f13.net

So, many of you know (just kidding, none of you do), I've been looking for a good PC Mic for ages. I probably have about 15 or so lying about, but I finally found the end all be all of PC Mics.

I present to you, The Blue Snowflake.

(http://www.podcastingnews.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/blue_snowflake.jpg)

$59.99. Sounds like you're in the goddamn room. It's incredible. Full-on directional condenser mic.

$43 from Amazon, right now. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012AUHXW?ie=UTF8&tag=f13-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0012AUHXW) Buy it. Love it. Embrace the future of real audio companies making real PC stuff.

Edit: I suppose if you want to be hardcore, you could get this one:

(http://musicianstools.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/blue_snowball.jpg)

Which has the snowflake inside basically and an omnidirectional mic with a  bigger diaphragm.

We had one of those for recording audio at my work. It sounded like crap. For using vent I'm sure it would be fine.

Indeed. If you read reviews of podcasting mics those things always come out at or near the bottom.

owned.

Who the fuck is podcasting and who would trust anyone that podcasts? :lol:

Really all you need to do is get a Rockband mic and desktop mic stand and you're in business.

Negative. Would've gotten an Icicle adapter and a Rode mic before using something so shoddy. :oh_i_see:

The rockband mic is actually quite the opposite of shit, have you done your research on this stuff at all?

Rode makes an USB mic (speaking of audio companies making PC products):

http://www.rodemic.com/microphone.php?product=Podcaster

Given his first post, what do you think? :awesome_for_real:

Yes, and I'm not doing podcasting.


Do you have a secret podcast, Trippy?  :drillf:

No, but I was seriously contemplating doing some Ruby on Rails screencasts. Hence the research into high quality PC mics.

The bulk of podcast reviews rely on a number of things including them being omnidirectional. Which is something I have absolutely no use for. The complaints about distance needed from the mic + residual noise will play no role whatsoever in my usage of the mic. On top of that, I made this thread mostly for people who have shitty, mcshit mics while in vent since it's not something they're going to find at Fry's or Best Buy or while casually looking.

Ookii did a podcast for more than one person. This mic would have been useless, particularly since more than one person tended to talk at the same time, so his opinion comes as no shock and if I needed an omnidirectional mic, I might've actually asked for his input. Which I didn't, because I don't.

Trippy, I know you're a fan of overkill.

Hence why I discounted both of you immediately, off the bat.

Edit: In short, if everyone here bought it for vent, despite other layman opinions, the world would be a better place.

People recording podcasts almost always use unidirectional mics. You would only use an omni mic if you were interviewing somebody in the same room and were too cheap to provide a separate microphone for them or you were intentionally trying to record room noise.

I'm actually quite interested in recommendations, as I have upgraded my earphones to a better AKG model which doesn't have a mic anymore. And unless I want to keep switching headphones whenever I need voice chat, an supplementary good mic seems a solid option.

The snowflake sadly doesn't ship to Europe  :sad_panda:

Rode podcaster, being a quality company and all, is about €170 cheap here (about $250), which is quite above my budget for a mic   :sad_panda:

Any other good ones you found?

For podcasting on a budget (as opposed to chatting with people online) this is the mic that's highly recommended:

http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1810&brandID=2

Around $70 here in the US.

I have no idea how well it would work on Vent, Skype, etc.

Thanks Trippy, I actually even found *one* retailer that is selling them here.

I'm guessing it can't be bad for Vent if you can do decent voice recording for podcasting. It's the same analog signal you need to somehow record in both cases.

That's not always true. A condenser mic is more "sensitive" at picking up sounds than a dynamic mic (assuming you are comparing "comparable" mics). That means they pick up nuances in your voice better but they also pick up ambient sounds (aka room noise) better. This may not be what you want when playing games. They are also more fragile, typically.

I stretched a sheepskin over a coffee can and attached a rheostat to it.  Works great.

Stop being a pussy.

http://www.shure.com/newproducts/X2u/index.htm

Stop being late to the party. I already mentioned an XLR to USB adapter.

Sorry, not familiar with blue's line, I use Shure XLRs.

I didn't even notice the one I mentioned was from Blue. Haha. It was just one I saw in the store when I was picking up a mic.