Compact mic for voice coms

[Kirah]

Hi so im looking to get a stand alone mic for my DT990 headphones and i love them but i need a mic to go with them.

I currently use the mod mic and its alright i where wondering if there are any other better alternatives that are not a massive condenser mics.

I had the AT2020 but it was just way too big and in the way maybe something like a lavalier / lapel mic maybe?

[Bombastinator]

Massive mics are generally not condensor mics as condensor mics are a lot smaller and cheaper than other types.  Any small microphone is almost always a condensor mic. 

[Kirah]

1 hour ago, Bombastinator said:

Massive mics are generally not condensor mics as condensor mics are a lot smaller and cheaper than other types.  Any small microphone is almost always a condensor mic. 

alright got any recommendations? like the AT2020 i had is too big ideally i would like it to be the rough size of like a standard headset mic

[Bombastinator]

3 minutes ago, RaZz0r said:

alright got any recommendations? like the AT2020 i had is too big ideally i would like it to be the rough size of like a standard headset mic

Nope.  I can tell you that a standard headset mic will almost certainly be a condensor mic.  Condensor mics have issues which is why the others exist.  A condensor mic collects sound in a sphere, so room sound becomes a big problem.  Other types are more narrow.

[The Flying Sloth]

2 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

Nope.  I can tell you that a standard headset mic will almost certainly be a condensor mic.  Condensor mics have issues which is why the others exist.  A condensor mic collects sound in a sphere, so room sound becomes a big problem.  Other types are more narrow.

A standard headset mic will be an ELECTRET condenser microphone and the electret elements in a headset is not great. The AT2020 despite its size is also an electret microphone and not a large diaphragm condenser. Condenser microphones come in an array of polar patterns from cardioid (only pick up stuff in front of it)and supercardioid (really only picks up stuff in front of it) to omnidirectional (picks up everything). Condenser microphones usually have a far more crisp, accurate sound than dynamic or ribbon microphones which has lead them to become the industry standard for most recording applications, including vocals.

 

OP, the link in my signature has a lot of options and explanation you might want to read through but from what I'm hearing here you will want a Behringer UM2 and C2. The UM2 is to get the mic signal into a PC assuming you don't already have an interface and the C2 is a very directional condenser microphone that's nice and small. I personally use it as my daily driver for mics despite owning mics 50x the price.

 

 

 

 

[Bombastinator]

31 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

A standard headset mic will be an ELECTRET condenser microphone and the electret elements in a headset is not great. The AT2020 despite its size is also an electret microphone and not a large diaphragm condenser. Condenser microphones come in an array of polar patterns from cardioid (only pick up stuff in front of it)and supercardioid (really only picks up stuff in front of it) to omnidirectional (picks up everything). Condenser microphones usually have a far more crisp, accurate sound than dynamic or ribbon microphones which has lead them to become the industry standard for most recording applications, including vocals.

 

OP, the link in my signature has a lot of options and explanation you might want to read through but from what I'm hearing here you will want a Behringer UM2 and C2. The UM2 is to get the mic signal into a PC assuming you don't already have an interface and the C2 is a very directional condenser microphone that's nice and small. I personally use it as my daily driver for mics despite owning mics 50x the price.

 

 

 

 

I didn’t think cardioid and supercardioid mics were condensor.   My knowledge is limited and very out of date.  My memory of supercardioid was shotgun mics which were well over a foot long.

[The Flying Sloth]

32 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

I didn’t think cardioid and supercardioid mics were condensor.   My knowledge is limited and very out of date.  My memory of supercardioid was shotgun mics which were well over a foot long.

Cardioid and supercardioid are polar patterns, any type of microphone can have any polar pattern, it just comes down to the designer to choose which they will use. Shotgun mics also aren't supercardioid, shotgun is its own polar pattern.

[Bombastinator]

5 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

Cardioid and supercardioid are polar patterns, any type of microphone can have any polar pattern, it just comes down to the designer to choose which they will use. Shotgun mics also aren't supercardioid, shotgun is its own polar pattern.

Was it always that way?  My memory was condensor was limited to spherical only.  It’s the whole reason other types of mics existed.  They could do other stuff.  It’s old information though.

[ShearMe]

3 hours ago, RaZz0r said:

alright got any recommendations? like the AT2020 i had is too big ideally i would like it to be the rough size of like a standard headset mic

When you start making the mic smaller and moving it away from your face you get worse audio quality. ModMic is about as cheap/small as I would recommend anyone.

 

That said, here's two cheap options that have been around for a while:

Zalman ZM-Mic1                                      |         Sony ECMCS3

[The Flying Sloth]

2 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Was it always that way?  My memory was condensor was limited to spherical only.  It’s the whole reason other types of mics existed.  They could do other stuff.  It’s old information though.

Unless your information is from before Georg Neumann produced the first commercial condenser microphone that just so happened to have a cardioid capsule in 1928, yes, it's always been that way.

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, The Flying Sloth said:

Unless your information is from before Georg Neumann produced the first commercial condenser microphone that just so happened to have a cardioid capsule in 1928, yes, it's always been that way.

Huh.  Then The information I got in sound class in college was flat out wrong.  I suppose it might have applied only to the available equipment that could be checked out by the students.  Dangerous error.

[The Flying Sloth]

Just now, Bombastinator said:

Huh.  Then The information I got in sound class in college was flat out wrong.  I suppose it might have applied only to the available equipment that could be checked out by the students.  Dangerous error.

To be fair I've met a lot of 'educators' who didn't have the slightest clue what they were talking about. Glenn Fricker from Spectre Sound Studios constantly recommends computers 'made by' Slick Audio even though Slick audio just rebadges NUCs and Clevo laptops (and attacks his followers that try to point this out to him). My degree isn't in anything music related but did some classes in Audio production and similar subjects where the lecturer spent a whole lesson trying to figure out how to get an Ableton Max instrument working even though we had a composition assignment due the next lecture where we had to use it. In the end I gave up on listening to much I was taught in those classes, refused to use the University gear and just bought my own mics and a new interface instead and figured it out myself..

[Kirah]

17 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

A standard headset mic will be an ELECTRET condenser microphone and the electret elements in a headset is not great. The AT2020 despite its size is also an electret microphone and not a large diaphragm condenser. Condenser microphones come in an array of polar patterns from cardioid (only pick up stuff in front of it)and supercardioid (really only picks up stuff in front of it) to omnidirectional (picks up everything). Condenser microphones usually have a far more crisp, accurate sound than dynamic or ribbon microphones which has lead them to become the industry standard for most recording applications, including vocals.

 

OP, the link in my signature has a lot of options and explanation you might want to read through but from what I'm hearing here you will want a Behringer UM2 and C2. The UM2 is to get the mic signal into a PC assuming you don't already have an interface and the C2 is a very directional condenser microphone that's nice and small. I personally use it as my daily driver for mics despite owning mics 50x the price.

 

 

 

 

hmm for those C2 mics how far away from me can they be for good audio? like for example i have 3 monitors can i mount one on the top of my left monitor and one on the top of my right monitor angled towards me or would i need to have them mounted on like a mic tripod in front of my keyboard as my main concern is that a lot of the stand alone mics tends to get in the way

[The Flying Sloth]

5 hours ago, RaZz0r said:

hmm for those C2 mics how far away from me can they be for good audio? like for example i have 3 monitors can i mount one on the top of my left monitor and one on the top of my right monitor angled towards me or would i need to have them mounted on like a mic tripod in front of my keyboard as my main concern is that a lot of the stand alone mics tends to get in the way

I just have the 'ebay sort by cheapest' scissor arm and it's great, whenever I'm not using the mic it folds up out of the way, if I need it I just pull on it and it's right in front of my face. Everything is spring loaded so there's no messing with anything required, it just works.

[Kirah]

59 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

I just have the 'ebay sort by cheapest' scissor arm and it's great, whenever I'm not using the mic it folds up out of the way, if I need it I just pull on it and it's right in front of my face. Everything is spring loaded so there's no messing with anything required, it just works.

hmm i where hoping to have kinda of a more set it and forget it kinda setup like ideally don't want to have to set it up each time i want to use it if i can avoid it

[The Flying Sloth]

2 minutes ago, RaZz0r said:

hmm i where hoping to have kinda of a more set it and forget it kinda setup like ideally don't want to have to set it up each time i want to use it if i can avoid it

There is no setup, it's clamped on my desk and I don't even think about it unless I want to talk, here, look at this, these are old photos but they illustrate my setup fairly well, the mic can either just sit there or rest backwards until I need it, there's no setup or anything, I just pull it closer to my mouth. The further away a mic is from your mouth the more background noise it will pick up and the less proximity effect you can use (TLDR, the closer the mic the better it sounds).
 

Spoiler

[Kirah]

1 hour ago, The Flying Sloth said:

There is no setup, it's clamped on my desk and I don't even think about it unless I want to talk, here, look at this, these are old photos but they illustrate my setup fairly well, the mic can either just sit there or rest backwards until I need it, there's no setup or anything, I just pull it closer to my mouth. The further away a mic is from your mouth the more background noise it will pick up and the less proximity effect you can use (TLDR, the closer the mic the better it sounds).
 

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Hmm its kinda what i had with the at2020 i don't really have room for a arm like that they key is to take up as little space as possible while still sounding good hence why i where considering some sort of lapel / lavalier mic you don't happen to have any recommendations for something smaller? and the UM2 / C2 combo is sold out everywhere in my country and due to this whole epidemic thing importing stuff from overseas takes months.

[The Flying Sloth]

50 minutes ago, RaZz0r said:

Hmm its kinda what i had with the at2020 i don't really have room for a arm like that they key is to take up as little space as possible while still sounding good hence why i where considering some sort of lapel / lavalier mic you don't happen to have any recommendations for something smaller? and the UM2 / C2 combo is sold out everywhere in my country and due to this whole epidemic thing importing stuff from overseas takes months.

Sorry, I can't recommend specifics for anything smaller, though the C2 are 5ish times smaller than a 2020 if you really want something smaller i cant help you. 
My knowledge is heavily focused in studio audio and high quality / XLR mics are all I really deal with.

Best of luck with your search though

[Kirah]

12 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

Sorry, I can't recommend specifics for anything smaller, though the C2 are 5ish times smaller than a 2020 if you really want something smaller i cant help you. 
My knowledge is heavily focused in studio audio and high quality / XLR mics are all I really deal with.

Best of luck with your search though

Darn i mean i would consider the UM2 / C2 combo if it wasn't sold out everywhere as i could probably make it work with a desk stand

[Kirah]

16 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

Sorry, I can't recommend specifics for anything smaller, though the C2 are 5ish times smaller than a 2020 if you really want something smaller i cant help you. 
My knowledge is heavily focused in studio audio and high quality / XLR mics are all I really deal with.

Best of luck with your search though

Actually nvm i found a place with them in stock i have two questions do the U-Phoria UM2 have enough power to run both the mics via a XLR Y cable or should i just use one and keep the other one as a back up in case one dies?

And is the headphone jack on it the standard 3.5mm or is it 6.35mm?

[The Flying Sloth]

3 hours ago, RaZz0r said:

Actually nvm i found a place with them in stock i have two questions do the U-Phoria UM2 have enough power to run both the mics via a XLR Y cable or should i just use one and keep the other one as a back up in case one dies?

And is the headphone jack on it the standard 3.5mm or is it 6.35mm?

Don't buy them if pricing is too terrible, but no, you should never use a Y cable, just use one mic and keep the other as a spare. The normal price for these should be about $30-40 dollars for the mics and 25-30 dollars on the interface and they're still around that price on Thomann (my retailer of choice).

[Kirah]

24 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

Don't buy them if pricing is too terrible, but no, you should never use a Y cable, just use one mic and keep the other as a spare. The normal price for these should be about $30-40 dollars for the mics and 25-30 dollars on the interface and they're still around that price on Thomann (my retailer of choice).

its pretty much priced around 45 for the mics and 35 for the interface so its not that far off so just get a standard xlr cable and just use one mic and keep the other one as spare should be around 90-100ish usd total for the whole thing including a stand and cable and a 3.5mm to 6.35 adapter for my headphones

[The Flying Sloth]

38 minutes ago, RaZz0r said:

its pretty much priced around 45 for the mics and 35 for the interface so its not that far off so just get a standard xlr cable and just use one mic and keep the other one as spare should be around 90-100ish usd total for the whole thing including a stand and cable and a 3.5mm to 6.35 adapter for my headphones

I'm not sure how the headphone amp on the UM2 sounds but other than that it sounds like you're set