greetings earthlings today I'll be answering the question of when
you should upgrade your audio interface and your microphone
first thing that I want to say on this topic is before you consider upgrading please for
the love of the few things good left in this world read the manual watch some tutorials and
to learn the gear that you have so you can ensure that you're setting it up properly because buying
new gear won't do you any good if you're gonna set it up incorrectly number one don't follow
the trend do not upgrade your gear based on what you see everyone else using just because you see
a lot of blue yetis and sm7 B's being used out there that does not mean that that is the correct
upgrade path for you before you jump on to one of these trends you need to hear samples of that
device you need to understand the requirements the pros the cons the drawbacks of that device
so you can understand if that popular item is actually right for you I say all of that because
different creators have different requirements as well as different preferences so you really
can't say well I saw a person X Y or Z using this thing so I'm gonna buy it oh I got I guess
a stream I guess I'll buy the mic that everyone has bro number to upgrade with a purpose instead
of looking at a spec sheet and saying well this number right here is marginally better so I guess
I'll buy it stop you should be upgrading to solve a specific problem or to get a specific outcome
for example do you have an audio interface that has an extremely high latency and makes it very
difficult to record with amp simulators well that's a solvable problem you can look for an
interface with a lower latency to make it easier to record the way that you want to another example
would be does a microphone that you use make your voice painful to listen to that's a very solvable
problem look for a microphone that doesn't accentuate those harsh and grading frequencies
in your voice additionally you don't have to rely solely on your own opinion to determine when you
need to upgrade if you get a consistent number of complaints about your audio quality that will
help you determine that something is wrong but it doesn't automatically mean that you have to go out
and buy new gear as I already alluded to the first thing you should do is read the manual for the
gear that you have and make sure you're setting it up properly because that could be a very
easy solution to solving the complaints you're getting number three order of upgrade microphone
or interface I'll preface this section by saying if you're looking for a huge and noticeable change
to your recording upgrading your microphone is much more likely to provide that to you while
conversely upgrading your audio interface will yield a much more subtle change to the audio
quality and the reason that I say that is the majority of audio interfaces are designed to be as
transparent as possible meaning they'll affect the tone of your sound source that you're inputting
into the interface very very minimally to drive home this point I've already used three audio
interfaces in this video for the introduction I used at the $30 behringer um - for part one the
$150 focus right - I - third gen and for part two the $2,600 Universal Audio x8u let me know
did you hear a difference between any of those sections now because the tone of your recording
isn't greatly affected by the interface you choose to use what are some aspects of an interface that
might make you want to upgrade number one is the preamps maybe they are just too noisy for your
recording or maybe they don't have enough game to drive a microphone such as the sm7b it's also
possible that the headphone amp on an interface may be introducing too much noise into your
headphones making it really difficult to monitor what you're recording or monitor your session and
the last example would be the feature set maybe you need more inputs than something like the focus
right - I - offers maybe you need insert so you can run outboard gear with the preamps in your
interface maybe you want more granular control over each of the individual channels or maybe you
want to add some DSP processing to a microphone input leading you to pick up a universal audio
or an Apogee interface and now to drive home the point of how big of an impact microphones can have
on your recording I'm going to switch between a couple of them at different price points so you
can hear that differences first up I am speaking into the $100 at2020 which is one of the most
affordable condenser microphones on the market next up I am speaking into the $100 shure sm58
which is probably the most popular microphone of all time and you can find it on pretty much every
single stage across the world now I am on one of the most popular streaming and podcast microphones
the shure sm7b just go look on Twitch everybody's behind it right now so here is how this microphone
sounds next up I am on a real sleeper microphone the SE electronics se4 t 400 a which just sounds
incredible for this price but this is the quality that you can get at around $500 and
lastly I am on a new microphone from a company called Austrian audio this is the OC eight one
eight which is another multi-pattern condenser microphone and this is the quality that you can
expect out of a microphone around $1000 and with that quick demonstration out of the way what are
some aspects of microphones which might make you want to upgrade first and foremost it just sounds
bad to you that is the most important aspect of a microphone the sound quality that it produces
is it going to fit in the mix that you're making does it accentuate some nasty frequencies in your
voice that is what's going to make you want to upgrade a microphone the most the second thing
would be maybe a microphone that you have is too quiet like the sm7b or maybe it has too high of
a self noise which could lead to you not hitting some requirements for an audio book your recording
and lastly it may seem like a little bit of a cop-out but maybe you're just no longer happy
with the tone of the microphone you have and you want something a little bit different there's
nothing wrong with that number four when to stop incrementally upgrading what I mean by this is
at what point do you stop going from the $5,200 microphone and from 100 to 150 dollar microphone
and start saving for a higher-end piece of gear now in the past this used to be a much
higher threshold but affordable gear has gotten quite good in the decade and now that threshold
is pretty accessible when we look at microphones I think you can stop incrementally upgrading and
start saving for a higher-end mic at the $100 price point and for interfaces I think that
threshold is at the 150 to 200 dollar range a few mics that fit the bill would be the 80 20
20 the sm58 the SE electronics v7 or the x1 any of the MXL condenser microphones all of those
are really excellent for the price point and I don't think anybody is going to complain about
your audio quality but when you do upgrade to a 500 or $1000 microphone I think there
will be a noticeable maybe just for you but a noticeable improvement over the sound quality
audio interfaces on the other hand are slightly different a few that I think are excellent would
be the 2 I to 3rd gen the mo to m2 the Audion tidy 4 or the solid state logic SSL - the thing
that differentiates them from microphones is that when you buy an interface at 150 to 200 dollars
I honestly don't think you'll ever really need to upgrade unless that device breaks the reason
I'm saying that is the majority of affordable interfaces in this budget have gotten so good
with the A to D conversion the preamps the feature set that I think the majority of youtubers and
at-home podcasters will never need anything more than these offer number 5 will your audience even
notice the upgrade that you just spent so much money on no most likely not they won't notice
if you have a decent enough a USB microphone or a decent XLR microphone and you are setting it
up properly I don't think the majority of your audience is going to notice if you jump from
a $100 microphone to a $3,200 microphone this is because the majority of online content is consumed
in less than ideal situations a lot of people watch youtube videos and to listen to podcasts
on their phone speakers or over cheap earbuds and through those listening devices a lot of the fits
and nuances of a higher-end piece of gear is going to be lost on them but that doesn't mean that just
because your audience isn't going to notice a huge difference that you shouldn't upgrade my mentality
on the upgrade path has always been to provide my audience with the best quality content that I am
able to the reason that I think of it that way is it gives me a bit of pride in the content that I'm
creating but also gives me a bit more confidence in what I'm actually producing but I don't want
you to get the wrong idea and think that you have to follow suit because there are plenty of people
who buy a blue Yeti and create content for five or more years with that microphone and never think
about upgrading and if that is you and you are happy and proud of what you're creating Godspeed
to you and I wish you the best of luck I'm not trying to change you number six determining if
you should upgrade I hate to say it but this next section is going to contain a lot of money talk
and to be completely transparent I am financially conservative meaning I am very risk averse when
it comes to spending money so for the majority of people who are making youtube videos or podcasts
as a hobby I believe that an entry-level set up is going to be perfectly fine and provide
you with a very usable quality but I know you're going to ask if you have an entry-level setup when
do you upgrade I believe that if nothing in your setup is broken and you aren't getting complaints
from your audience that you should not upgrade instead what I would recommend is learning how
to do some post-processing as well as developing a really deep understanding of the gear that you
have so you can much more easily manipulate it to get the sound that you want but on the other
hand if you're somebody who has a little bit more disposable income or you're starting to
earn some money off of streaming or podcasting or youtubing that's what I think you should start to
consider upgrading if that's something you're interested in this is where you really get to
play around and your preference really starts to come into play and you get to have a lot of
fun with it and in both of these examples there is one thing that's consistent across both you
should not be going into debt to buy audio gear when you're getting your first audio setup or
when you're upgrading down the road you should do everything in your power to avoid going into debt
to do that because going into debt is extremely dangerous especially in times like right now so
if you can't afford it please hold off until you can and you will appreciate it that much more so
please just be responsible when you're buying new gear number seven have some fun bra with
all of that being said you don't have to follow any of the advice or any of the tips that I've
laid out in this video because everybody's upgrade path is going to be different everybody's content
creation path is going to be different if you bought a blue Yeti and you are making millions
of dollars and you don't think that you have to upgrade amazing I am glad that you were happy with
what you have but also if you are filthy rich and want to buy every microphone at every interface
on the market more power to you because there are much more expensive and much more dangerous
habits and hobbies out there and at least you're not on your knees in a truckstop bathroom for a
microphone look on the bright side right alright that is going to wrap up for today I know it got
a little bit dark there but I hope you found this helpful I hope this helps you understand whether
or not you need to upgrade and help you decide what your future upgrade path is if you found this
video fun interesting or helpful go ahead and give me a thumbs up if you hated it big ol thumbs down
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you all so much for watching thank you so much for listening I will talk to you next time bye