What is a good microphone for around $80 USD?

[Legolessed]

Hello, I have been using my VR headset to record voiceover audio for projects I am working on and I want to get a mic and boom arm for around $80 USD to not have to do that. Almost all of the audio I am recording is spoken word, I am in a relatively untreated room (other than a bed, carpet flooring, and hung up clothes and such). I use a laptop as my primary computer so keyboard noise is less significant than if I was using a dedicated keyboard, however there is more "shock" put into the table so a boom arm is probably a must. Additonally, I set my computer fans to not ramp up when I am recording but since my laptop is on my desk the background fan noise will be somewhat more significant than if I had a desktop computer. Also do not have a dedicated audio interface already so I have been looking for a usb mic. 

 

Some microphones I have been looking at are the Razer Seiren mini, the Razer Seiren X, and the Samson Q2U.

 

If any other information would be helpful just let me know!! Thank you!

[Quickstrike]

7 minutes ago, Legolessed said:

Hello, I have been using my VR headset to record voiceover audio for projects I am working on and I want to get a mic and boom arm for around $80 USD to not have to do that. Almost all of the audio I am recording is spoken word, I am in a relatively untreated room (other than a bed, carpet flooring, and hung up clothes and such). I use a laptop as my primary computer so keyboard noise is less significant than if I was using a dedicated keyboard, however there is more "shock" put into the table so a boom arm is probably a must. Additonally, I set my computer fans to not ramp up when I am recording but since my laptop is on my desk the background fan noise will be somewhat more significant than if I had a desktop computer. Also do not have a dedicated audio interface already so I have been looking for a usb mic. 

 

Some microphones I have been looking at are the Razer Seiren mini, the Razer Seiren X, and the Samson Q2U.

 

If any other information would be helpful just let me know!! Thank you!

I use both a Blue Snowflake for meetings and a Blue Yeti for streaming Dnd and Shadowrun games. I got My yet at 100$ CAN so about in your price range.

[8tg]

What a coincidence, I was literally just watching this:

 

Samson Meteor

http://www.samsontech.com/samson/products/microphones/usb-microphones/meteormic/

All around solid, looking at reviews further than just the one above it seems a lot of people agree. 
Note that it has a microphone mounting connector on it to put it on a stand.

[WereCat]

As someone who uses Blue Yeti for years... just invest in a good XLR mic with an arm its worth it. Even a cheaper XLR mic with arm will sound many times better than a USB mic on a stand.

If you get just a mic for around $80 with no arm it won't be great. 

 

Check EposVox on YT for good cheap mics for example. 

Or Julian Kraus. 

[Legolessed]

8 minutes ago, WereCat said:

As someone who uses Blue Yeti for years... just invest in a good XLR mic with an arm its worth it. Even a cheaper XLR mic with arm will sound many times better than a USB mic on a stand.

If you get just a mic for around $80 with no arm it won't be great. 

 

Check EposVox on YT for good cheap mics for example. 

Or Julian Kraus. 

should i get the samson q2u but with an audio interface instead of just using it usb?

[WereCat]

18 minutes ago, Legolessed said:

should i get the samson q2u but with an audio interface instead of just using it usb?

sure. 

Work with your budget though. 

I would go with arm first over the interface until you can save up for it and use usb in the meantime. 

 

You really don't want to use the included stand 

[Legolessed]

1 hour ago, WereCat said:

sure. 

Work with your budget though. 

I would go with arm first over the interface until you can save up for it and use usb in the meantime. 

 

You really don't want to use the included stand 

ok. If i expanded my budget to $100 or even $150 and went with a full XLR setup that seems like what a lot of people are recommending. I do have money saved up to buy decent equipment and the ability to plug an instrument into an audio interface as well also appeals to me (i currently only have a normal violin but im also looking into purchasing an electric violin) I also have heard that adjusting an XLR microphone can be very difficult and I have no experience in that area. Im worried that getting the better equipment might actually not help. Also in a lot of XLR setups the microphones seem much cheaper than USB microphones and people spend much more on the audio interface than the microphone, is this common? Sorry for asking so many questions Im just trying not to make a dumb purchasing decision lol. 

[Entropy.]

3 minutes ago, Legolessed said:

ok. If i expanded my budget to $100 or even $150 and went with a full XLR setup that seems like what a lot of people are reccomending. I also have heard that adjusting an XLR microphone can be very difficult and I have no experience in that area.

You plug most xclr mics into an audio interface, the interface almost always has a 'gain' knob that'll allow for you to adjust the volume. That's what I assume you mean by 'adjusting.' 

 

Quote

Im worried that getting the better equipment might actually not help. Also in a lot of XLR setups the microphones seem much cheaper than USB microphones and people spend much more on the audio interface than the microphone, is this common? 

I don't quite know what you mean by a lot cheaper, maybe you've just looked at some crappily built stuff. 

This is a behringer xm8500, it's an excellent budget XLR mic and it comes in at $20. It also happens to essentially be entirely made out of metal. 

 

At the "low-end" of XLR mics, which is what your budget more or less has you at, yes, it's common to see audio interfaces be significantly more expensive than the mics. For example, a popular pairing is the xm8500 ($20) and the umc22 ($60). It's completely normal, however as your budget increases, mics will even out with interfaces and eventually surpass them in terms of price in most cases. 

 

Anyways, this is the full setup that I'd recommend, give or take: 

 

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/XM8500--behringer-xm8500-handheld-dynamic-vocal-microphone Mic

https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-UMC22-BEHRINGER-audio-interface/dp/B00FFIGZF6/ Interface

https://www.amazon.com/InnoGear-Microphone-Suspension-Adjustable-Snowball/dp/B07V2FJL54/ Boom arm

https://www.amazon.com/Stage-Ball-Type-Microphone-Windscreen-Black/dp/B0002GXF8Q/ Windscreen

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Male-Female-Microphone-Cable/dp/B01JNLTTKS/ XLR cable (edited)

 

[WereCat]

7 minutes ago, Legolessed said:

ok. If i expanded my budget to $100 or even $150 and went with a full XLR setup that seems like what a lot of people are recommending. I do have money saved up to buy decent equipment and the ability to plug an instrument into an audio interface as well also appeals to me (i currently only have a normal violin but im also looking into purchasing an electric violin) I also have heard that adjusting an XLR microphone can be very difficult and I have no experience in that area. Im worried that getting the better equipment might actually not help. Also in a lot of XLR setups the microphones seem much cheaper than USB microphones and people spend much more on the audio interface than the microphone, is this common? Sorry for asking so many questions Im just trying not to make a dumb purchasing decision lol. 

Don't worry, it's okay to ask. 

To be honest... I don't really know that much about microphones but I sure learned from my mistakes with Blue Yeti. 

 

It's not that it's a bad mic but you end up spending so much more money in the long run for something thats not really that much better if at all vs entry level XLR setup. 

 

The desk stand on any usb/xlr mic is literally unusable as all the vibrations /noise will get transferred to the mic. 

 

So you need a mic arm. But Yeti is a chonker so you can't just get any cheap arm or it will not handle it. 

 

Same with shock mount.

 

 

Then there are usb mics that require additional SW to get all functions working, many still use flimsy old microB usb, etc... 

 

I've spent around €250 for my mic setup. If I went with XLR I would have much better sounding mic or something way cheaper even with the interface. 

 

And if you use musical instruments then usb is almost useless so xlr becomes even more convenient. 

[Legolessed]

1 hour ago, Brok3n But who cares? said:

You plug most xclr mics into an audio interface, the interface almost always has a 'gain' knob that'll allow for you to adjust the volume. That's what I assume you mean by 'adjusting.' 

 

I don't quite know what you mean by a lot cheaper, maybe you've just looked at some crappily built stuff. 

This is a behringer xm8500, it's an excellent budget XLR mic and it comes in at $20. It also happens to essentially be entirely made out of metal. 

 

At the "low-end" of XLR mics, which is what your budget more or less has you at, yes, it's common to see audio interfaces be significantly more expensive than the mics. For example, a popular pairing is the xm8500 ($20) and the umc22 ($60). It's completely normal, however as your budget increases, mics will even out with interfaces and eventually surpass them in terms of price in most cases. 

 

Anyways, this is the full setup that I'd recommend, give or take: 

 

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/XM8500--behringer-xm8500-handheld-dynamic-vocal-microphone Mic

https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-UMC22-BEHRINGER-audio-interface/dp/B00FFIGZF6/ Interface

https://www.amazon.com/InnoGear-Microphone-Suspension-Adjustable-Snowball/dp/B07V2FJL54/ Boom arm

https://www.amazon.com/Stage-Ball-Type-Microphone-Windscreen-Black/dp/B0002GXF8Q/ Windscreen

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Male-Female-Microphone-Cable/dp/B01JNLTTKS/ XLR cable (edited)

 

 

1 hour ago, WereCat said:

Don't worry, it's okay to ask. 

To be honest... I don't really know that much about microphones but I sure learned from my mistakes with Blue Yeti. 

 

It's not that it's a bad mic but you end up spending so much more money in the long run for something thats not really that much better if at all vs entry level XLR setup. 

 

The desk stand on any usb/xlr mic is literally unusable as all the vibrations /noise will get transferred to the mic. 

 

So you need a mic arm. But Yeti is a chonker so you can't just get any cheap arm or it will not handle it. 

 

Same with shock mount.

 

 

Then there are usb mics that require additional SW to get all functions working, many still use flimsy old microB usb, etc... 

 

I've spent around €250 for my mic setup. If I went with XLR I would have much better sounding mic or something way cheaper even with the interface. 

 

And if you use musical instruments then usb is almost useless so xlr becomes even more convenient. 

I did a lot of my own looking on amazon (i know it isnt ideal) and the xm8500 wasnt on there but I found the shure pga48 for $34 and chose the option to bundle an XLR cable for $39. Anyway the final total with this setup is about $100 and I wanted to get your opinions before ordering it.

Behringer UM2: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EK1OTZC

Shure PGA48: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TTQM8Z6

Boom Arm: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DY1F2CS

[Entropy.]

26 minutes ago, Legolessed said:

 

I did a lot of my own looking on amazon (i know it isnt ideal) and the xm8500 wasnt on there but I found the shure pga48 for $34 and chose the option to bundle an XLR cable for $39. Anyway the final total with this setup is about $100 and I wanted to get your opinions before ordering it.

Behringer UM2: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EK1OTZC

Shure PGA48: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TTQM8Z6

Boom Arm: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DY1F2CS

Well, If at all possible I would try ordering the xm8500 just from sweetwater and continuing with the original plan if possible. That's not a bad setup per se though, it looks fine enough. 

[Legolessed]

2 minutes ago, Brok3n But who cares? said:

Well, If at all possible I would try ordering the xm8500 just from sweetwater and continuing with the original plan if possible. That's not a bad setup per se though, it looks fine enough. 

is the xm8500 better than the mic i listed? I couldnt find any reviews of it compared to the xm8500 but people talked very positively about the shure pga48. 

[Entropy.]

9 minutes ago, Legolessed said:

is the xm8500 better than the mic i listed? I couldnt find any reviews of it compared to the xm8500 but people talked very positively about the shure pga48. 

Likely that they'll perform relatively similar, the shure seems to be a good bit brighter, the xm8500 seems to be a little darker and more laid back iirc. Almost positive that it won't perform well enough to justify the 2x higher pricetag (when compared to the xm8500... on it's lonesome without thinking of the xm8500 it still looks decent)

[Legolessed]

8 minutes ago, Brok3n But who cares? said:

Likely that they'll perform relatively similar, the shure seems to be a good bit brighter, the xm8500 seems to be a little darker and more laid back iirc. Almost positive that it won't perform well enough to justify the 2x higher pricetag (when compared to the xm8500... on it's lonesome without thinking of the xm8500 it still looks decent)

I mean its more expensive tbh because I bundeled a cable with it. If i did it without the cable it would be $34 and adding a cable to the xm8500 would bring it up to $28. It is still more but not as bad when thought of it from that perspective. 

[Legolessed]

Just ordered that pairing of stuff!!! Thank you all so much for your help!!!