Mic recommendation

[davidarad02]

So,

Im building a new gaming rig in a few weeks, and im looking for a good (fairly) cheap microphone. I have done some looking around, and i narrowed it to the blue snowball and the antlion mod-mic 4.0. Which one is better for my setup?

Setup:

Audio technica ATH-M50x headphones

Logitch G710+ cherry MX brown switches

Mionix AVIOR 7000 mouse

[minibois]

So,

Im building a new gaming rig in a few weeks, and im looking for a good (fairly) cheap microphone. I have done some looking around, and i narrowed it to the blue snowball and the antlion mod-mic 4.0. Which one is better for my setup?

Setup:

Audio technica ATH-M50x headphones

Logitch G710+ cherry MX brown switches

Mionix AVIOR 7000 mouse

Do you have the space to put a Blue SNowball on your desk?

If so, go for that.

[thekeemo]

The snowball wqill get in your way so modmic

[Manny Calavera]

sony mic for 14$ is great, but you have to set up it so it sounds good

ECMCS3  look up reviews

[davidarad02]

Ok then if thats what you say, ill take it into consideration.

BUT, i do plan on getting a starter audio producer/DJ setup sometime in the next year (once i have the money). Do you think it will be better to get something like the audio technica at2020 and connect it into my mixer setup once i have it?

[Steinway]

How would you be using the AT2020 without a mixer or audio interface anyway? Plus your use case is kind of important, what sort of stuff are you looking to do with the mic?

The modmic is probably your best bet for now, it sounds pretty good for VoIP and I wouldn't mind streaming with one, and then once you expand your setup you can keep hold of it as a backup.

[weez]

So,

Im building a new gaming rig in a few weeks, and im looking for a good (fairly) cheap microphone. I have done some looking around, and i narrowed it to the blue snowball and the antlion mod-mic 4.0. Which one is better for my setup?

Setup:

Audio technica ATH-M50x headphones

Logitch G710+ cherry MX brown switches

Mionix AVIOR 7000 mouse

 

Instead of the ModMic have a look at the Moov Mic. Its $20 usd and is basically the same thing as the ModMic. But Im not a fan of having an extra cable so I prefer usb mics over a Mod/Moov mic. If I was in the market for a mic I would get a Labtec usb desktop mic for around $20 usd. Most I would spend is $50 and would get the Snowball or look used for something better at the same price. And thats exactly what I did not to long ago, I needed a new mic and found the AT2500usb for $50 locally. Used is a very good option

[Jonathan W]

So,

Im building a new gaming rig in a few weeks, and im looking for a good (fairly) cheap microphone. I have done some looking around, and i narrowed it to the blue snowball and the antlion mod-mic 4.0. Which one is better for my setup?

Setup:

Audio technica ATH-M50x headphones

Logitch G710+ cherry MX brown switches

Mionix AVIOR 7000 mouse

 

 

Be careful of the gain on your mic with your mechanical keyboard as the clacking of your keys can come through the mic and be very annoying to some people. I use a Yeti Pro with an Auphonix pop filter sceen and it works just fine

[davidarad02]

How would you be using the AT2020 without a mixer or audio interface anyway? Plus your use case is kind of important, what sort of stuff are you looking to do with the mic?

The modmic is probably your best bet for now, it sounds pretty good for VoIP and I wouldn't mind streaming with one, and then once you expand your setup you can keep hold of it as a backup.

How would i use the AT2020 without an audio interface? Its a XLR mic, and its not compatible with my motherboard (as I dont plan on getting a dedicated sound card any time soon). BTW guys, i live in israel, so add about 11 bucks to the price for shipping from Amazon.

Also, I do want the best possible sound for around 50 bucks (not incuding shipping), so should i get the snowball or the modmic (or any other 50 bucks mic), or should i save my money for an AT2020 with my audio setup later?

Anyway, if you guys need to know my specs, these will be it:

Intel core i5 4690k OR Intel core i5 5765C (if avaliable when i will purchase all the parts) (also, its the Broadwell unlocked core i5 if you didnt know)

Noctua NH-D14

Gigabyte Z97X-SLI (it has the realtek ALC1150, if you need to know)

G.skill aegis 8GB RAM

MSI GeForce GTX 970 gaming 4G (or 3.5+0.5 if you really care)

Corsair Force LS 128GB

Seagate Barracuda 2TB

Corsair 200R

[weez]

Also, I do want the best possible sound for around 50 bucks (not incuding shipping), so should i get the snowball or the modmic (or any other 50 bucks mic), or should i save my money for an AT2020 with my audio setup later?

 

 

What are you using the mic for? Most of the time a $50 mic will be more then good enough for anything but recording music (and even then a Snowball will get the job done but you'll have to test it to make sure it meets your standards). So unless youre recording music, a usb mic like the Snowball or a ModMic (if you dont mind having an extra cable to deal with) will be very good and will last you a long time.

[davidarad02]

What are you using the mic for? Most of the time a $50 mic will be more then good enough for anything but recording music (and even then a Snowball will get the job done but you'll have to test it to make sure it meets your standards). So unless youre recording music, a usb mic like the Snowball or a ModMic (if you dont mind having an extra cable to deal with) will be very good and will last you a long time.

I know that both the snowball and the modmic will be good buys, but should I go with the snowball OR the modmic? Consider that i will have a full-sized cherry mx brown keyboard (aka large and quiet)

[weez]

but should I go with the snowball OR the modmic? 

 

Thats a personal preference thing. Both mics (most mic for that matter) will pickup background noise. Some are better then others but really, unless you have a life band playing right next to you, I wouldnt worry about it. So it comes down to what style mic do you want. A desktop or a headset? One thing to keep in mind about the ModMic is you'll have an extra cable to deal with.

[Steinway]

How would i use the AT2020 without an audio interface? Its a XLR mic, and its not compatible with my motherboard (as I dont plan on getting a dedicated sound card any time soon). BTW guys, i live in israel, so add about 11 bucks to the price for shipping from Amazon.

Also, I do want the best possible sound for around 50 bucks (not incuding shipping), so should i get the snowball or the modmic (or any other 50 bucks mic), or should i save my money for an AT2020 with my audio setup later?

Anyway, if you guys need to know my specs, these will be it:

Intel core i5 4690k OR Intel core i5 5765C (if avaliable when i will purchase all the parts) (also, its the Broadwell unlocked core i5 if you didnt know)

Noctua NH-D14

Gigabyte Z97X-SLI (it has the realtek ALC1150, if you need to know)

G.skill aegis 8GB RAM

MSI GeForce GTX 970 gaming 4G (or 3.5+0.5 if you really care)

Corsair Force LS 128GB

Seagate Barracuda 2TB

Corsair 200R

 

We still don't really know enough about your use case though bud. If your DJ/Music production will not involve vocal recording then grab yourself a modmic or something similar. I use the Zalman alternative (It's called the ZMMIC1 or something along those lines) and if you're worried about the extra cable then don't, it has caused me no problems at all.

 

If you are going to be doing some vocal recording, a USB mic like the AT2020 USB or the snowball as you mentioned won't be amazing, but as weez said it would get the job done.

 

I'm a little confused as to what you said in your second post about the AT2020 though, it sounded as if you wanted to buy it now for immediate use and then integrate with your mixer setup.

[davidarad02]

We still don't really know enough about your use case though bud. If your DJ/Music production will not involve vocal recording then grab yourself a modmic or something similar. I use the Zalman alternative (It's called the ZMMIC1 or something along those lines) and if you're worried about the extra cable then don't, it has caused me no problems at all.

 

If you are going to be doing some vocal recording, a USB mic like the AT2020 USB or the snowball as you mentioned won't be amazing, but as weez said it would get the job done.

 

I'm a little confused as to what you said in your second post about the AT2020 though, it sounded as if you wanted to buy it now for immediate use and then integrate with your mixer setup.

Let me explain what i meant about the at2020. The at2020 usb is 30 bucks more expensive, and doesn't have a XLR output, and since i want to get a DJ controller + mixer setup, and a usb port wont do me any good. So, my question now is, snowball/mod-mic now, or wait until i have the money for the setup, and get a at2020 non-usb, and suck it up with no microphone until i buy stuff?

[Steinway]

Let me explain what i meant about the at2020. The at2020 usb is 30 bucks more expensive, and doesn't have a XLR output, and since i want to get a DJ controller + mixer setup, and a usb port wont do me any good. So, my question now is, snowball/mod-mic now, or wait until i have the money for the setup, and get a at2020 non-usb, and suck it up with no microphone until i buy stuff?

 

But are you recording vocals?

If so, how much does quality matter?

 

Also, you did not originally mention that the AT2020 you were looking at was the USB version.

[davidarad02]

But are you recording vocals?

If so, how much does quality matter?

There wont be any vocals (edm music), but i do want to start a youtube channel... So quality does matter.

Sorry that i didnt mention that...

[Steinway]

There wont be any vocals (edm music), but i do want to start a youtube channel... So quality does matter.

 

In that case, you could probably pickup a Snowball and be happy with it. While the modmic is good, the snowball is generally a cut above. If you wanted to go even further, the AT2020 USB + (Note the '+', this version includes zero latency monitoring, which is super nice to have) is a solid option. The other thing to note is that the sound will be consistent with other AT2020 USBs because all the electronics are housed together, so you won't have worry about a cheap mixer changing that sound. I should also note that a cheap mixer is what I get the impression you'll be buying, but anything above the $200 + a decent audio interface might give you some better results and a broader feature set.

[davidarad02]

In that case, you could probably pickup a Snowball and be happy with it. While the modmic is good, the snowball is generally a cut above. If you wanted to go even further, the AT2020 USB + (Note the '+', this version includes zero latency monitoring, which is super nice to have) is a solid option. The other thing to note is that the sound will be consistent with other AT2020 USBs because all the electronics are housed together, so you won't have worry about a cheap mixer changing that sound. I should also note that a cheap mixer is what I get the impression you'll be buying, but anything above the $200 + a decent audio interface might give you some better results and a broader feature set.

So do you think that a snowball with a cheap desk stand will be the best option to block the mechanical switches and still have good sound?

[Steinway]

So do you think that a snowball with a cheap desk stand will be the best option to block the mechanical switches and still have good sound?

 

Well, any mic is going to pickup some noise from the environment, you just have to keep in mind that quiet still does not equal silent. I guess a good option would be to use some kind of push-to-talk like you can in OBS (where OBS is set to file output mode)

Look at it from the creative perspective though, let's say you're doing a gaming video. If there's lots of action on screen and there's generally a good amount of stuff for the audience to see and hear it wouldn't be a problem. But, let's say I'm watching Towelliee or Chinglish play WoW on twitch, I would kind of like to hear their frantic keypresses. (And if you're looking at my signature, Teamspeak and Twitch are very differrent)

 

I will maintain that capturing keystroke sounds is a creative decision, and not a technical one. In any case, the best way to reject unwanted sound in ANY situation with ANY mic is to get the source-your mouth as close to the mic as possible, and use only the gain you need.

Answering the question though, yeah it will probably work.