The Flying Sloth

It's pretty simple really you will need;

1. A studio (XLR) Mic
2. An Audio interface
3. An XLR cable (if it doesn't come with either your mic or interface)
   And Finally
4. A mounting system of some sort (Ebay 'sort by cheapest' scissor arm works just fine in 90% of cases)

First thing first, the cheap NW/BM series mics found all over Ebay and Amazon are trash and you should not purchase one, they are poor clones of the iSK BM series microphones and they utilise a 20 cent electret element (rather than a real condenser capsule) and the adequate circuitry to drive said electret is simply not present, rather a couple of resistors and a single transistor is what you'll get. 

While the massive amount of mics available on a budget may seem crazy at first, almost all of them come out of one of two Chinese factories, ShuaiYin or Feilo. MXL, CAD, Marantz Pro, Nady, Apex, t.bone, Superlux, Alctron, Carvin, IMG Stageline, Presonus, Mackie, TNC, AIR, Joe Meek and many other microphones often share similar or the same circuitry and are often coming out of these same factories. Even 'expensive' microphones from ADK, Advanced Audio, Telefunken, Avantone, Stellar, Mojave or 3U Audio are selling modified versions of these Chinese microphones (with varying levels of customisation). Many 'boutique' manufacturers like Viking Microphones and Weird Audio are genuinely just rebranding Chinese OEM mics (ShuaiYin SYT1200  and Alctron CS95 respectively) And making a massive profit off it so it's important to do your research before thinking you're getting a great deal on a 'pro' microphone. Almost all cheap condenser mics from China copy a Neumann K67-type capsule without the EQ circuit found in the U67 leading them to be extremely sibilant (lots of harsh, high frequencies, picks up tonnes of the ess sound) and that isn't pleasing to the ears.

The AT 2020 and 2035 are consistently recommended both here and everywhere else and certainly aren't bad microphones if you don't have much background noise (there's a reason they're the low budget go-to), if you do have background noise you may want to use a dynamic microphone. Just remember that Condenser microphones are extremely sensitive (will pick up a tonne of background noise) and Dynamic microphones will often require an inline preamp to get any decent volume out of them (like the Klark Teknic CT1) and using a dynamic mic without one can make it sound very lifeless, just something to keep in mind. There are a plethora of microphone options available with many microphones rivaling or outright beating the 2020/35 in a very similar price range (Brands like MXL, 3U, ADK, isk and CAD among others) so just take your time finding the microphone that will sound the best in your voice. If you can't try them yourself the Podcastage YouTube channel can be a very useful point of reference.

Great question, good outputs are a very important part of any recording/streaming/gaming setup but I'm not afraid to admit I'm not the most knowledgeable on these subjects and as such you won't find a public list of my recommendations for them. Instead I defer to @Derkoli for anything about high-end audiophile gear, speakers or super technical analysis and @rice guru for everything regarding headphones and audiophilia on a budget. I'd like to keep adding to this section so it's easy to find someone who will know the solution to any question so just let me know if you have any suggestions.

To simplify things, an Audio Interface is how you get the signal from an XLR mic into your PC.
No matter what you may have heard from Youtube, an Amazon listing or elsewhere, if you are purchasing an XLR microphone YOU WILL NEED AN AUDIO INTERFACE to send that microphone signal into your computer. No XLR to 3.5mm adapter, phantom power supply or little USB sound card is going to have the preamplifiers, ADC and power supply of an interface. 

Audio interfaces share much of the same circuitry as standalone consumer DACs and Headphone Amplifiers but often come in at a much more acceptable price point. While some may argue that consumer systems are 'higher fidelity' or 'sound better' comparing options in a similar price range shows that simply isn't true. Audio interfaces by design must be extremely transparent, not imparting any EQ or effects onto an audio signal which leads to them using DAC and amplification chips designed specifically for that purpose, to create clean, clinical audio. This accuracy may sound less 'musical' than a tube or consumer amplifier but as far as accuracy and fidelity go, for the price it's very hard to find a consumer solution that is 'better than' even a basic interface. Beyond that quality argument interfaces provide you with options for the future, extra outputs and the ability to use high quality microphones should you ever decide to upgrade, these options along with the price are the reason I consider that interfaces are usually better value than standalone systems.

Audio when inside a computer is all ones and zeroes until it goes through something called a Digital to Analogue Converter or DAC for short, computers have DACs built in but they're not exactly the highest quality so some people choose to send those ones and zeroes out of their computer and into an external DAC whether it be standalone or inside an audio interface. Now, the same thing goes in reverse for microphones, your computer has things called Analogue to Digital Converters or ADCs for short that turn the analogue waveform from a mic into ones and zeroes. You guessed it, the ones inside a computer are steaming piles of monkey doo doo without decent preamps or the 48V phantom power that you need for running studio microphones so studios and many people recording at home use the mic preamps, 48v phantom power and ADCs in an interface instead. Now, those ones and zeroes are sent to and from the interface on a USB cable and since digital signals don't degrade nearly as much as Analogue ones do you don't have to worry so much about all sorts of things like shielding and interference.

As for interfaces, most interface options in the low range share the same basic functionality and the only noticeable difference to the average person who wants one just for better discord audio will be limited to aesthetics making it very easy to just recommend the cheapest option that is likely to continue receiving manufacturer support. While this is effective to a point many people choose to run high-impedence headphones or dynamic microphones in which case more attention must be used to make sure the interface has a powerful enough headphone amp and mic preamp. When buying an interface for recording/studio use it's important to consider what features you will need, how many inputs and outputs, inserts, all those sorts of things. If you're looking for lots of channels, expandable IO over ADAT or another standard will be your best friend. Just make sure what you're buying has the features you need and is compatible with the rest of your equipment so you're not stuck trying to shove an RJ45 connector into a Fiber Optic port.

This is going to be a long one so just bare with me,

When comparing USB mics to XLR systems it's important to remember that it's not just price that controls quality, it's also the target market. You or I might be happy dealing with XLR cables, mic stands, low cut filters, pads and gain controls but the buyer of a USB mic just wants a plug and play solution so those extra features aren't available to them. They don't care about the bit depth so they only get 16 bits while we expect 24 and it's expected that they will mostly use it for gaming and voice calls so it's simply not built with the finesse required for exacting studio recording. It's a quick and dirty (and cheap) solution that might work great for gaming, light streaming and voice calls but severely disadvantages you if you're trying to do any serious recording.

The issue is not the fact it's USB. USB is great!

Or as @Derkoli put it,

Quote

 

The biggest issue is the fact that the microphone is attempting to be a jack of all trades. And it really can't be. It's trying to be a microphone, pre-amp and AD converter all at once.

An XLR microphone just has to focus on being a damn good microphone. Nothing else.

An audio interface just has to focus on being a damn good pre-amp and AD/DA converter. Nothing else.

Really, audio interfaces/XLR microphones are vastly favoured in the audio world due to a few things:

If you spend 300 on a USB microphone, you're not spending 300 on a microphone. You're spending 300 on an interface AND a microphone. Hence the lesser quality.

They are not nearly as versatile. If I wanted to, I could plug every XLR microphone under the sun into any of my interfaces, and they would work if they are supplied with +48V phantom power as and when it is needed.

Wanna upgrade? Buy a full new USB microphone/interface system. With an XLR setup, you can upgrade the microphone, or the interface. With a USB microphone, you can only upgrade both at the same time.

You can't shove a USB microphone output into a mixing desk.

Most USB microphones only record at a bit depth of 16. The studio "standard" tends to be 24 bit, due to the increased achieveable Dynamic Range with a bit depth of 24. This gives you greater flexibility during the post-production process.

Trust me when I say that receiving a 16 bit audio file is probably the worst thing in the world for an audio engineer. It's so hard to work properly with such a low dynamic range file, you try and work with the levels of it and you clip the shit out of it more often than not.

USB Microphones tend to be cheap and noisy little buggers. Shoving all that analog circuitry close to a relatively sensitive transducer can fuck with it. Also if phantom power is needed, you can introduce noise from the transformer that is needed to take the voltage from the USB power lines and turn it into +48VDC Phantom power.

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