Upgrading Audio

[DuckMan2076]

So a while back, I bought the 3rd setup recommend by Linus in his 5 mics under 50$ because I wanted to do some light creation work. Mainly for YouTube and a bit of singing. I was wondering how much I would have to spend on upgrading to get something that would be worth upgrading to and giving a friend my old set up or if there wasn't really anything better to upgrade to without costing as much as a mid range gaming rig. I have heard good things from the AT2020 but wasn't sure if it was worth getting it with covid prices being a lot higher along with the availability of other things such as the Focusrite Scarlett Solo being in and out of stock.

 

Current Set up

SM48

Behringer UM2

Some budget mic arm (no idea how I would identify it)

XLR Cable (amazon basic - I didn't think that it really mattered what one I got)

[FavoringWinter]

I have heard that the umc22 + Samson q2u is good. I don't have one, but I'm going to order one soon and use it as usb until I save up for the focusrite scarlet solo. The q2u has usb and xlr

[Ahoy Hoy]

Shouldnt need to upgrade the interface. The behringer will do just fine for basic needs.

The AT2020 is a perfectly fine microphone but if your worried about prices if the Shure is working fine at the moment then stick with it as that is also a some what decent microphone.

[DuckMan2076]

1 hour ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

Shouldnt need to upgrade the interface. The behringer will do just fine for basic needs.

The AT2020 is a perfectly fine microphone but if your worried about prices if the Shure is working fine at the moment then stick with it as that is also a some what decent microphone.

Well the main issues I've been having so far is that I 1. Have to turn up the gain a ton in order to not sound really quiet (isn't really an issue but still a bit annoying) and 2. when plugging my headphones into my interface, I sometimes get this random popping that no matter what I haven't been able to fix. That's the main reason why I'm more or less thinking of getting a Focusrite Scarlett Solo and a AT2020 to potentially fix these issues and get better audio in the process.

[Ahoy Hoy]

3 hours ago, DuckMan2076 said:

Well the main issues I've been having so far is that I 1. Have to turn up the gain a ton in order to not sound really quiet (isn't really an issue but still a bit annoying) and 2. when plugging my headphones into my interface, I sometimes get this random popping that no matter what I haven't been able to fix. That's the main reason why I'm more or less thinking of getting a Focusrite Scarlett Solo and a AT2020 to potentially fix these issues and get better audio in the process.

The headphone is just from you shorting it when going in with the jack. Not a big problem and wont cause any damage. Due to the cheap nature of the behringer to save money and letting the earth of the headphones join straight to inputs and outputs.


You shouldnt be having a problem with the shure volumes.
Are you positioning that microphone well? It should be about a inch away from your mouth and pointing straight at it.
Check theres not windows gain settings set really low?

[DuckMan2076]

3 hours ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

The headphone is just from you shorting it when going in with the jack. Not a big problem and wont cause any damage. Due to the cheap nature of the behringer to save money and letting the earth of the headphones join straight to inputs and outputs.


You shouldnt be having a problem with the shure volumes.
Are you positioning that microphone well? It should be about a inch away from your mouth and pointing straight at it.
Check theres not windows gain settings set really low?

For the headphones, still would nice to plug into my interface and not have random popping every so often

 

As for my mic, It's fine when I am talking normally for the most part, but when it gets late and I have to talk quieter, almost no one can hear me, and it's not like I am whispering, just a lower talk. My settings are all max and it kinda stinks cause a lot of static / bg noises leak through when I do so.

[rice guru]

what don't you like about your current setup and what do you want improved overall?

[DuckMan2076]

1 hour ago, rice guru said:

what don't you like about your current setup and what do you want improved overall?

First, the fact that it's directional and it feels as if it's getting in the way when I play a game (not as annoying but bugs me a bit). Second, is that the mic is pretty quiet when talking into discord and there tends to pick up a lot of bg noise since the gain is pretty much maxed. Third is that the tone of my voice sounds bland (if that makes any sense) and I heard that the 2020 has a warmer tone to it. Also I hate this garbo mic stand because when I go to adjust it, it tends to get lose and I have to screw it back on (although that's not really a mic problem and more of a 15$ stand problem). The final thing is that I'd like to have my headphones plugged into my interface (mainly because of the positioning of my pc) and not have it pop every so often (cause it bugs me) although this isn't the worse thing in the world. Overall I'd say I'd spend around 200$ to upgrade if it was worth it prioritizing sound quality and clarity.

[rice guru]

2 minutes ago, DuckMan2076 said:

First, the fact that it's directional and it feels as if it's getting in the way when I play a game (not as annoying but bugs me a bit). Second, is that the mic is pretty quiet when talking into discord and there tends to pick up a lot of bg noise since the gain is pretty much maxed. Third is that the tone of my voice sounds bland (if that makes any sense) and I heard that the 2020 has a warmer tone to it. Also I hate this garbo mic stand because when I go to adjust it, it tends to get lose and I have to screw it back on (although that's not really a mic problem and more of a 15$ stand problem). The final thing is that I'd like to have my headphones plugged into my interface (mainly because of the positioning of my pc) and not have it pop every so often (cause it bugs me) although this isn't the worse thing in the world. Overall I'd say I'd spend around 200$ to upgrade if it was worth it prioritizing sound quality and clarity.

the thing with the ath 2020 is that since it's a condenser it will pick everything up but you are right is does have a more natural warmer brighter tone vs a darker tonality of a sm 48. SM 48's do sound better with a more quality interface though and it generally set closer to your face because it is a dynamic mic that's just how they work im pretty familiar with the mic as I used to work with it very regularly and is pretty easy to make sound good given the right amount of power and positioning. I have long ditched condensers myself but thats just due to the fact that I use a mechanical keyboard, and I have a room that is not treated for audio. I would first upgrade the interface  and see how the mic sounds if not satisfied then look into a mic. in cases with a limited buget if you live in the US abuse amazon return policy

 

[DuckMan2076]

5 minutes ago, rice guru said:

the thing with the ath 2020 is that since it's a condenser it will pick everything up but you are right is does have a more natural warmer brighter tone vs a darker tonality of a sm 48. SM 48's do sound better with a more quality interface though and it generally set closer to your face because it is a dynamic mic that's just how they work im pretty familiar with the mic as I used to work with it very regularly and is pretty easy to make sound good given the right amount of power and positioning. I have long ditched condensers myself but thats just due to the fact that I use a mechanical keyboard, and I have a room that is not treated for audio. I would first upgrade the interface  and see how the mic sounds if not satisfied then look into a mic. in cases with a limited buget if you live in the US abuse amazon return policy

 

Well, the main reason why I would upgrade both at once is because I have heard of issues between Scarlett interfaces and shure mics. Also I'm in the same boat as you where I don't have a room treated for audio so maybe staying away from condensers is the right choice however, I feel like my mic picks up everything anyways.

[rice guru]

how close is your mic to your face?

[DuckMan2076]

1 minute ago, rice guru said:

how close is your mic to your face?

Like 2 fingers away facing the opposite direction and it still picks up my keyboard clicks (red keys)

[rice guru]

32 minutes ago, DuckMan2076 said:

Like 2 fingers away facing the opposite direction and it still picks up my keyboard clicks (red keys)

HM that's a little odd. It shouldn't be that sensitivitive. For reference thou I use a ath 2005 usb or a Samson  q2u if you want a brighter sound with cherry blues and it only picks up my voice if you wanna try that  cause condensers will be much worse in that regard. But they are both usb mics but can be xlr

[DuckMan2076]

2 hours ago, rice guru said:

HM that's a little odd. It shouldn't be that sensitivitive. For reference thou I use a ath 2005 usb or a Samson  q2u if you want a brighter sound with cherry blues and it only picks up my voice if you wanna try that  cause condensers will be much worse in that regard. But they are both usb mics but can be xlr

How much better is the xlr over the usb (in terms of quality)? or they about the same.

 

Edit: Didn't realize that they are usb and xlr so nvm

[DuckMan2076]

@rice guru After doing a bit of research I found the Rode Podmic (currently not available but says they will be available soon?) which seems to check off all the boxes from hearing it's sound without post processing and while it may not have the best noise isolation, I could always just turn off the fans for a bit while I am playing / talking / recording / etc. Since the Samson is currently expensive because of covid prices (like almost double the price of what it should be) and personally I wasn't a fan of the 2005 usb as I think the samson sounds more like something I would want. I'd probably also pick up a scarlett (mainly for the features it has) so I could give my current set up to a friend. I wasn't sure if you have any thoughts or opinions on that mic.

[rice guru]

5 hours ago, DuckMan2076 said:

@rice guru After doing a bit of research I found the Rode Podmic (currently not available but says they will be available soon?) which seems to check off all the boxes from hearing it's sound without post processing and while it may not have the best noise isolation, I could always just turn off the fans for a bit while I am playing / talking / recording / etc. Since the Samson is currently expensive because of covid prices (like almost double the price of what it should be) and personally I wasn't a fan of the 2005 usb as I think the samson sounds more like something I would want. I'd probably also pick up a scarlett (mainly for the features it has) so I could give my current set up to a friend. I wasn't sure if you have any thoughts or opinions on that mic.

That sounds solid I personally find no problems with that the podmoc is a very nice natural sounding mic. Another one to watch out for is the Se electronics V7 probably the only competitor to look at for an XLR dynamic mic at the same price point.