Best Mic for Sony Vaio?

by barbdear

Posted: 15 years ago 6 replies

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I could use a little technical advice. I am getting ready to make some online video tutorials ... the only problem is that I have never made any online video tutorials.

I bought CamStudio to make the videos ... don't seem to be able to use the speakers on my Sony Vaio laptop to record ... need to figure out another way to mic my computer. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

#mic #sony #vaio

TimGross

15 years ago

Originally Posted by barbdear

I bought CamStudio to make the videos ... don't seem to be able to use the speakers on my Sony Vaio laptop to record ... need to figure out another way to mic my computer. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

To be precise, speakers don't record audio, mics record audio (I'm sure that's what you meant).

Got to your local electronics store and buy a headphone/mic combo. That'll record audio and let you hear the playback. Check your audio controls, you probably have mic input muted, that's probably the default.

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Brad Gosse

15 years ago

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Josh Anderson

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Brad Gosse

We use this mic here: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/we.../3622&cl=US,EN

it's a USB headset but it's the best cheap mic I ever bought. I have a $1500 Sure that doesn't sound as good.

Please don't take this personally but that is pretty poor audio sound quality. If your $1500 mic sounds worse than that you are using it wrong.

I recorded this in a hotel room in Australia as an example at a workshop presentation I gave:

Luxury Homes For Sale Australia

for that sample I used a:

1. Telex p-500 usb analog to digital converter (out of production but you can find them on ebay once in a while)

2. Creative HE-100 mic (also out of production but you can still find them on ebay).

Alternatively you can get the same or better sound using:

1. iMic usb analog to digital audio converter

2. Radio Shack or other inexpensive lavaliere lapel microphone.

--

Now if you want to take it to the next level and get consistent studio quality sound you can go with this setup which is what I use for all my screen captures when I am in my office:

1. Audio Technica AT3035 Cardiod XLR Mic

2. Cheap mic stand from your local music shop or Radio Shack... I prefer to have a boom type that is to the side of me and holds the mic just above my forehead.

3. Either an MXL Mic Mate XLR to USB converter preamp or a CEntrance Mic Port Pro XLR to USB converter preamp.

The MXL is cheaper, easier to use, and requires no extra drivers but it only has three volume settings. The CEntrance product is nearly 3x as expensive, its drivers can be hard to setup for some software, but it has a volume control nob and more features and is a higher quality device.

Here is an example recording where I am using the AT3035 and MXL Mic Mate:

Camstudio Mastery

Both that sample and the other sample that I first posted are highly compressed mp3 files so they are not even HQ audio.

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Brad Gosse

15 years ago

[quote=Josh Anderson;846323]

Originally Posted by Brad Gosse

We use this mic here: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/we.../3622&cl=US,EN

it's a USB headset but it's the best cheap mic I ever bought. I have a $1500 Sure that doesn't sound as good./quote]

Please don't take this personally but that is really bad audio. If your $1500 mic sounds worse than that you are using it wrong.

I recorded this in a hotel room in Australia as an example at a workshop presentation I gave:

Luxury Homes For Sale Australia

I used a Telex p-500 usb analog to digital converter (out of production but you can find them on ebay once in a while) and a creative HE-100 mic (also out of production but you can still find them on ebay).

Alternatively you can get the same or better sound using an iMic usb analog to digital audio converter and a Radio Shack lavaliere lapel microphone.

--

Now if you want to take it to the next level and get consistent studio quality sound you can go with this setup which is what I use for all my screen captures when I am in my office:

1. Audio Technica AT3035 Cardiod XLR Mic

2 Cheap mic stand from your local music shop or Radio Shack... I prefer to have a boom type that is to the side of me and holds the mic just above my forehead.

2. Either an MXL Mic Mate XLR to USB converter preamp or a CEntrance Mic Port Pro XLR to USB converter preamp.

The MXL is cheaper, easier to use, and requires no extra drivers but it only has three volume settings. The CEntrance product is nearly 3x as expensive, its drivers can be hard to setup for some software, but it has a volume control nob and more features and is a higher quality device.

Here is an example recording where I am using the AT3035 and MXL Mic Mate:

Camstudio Mastery

Both that sample and the other sample that I first posted are highly compressed mp3 files so they are not even HQ audio.

Wow must be my hearing cause the HD version of that video has the best audio I have tried

Brad

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Josh Anderson

15 years ago

[quote=Brad Gosse;846342]

Originally Posted by Josh Anderson

Wow must be my hearing cause the HD version of that video has the best audio I have tried

Brad

If you thought the voice recording on your's (even in HD) was good...

Then you are going to think you went to heaven when you hear my examples above... and my samples are not the best that can be accomplished ;-)

If that is the best you have tried... try some of the hardware I just recommended.... your results will be many times better than that really poor voice audio quality in your recording.

Your music intro was really good... but the voice part, which is the only part that has to do with the mic, is really poor audio quality... and poor audio quality on a really bad mic in HD is not an improvement ;-)

Also another tip when using cheap mics is to make sure they are not directly in front of your lips. If you are using a headset move the mic just above or just below your mouth...

That way you can avoid the plosives (pops on heavy p and t etc. sounds) and some of the saliva, lip smacking, and breathing noises.