Microphone suited for deep voice, spoken word only.

May 20, 2022 10:58 AM

Suggestions for microphone suitable for a deep voice that may end up in zoom interviews, podcasts, or audiobooks. With thanks to all.
posted by BWA to Technology (6 answers total)

Any decent microphone these days is going to do fine recording any kind of voice, especially in non-sung situations. Are you looking for a USB mic or something to plug into an audio interface? If it's the latter, a Shure SM7 is an excellent choice for podcast/voiceover stuff. You see them in a ton of youtube's videos these days. That can sometimes mean that whatever it is you're seeing is just a fad, but in the SM7's case, it's been around for decades (Michael Jackson used in on Thriller), it sounds great, and it's not ridiculously expensive.
posted by jonathanhughes at 11:03 AM on May 20, 2022

Best answer: If you're worried about sounding too deep, you might consider the Electro-Voice RE20. Most mics have the proximity effect that boosts low frequencies when the source is close to it. The RE20 is one of very few mics without it. It's one of the classic broadcast and voiceover mics for that reason (plus is a generally overall great mic).
posted by Candleman at 11:07 AM on May 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

I work with some deep-nerd audio enthusiasts, and they seem to agree that the Yeti Blue we landed on as our standard zoom kit is a really good mic.
posted by jquinby at 11:45 AM on May 20, 2022

I love my Shure SM-7B for vocals. Not sure how it would work for an even deeper voice than mine but they’re pretty standard higher-end podcast kit.
posted by Alterscape at 11:53 AM on May 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I'm hearing much the same on the RE20's addressing this issue. And again, thanks to all. (And to anyone who has anything to add.)
posted by BWA at 7:05 PM on May 20, 2022

Best answer: The SM-7B is the other classic broadcast mic so if you take the RE20 for a spin and don't like it, it's a fine mic that's also worthy of consideration. If visual appearance on streams is important, it's more common than the RE20 is, though either will make you look "serious." But I'd still start with the RE20 if I were you.

I would say that if you wanted the 3rd most common broadcast mic you could check out the Sennheiser 421, but it's only available at this point in the inferior Mark II version. If you go someplace that will let you do a shootout, it might be worth adding to the mix (and has a variable highpass filter that will help tame the lows) but I think it's overall inferior to the RE20 or SM-7B.

Depending on how much of a gearhead you are, you might also consider one of the mics with modeling, like the Antelope Audio line. Mic modeling is never going to be as authentic as the real thing but it would give you a number of flavors to play with (and the example I linked to will simulate both the RE20 and SM-7B, as well as the AKG D112, which I can't image why anyone would want to sound like), depending on what effect you wanted.
posted by Candleman at 2:33 AM on May 21, 2022 [1 favorite]