What mic should you use for online teaching?
Products
Dynamic Mics vs Condensor Mics
Dynamic mics are really good at rejecting sound. This is great if you have a noisy appliance, kids, dogs barking in your neighborhood, lawnmower, cars passing outside. The only downside is that you need to be pretty close to the mic to pick you up. But a good pro is that dynamic mics have a good “proximity effect” which means the closer you get to it, the more bassey your voice sounds.
Condenser mics are great at picking up lots of detail and really quite dynamics. This is great if you have a large instrument like marimba/piano but not so great for voice if your room isn’t acoustically treated because it will pick up a lot of reflections off the wall and every little sound all around you.
How to connect to a computer?
For most people working at home, I would recommend a USB mic. This is the simplest setup option and the most worry free. If you’re trying to do a multi-mic setup, you’re going to need an audio interface because you can’t run multiple usb mics at the same time. If this is the case, I would do a saffire 2i2 for a 2 mic setup and a saffire 18i8 for a 4 mic setup. There are also ways to use a Zoom H4n/H5/H6 for multi mic setups as well, but that’s outside of the scope of this video.
Dynamic mics
For most people, the Samson Q2U is the best bang for the buck. For 50 dollars you get the usb cable, desktop stand, a nice mic with an on/off switch. And some nice extras like the ability to plug in headphones in the back and hear what’s coming through the mic. It also has XLR if you want to connect it to a soundboard or usb interface as well.
Condensor mics
There are a wide option of good condenser mics. Just be aware that these only sound as good as your room, so try to record in a carpeted space, or if you don’t need video, you can record in a walk in closet or put a comforter over your head for the best sound isolation.
Small and cheap, the Samson Go Mic (30) is a good choice on a budget. It will get you better sound than your computer. The Blue Snowball (50) is also very popular and will do a decent job. If you want something more substantial, the Samson G-Track Pro offers a lot of features and is usually cheaper than the Blue Yeti Mic.
Multimic Using a Zoom Mic
If you have an H4n, H5, or H6 you can connect to your computer and use it as an audio interface. These have camera tripod mounts as well, so they can be easily mounted with someone you probably already have. The built in mics are condenser, but you can plug in a dynamic mic via XLR. You can have a dynamic mic on your desk for voice and the zoom pointed at an instrument and use all audio at once. This is a good cheap way to do a multi mic setup without buying an audio interface.
Blanket Booth - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VRlubjTUBo