Microphone recomendation

[PaulF]

Need a recommendation for a microphone please. It's for my wife to do a voiceover for a marketing video for the company I work for.


As a guide to the quality required the video will be on our YouTube channel and played via a laptop at conferences and exhibitions.


Recording will be on a pc or Mac.

[Kim]

That snowball thing the podcasters use is probably a good place to start.

[Canardly]

Podcasters favourite

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/computer-accessories/headsets-and-microphones/blue-yeti-professional-usb-microphone-silver-14134734-pdt.html

[PaulF]

Paul, two questions:

1. Has your wife's recording room been acoustically treated?

2. What is your (or your wife's) budget?

No we haven't got a treated room, best bet looks like the study which has a wall of bookcases.

Budget is as cheap as possible as we don't know how much work this will lead to.

Things moved on a little. After going quiet on Monday my marketing department came back and said could we do it now!  Ended up recording on an iPhone as that was better quality than my laptop. Feedback is that, with some post production, they can use it.

[Exit Stage Left]

A Snowball works fine. It's worth remembering to avoid putting it on any surface with a hard drive on it.

[David Martin]

I use the headset mic in my USB headphones for the videos I make for the students. It depends on the level of quality you are looking for. Reverb isn't a problem in my office as it is somewhat non flat on any surface. The main issue is background noise. Remember to allow a decent amount of 'room noise' where you aren't speaking - useful for filling in gaps in the final edit. For better sound I'd find a quiet room, but most of what I do is screencast. If I am in the video on greenscreen then I use a shotgun mic on top of the monitor.

[Jaded]

For short pieces of text to audio I cover myself in a thick duvet.

[Rhys W]

Paul, two questions:

1. Has your wife's recording room been acoustically treated?

2. What is your (or your wife's) budget?

No we haven't got a treated room, best bet looks like the study which has a wall of bookcases.

Hang a duvet in front of the bookcase for a start.