External mic recommendations for conference calls
May 18, 2020 7:45 AM Subscribe
I'm working from home, my voice is very quiet and hoarse/breathy, and so it is difficult for people at the other end of my Zoom/Teams/phone calls to hear me. (I cannot speak up due to voice issues that have not yet resolved.) I have been using headphones with a mic instead of my Macbook Air inbuilt mic, and that seems to help a little. I'm looking for advice to improve this set up, both products if necessary and on how to use my mic and computer to help me be heard more clearly.
Could an external mic help with this? One with a headset or a condenser type one on a little stand? I would appreciate specific recommendations for products, and on mic placement/use. I don't want to wear over-ear headphones or anything bulky that can be seen on camera, in-ear headphones are fine, and I'm looking to spend less than $100 if necessary.
Could an external mic help with this? One with a headset or a condenser type one on a little stand? I would appreciate specific recommendations for products, and on mic placement/use. I don't want to wear over-ear headphones or anything bulky that can be seen on camera, in-ear headphones are fine, and I'm looking to spend less than $100 if necessary.
Note that the more you turn up the gain on a microphone such as suggested above, the more all the noise in the room will be uniformly amplified. To avoid that you'll need to position it close enough to your face that your voice is the dominant sound (then modify the gain as needed). That may mean the mic will be visible on-camera, depending on your screen angle.
I've been very happily using the Plantronics Voyager Legend with the USB dongle to connect it to my laptop. It's not too obtrusive, though it does have a thin ~2-inch boom to get the pickup closer to the wearer's mouth. Very clean sounding and volume to spare.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:13 AM on May 18, 2020
I've been very happily using the Plantronics Voyager Legend with the USB dongle to connect it to my laptop. It's not too obtrusive, though it does have a thin ~2-inch boom to get the pickup closer to the wearer's mouth. Very clean sounding and volume to spare.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:13 AM on May 18, 2020
It's also worth noting that Zoom has input volume (gain) in the sound preferences. I would be surprised if others didn't. It won't solve everything, but it's something you could try today if you needed to.
posted by advicepig at 11:21 AM on May 18, 2020
posted by advicepig at 11:21 AM on May 18, 2020
You may also benefit from a software improvement to your current mic setup. Krisp is a decent app that provides AI based background noise elimination. Free to try so no downside if it doesn't work for you.
https://krisp.ai/ works on Mac and PC and iOS (no Android yet). I use their free version (120 min/week limit before you have to pay) for a couple conference calls a week, including one yesterday in the backyard while the neighbor sawed away with some kind of power tool - no one could hear any background noise, just my voice.
posted by tiamat at 6:28 PM on May 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
https://krisp.ai/ works on Mac and PC and iOS (no Android yet). I use their free version (120 min/week limit before you have to pay) for a couple conference calls a week, including one yesterday in the backyard while the neighbor sawed away with some kind of power tool - no one could hear any background noise, just my voice.
posted by tiamat at 6:28 PM on May 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
Emeet M0 is nice and loud and picks up my voice great per other callers' feedback. It has mute, speaker, and volume controls right on the device itself. About 80 bux on Amazon. Highly recommended!
posted by Captain Chesapeake at 7:47 PM on May 18, 2020
posted by Captain Chesapeake at 7:47 PM on May 18, 2020
If you're not using headphones, which I assume you're not if you're using the internal mic, my recommendation is NOT a separate microphone, but a purpose-made headset for teleconferencing. The gold standard here is Plantronics, and I generally recommend the Savi 8200.
https://www.poly.com/gb/en/products/headsets/savi/savi-8200
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 4:39 AM on May 19, 2020
https://www.poly.com/gb/en/products/headsets/savi/savi-8200
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 4:39 AM on May 19, 2020
FWIW, I use my AirPods for this purpose. More than $100, but worth it. Put one in. If a long conference, and it bloops because of low battery, but the other in and when it syncs, take out the low one to charge.
posted by squink at 7:54 PM on May 19, 2020
posted by squink at 7:54 PM on May 19, 2020
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posted by Wild_Eep at 8:22 AM on May 18, 2020