USB Microphones versus Interfaces and XLR Mics

[lightcrystal]

Every audio expert says that the interface set up is the only game in town. But I want to challenge this. It's more complex at least.

For the last week I had no internet. Note that I have no realistic mobile internet to speak of. A week ago my fire optic cable snapped in two places. After a week of navigating Antipodean internet meta-bureaucracy, an engineer arrived two days ago and fixed it with a new, thicker fibre cable. First world problems I know; there are people whose sufferings are far worse.

Anyway besides finding things to do in that week [a topic in itself] , I had bought a new Blue Yeti microphone a week before my internet went on strike. It is a USB set up. It worked fine offline. My Reaper DAW worked fine offline also. Thus I got some recording done for a LibriVox project. I was glad to have such a simple workflow. I wonder if I had an interface with a XLR Microphone then would some part of it have asked to be online?

I know that in the hands of someone who understands audio that the XLR Mic will sound better than a USB Mic. But sadly those hands are not mine. I wish that I could know how to fiddle the right dials on an interface. But I don't. Nor do I know how I ever could.

Before every audio expert wants to clang me over the head with a saucepan and tell me about wonderful XLR Mics, please note their bad points; an interface is another point of failure and internal noise. I also use Linux, Ubuntu Studio 20.04 LTS, which restricts my hardware options and driver options.

[InTheDesert]

For what it's worth, a USB microphone is a microphone with a built-in interface (you just can't see it because it's in the microphone). So there's nothing inherently better or worse about it except for the quality of the analog-to-digital converter in it.

An advantage of an interface is that it has a digital-to-analog converter in it which means that your output in audacity will probably be faster (the time between pressing play and when the sound actually comes through your speakers). A USB microphone alone won't improve playback time.

[lurcherlover]

Well of course an XLR mic powered by phantom power is always going to be the best solution, and one that I have always used. A decent interface will provide stable phantom power and depending on price (but not always) the mic will provide a good pickup area (polar pattern) and plenty of gain, as well as a stable and high level of high frequency and low level sound. Prices of these mics will vary a lot, and do not have to be that expensive. (Around £250-£300 - $300-£400) (That's about 100 cups of commercially bought coffee). The interface could be as little as $100.

But having said that USB mic's I am told can be quite good and will work OK for speech. But I've never used one so I can't say. Hopefully those with experience of USB mics will give us some more info.

[philchenevert]

I have an XLR interface, boxes of shielded cables, and two expensive microphones that require those things, sitting in dusty boxes on my shelf. Much grief, trial and frustration later, I am back to a USB Blue Yeti that just seems to sound better than any combination of fancy stuff I have tried over the years. Disclaimer; I am not a Yeti and do not work for their company. I am also not an engineer of any kind. Side Note: A big thank you to the fellow admin who paid for a new Yeti when mine was lost in a flood six years ago. That's the one I have used ever since.

[lightcrystal]

I have an XLR interface, boxes of shielded cables, and two expensive microphones that require those things, sitting in dusty boxes on my shelf. Much grief, trial and frustration later, I am back to a USB Blue Yeti that just seems to sound better than any combination of fancy stuff I have tried over the years. Disclaimer; I am not a Yeti and do not work for their company. I am also not an engineer of any kind. Side Note: A big thank you to the fellow admin who paid for a new Yeti when mine was lost in a flood six years ago. That's the one I have used ever since.

I have my USB Blue Yeti upside down on a swinging stand with a shockmount. That way I can put the microphone where I want; my noise floor is now so much better. Thank you for the video where you brought in the expert on Mics; I didn't know anything about Mics before then.

[lurcherlover]

It's true that the biggest factor in good sound is the person's voice, next the recording space, but then the mic. The interface, the pre-amp etc., have much less of an influence on the sound. So getting a suitable mic is important. I don't necessarily mean an expensive mic. I have a couple or more mics that are around the £150 ($200?) mark, and they will give good results. It is of course how mics are used that can also make a big difference.

[lurcherlover]

https://www.dpamicrophones.com/mic-university

This is a good link to find out more about how speech is effected by mic position and how important the consonants are for intelligibility. (OK, the mics are expensive - but the information applies to all mics).

[adrianstephens]

In my overweeningly egotistical opinion, you get what you pay for. If you're paying $100+ you should be able to get a rig with a high quality and low noise floor,
regardless of the technology.

I did have a Yet Blue, which I passed on to a friend. It was my starting point for Librivox.
My current favourite is a Rode NT4G+, which is a shotgun mic, into a scarlett 2i2 interface.
The mic is in a shock-mount on the end of a boom that places the mic pointing
downward, with the opening just in front and above my forehead. Aside from the danger of bashing my head on the mic in moments of intense
excitement, it keeps out of my way, and I can see all around me. This was one of my beefs with the Yeti - based on the various mounts I had,
I didn't have the ability to mount it out of eyeshot. It also captures less noise from my environment - which can be pretty noisy with a children's
playground 100m from me, light aircraft flying above, and hot and cold running squirrels on the shed root.

The other beef with the Yeti was that it seemed have have an overactive proximity effect. I sounded like a body-builder with impressive bass.
Anybody who has met me will realize that I'm a weedy wimp, and certainly not deserving the basso profundo that some folks (like Larry) undoubtedly
richly deserve.

Of course, at 6 inches from the face, it is perfect for those weedy wimps that want to pass themselves off as body-builders.

My secondary rig indoors (which I use mainly for zoom) uses a $60 Rode mic and a $30 Behringer (umc22) interface,
and produces audio almost as good as the $300 in my recording shed.

[lightcrystal]

In my overweeningly egotistical opinion, you get what you pay for. If you're paying $100+ you should be able to get a rig with a high quality and low noise floor,
regardless of the technology.

I did have a Yet Blue, which I passed on to a friend. It was my starting point for Librivox.
My current favourite is a Rode NT4G+, which is a shotgun mic, into a scarlett 2i2 interface.
The mic is in a shock-mount on the end of a boom that places the mic pointing
downward, with the opening just in front and above my forehead. Aside from the danger of bashing my head on the mic in moments of intense
excitement, it keeps out of my way, and I can see all around me. This was one of my beefs with the Yeti - based on the various mounts I had,
I didn't have the ability to mount it out of eyeshot. It also captures less noise from my environment - which can be pretty noisy with a children's
playground 100m from me, light aircraft flying above, and hot and cold running squirrels on the shed root.

The other beef with the Yeti was that it seemed have have an overactive proximity effect. I sounded like a body-builder with impressive bass.
Anybody who has met me will realize that I'm a weedy wimp, and certainly not deserving the basso profundo that some folks (like Larry) undoubtedly
richly deserve.

Of course, at 6 inches from the face, it is perfect for those weedy wimps that want to pass themselves off as body-builders.

My secondary rig indoors (which I use mainly for zoom) uses a $60 Rode mic and a $30 Behringer (umc22) interface,
and produces audio almost as good as the $300 in my recording shed.

So in the cartoon Bananaman Eric should have used a Yeti Blue Microphone to instantly transform into a muscle man. He shouldn't have bothered with bananas. But then he would need a new name. Yeti Man.

Use Blue Yeti Mic
Turn up gain
Use some compression

= Basso profundo Barry White level