What's a Good Microphone to use for Narration?

Duderdude2 wrote on 1/4/2005, 11:46 AM
Right now, I'm using a cheap Radio Shack microphone, though it's worked better than some of the more expensive microphones I've tested. Anyways, whenever I record audio, there's always some background noise, but that's not the main problem. For some reason, seeingly at random, when I recoord audio, a loud buzzing sound will come through (it's not feedback either).

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to a good microphone to use? Keep in mind I don't have a sound proof booth or anything, so it would ideally be one of the microphone types that records sounds that are only right in front of it. Price, also isn't an issue at this point.

Thanks!

Comments

drbam wrote on 1/4/2005, 3:40 PM
There are a lot of very good mics for VO, especially if your budget is decent. But there could be other issues in your signal chain other than the mic that could be causing the noise. What mic pre or mixer and sound card are you using. Giving us a few more details on your system will assist in the recommedations you receive.

drbam
ibliss wrote on 1/4/2005, 5:11 PM
If you are using the mic near a CRT monitor it could be the source of the buzz - try moving the mic up to the monitor and then away again.

TFT monitors won't cause this problem.
Duderdude2 wrote on 1/4/2005, 6:16 PM
^ Well, the buzz comes and goes. I mean, there's always a slight hissing in the background, but a louder buzz type noise happens at seemingly random..

drbam, what did you mean by "mic pre or mixer"? Also, how would I find out what sound card I'm using?
Duderdude2 wrote on 1/4/2005, 7:01 PM
Well, I'll be damned ibliss, it seems you were right about the monitor causing the thick buzzing noise.

Thanks for the help guys!
Hulk wrote on 1/4/2005, 7:54 PM
I like the RE20 for narration.

Also an MD421

- Mark
drbam wrote on 1/5/2005, 6:43 AM
>>drbam, what did you mean by "mic pre or mixer"? Also, how would I find out what sound card I'm using?<<

What are you plugging the mic into? All mics need a preamp to work. Most mixers have mic preamps built in or you could use a stand alone unit. It sounds like you might be plugging it directly into the computer??

If you don't know what kind of sound card you have, most likely you are using the computer's onboard unit. This would be totally insufficient for producing professional material.

If you're consider a good VO mic like the RE20 or something similar, in my view, you should first invest in a good sound card and mic pre. After that you would consider what mic to get.

Do some searches on this forum. There are tons of threads related to mics, mic pres and sound cards.

drbam