What mic should I get? How close do I need to be? How important are room acoustics? Professional audio engineer and founder of the Podcast Audio Lab, Marcus dePaula, demonstrates the differences between 8 types of popular microphones that people of all levels use for podcasting, streaming, and Zoom calls.

MICROPHONES COMPARED:

Internal microphone on a 2019 15" MacBook Pro

EarPods with 3.5mm TRRS jack

AirPods (1st gen)

Samson Q2U (USB connection)

Blue Yeti Pro (USB connection)

Audio Technica AT875R

TZ Audio Products Stellar X2

Shure SM7B with high boost filter on and bass rolloff filter off

Audio INTERFACE FOR XLR MICS:

Sound Devices MixPre-6 II

TECHNICAL DETAILS:

All audio was recorded simultaneously using Rogue Amoeba's Audio Hijack as WAV files at 44.1kHz 16bit. No post-processing filters were used on any of these recordings (no EQ, no high pass filters, and no compression). Only gain levels were adjusted in RX 8 in an effort to get a uniform -18 LUFS integrated loudness level, which is indicated on screen throughout the video for comparison.

Song "Yesterday/Tomorrow" by Jeremy Lutito and Gabe Ruschival (formerly Disappointed by Candy) is used with permission.

Get links to the equipment I use and recommend at https://www.meonlylouder.com/equipment

00:00 - Introduction

01:03 - Laptop mic demonstration (2019 15" MacBook Pro)

02:33 - Earbuds mic demonstration (Apple EarPods w/ 3.5mm jack)

04:36 - AirPods bluetooth mic demonstration (1st gen Apple AirPods)

06:19 - USB dynamic mic demonstration (Samson Q2U)

07:58 - USB condenser mic demonstration (Blue Yeti Pro)

09:22 - Shotgun XLR condenser mic demonstration (Audio Technica AT875R)

10:48 - XLR condenser mic demonstration (TZ Audio Products Stellar X2)

12:02 - XLR dynamic mic demonstration (Shure SM7B)

12:52 - Conclusion and final comparison