Microphone Without Needing Mains Power?

[ScreamSlasher5X]

Title says it all. I haven't got the space to add more plugs. I'm planning on spending tons, I am however looking for a good sounding one, pretty crystal clear as if I were talking face to face.

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I'm not aware of any mic that needs mains power so that shouldn't be an issue.  Condensers and some ribbons (careful though,most ribbons will be destroyed by it actually) need what is called phantom power, but this can be provided through interfaces powered exclusively over USB, so again, no mains.

[ScreamSlasher5X]

10 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I'm not aware of any mic that needs mains power so that shouldn't be an issue.  Condensers and some ribbons (careful though,most ribbons will be destroyed by it actually) need what is called phantom power, but this can be provided through interfaces powered exclusively over USB, so again, no mains.

Appreciate response, could you dumb it down for me please? I don't have a clue what a ribbon is, well aside from it being awarded for an achievement.

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Just now, ScreamSlasher5X said:

Appreciate response, could you dumb it down for me please? I don't have a clue what a ribbon is, well aside from it being awarded for an achievement.

They're different types of mics: dynamic, condenser, and ribbon.  They each have certain advantages and disadvantages... for your situation you'll probably be looking at a condenser.  You said you were willing to spend a lot, and in the mic world, that's not hard to do, but it might also not be necessary.  There are other considerations besides outright "quality" though (which itself can be broken down into a lot of things).  For example, what pickup pattern do you want?  In other words, are you looking to pickup sound from all around, or just in front of the mic while blocking sound from beside and/or behind it?, and if so how important is this to you?

[ScreamSlasher5X]

13 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

They're different types of mics: dynamic, condenser, and ribbon.  They each have certain advantages and disadvantages... for your situation you'll probably be looking at a condenser.  You said you were willing to spend a lot, and in the mic world, that's not hard to do, but it might also not be necessary.  There are other considerations besides outright "quality" though (which itself can be broken down into a lot of things).  For example, what pickup pattern do you want?  In other words, are you looking to pickup sound from all around, or just in front of the mic while blocking sound from beside and/or behind it?, and if so how important is this to you?

Just in front of the microphone, I want to use it to communicate with friends, I may or may not use it for making some YouTube videos, I haven't decided. Mainly to communicate with friends though.

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Just now, ScreamSlasher5X said:

Just in front of the microphone, I want to use it to communicate with friends, I may or may not use it for making some YouTube videos, I haven't decided. Mainly to communicate with friends though.

Alright, well I wouldn't advise spending $1000+ then, that's totally excessive

A common choice is the Rode NT-1A, or the new one without the "A".  It has an exceptionally low noise floor (meaning no background hiss), can handle extremely loud noises without over loading, so don't worry about screaming into it, and is generally extremely good sounding.

I'd advise trying to find reviews and listening to samples since every mic is slightly different and you know better than anyone else what you are looking for.

There's many other options if you don't like that though.