Microphones for Gaming

madcabbage

Quick question, I've a Shure SM 57 lying around from my days of playing music, just wondering is it possible to use this mic for gaming? I'd imagine I'd need an adapter of some sort. Curious to see if anyone is running a setup like this?

Shiminay

I've got one of these USB mixing desks with several condenser mics plugged in for podcasting.

Something like this might do the trick. There's also a single input variant of the one I have.

dreamers75

Shiminay sounds like he is in the room beside you with that type of mic.

Shiminay

haha, nothing more disturbing than my dulcet tones that close by :P

These are the mics I use btw, I couldn't afford Shures

Grahamer666

Anyone use a Blue Snowball?

degrassinoel

Grahamer666 wrote: »

Anyone use a Blue Snowball?

yep, great quality sound and noise reduction if you're not using a headset

Grahamer666

How close does it have to be to get headset mic clarity? I want to use my Sennheiser HD650's instead of a dedicated headset as any set i've owned start to hurt after a while. Must have sensitive lugholes. :pac:

degrassinoel

not that close, i've got mine sitting beside my speakers and it only rarely picks up gamesound - so, 2, 3 foot, something like that is do-able, never had the need to go any further

Shiminay

Used to use a Blue Snowball for a while till I upgraded to my current gear, the only reason I stopped using it is because the USB socket on the back got banjaxed. It was great for recording a few people sat around in a small room too, but it's a great mic and not terribly expensive for the quality you're getting. Different settings on it allow for a different capture area which means you could avoid picking out anything except what's directly in front of it.

madcabbage

Ye boys running shockmounts or small stands?

degrassinoel

mine came with a little detachable tripod, handy yoke

Grahamer666

Right, yiz have sold me on the Snowball. Am gonna get one come payday.

ED E

Just make sure you aren't running a mechanical KB right beside it. Nothing more annoying.

Shiminay

Yea, they come with a tripod that should service all your needs (the mic itself has a swivel where it screws into the tripod. You can get a shock mount for it, but unless you're doing something really important, do you really need a shock mount? Naturally, I *so* have shock mounts cause I'm that guy, but in my defence, they, and a pop shield, came with the mics as standard :P

If anyone knows how easy or difficult replacing a bandy USB "B" socket on a piece of electronics is, please let me know, I'd love to get the Snowball working again.

kevovek

ED E wrote: »

Just make sure you aren't running a mechanical KB right beside it. Nothing more annoying.

yep even with o rings it picks the clicks up I opted for a separate Mic arm that's not attached to my desk and that did the job

Canis Lupus

ED E wrote: »

Just make sure you aren't running a mechanical KB right beside it. Nothing more annoying.

clack clack clack

*sniff*

clack clack clack

kevovek

Just out of interest actually, do any of you who own a snowball use software for noise cancellation or just to make it sound better in general?

Shiminay

I used it as is, but check which setting the switch on the back of the Snowball is at, I made that mistake more than once. It dictates the "live" area of the mic and which directions it's listening from etc. You can get the manual with the details here. When recording I used Audacity (still do), otherwise it's Skype or TeamSpeak or Discord or whatever it is I'm using with whoever I'm playing with.

I do have a mechanical keyboard (cherry brown switches), so the clickety-clack gets picked up no matter what I'm using, but with the newer mic I can bring it right to my mouth and drop the gain so it's not too bad (I'm told).