Upgrading my recording and audio £500 budget

[ShadowCaptain]

Ok so currently I am using a combination of these pieces of equiptment

 

Microphone - Blue Yeti on mic stand with pop filter

Headphones - Sennheiser momentum on ear

 

Headset (for playing socially with friends) Logitech G35

 

 

Now, while the blue yeti is a decent mic for the money, it suffers from picking up background noise, also due to its size, and that it is a side address mic, it is cumbersome and takes up a large amount of vision, and is incompatible with lots of standard mic equiptment like shock mounts etc etc,  

 

My momentums are great headphones but on ears are not comfortable for long sessions and they are not suited for PC use all that much

 

The G35 is pretty crap audio and microphone wise, but convenient when just playing with friends and cutting out background noise

 

SO...

 

 

Ideas and options I am considering (please recommend otherwise)

 

 

Option A ) Beyerdynamic MMX300 headset alone

 

Option B ) Beyerdynamic MMX300 headset + iKeep using Yeti 

 

Option C) MMX300 + Electro Voice RE320

 

Option D) Momentum on ears + Electrovoice RE320

 

Option E) Something else... Maybe new headphones and a different mic

 

 

Basically I want a front address mic, that has excellent isolation properties, I want it to pick up ONLY my voice very clearly, and I also want nice comfy over ear headphones

 

 

Any other ideas?

 

Budget is about £500 (630 Euro / $800 US)

[twoscoops]

What about a pair of these? 

 

Not sure such a microphone exists, the Rode Podcaster is the closests I've heard though, but it requires you to be very close.

[Shroomster]

I would go for the MMX-300 and test if you want to use the included headset mic or the yeti. The headset mounted mics are better at taking in only the users voice. As they are so close to the mouth.

[ShadowCaptain]

What about a pair of these? 

 

Not sure such a microphone exists, the Rode Podcaster is the closests I've heard though, but it requires you to be very close.

 

Dont like the headband system, I prefer the MMX300 and  is of similar quality anyway, with great headphones (apparently DT770/880, and a brilliant sounding mic) 

though It is not out of the question

 

I would go for the MMX-300 and test if you want to use the included headset mic or the yeti. The headset mounted mics are better at taking in only the users voice. As they are so close to the mouth.

 

Yeah that was my thought the MMX300 for gaming with friends, or when I dont need THE best sound quality, and the yeti (or get a better mic) for when I am recording a review/ voice over

[Shroomster]

@ShadowCaptain

That would be my suggestion. The MMX-300 are probably in the top5 most comfy headphones I have ever tested, and they sound great.

[twoscoops]

Dont like the headband system, I prefer the MMX300 and  is of similar quality anyway, with great headphones (apparently DT770/880, and a brilliant sounding mic) 

though It is not out of the question

 

 

Yeah that was my thought the MMX300 for gaming with friends, or when I dont need THE best sound quality, and the yeti (or get a better mic) for when I am recording a review/ voice over

 

Sounds like the MMX300 then. I have a Yeti, it improves a hell of a lot with 15 minutes work in Adobe Audition.

[ShadowCaptain]

Sounds like the MMX300 then. I have a Yeti, it improves a hell of a lot with 15 minutes work in Adobe Audition.

 

Doing what exactly? It picks up people talking from abuot 19 miles away even at low gain with the mic a few inches from my mouth, its ok sounding but not amazing

 

Still tempted by the re320 or similar mic, for the sake of £200 I would have killer audio ( I can always buy this later)

[twoscoops]

Doing what exactly? It picks up people talking from abuot 19 miles away even at low gain with the mic a few inches from my mouth, its ok sounding but not amazing

 

Still tempted by the re320 or similar mic, for the sake of £200 I would have killer audio ( I can always buy this later)

 

Well you can't fix people talking miles away. Mine doesn't but it may just be because I live in a quiet area.

 

I'd get a new mic.

[ShadowCaptain]

Well you can't fix people talking miles away. Mine doesn't but it may just be because I live in a quiet area.

 

I'd get a new mic.

 

Yeah thats what I think is the best plan

 

Not up on my mics but the one I picked seems an amazing options (total biscuit uses the older RE20 i believe)

 

I cannot guarentee quiet, and also want to improve the quality too

[Sondre123]

I've also been looking at the MMX 300 for a while now, and I've also been thinking about buying the O2 amp from mayflower, but does anyone know if I can plug the mic into the amp as well. Or would I have to plug the mic cable into my pc and have the audio cable plugged into the amp.

 

I'm really confused and very new to more advanced audio products, sorry if this is a really dumb question.

[ShadowCaptain]

 mic cable into my pc and have the audio cable plugged into the amp.

.

 

Yeah this is how it works I do believe, you might need an extension, or you could get a decent sound card if you dont fancy an external amp/dac, some of them can run very high impedance headphones

[mr moose]

When you say you have tried the lowest gain setting, is that the software levels in your audio manager or does the mic have a -10dB cut?

[ShadowCaptain]

When you say you have tried the lowest gain setting, is that the software levels in your audio manager or does the mic have a -10dB cut?

 

The mic has a gain knob,

 

I set my windows recording volume to 10% yesterday, and played music out of my speakers, while I spoke into the microphone at lowest gain, it picked me up perfectly and did not pick up the music very much at all (speakers 12" away from mic) 

 

However I would then either have to boost the audio in editing, lowering the quality, and obviously when using skype etc nobody can hear me well.... 

 

Thats why I think the headset will be great for use in a noise enviroments, and also upgrading my mic to a dynamic mic as they are much less sensetive, also since the RE320 is XLR I would need an audio interface which would give me much better gain control , as well as not using annoying USB connections

[mr moose]

The mic has a gain knob,

 

I set my windows recording volume to 10% yesterday, and played music out of my speakers, while I spoke into the microphone at lowest gain, it picked me up perfectly and did not pick up the music very much at all (speakers 12" away from mic) 

 

However I would then either have to boost the audio in editing, lowering the quality, and obviously when using skype etc nobody can hear me well.... 

 

Thats why I think the headset will be great for use in a noise enviroments, and also upgrading my mic to a dynamic mic as they are much less sensetive, also since the RE320 is XLR I would need an audio interface which would give me much better gain control , as well as not using annoying USB connections

I see,

 

It's a shame you can't control your environment better.

[ShadowCaptain]

I see,

 

It's a shame you can't control your environment better.

 

When I move I may be able to, I am planning the ultimate office / recoding room, but it could be some time away

 

And the ability to have to have an easily transportable headset with good audio is great for lan/vising friends etc