greetings earthlings today i'm back with a review of another budget dynamic microphone
that microphone being the relatively new mackie em89d if you are interested in this microphone
it will cost you around 70 dollars and like always i'll throw some links in the description
down below for this review i have the microphone running directly into the focusrite 18i 22nd gen
i'm recording 24 bit 48 kilohertz my gain is set at around four o'clock and i will not do
any kind of post processing but i may have to boost the audio a little bit in post
so check the doobly-doo to see what i didily did and now let's talk about what comes in the box
what a big big surprise you're going to get the microphone you'll get a microphone mount
which does not come with a 5 8 to 3 8 inch microphone stand adapter you'll get a 16-ish
foot xlr to xlr cable a zippered storage pouch to store the microphone and microphone mount
and a little bit of documentation then as far as the build quality i really have no complaints
about this thing it has an all metal handle to it the metal mesh grille is very firm and does
not have any give to it around the grille you do have this angular ring so the microphone
doesn't roll away when you set it down as we move around the microphone there are no buttons or on
off switches the bottom of the microphone you'll find the xlr port and if this matters to you the
microphone is made in china then as far as the specs this microphone has a cardioid polar pattern
a frequency response of hertz to 16 kilohertz a sensitivity of around negative 52 db and an
impedance of 600 ohms now i'm spinning around the 89 d to 90 degrees so you can hear the off axis
rejection and coloration we'll continue around the microphone to 180 degrees here's what it sounds
like from the rear of the capsule continuing around to the second 90 degree angle there we go
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'm right on top of the microphone so you can hear what kind of proximity effect this microphone has
while i pop the microphone simultaneously now i'm about three inches off of the microphone with it
pointed at the corner of my mouth and here is how it sounds now i'm 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
versus how much of the keyboard it picks up
and now i'm typing on the sad w keys in case you're one of those gamin types that just
types on th them or something now here is how the microphone sounds in a well-treated room
and here is how the microphone sounds in a completely untreated room
when i don't set the exposure on my webcam
now to see how well the microphone rejects shocks
i'll go ahead and tap on my desk to see how much of that noise it can reject
and i'll tap on the boom arm
next i'll go ahead and tap on the microphone to see if there are any kind of resonant frequencies
also because this is a handheld microphone i'll go ahead and pass it back and forth
between my hands so we can see what kind of handling noise it picks up
and although i do not condone this behavior i will go ahead and cup the microphone so you can
hear how it sounds in case you are doing that you can hear how it affects the frequency response
now i have let go of it and it opens the microphone sound up quite a bit and again
i'll go ahead and cup the microphone there you go that is how the microphone performs in that
situation next we're going to do a very quick spoken word comparison between the em91d
or 89d and a bunch of other handheld microphones on the market so we can see how it stacks up
against the competition like always we'll start on the mic that we're reviewing this is the em89d
three inches off again at four o'clock check the lower third and let's jump to the first mic
first up we are on the behringer xm 8500 this is a 20 to 25 dollar xlr dynamic microphone
i am three inches off of this thing gain is still set at four o'clock and here is how it
sounds let's jump back to the mackie and do some more comparisons a lot more comparisons
again on the 89 d i have not changed anything here is how it sounds same distance same gain
let's jump to the next microphone now we are on the shure sm48 this is a 40 handheld dynamic
microphone i am three inches off i almost said six but three inches off again at four o'clock
here's how it sounds about half the price of the mackie does it sound better or worse
let's jump back and do some more of these all right just in case you are wondering this is
what the 89d sounds like just listen to it and get a feel for the tone before we jump to the next one
now we are on the luit mtp 250 dm this is an 80 handheld dynamic microphone i am three inches
off gain at four o'clock check the lower third to see how much i boosted it and let us jump to the
next microphone because we are done with this one again on the 89 d in between every single
microphone we will be doing this here's how it sounds let's jump to the next comparison
next we are on the electro voice nd 76 this is a 100 handheld dynamic microphone three inches off
gain at four o'clock listen to the tone of this thing check the lower third to see how much i
boosted it and let's jump to the next microphone back on the em89d again nothing has changed check
the lower third to see how much i boost each of these microphones in post and let's jump to the
next microphone next we are on the audix om2 i know omg what a shocker this is another 100
handheld dynamic microphone nothing has changed three inches off gain at four o'clock and here's
how it sounds let's jump back to the mackie so we can do a bunch more of these in case you've
forgotten the em-89d is seventy dollars i think i think i've forgotten but regardless here's how
the microphone sounds let's jump to the next one now we are on the akg d5 another 100 handheld
dynamic microphone i am three inches off my gain is still at four o'clock check the lower third
to see how much i boosted it and there you go akg's 100 dynamic offering let's jump back to
the mackie again we are on the em89d here is how it sounds just listen to it get a feel for it
before we jump to the next microphone and let's do that right now now i am on the sennheiser e835
another 100 handheld dynamic microphone and i think this is officially the midpoint of the
comparisons three inches off again at four o'clock check the lower third and we've got more of these
to do so let's let's let's get get a jumping on it let's let's go let's go nothing has changed
but we have a lot of these to do and i'm not going to ramble any longer here is the em89d let's go to
the next one i know y'all weren't expecting to get out of this without hearing the shure sm58
another 100 handheld dynamic microphone a classic an industry standard here's how it sounds
again at four o'clock three inches away let's do more of these because we've got more to do
i bet you didn't think we were going to still be doing these things but yes we are there are a lot
that we're comparing this is the em89d let's jump to the next comparison that we're doing
next we are on one of my all-time favorites the se electronics sev7 this is a 100 handheld
dynamic i bet you weren't expecting to hear that three inches off gain at four o'clock here's how
it sounds we've got a couple more to go so hold your horses don't get your panties in a bunch or
something that's gonna offend somebody let's jump back to the mackie and here's the em89d again we
are still not done i think we have a couple more to go here's how it sounds let's let's jump it
let's jumpity-doo into the next one whatever that means now we are on the buyer dynamic tgv
70d and i pronounced it that way intentionally i am three inches off my gain is at four o'clock
and i think this is a bit hot but i said tgv because i like that guy good channel great
stuff over there okay next microphone all right we are back on the em89d and we are still not done
i know we've been doing a lot of these but somebody's gonna find it helpful so let's jump
to the next one all right we're jumping up quite a bit in price by the way that buyer dynamic is 200
now we are on the neumann kms105 a 700 handheld condenser microphone i just had to include it
because it was sitting on the desk because i love this thing and here's how it sounds oh gain is
still at actually four o'clock but 48 volts is fan 48 volts phantom power is on and i am three inches
off of this thing let's jump back and do two more comparisons i think back on the 89 d again i will
say just be happy you're not the one filming it or editing it because that's the nightmare you just
get the pleasure of listening to it or skipping it if that's what you opt to do next microphone
and here we go we are on another oddball this is the buyer dynamic m160 a ribbon microphone
again i just had to include this because it was on my desk and i love this thing
this is a 700 microphone and gain it 100 3 inches off there you go let's jump back and i think we
have one last comparison to do and i believe this is going to be the very last microphone
we're comparing it against huh what could it be i have no idea let's let's see what it is
and lastly we are on the neumann u87ai this is a 3600 multi-pattern studio condenser microphone
not a fair comparison but i'm doing it for context and to get my money's worth
cardioid mode 11 o'clock again and there you go let me know which of these microphones was your
favorite i know we did a lot of them 13 of them for bad luck and let's jump to the music test
i've got a dynamic mic i wanna test so we can see how it sounds
i don't really care about all of the rest at least not in this video so how's it sound sorry
if my voice is a little bit raspier than usual the smoke from the fire are are killing me the smoke
from the fire are killing me as well as english language be hard for me to speaketh that language
and a click is blaring in my ears and i can't think straight anymore this is no way to work
this is no way to work how am i supposed to let's go to the outro okay all things considered for the
price i'm pretty impressed with what mackie is offering here and first up in terms of pros the
microphone did a pretty good job at background noise rejection and rejection of room tone in
the completely untreated room and the build quality of the microphone feels pretty impressive
and then as far as cons i think that the proximity effect on this thing can be a bit overpowering so
you will need to pay attention to your microphone technique and i know people will scream at me in
the comments saying oh you're three inches away from the microphone those terrible microphones
shut up also sorry also the handling noise on this thing was not that good it picked up quite a bit
of that and the plosives picks up a lot of that then as far as my overall thoughts and opinions
of this microphone on the electric guitar i found the lows and low mids to be a bit undefined and
boxy and muddy sounding really not impressive down there the top end is really crisp and clear but
also a little bit sizzly and that just leads to somewhat of a v-shape on the electric guitar which
is not typically something i look for but maybe that's something you're into for me not going to
be something i would typically reach for then on the acoustic guitar i actually kind of liked it
which i was surprised by yes the same holds true the low end is a bit unclear and muddy but the top
end was a lot more lively sounding than what i'm used to for a dynamic microphone and i think this
could easily work on the acoustic in a pinch if you throw a bit of eq on to clean up the low end
in a pinch it could work on the acoustic but if you have other options available you're probably
going to be able to find something a little bit better next up for singing the top end is
incredibly crisp and clear but at the same time it gets a little bit sharp and sibilant sounding
the low end was not a problem on my voice because i don't have too much of a low end to my voice if
you have a very bassy and powerful and dominant voice it may not be a really good fit but also it
has that v-shaped sound to it lots of lows lots of highs and the mids are a little bit recessed
and i found that pretty beneficial and enjoyable on a voice like mine which is kind of nasally
kind of nasally and closed off sounding it helps clear that up a little bit and lastly for spoken
word what more can be said it has a dominant low and low mid section the top end is boosted quite
heavily and you get a very crisp sound and you end up getting a v shape where the mids kind of take a
back seat and in the comparisons for spoken word it made every other microphone sound like it had
a claustrophobic closed off midsection in comparison to this microphone so if that's
something you're looking for it cleans up that midsection and seems to scoop it right out pretty
well and to wrap up would i recommend the mackie em89d maybe i do think it's awesome that mackie is
offering such a different sound profile for a handheld dynamic microphone that was very apparent
when we compared it against 13 other microphones sounded completely different from all of them
but with that being said due to the issues with plosive rejection and handling noise rejection
i don't necessarily think that would make this microphone ideal for stage use so if i was looking
for a stage dynamic microphone that would probably lead me in a different direction also if you have
a voice that's a lot bassier than mine this may not be a good fit for you because on my voice
the low mids do start to get a little bit dominant and if you have a very bassy dominant voice that
may end up being a bit much but as far as who i would recommend it for if you're looking for an
affordable handheld dynamic microphone for studio use and you do want that v-shape with a powerful
low end and a dominant boosted top end then i think for 70 bucks it's a pretty interesting
package and it offers a pretty unique sound and i think that's gonna wrap up for today so if you
found this video fun interesting or helpful go ahead and give me a thumbs up if you hated it big
old thumbs down and i've got nothing else to say thanks so much for watching i'll talk to you later