The State of "Digital Microphones"?

[IraSeigel]

Has anyone tried the microphones with a USB interface? The so called "digital microphones"? Would you use it for "serious" recording, or for interview-type situations?

Thanks.

[Ian Alexander]

The most expensive USB mic on Sweetwater goes for about $300. Most of them seem to be the mic makers' less expensive lines with a low end A/D convertor. A VO friend of mine had one and sent me some files. I asked her to adjust the level and it couldn't be done in the analog domain - only in the software. It seemed the files were either noisy or flat-topped.

If you can find one that is preset with about the right level, you might do just fine on a podcast or similar application, but I wouldn't use them for anything more critical. And levels on interview guests can be very unpredictable.

On further inspection, I see that some of them now sport mic level controls. That might help, but for 300 total, including mic, preamp, headphone amp, and convertor, you're not getting much of any of them.

That's my take.

[Dave Labrecque]

The most expensive USB mic on Sweetwater goes for about $300. Most of them seem to be the mic makers' less expensive lines with a low end A/D convertor. A VO friend of mine had one and sent me some files. I asked her to adjust the level and it couldn't be done in the analog domain - only in the software. It seemed the files were either noisy or flat-topped.

If you can find one that is preset with about the right level, you might do just fine on a podcast or similar application, but I wouldn't use them for anything more critical. And levels on interview guests can be very unpredictable.

On further inspection, I see that some of them now sport mic level controls. That might help, but for 300 total, including mic, preamp, headphone amp, and convertor, you're not getting much of any of them.

That's my take.

There's USB mics and there's digital mics like those offered by Neumann. I'm guessing there's a difference. ;)

Here's (http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SolutionDM/) a nice one. I'm betting the converter is a step up from those typical of USB mics. Plenty of 'headroom' in the price for such niceties. :D

[Ian Alexander]

There's USB mics and there's digital mics like those offered by Neumann. I'm guessing there's a difference. ;)

Here's (http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SolutionDM/) a nice one. I'm betting the converter is a step up from those typical of USB mics. Plenty of 'headroom' in the price for such niceties. :D

Only $8k? :) I guess if money is no object, this is an interesting approach. Not sure how I feel about synching all those remote A/D convertors, but I'm sure it works.

I think the sweet spot may be somewhere between $300 and $8,000. :)

[RBIngraham]

I agree with Ian. Most of the USB mics are for the podcaster type work or the person doing voice overs on the side. My late father-in-law had an AT USB mic that I picked up for him. (it now sits on my desk in my home office) He was a great voice over artist although he didn't really do it for a living, just side work. He used it for making scratch recordings or if someone wanted something done yesterday. But other than that, he would come over and let me record him or go to the radio station he worked with and do it there.

I guess it depends on what quality you're going for. Radio broadcast of an interview? Yeah you're probably OK. Radio audio is all over the place these days anyway depending on if you're talking inside an NPR studio or if it's news gatherer in the street with their sub $500 pocket SD recorder.

The biggest problem I have with them is monitoring what you're doing. Some have little built in headphone amps. But otherwise there is no way to hear what you're recording, unless you use software monitoring in your DAW application. But then because it's not an ASIO driver typically the latency is huge. This is where things might actually be better on the Mac platform as the class compliant devices can be made into an aggregate device, making it easier to lash together multiple audio interfaces. There would still be latency but not as bad as using the built in audio drivers on windows more than likely.

[bcorkery]

Ira,

When remote recording, I like to use the H4n as a preamp for whatever mic I feel is best for the location. I record right into SAW on my laptop and transfer the whole EDL to my studio DAW.

This might be a good alternative and offer USB connectivity.

At home I often use the CEntrence Mic Port Pro for auditions. Shure has a similar offering, the X2U. Again, your choice of mic and USB connectivity.

I've never been a huge fan of USB mics, but they're cheap and easy ... like some of my dates while I was in the Navy. :o Did I say that out loud????

[DominicPerry]

I can strongly recommend that you steer clear of the Blue Spark Digital. Looks good on paper (and in photographs) but is pretty useless in, err... use.

I managed to strip the thread that holds it in its stand on the first day, the control which alters the input gain AND the headphone volume is lousy and inconvenient, and the thing distorts at any kind of reasonable SPL (in front of a guitar amp at bedroom volumes). Lousy. The best thing about it was that I got a free SoundCloud Pro subscription which has been extended out to 2018. That was worth more than the mic cost, but it was about 2 years ago.

Dominic

[brent]

Has anyone tried the microphones with a USB interface? The so called "digital microphones"? Would you use it for "serious" recording, or for interview-type situations?

Thanks.

Those aren't digital mics, they are analog with USB interfaces. They have huge latency making it unusable for serious recording. People record serious projects using serious mics.

The only serious digital mics I know of are by Neumann.

[Richard Rupert]

I bought one of these Blue Yeti USB mics for "emergency" on-the-road remote V/O recording, and was quite impressed:
http://bluemic.com/yeti/

It's quite sensitive to breath pops, but careful placement and a pop filter do the trick. I don't use it in our home vocal booth, but have never had a client complain about the quality of the V/O when on the road with this mic... I will add that the product is destined for TV ads, so the demand for high end recording is not there. Still, for a "cheap portable option" for V/O work, I would not be afraid to recommend this. I guess it depends on your definition of "serious". Suffice it to say that I don't use it in my main studio either. :) HTH

[RBIngraham]

Those aren't digital mics, they are analog with USB interfaces. They have huge latency making it unusable for serious recording. People record serious projects using serious mics.

The only serious digital mics I know of are by Neumann.

Of course any "digital" microphone is going to be an analog mic with some kind of A to D on it. Just because most of the USB interfaces that are shoved onto a lot of these units to hit a price point suck doesn't mean they necessarily have to be the case. Or that they couldn't be a decent sounding useful tool.

And the latency is only an issue if you're trying to do software monitoring.

I do agree that in general they are not for projects with high expectations of quality. Or "serious" projects. :)

[studio-c]

A lot of my voice recording students buy USB mics in the 100-300 range. Unfortunately there's a huge problem of latency, which makes them frustrating and ultimately unusable when using headphones (which I always recommend so they can catch themselves doing p-pops etc.)

Some have a mini headphone jack built in that allows them to listen to the input before it gets USB'd. But that's the only way to hear it without latency. And it's tweaky at best. And then you don't have the option to listen to the software playback to do a punch in... bad news for self-producing voiceover folks.

Another thing is, what happens when USB4 or the tech flavor of the year comes out? Locking a digital technology in with your expensive mic is just bad news. My 30 year old U87 has worked through so many generations of digital... just sayin'.

[bcorkery]

Love that U87!