greetings earthlings today i'm back with a review of a microphone with very controversial looks
does it look good does it look bad it looks like a bumblebee that's undeniable the microphone we're
looking at is the neat worker bee which is the little brother to the neat king bee if you are
interested in this microphone it will cost you around 90 like always i'll throw some links down
below for this review i have the microphone connected directly to the focusrite 18i20
second gen my gain is set just at around 12 37 and i will not do any kind of post processing but
i may boost it in post so so check the dooblydoo to see what i didily did and now let's talk about
what comes in the box but it's a bit too heavy to throw so i'll throw the box that it comes in
best work yet best work yet i'm a i'm a professional
of course you are going to get the microphone you'll get a clip on pop filter style thing
you'll get a dust cover or storage bag a shock mount with the 5 8 to 3 8 inch microphone stand
adapter some extra screws to mount this microphone to the shock mount
some documentation and a spinning top thing with your microphone serial number on the base
something like that very cool then as far as the build quality i have zero complaints about
this thing it seems to be built pretty well it is a chunky chunk chunky boy drunky boy
it's a pretty beefy looking boy it does have an all metal body as well as a metal mesh grille
the grille does have a bit of give to it but it doesn't dent it just bounces right back
it weighs in at 446 grams as you move around the microphone there are no switches or dials
or buttons or anything the bottom has the xlr port and this microphone is made in china then as far
as the specs this microphone has a cardioid polar pattern a frequency response of 20 hertz to 20
kilohertz a sensitivity of approximately negative 34 and a half db an impedance of 50 ohms a max spl
of 145 db an ein or self noise of 9.5 dba and a phantom power requirement of plus 48
volts now i'm spinning around the worker b to 90 degrees so you can hear the off-axis rejection
and coloration will continue around the microphone to 180 degrees let you hear it from the rear
let you hear the back moving around to the second 90 degree angle here is how it sounds
and then rotating and ending at the front of the microphone now let's go ahead and test the
plosive rejection of this microphone without the provided pop filter with the provided pop
filter and then with a proper pop filter please bring pizza pronto please bring pizza pronto
please bring pizza pronto please bring pizza pronto please bring pizza pronto please bring
pizza pronto now i am right on top of the worker bee to demonstrate the proximity effect
about three inches off of the microphone with it pointed at the corner of my mouth
and here is how it sounds about one foot away from the microphone two feet away from
the microphone and about four feet away from the microphone now i am typing on a keyboard
with gatoron blue switches to see how much of my voice verse how much of the keyboard it picks up
and for you gamers of delete variety now i am typing on the dos keys sad w keys
here's how the microphone sounds in a well-treated room
and here's how the microphone sounds in a completely untreated room
now to see how well the provided shock mount performs i am going to
go ahead and bump the desk to see how much of that noise it rejects
and i will bump the boom arm to see how much of that it rejects
now to be as thorough and obnoxious as possible i
will go ahead and tap the microphone to see if there are any kind of resonant
frequencies
now i want to do a very quick comparison between the worker b and a couple of other microphones to
see how well it stacks up against some other competition we'll start on the neat worker b
i am about six inches off of the microphone the gain is set at one o'clock make sure to check the
lower third to see how much i boost each of these microphones in post but here is the microphone
we're comparing all these others against let's jump to the first one first up i am on the neewer
nw 700 which is a 20 to 25 dollar condenser microphone i am six inches off gain at one o'clock
here is how this microphone sounds compared to a 90 condenser microphone and the neat worker bee
we are back on the neat worker b here is how the microphone sounds six inches gain at one o'clock
let's jump to another one so you can hear how it compares to that now we are on one of the
most popular affordable condenser microphones the audio technica at2020 this is a 100 xlr condenser
microphone we are six inches off of this thing gain set at one o'clock still check the lower
third to see how much i boosted it and here is how this microphone sounds compared against the worker
bee again we are on the neat worker b so you can hear how this microphone sounds and cleanse your
palate before we jump to another one and compare it to that let's do that now now we are on the big
boy the neat king b which is the bigger version of the worker bee this one goes for about 130
dollars if you can find it i am six inches off of this thing gain set at one o'clock and here's how
it sounds compared against the neat worker bee how much of a difference does the forty dollars make
and we're cutting it kind of short today we have one more microphone we're comparing the
neat worker b2 but we are back on the neat worker b so you can hear this microphone and now we will
jump to the last microphone we're comparing it against and lastly i am on the road nt1 which is
a 270 dollar xlr condenser microphone i am six inches off gain at one o'clock check the lower
third to see how much i boosted it but what do you think of these microphones was your
favorite the neat worker be the neat king b the neewer nw or the audio technica at2020
or the rode nt1 let me know in the comments down below which one did you like the best
my hair is getting gray
i don't know what to say i guess i'm getting older i guess i'm getting older every day
huh right it's undeniable i'm getting older gonna die someday weird
okay for 90 bucks i think this microphone is way too good and first up in terms of pros the sound
of this microphone worked pretty universally on everything that i threw it at the build quality
of the microphone feels excellent the shock mount and the pop filter did great at their respective
jobs and it is incredibly affordable for the sound quality you're getting as well as the build
quality and the whole package really a great deal here and then as far as cons the unique body shape
would make it difficult to find a replacement shock mount if the neat shock mount fails and neat
doesn't sell them individually that's something to keep in mind and i don't personally view this as a
con but the looks it is a very unique boy it is a unique looking microphone and i know a lot of
people hate that i get countless comments on the neat king b review with people saying that's the
ugliest microphone i've ever seen i've said this a thousand times i don't think that matters you
buy a microphone to sound good not to look good it sounds good i don't think it's a con but if that's
something you care about you're not gonna like it and now what are my overall thoughts and opinions
of this microphone on the electric guitar i really enjoyed it on that instrument i found it offered
a very powerful sound to it the low end was on the verge of being too uncontrolled a little bit loose
but a high pass filter would clear that ride up the thing that stood out to me most was the top
end it was detailed and articulate and airy but at no point did it get biting or grating
or painful or sharp all around a very usable sound throw on a high-pass filter and in my opinion
you'd be good to go then on the acoustic guitar i think that's where this microphone really shined
the low end had a nice body and weight to it the mids were controlled and not too in-your-face or
punchy and the top end was open and airy and just beautiful sounding it really brought the tailor to
life really liked it on the acoustic then for singing it definitely works but it wasn't my
favorite the main thing that stood out to me for that application was how airy it sounded you could
hear all the shh all the top end information in my voice if that's what you're looking for at a very
affordable price i think it offers that and it does it really well without sounding over boosted
or brittle or harsh really well done in the air frequencies for singing and lastly for spoken word
again i think it is a very workable sound the low end was a bit uncontrolled maybe a little bit boxy
maybe a little bit woolly sounding but i think a high pass or a little bit of a cut between 100 and
200 hertz could clear that ride up the mids were very unoffensive not overly nasally not overly cut
sounding and the top end is very detailed but it's not over boosted it's not harsh it's not brittle
just all around a relatively even sound to it and very workable for an affordable price
and to wrap up would i recommend the neat worker bee absolutely i would at 90 dollars i think this
microphone is an absolute no-brainer is it the greatest sounding microphone that i have
ever heard on everything that i threw it at no of course not but does it give you extremely
usable sounds on everything that i threw it at yes it does and if i had around a hundred
dollars to spend i would most likely pick it over something like the at2020 i think it offers a
more pleasing more neutral and more malleable sound to it you can get it a little bit more
creative with the eq with this microphone and you don't have to worry about as much harshness
in the top end for 90 bucks i think it's a no-brainer and absolutely i recommend it all right
that is going to wrap up for today but like always i want to hear from you in the comments down below
of all of the microphones that i compared the worker be against which did you like the best
did you like the worker bee the knee were into you the at2020 the neat king b or the rode nt1
let me know in the comments down below if you found this video fun interesting or helpful i
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much for watching thank you so much for listening i don't know what that really
loud noise was i think somebody's coming to kill me i'll i'll talk to you all later bye