Need recommendations for a regular basic mic - anyone tried a Blue Yeti?

Need recommendations for a better mic.

Use: web conferencing only (no music or vocal recording)

Currently using: Neewer NW-882

Problems: Getting complaints from co-workers about proximity effect and volume drops in conversations

Current signal chain: Neewer > Focusrite Scarlett > USB 3.0 hub > Mac Pro Trashcan.

USB or regular wired mic… doesn’t matter. :slight_smile: Let me know. Thanks!

And if anyone used a mic for this during work-from-home during covid, let me know what worked for you.

I can’t find much of anything about this mic, all web search links give errors. From what little I could find, these are really cheap mics - even though this one looks fancy and expensive?

Depending on what you’re going for, a webcam mic ought to do just fine. If you’re using Zoom or Skype, I think their program/app is well tuned to these type of mics, even though they are pretty low tech (presumably). I’ve tried condenser mics through audio interface with Zoom, and it just seems to complicate things, even if the sound quality might be a little bit better. But as I said, Zoom seems to have built-in “auto” adjustments for mic volume and ‘delay’ (echo) characteristics, and are more likely to work well with standard consumer mics (webcam) than fancier stuff IMO. YMMV.

If you’re really wanting a ‘nice’ mic still, a lot of podcasts and video streams are done with SM7B (tons of people use these) or broadcast mics like Electro-Voice RE20. Lots use things like Blue Yeti USB/XLR also. I’ve seen some use other brands like Samson etc (maybe Satellite, C01U Pro, or Meteor).

For SM7B and RE20 types they almost always use a boom arm for them.

Your mic is likely a focused cardiod that wants close to on-axis, but also proximity affected. Webcam mics are maybe Omni, I don’t know. Something further away from you, off-axis, but able to pick up a bit wider pattern might be helpful.

The logitech webcam mic sucks. Need something better.

I tried both of them, I’m having a little bit of a hard time positioning them so the boom is far enough out of the way to not get in the way of my screens. They do a nice job rejecting noise bleed from the monitors though.

Can people hear and understand you? Do you have problems with noise or delay/echo on it? Basically, are people giving you feedback that it sucks? If so, maybe change the position of the webcam mic rather than write it off as useless?

Yeah, it seems the mic and boom sometimes become the star of the show on video, rather than the speaker. Nice mics are great of course, but all that is necessary is that people can hear you and understand your words. If you’re not getting specific complaints about the webcam mic from your listeners, it may not be that big of a deal?

Maybe try small computer speakers rather than studio monitors, as that may add complexity to the issue?