Looking for a quality microphone for making videos

xxdeebeexx

Hi can anyone suggest a reasonably priced microphone for making youtube videos.

DS2 wants to give a commentary whilst recording. The one he is using at the moment gives a terrible hum.

tia

dx

paddyrg

What's the setup of the videos? Are we talking rants to camera, or acting in a field, or interviews?

If the current mic is the one that is onboard the camera, it'll be terrible as a rule, and any external mic will give the audio a big lift.

If the current mic has a long cable run and is humming at 50Hz, you're getting mains hum, the long cable is acting as an aerial, you need a 'balanced mic' and some kind of converter.

Possibly you also have an earth loop which you could break if you're already using a balanced line

If it's rants to camera, get him a headset mic, perfect for the job.

xxdeebeexx

paddyrg wrote: »

What's the setup of the videos? Are we talking rants to camera, or acting in a field, or interviews?

If the current mic is the one that is onboard the camera, it'll be terrible as a rule, and any external mic will give the audio a big lift.

If the current mic has a long cable run and is humming at 50Hz, you're getting mains hum, the long cable is acting as an aerial, you need a 'balanced mic' and some kind of converter.

Possibly you also have an earth loop which you could break if you're already using a balanced line

If it's rants to camera, get him a headset mic, perfect for the job.

Thank you for your reply

He is recording his game play on a PC.
I'm not sure what he is playing ... Minecraft, DayZ or similar.

He has a headset with a microphone.
EX-05 Headset Multiformat .It does have a long cable.

At the moment he is thinking about spending £90 :eek:

thanks

dx

paddyrg

Blimey - £90 is getting into the bottom end of broadcast quality, it sounds overkill for voiceover for a game vid.

[STRIKE]It could be a rubbish sound card - it may be worth trying (for the sake of £3-odd) a USB sound card and the current headset. [/STRIKE] I see it is a USB device itself.

[STRIKE]Also worth looking at is if the cable is long, is it trailing in a load of mains cables? That can increase hum a lot.[/STRIKE] shouldn't make that big a difference if it's USB powered.

I'm at a loss, sorry :-(

Perhaps you can post a youtube link to a clip so we can hear the hum in action?

xxdeebeexx

paddyrg wrote: »

Blimey - £90 is getting into the bottom end of broadcast quality, it sounds overkill for voiceover for a game vid.


I'm at a loss, sorry :-(

The PC is home built and he chose a mid range sound card so that should be fine.

£90 seems excessive to me too......
Thanks for your suggestions

dx

paddyrg

If the current headset is USB, it doesn't use your sound card anyway in all likelihood, so try a normal mic/headset first, one that plugs into the 3.5mm minijack sockets - you can probably even get a cheapo poundland one just to test it with - perhaps the USB headset has a lousy circuit and doesn't use your mid-spec sound card to its best.

If no joy, and it's homebuilt, might be worth checking the power supply isn't on its last legs - for instance a drying capacitor could possibly cause hum, or perhaps there is an earthing problem which can also cause stray hum. I'd send him back inside the box with an oscilloscope ideally, then he can check how clean the supply is!

If neither of those nails it, I have a feeling he could end up with a £90 hum. Can he borrow a different USB headset from a friend for just one day, at least we can rule out the headset that way.

xxdeebeexx

paddyrg wrote: »

If the current headset is USB, it doesn't use your sound card anyway in all likelihood, so try a normal mic/headset first, one that plugs into the 3.5mm minijack sockets - you can probably even get a cheapo poundland one just to test it with - perhaps the USB headset has a lousy circuit and doesn't use your mid-spec sound card to its best.

If no joy, and it's homebuilt, might be worth checking the power supply isn't on its last legs - for instance a drying capacitor could possibly cause hum, or perhaps there is an earthing problem which can also cause stray hum. I'd send him back inside the box with an oscilloscope ideally, then he can check how clean the supply is!

If neither of those nails it, I have a feeling he could end up with a £90 hum. Can he borrow a different USB headset from a friend for just one day, at least we can rule out the headset that way.

Thanks I will look into borrowing a mic

dx