The boom arm helps a lot just saying, I have the same mic and it picks up my keyboard but that's because it's literally touching it
It's quite good with directional audio, won't pick up much if anything behind it, but it will absolutely pick up whatever's in front for some decent distance
Honestly, I just got the Fifine A6V $30 mic and also got the boom arm and think the sound is really good for the price
It doesn’t pick up any of my keyboard clacking or background. Streamed last night and had some really bad thunder and when I played it back it only (barely) picked up an extremely loud one
A6V is decent for daily games and streams, I dont like to show off the rgb light in work meetings but I won't turn on the camera so it's fine. But since it's a condenser mic, it may need some room treatment or use it in a quiet room.
I was using a Fifine mic recently as well, but mine was a condenser, so it picked up even more noise than I am sure their dynamic microphones do. I just got the Rode Podmic USB and I love it. $200, so not super expensive all things considered, and it’s built like a tank. The only negatives I can think of is it doesn’t come with a stand, so you’ll need a boom arm for it, and there are no onboard controls, so you’ll have to use the Rode app to make adjustments to gain and whatnot. These don’t bother, me, but I can see them being issues for some people.
Great post! Seriously, audio really is vital. I highly recommend spending $50-100 on a USB condenser mic (Fefine, Yeti). Inexpensive gaming headsets or laptop mics that cause clipping or plosive pops can be really distracting and instantly limit how much time someone is willing to spend watching your content.
If you are trying to get into actual podcasting, where audio is the primary focus, you'll need to start spending more on a Shure SM7B or equivalent, but you will not need anything super serious for YouTube content.
Bonfire_Monty
