Shure - MV7

I bought a Shure SM-7+ and use the USB connection right now. It’s been excellent! Plus you get zero-latency monitoring. I’ll use the XLR connection when I get an interface.

For mic type, you want a dynamic mic. Condensers magnify every sonic imperfection inside and outside your recording space. Unless you are recording other people in-person, you don’t need an audio interface. Get yourself a solid USB/XLR mic and you’ll be fine when getting started. For mic recommendations, it depends on your budget. On the cheaper end, you have the FiFine K688 and Samson Q2U. I would take either of those over the discontinued ATR2100x any day. I find the 2100x to be an unflattering sounding mic on most voices and spend more time trying to EQ it to sound more neutral. If you have a bigger budget, you can’t go wrong with the Shure MV7.

You’re better off spending that money on a dynamic mic. A budget choice would be the FiFine K688. If you have the budget, the Shure MV7 is the best sounding usb mic I’ve heard. And as a podcast editor, I’ve heard most of them. Here’s video where I compare those two against a Shure SM7B. https://youtu.be/8Y3nWLmwqNw Here’s a video showing why condenser mics are not great choices for most podcasters. It compares a condenser to a dynamic mic. https://youtu.be/8h2LUw4_c-0

The connector type really has no impact on the audio quality. There are some killer usb mics and some really bad XLR mics. I’ve done blind tests and no one can conclusively pick out whether a mic is usb or XLR. Since podcasts are generally rendered as mp3s, any subtle differences are mostly lost. My advice is to keep your set up as simple as possible. If you aren’t recording in person with others, go with a good usb/XLR mic. The Shure MV7 is my #1 pick. In the budget range, you can my go wrong with the Samson Q2U or the FiFine K688.

Yes, the MV7 is worth the extra money. To my ears, it's a much better sounding mic. Think about it this way, the PodMic is a $99 mic. You pay an extra $100 for them to make it USB. The MV7 is a $200 mic and you pay another $100 for them to add USB. The Shure mic is the mic I recommend to all of my clients because it just sounds good and I haven't heard a voice it doesn't work with. I've easily edited at least 20 different people using the MV7. The Podmic sounds fine in the video comparisons,. It will get the job done, but,a gain, to my ears, I prefer the sound of the MV7 by a wide margin.

Honestly, I haven’t been a fan of the Podmic recordings I’ve heard in comparisons. I’ve used the MV7 across several dozen voices and have one myself. It is simply a good sounding microphone on every voice I’ve used it with. You can’t go wrong with it.

Don’t overthink things. The mic generally doesn’t matter as long as it works for your space. There isn’t a better mic between the MV7 and SM7B. They are both good mics. Many people might find the USB connectivity of the MV7+ makes it a better mic for their situation. The way I look at it, the SM7B doesn’t sound $150 better than the MV7. It also needs a decent audio interface, which further adds to the cost of ownership.

Shure is always pretty good if your willing to pay for it so Shure MV6 USB ($170) or Shure MV7 USB ($300), I have the MV7 and have had no complaints the last few years. Would first recommend if your on NVIDIA Graphics Card try NVIDIA Broadcast if you haven't already

Honestly, been in this exact spot. Untreated room is the real villain here, more than your voice tone. I had an MV7 (the older one) and it picked up *everything*—computer fan, street noise, the whole nine yards. The built-in processing helped a bit but felt kinda finicky. For your use case and wanting good USB sound out of the gate, I'd lean towards the PodMic USB. It's a dynamic so it'll reject some room noise naturally, and Rode's USB implementation is generally solid. The MV6 is probably fine too, but being locked into USB-only kinda sucks if you ever wanna tweak stuff later. What I actually do now for my own vids is use a wireless lav setup—way more flexible for moving around and oddly handles my weird room echo better. I'm using a BOYA LINK3 because the AI noise cancellation is spooky good at killing background hum without making me sound like a robot. Let's me record in my kitchen if I want lol. But for a straight USB mic on a desk, PodMic USB is a safe bet. Try to record a test with whatever you get and listen back in headphones. A slightly nasal voice can sometimes be helped just by speaking slightly off-axis or backing up an inch. Good luck!

For straight gaming, I’d probably say no. The MV7X/MV7 is very similar sounding without the same price tag. You don’t get the same level of bass from the MV7, but the SM7B is really not needed unless you’re streaming or recording. Plus, the SM7B needs more juice than the MV7, so you’re looking at a cloudlifter or the SM7DB, which is like $500+ before the actual interface itself (if you don’t already have one, that’s another $100 or more, depending on the interface you get). Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great mic, but unless you need it for streaming/recording/music, you won’t see much benefit from an SM7B/SM7DB mic setup. If you don’t have an interface as-is *and* you feel the itch to have something that sounds kind of like *and* looks like an SM7B, there’s the Beacn Mic for $350. It’s pretty good, and I love the Beacn software (just really simple and intuitive to use). That said, if you already have an interface and you’re only going to be chatting with friends and using in-game chat, I genuinely think the MV7X is probably the highest I’d go in the XLR section. For USB, the Beacn’s definitely pushing it at MSRP, but it goes on sale down to like $280 or so every so often and I didn’t mind paying that.

Despite his preferences, those are still good tools for the job and his skills should be able to make it work. You do the same things, just slightly different. So maybe his SM58 EQ presets stored in his brain won’t work, but he should be using his ears anyway. I think 935s are easier to manage anyway. Less rumble and honky midrange to dial out and the top end presence starts off slightly better. Nothing wrong with preferences though. V7 is very similar 935/945 too. Slightly different, but good mic. My personal favorite is actually the Mojave MAD, weirdly enough.

You could go for a mic with a built-in audio interface. For example: Shure MV7 – it has a USB output and is based on the legendary SM7B, the favorite mic of many podcasters. The sound is a bit different but still very similar. It’s a dynamic mic, so it’ll cut out a lot of background noise. You mentioned that noise isn’t a problem for you, BUT even if the room is quiet, an untreated space will still have nasty echo and reverb. Dynamic mics help reduce that. Rode NT-USB – this one’s condenser, not top-tier but still miles ahead of the mics you listed. AT2020USB – also a solid condenser option. If you’re okay with having a few more devices on your desk, getting a mic + external audio interface combo will give you noticeably better quality. Some good budget interfaces: Focusrite Scarlett Solo – some people say it’s overrated, but I wouldn’t agree UAD Volt – nice SSL 2 – from the company behind the mixing consoles used on half the hit records ever made And for mics to pair with them: - Audio-Technica AT2020 - sE Electronics X1s (i personally very like it🙃) - Rode NT1 --- No mic should ever be right up to your mouth. Even stage vocal mics are meant to have a bit of distance. For all the ones I mentioned, keep roughly 20 cm (about 8 inches) away. Personally, I don’t even pay attention to how far mine is — it’s on a boom arm, sometimes ends up half a meter (around 20 inches) away, and I just don’t care. It still sounds fine, since most apps for calls and stuff already do some loudness leveling. But if you actually want better sound — stay around 20–30 cm (8–12 inches).

This is an industry standard vocal mic. A lot of big name artists use these in the studio and it’s used by top producers with huge budgets as often as microphones costing 100 times more (literally). It also has room to grow since it has built in USB and XLR ports. It will work from day one with her laptop without the need to buy an external interface, but once she’s ready to move up to the next level, she can go xlr into the finest preamps. The Shure also has a headphone output, so with a decent pair she can have 100% professional quality going into her computer for as cheap or cheaper than getting a lesser mic and low cost interface. A warning about the condensers being suggested by others including the video I saw someone link: condensers are very sensitive compared to dynamics like the SM7 linked here and the SM58 (another standard). This means that the room reverberation, air conditioning, outside traffic, etc. will also be picked up in the recording. So unless you’re planning on spending a lot on acoustic treatment, it’s best to avoid those mics. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MV7pBK—shure-mv7-hybrid-podcast-microphone-black For some reason that link doesn’t work for me from Reddit. Try searching for “MV7+”

So you definitely want a dynamic mic. They're less sensitive, but are way better than condenser mics at canceling out background noise. The Shure MV7 is probably your best option. It's one of the best budget USB dynamic mics you can get that's not by some questionable Chinese brand. Anything pass $150 you want to start looking at XLR mics, and those also require an audio interface, and depending on the mic, (for example the Shure SM7B) you need a pre amp to boost the signal, and it just starts to get very expensive. Not worth it if you're just talking to people on discord and game chat.

If you have the budget for it, DJI Mic Mini is a great wireless option and the battery life is long enough even for long streams (around 11h). For wired options, I use a Shure MV7. Expensive, but works like a charm and people keep saying my voice is amazing. It's not, it's just the mic doing its thing.