Ask HN: Best WFH Mic? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Best WFH Mic?

2 pointsgingerlime5 comments

I just bought the AirPods pro thinking they might sound half decent for zoom. They work ok on the iPhone but terrible on my MacBook Air (known issue, apparently).

What mic should I get?

Yeti? (sounds great but bulky and need to have it in front of my face)

Rode Smartlav? Looks neat but wired to my shirt?

Some kind of headset?

I’m not a podcaster but want my voice to sound decent. My home isn’t a soundproof studio, and occasionally my 6 year old will bang something in his room nearby or a police car buzz outside.

I got lost with Youtube videos of vloggers, youtubers and sound pros comparing Db floors and frequency response rates...

Thank you wise hackers!

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Don't rule out the Yeti for its size. I bought one several years ago and rely on it for most of my audio/video calls. It has awesome pickup, mine sits about 18" away from my face on a monitor stand (just to the side of my monitor). Doesn't show up on the camera. You need to play around with the different pattern modes to determine which works best for the space you're using it in.

I also have the apparently discontinued Blue Snowflake USB Microphone, which is portable and has a clip to mount it on a laptop. Seems to be available from third parties on Amazon though. Great if you need to have a mobile mic.

My favorite headset is

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013F4LJTI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...

It is a bit expensive but it systematically deals with every annoyance I've had with other headsets. Headset mikes are particularly good for "noisy environment" being the problem, although the best thing for legibility is going to be something like the Yeti in a soundproof and anechoic room.

Has anyone complained to you about the quality from your built-in microphones? Are they facing towards you? I'd be wary because this is an optimization for other people's listening pleasure, on conference calls, and you might not be able to improve their experience very much anyway.

That's a real point. There are many reasons why people might not hear you well on a conference call: you can control some of them, but not all of them.

True. Very good point.

There’s no issue there for me. Maybe it’s slightly vanity related but I’d like my voice to sound good.

Maybe I was listening to too many podcasts with interviews, but there’s a huge difference if someone uses a good mic with a rich sound, or a crappy one with a thin sound.

I just feel like a richer sound will be much more pleasant for the other end and will project my real voice more accurately.

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