 | How Important is the Microphone?posted by Bo Bennett, Group AdministratorSaturday, November 28th 2009 @ 5:32 AM  (1 ratings) |
First, let me stop all you wise guys out there. A microphone, of course, is required to record so it is pretty darn important. The real question is how important is the quality of the microphone you use?
Over the years I have used everything from built-in laptop mics, to studio quality XLR mics. In my opinion, the quality is very important. I think most people who listen to podcasts can easily hear the difference between a bad mic and a good mic. And there are even those who can hear the difference between dozens of grades of mic. The mic you choose largely depends on your budget and your audience.
Many people will judge the quality of the content in your podcast by the quality of the sound of your podcast and make a decision in the first few seconds whether they will continue listening or not. As wrong as this may be, it is reality. While you don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on a great mic, you do need to spend a fair amount on a good mic.
For those of you on a budget I suggest the Blue Snowball USB mic. It is very good sound for under $100. For a higher grade XLR studio mic I suggest the RODE NT1-A. It even comes with in a package with some other necessities like a POP filter. I have only used about 10 different mics over the years. If you have a review on a mic, our members would love to hear about it. Enter your review in our "reviews" section.
