How's my volume?

June 13, 2010 11:01 PM

I play a good bit of Team Fortress 2, and would like to to find a good mic to use. I already have a pair of quality headphones, so just really looking for a mic. Few details inside.

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD-280's that I love to death and use all the time. So really, I'd just like something I can use to augment them to help my tf2 game out. I friend linked me to these.

I'd like something along these lines, but designed to be clipped either to the headphone cable, or your shirt, like a lapel mic. Also, frankly, a little nicer. I'm one of those guys that feels like he's cheaping out if he spends less than $40 on something like this. If this product is good, I guess let me know! My budget is ~$50. Does such a thing exist?

I'd prefer something besides one of those desktop mics, as I'd like it to be quite portable. Unless desktop mics are just clearly better quality per dollar, in which case I could be persuaded.

posted by Precision to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

I play a lot of TF2, too. I don't think you have to spend much at all. I have a set of free headphones/mic' I got free with my purchase of Battlefield 2 years ago. Looking around, it looks like they're Logitechs. I don't use the headphones, I just put them around my neck and bend the mic' up to be right in front of my mouth. That's the trick, IMO, is having the mic' as close to your mouth as possible. Then you use the mic' levels in TF2 to set the mic' to pick up just your voice, and not all the background noise. I think a lapel mic', being further away from your mouth, will tend to pick up more background noise (game sound, computer noise, cockatiels, what have you). I play on Doorman is God and the F7 servers most often. Look for me = Snaketruck.
posted by Lukenlogs at 11:53 PM on June 13, 2010

+1 to the don't use a lapel mic, keep it close to your mouth

If you already have a wired Xbox 360 controller and a wired headset to plug in to said controller you can just hang the headphone piece around your neck and put the mic in front of your mouth.
posted by ijoyner at 12:41 AM on June 14, 2010

I have this plantronics headset, and I'm very happy with it for TF2 and L4D2. I will second the comments above about having the mic as close to your mouth as possible to eliminate excess noise.

Also, check out mefightclub.com, lots of TF2 going on over there!
posted by Grither at 5:59 AM on June 14, 2010

Here's what I'm using as a solution, combining two previously suggested ideas:

I had a pair of those logitechs Lukenlogs links to that came free with Battlefield 2. Problem is, the microphone quality sucked. I put them around my neck as well, since I like using either my speakers or a decent set of headphones.

After searching around for a solution, (including spending too much money on fancy bluetooth or USB mics), I'm actually using that Zalman mic you linked to. I cut off

I cut off the mic wire on the el-cheapo logitech headset and clipped the Zalman mic on the end of the logitech's little mic-bendy-thing. Voila! A perfectly positioned mic with great sound quality. In the end, it's the one I'm most satisfied with -- the friends I play with tell me that I sound like I'm in the room with them.

Which could be a tiny bit creepy ... but says volumes about the sound quality of the Zalman.
posted by poq at 6:33 AM on June 14, 2010