greetings earthlings today I'm back with a review of a brand new entry-level and very
affordable condenser microphone that microphone is the Mackie e/m 91c which is marketed as a
large diaphragm condenser microphone if you are interested in this microphone it will cost you
around $80 like always I'll throw some links down below and for this review I have the microphone
connected directly to the Focusrite 18 i 22nd gen my gain is set just at around 10:30 and I
will not do any kind of post-processing but I may have to boost it in Poe so check the doobly-doo
to see what I did Lee did and now let's talk about what comes in the box of course you are
going to get the microphone you'll get a shock mount which does not come with a 5/8 to 3/8 inch
microphone stand adapter an XLR cable and some documentation then as far as the build quality
it feels tolerable at best it actually kind of reminds me of the build of the nywhere NW 711
it does have an all-metal body but the metal feels kind of cheap and weak there is a metal
grille which does have a tiny bit of give to it but it does perform pretty well it weighs in at
around 210 grams as you move around the microphone you will find no switches or buttons or anything
on the bottom you have the XLR port and here is the microphone directly next to the NW 700
so you can see how the form factor compares then as far as the specs this microphone has
a cardioid polar pattern a frequency response of 20 Hertz to 18 kilohertz a sensitivity of
around negative 30 DB an impedance of 150 ohms a self-noise of around 16 DBA a max SPL of 134
DB and a phantom power requirement of plus 48 volts now I am spinning around the e/m 91
C to 90 degrees so you can hear the off-axis rejection and coloration will continue around
the microphone to one 180 degrees you can hear how it sounds from their rear continuing around
the microphone to the second 90 degree angle and then rotating and ending at the front of the mic
now let's test the plosive rejection of this thing please bring Pizza pronto please bring
Pizza pronto please bring Pizza pronto now I am right on top of the microphone to demonstrate the
proximity effect of this thing about three inches away with the microphone pointed at the corner of
my mouth and here is how the audio sounds about 1 foot away from the microphone 2 feet away from
the microphone and about 4 feet away from the microphone now I am typing on a keyboard with
Gator on blue switches so you can hear how much of my voice verse how much of the keyboard it picks
up and for you elite gamers now I am typing on the sad W keys here's how the microphone
sounds in a well treated room and here is how the microphone sounds in a completely untreated room
now to see how well the provided shock mount performs I will 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 noise it rejects
next I'll go ahead and tap the microphones body to see if there are any kind of resonant frequencies
that you need to be concerned with next I want to do a very quick comparison between the 91c and a
couple of other microphones on the market so you can see how it stacks up against the competition
first up I am about six inches away from the e/m 91c with the gain on the 18 I 20 at 10:30
here is how the microphone sounds and let's compare it to the first mic we're comparing
it to fit redundant in it in it now I am on the knee where NW 700 which goes for about 25 to 30
dollars it is a very affordable condenser microphone my gain is the exact same Imus
about 6 inches off of the mic and here is how it compares to the Mackie microphone guess what
we're back on the e/m 91c and I don't know why I became British and said in it but here is how
this microphone sounds let's jump to another one and compare it to that next up I am on the audio
technica at2020 at the exact same distance with the exact same gain setting make sure to check
the lower third or the dooblydoo to see how much I boosted this microphone and post but
here is how a $100 condenser mic compares to an $80.00 condenser microphone and guess
what we are back on the e/m 91c and we have one more microphone that we're comparing it to but
just listen to this microphone get a feeling for the sound and let's jump to the next mic
and lastly I am on the neat King B which goes for about 130 dollars I am at the same distance
with the same gain setting and here is how this microphone compares to the Mackie and all of the
other microphones in this lineup thing what do you think which one do you like the best
it feels so damn nice to be back on a it won't take two days to review because I'd like to have
honestly it's so nice to just compare a microphone to three others as opposed
to a dozen because those take a day or two it's ridiculous alright so a lot of these affordable
condenser microphones like the at2020 the NW 700 etcetera tend to have a little bit of an
over boosted treble and air frequency which comes across a little bit fatiguing or sharp
this microphone completely avoids that issue and I'm pretty dang impressed and first up in terms
of pros for $80.00 it has an extremely healthy output at negative 30 dB also the self noise of
16 DBA is pretty dang impressive again for the price and as I just alluded to the treble and
air frequency of this mic is soft easy to listen to an unfitting like a lot of its competitors in
a similar price range and then in terms of cons the main issue I have with the microphone is the
build quality but with that being said I'm fully aware to hit the $80 price point they have to
cut corners somewhere and I do really like the sound which is the most important aspect so it
seems like they opted to cut corners in terms of the build quality as opposed to the sound quality
also to get extremely extremely nitpicky it would have been really nice of them to include a 5/8 to
3/8 inch microphone stand adapter to ensure that people can use the shock mount on whatever stand
they have and now what is my opinion and what are my overall thoughts of this microphone on the
electric guitar the low end wasn't super tight but it also wasn't overly loose or muddy sounding the
mid frequencies were very unoffensive relatively neutral nothing popped out nothing seemed like it
was cut too much the top end also was very soft although when I did get up to the 14th fret on
the e-string it did start to get a little bit piercing and a little bit sharp sounding but
all-in-all for the electric guitar I think it's a pretty cool sounding microphone especially if
you're looking for a slight darker tone next up for the acoustic guitar it is very usable on that
but it is by no means my favorite that's because on that instrument I tend to prefer a little bit
more treble and a little bit more air frequencies to add a little bit of life to the instrument this
one came across a little bit dead or dull sounding but likely nothing you couldn't fix with a little
bit of EQ and post then for singing again it is very usable but not my favorite the lows did tend
to get a little bit overpowering to my ears but to be fair in most cases you're going to be rolling a
lot of those off the mid frequencies unoffensive not overly nasally nice and neutral and the top
end was soft and easy to listen to but it does seem like it loses a little bit of consonants
that but those are also very soft and not piercing and not sharp and really nice so depending on the
mix depending if you want that overly articulate sound this will not give you that but if you're
going for a darker smoother sound it will work for that and two lastly for spoken word I have
to say that I was incredibly surprised by this microphone when I went back and forth between
the Mackay and if he mics that I compared it to I just really enjoyed how this microphone sounded
of course I will admit that it is a little bit less detailed and a little bit less articulate
sounding than the condensers that I compared it against but at the same time because of
that it is far less fatiguing so if you're doing long-form content podcasts or live streams and
you want to ensure you don't have any siblings or your consonants your K's and your t's don't
get overly sharp and painful for your audience to listen to I think it sounds really great for
that so to wrap up what I recommend if he Maki am 91 C I think I would it doesn't do the best
at background noise rejection because the lobe of sensitivity in their rear is quite aggressive
so if you are getting this and you don't have a lot of treatment in your room or no treatment
I would wreck and getting a little bit of foam to throw on your walls to decrease the reverberation
and get a little bit better sound out of it and with that being said if you're looking
at this mic for demoing out music doing spoken word recordings doing streaming or podcasts and
you're looking for a condenser microphone that's pretty affordable that doesn't have that typical
over boosted top-end and is just easy to listen to then absolutely I would recommend it it is a very
unique sound for a condenser microphone especially at this price point where most other manufacturers
opt to overboost the top and to give you a little bit more of that overly detailed and articulate
sound because that's hi-fi I like that they did something different and yeah for the price I think
it's a great option alright I think that's gonna wrap up for today but I want to hear from you in
the comments down below did you like the Mackie the audio technica the new were the knee were or
the neat King B let me know in the comments down below if you found this video fun interesting or
helpful go ahead and give me a thumbs up if you hated it give me a big ol thumbs down if you want
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