mic I've ever owned and it's just $99 USD

Yes I love the YETI, but I heard there are clearer options. But I would suggest the YETI

 

[HeatherPsyD]

Someone recommended the Boya mic for me, which I really like. I stepped on my first one and broke it, and ended up buying the same one again.

Here's a link: https://www.amazon.com/BOYA-Microph...+O5021pAnSA==&sprefix=boya+mic,aps,220&sr=8-4

 

[Beanie Draws]

Price range matters. Low price means different things to different people.

Given you are mostly doing voice-overs (correct me if I'm wrong, that is what I saw with a quick look), I would go for the Elgato Wave 3 as a simple answer.

I'm going to have to argue that the Rode NT Mini is a superior mic (in terms of price)

Podcastage

View: https://youtu.be/_mLyLh7cN2s

And Mike Russell

View: https://youtu.be/hBYk3kDmCj4

Both have done excellent deep dives into a range of mic samples


Don't even bother with the snowball snowball sounds horrible. Cheaper, but horrible.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU2i0I6ccsw&ab_channel=TechBoss

this video is all in German, but you can at least HEAR the comparisons in audio even if you can't understand German.. Tech specs is one thing, but all I care about is how it sounds to my ears. This shows there's not a huge difference between the wave 3, the nt usb, and the usb nt mini.
The wave 3 ($290aud) is $90 aud more expensive than the Rode NT USB ($200aud), and my personal preference is towards the NT USB. The NT USB mini ( $149aud) sounds slightly weaker, but is $50 cheaper than the bigger NT. and basically half the price of the wave 3. I'd personally invest the $50 more into the NT USB (though get a boom arm for it, the included mic stand isn't sufficient in my opinion and I always ended up slouching down to get closer to it, so get a mic arm for it)

don't discredit the Audio-Technica ATR2100 (not the one with the x on the end) it's $140 Australian dollars (probably $100 American dollars), so half the price of the Wave 3. I had an issue with my Rode NT USB and needed a new cheap microphone as a backup, and after a few hours of listening to samples (rode nt mini isn't available in Australia at the time I needed) went with the autio-technica ATR2100 and I have to say the audio is quite good! I was expecting to be disappointed, but the quality is great for the price. you definitely need a pop filter for it though.


For price, Rode NT Mini is fantastic and was released very recently, before that I've loved the Rod NT for the last few years.

 

[SILTHW]

I'm going to have to argue that the Rode NT Mini is a superior mic (in terms of price)

FWIW, I agree when it comes to price. However...

We see two common problems with new creators and mics. They either set the gain too high or too low. Many times the gain is too low to avoid clipping (being in the red) and the mic picks up a ton of noise. Or it is set too high and they do get clipping. You can mostly fix low gain, but it sucks to deal with denoising, etc. You can't fix clipping, which is why several mics now come with a second "safety" channel that runs -20db below the set gain level.

Elgato did something interesting. They put a hardware compressor/limiter in the mic. That means you can push it pretty hot without the risk of clipping. IMHO, that makes it a good mic for new people who haven't learned the details of audio production as it helps reduce the two most common errors.

I own a Wave 3 and have tested it. I do not own the RODE NT Mini, but do own 4 other RODE mics. Not disparaging RODE in any way. I just think the Wave 3 is a better buy for a new creator if they can afford it.

 

[TubeBuddy]

I'm going to have to argue that the Rode NT Mini is a superior mic (in terms of price)

Podcastage

View: https://youtu.be/_mLyLh7cN2s

And Mike Russell

View: https://youtu.be/hBYk3kDmCj4

Both have done excellent deep dives into a range of mic samples


Don't even bother with the snowball snowball sounds horrible. Cheaper, but horrible.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU2i0I6ccsw&ab_channel=TechBoss

this video is all in German, but you can at least HEAR the comparisons in audio even if you can't understand German.. Tech specs is one thing, but all I care about is how it sounds to my ears. This shows there's not a huge difference between the wave 3, the nt usb, and the usb nt mini.
The wave 3 ($290aud) is $90 aud more expensive than the Rode NT USB ($200aud), and my personal preference is towards the NT USB. The NT USB mini ( $149aud) sounds slightly weaker, but is $50 cheaper than the bigger NT. and basically half the price of the wave 3. I'd personally invest the $50 more into the NT USB (though get a boom arm for it, the included mic stand isn't sufficient in my opinion and I always ended up slouching down to get closer to it, so get a mic arm for it)

don't discredit the Audio-Technica ATR2100 (not the one with the x on the end) it's $140 Australian dollars (probably $100 American dollars), so half the price of the Wave 3. I had an issue with my Rode NT USB and needed a new cheap microphone as a backup, and after a few hours of listening to samples (rode nt mini isn't available in Australia at the time I needed) went with the autio-technica ATR2100 and I have to say the audio is quite good! I was expecting to be disappointed, but the quality is great for the price. you definitely need a pop filter for it though.


For price, Rode NT Mini is fantastic and was released very recently, before that I've loved the Rod NT for the last few years.

Love the indepth look and gives some great options

I've used all of them, and again plug in play is nice. I LOVE XLR too as you get up there

 

[Naheed]

You can use any earphones which have a microphone. Anything can just work.
However, the following are some of the highest quality mics that you can buy at a low price:

• Oktava 12 series
• AKG 414
• Shure SM57
• Fifine K669