What Type of Microphone do You Use?

[Bloggeries]

I'm going to be getting into podcasting and also voice recognition.

Do you have a certain type of microphone you'd recommend? I'm willing to pay the extra $ for clarity as it will more than pay for itself with the voice recognition and hopefully podcasting.

If you have experiences with any I'd love to hear about them!

[PaulR]

I just purchased this microphone.
Amazon.com: Logitech Premium USB Headset 350 ( 980374-0403 ): Electronics

I will give a review once I receive it and get to using it.

[Bloggeries]

Looks good. Please do give us a review once you try it.

[PaulR]

Should be interesting. I know I have a face for the internet, not so sure about the voice.

[Bloggeries]

If you have the face than start vLogging!

[PaulR]

Originally Posted by PaulR

Should be interesting. I know I have a face for the internet, not so sure about the voice.

Originally Posted by Bloggeries

If you have the face than start vLogging!

That was sarcasm on my part.

I received the mic last week, it looks really nice in it's box.

I'm sure I'll get to it sometime next week.

[Inhibitor]

Okay, you've wandered off into my area of expertise somewhat.

It really depends on your voice. I do voiceover work on the side (in addition to my day-job in radio), and have learned from experience that a mic that makes you sound like James Earl Jones on steroids will make me sound like Pee Wee Herman, and vice versa.

Admittedly, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but when you start getting into the upper-end mics price-wise, it's really different for each person. I've got about eight mics laying around my home office (including one that cost $250), and for most of my "intended for the internet" work I still use a $25 Radio Shack mic...it just gives a better sound.

Make sure that you get a decent mixing board to run it through (if nothing else, most mixers have an amp or a power regulator in them...this helps clean up your sound), and possibly a processor like a Behringer MDX2600. (That's what gives you that "radio" sound). You can usually find some really good deals at BSW.

[Bloggeries]

Wow!

you sure seem to know your microphones. if I were to purchase a high-quality microphone would I still have to put through mixing board for my computer?

maybe I should buy four or five microphones and give them all a test?

Also what is that $25 microphone from radio shack that seems to work wonders

[Inhibitor]

To answer your other questions, yes, I would recommend getting a mixer to run your mic through...it'll give you more control over the sound you get, and you'll get a "cleaner" sound. Also, as you get into the upper-end of mics, you'll find quite a few that require "phantom power", which a mixer will provide. (This is usually the case with a good condenser mic.)

As far as how far up you want to go, mic-wise...I wouldn't go too high-end... a good condenser will pick up a cockroach sneezing three rooms over. If someone's running the television too loudly in the next room, it might give it false input.

And the Radio Shack model is their standard little workhorse mic...this little fella. (Again, as I said in my first post...your mileage may vary. )

[PaulR]

Finally opened this up. Just got camtasia for free recently so I have been playing around a lot. I don't know if it's the mic or my voice, but I don't sound good .