greetings earthlings and welcome back to podcastage today i am stealing a video format
or video idea directly from all of the watch youtubers i'm making a microphone collection
or a microphone locker within a certain budget but in reality the real reason why i'm doing this
is i went to make the second episode of the creating an entire recording setup under x budget
and i realized that i was just repeating the exact same gear over and over again and things
didn't start to get interesting until we hit a thousand bucks so this is the solution instead of
picking all the gear under a certain price range we're only going to be looking at the microphones
and i figured a good jumping off point is 300 and the last thing that i want to say before i share
any of my picks is there are infinite pairings of microphones at this price point so if you
don't see a microphone that you love please do not be offended this is just my own personal
preference and my own personal opinion based on my experience first up home studio starter kit
my first pick is the audio technica at2020 this costs around 100 and i'm selecting this mainly
as a studio vocal microphone for singing for spoken word anything along those lines
is it the greatest sounding microphone ever no and you could actually change this out for something
that you prefer more like the mxl 770 or mxl 990 but even though i don't think it's the greatest
sounding microphone it does seem to be almost universally appreciated at this price point
because it does give you a very workable and a pretty respectable sound it also is very durable
i've beaten the crap out of this thing for five to six years still working like a champ no complaints
it hasn't skipped a beat and it is only 100 and that's why this is my vocal microphone pick
for this mic locker the second microphone is the shure sm57 and this also costs 100 but this is a
dynamic microphone and i am picking this more as a general purpose mic use it on anything
it will work if you run a studio you will have one of these you will have 10 of them you will
use them on everything it's incredibly popular for electric guitar and that's the reason why i
was leaning towards it but then i started thinking everybody needs a general purpose microphone that
they can put in front of anything and it will work so that is why the sm57 is in here i'm using it
for voice i'll demonstrate it on the electric guitar in a little bit there you go second pick
in this three microphone collection and the last microphone in this kit is the essie electronics
se7 this is a small diaphragm condenser microphone and it costs 120 i'm selecting this thinking this
would be a great addition in case you do any kind of acoustic instrument recording small diaphragm
condensers seem to do a very good job at that application because they capture a much more
realistic and accurate picture of what's in front of it so that's why i'm selecting this but as an
added bonus i think it can work really well on spoken word in case you're in a pinch do please
use a pop filter though because this is dangerous so that is my third pick the entire collection
audio technica at2020 for singing sm57 for general purpose and electric guitar and se7en for acoustic
instruments and spoken word if you need it secondly if we narrow down the home studio starter
kit to just a solo instrumentalist i have a few options here the first selection here is going
to be the se electronics se8 this goes for about 280 dollars and this is another small diaphragm
condenser microphone both of my selections here are going to be one microphone collections because
i think if you are a solo instrumentalist you can really narrow in and get a more specialized
microphone for that use case but i'm picking the se8 for the exact same reason as i chose the se7
i think this works wonderfully on acoustic instruments as an added bonus it does work
well on spoken word so if you're at home and you record exclusively acoustic instruments
i think this would be an outstanding selection at the 300 budget and the second option is the buyer
dynamic m201tg this is an instrument dynamic microphone and it costs three hundred dollars
i'm selecting this as an upgraded version of the sm57 if you record electric guitars this thing
is absolutely insane also if you do any kind of spoken word this thing works outstanding it's
one of my all-time favorites and it is a secret weapon of a couple of bbc studios they use this
on spoken word to great effect next up we have one microphone collections for podcasters or streamers
and the first selection is the rode pro caster which is a broadcast dynamic microphone it costs
around 230 dollars so we're coming in quite a bit under budget but we will use that leftover budget
for a pop filter and a shock mount and the reason that i'm selecting this is as far as sound goes
i find this really appealing because it does have a robust and full low end but it doesn't come
across too muddy and the top end is a bit more boosted it gives you a little bit of that clarity
but it's not over boosted it's not harsh like a lot of other microphones at this price point
so i'm selecting this if you are looking for more of a broadcasty sound with a full low end
a crisp top end but not too much top end but like i said does suffer from plosive
so please have amazing microphone technique or allocate that remaining budget for a pop filter
and a shock mount and the second option here is the electro voice re-320 this is another
broadcast dynamic microphone but this one goes for 300 as you can hear this is a much brighter sound
much more condenser like because it is extended in the top end and this has variable d technology
so it really controls the proximity effect if you don't know what that is when you get closer to a
microphone the low end in the sound source really becomes accentuated the variable d technology
on this helps to reduce that effect so as you get closer to the microphone and farther away
the tone of the recording doesn't change that much but as far as 300 microphones go it may
not be my personal favorite sounding microphone but i know people love that additional top end
the variable dc get a more even sound and it does do a really nice job at background noise rejection
so that is my second pick as a one microphone collection for podcasters or streamers now a three
microphone collection for a podcaster or streamer who is indecisive and wants a bunch of microphones
the first selection here is obvious it is the shure sm58 100 dynamic microphone great background
noise rejection a bit of a darker sound a bit of a more classic sound something that is very
familiar because we have all heard this microphone probably 10 000 times so in case you want a darker
more vintage more classic sounding recording i'm selecting this so you have that option the second
pick here is the sennheiser e835 another 100 dynamic microphone as you can tell as you can
hear this is a significantly brighter sound to the shure sm58 i would say it's a polar opposite
that's why i'm including it it's not something that i am too keen on but if you are indecisive
and you want a bunch of different paints to paint with while you're recording i think this is a good
idea to have a darker mic and a brighter mic and the final microphone in this microphone
kit collection mic locker whatever you want to call it is the se electronics v7 another
dynamic microphone and this costs 120 dollars i know we went over budget but we're within 10
percent i'm giving myself that leeway 10 i think that's fine but the reason why i'm selecting this
as a third option in this kit is i think this is a good middle ground between the sm58 and the e835
it does have a more controlled low end and a more tame top end but it also has some nice extension
in the top end so it doesn't sound as dull as the 58 but it is tamed so it doesn't sound quite
as boosted as the e835 so in this microphone locker you have three options a darker more
vintage sounding sm58 an incredibly bright and articulate e835 or a more neutral sounding sev7
and you're still sitting around 320 bucks and the final category is voiceover in a treated room
now at this price point i don't have any multi-microphone collections for this application
because i think you should spend the entire budget on one really great sounding microphone that does
the job extremely well and as i'm sure you could have guessed the first selection here is the rode
nt1 this is a 270 dollar microphone with an entire kit shock mount pop filter xlr cable all of that
but this is one of my all-time favorite microphones because it does offer a more
neutral sound to it and that is something that i'm preferential to that's something that i look for
and enjoy in microphones it also has an incredibly low noise floor and just all around
it is easy to listen to and for long form spoken word i think that is a very good benefit to have
and the second option here is the sennheiser mk4 this runs for around 300 and the reason why i'm
selecting this as the second pick is this offers a slightly different sound to the nt1 it offers
more of a boost to the top end and gives you a little bit more of that tlm-103 flavor tlm-103
sound without that tlm-103 price and you're not going to get the exact tlm-103 sound otherwise
it would cost eleven hundred dollars but you're getting a little bit of that flavor around the
300 price point and those are my two picks for one microphone collections for voiceover the rode nt1
for a more neutral sound or the sennheiser mk4 for a brighter more tlm-103sq sound now i'm going to
include a bunch of music tests for the microphones that i recommended for a music application
it's time to end another crap here let's hope the next one will be better
every single year just seems to get a little worse and i wish that it would
it doesn't actually get worse and worse it's just it seems like it's getting worse things are gonna
be fine we're gonna make it through all of this nonsense no sweat we got this gang all right
there you go that's a sample of the music home studio test thing super duper all right that's
all that i've got for you today but since this was the first episode of this new style of video
i'd love to hear what you thought of it in the comments down below and if you enjoyed it let me
know what budget you think i should jump to next i'm thinking 500 makes sense but let me know if
you think differently also i would love to hear what you thought of my selections because i know
this is such a personal thing let me know what your microphone kit or one microphone collection
would look like if you found this video fun interesting or helpful go to give a thumbs
up hated it big old thumbs down and you could do all the stuff these people are amazing over here
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podcastage or the member thing down below and i hope you have an amazing christmas
merry christmas happy christmas happy day off to anybody who doesn't celebrate christmas
have a wonderful rest of your week and i will talk to you next week thanks for watching bye