Best Mic for Untreated Room in 2023

We are duscussing Best Mic for Untreated Room .  Even though a dedicated podcasting studio would be ideal, the majority of us record at home or in public spaces that glaringly lack adequate sound engineering. Your sound quality can suffer in a space with bare walls or other highly reflective surfaces. However, you can improve your chances by using a dynamic microphone and arranging your setup to reduce echo. Why use a dynamic mic? They frequently have lower sensitivity than condenser mics and, as a result, end up recording less of the echoing sound waves bouncing about the room. In this article, we’ll examine what acoustic treatment is, offer some advice for best mic for untreated room, and examine five dynamic microphones suitable for areas that might not have adequate sound treatment.

What is Acoustic Treatment?

The act of “treating” space with suitable materials to make it more conducive to recording is called acoustic treatment. Usually, acoustic foam or specially designed acoustic panels (typically filled with Rockwool) are used to treat a room’s walls (traditionally filled with Rockwool). These are placed thoughtfully at critical locations throughout the space to absorb or diffuse sound waves and significantly lessen the natural echo.

Acoustic panels made of Rockwool are excellent for absorbing sound waves. It functions by capturing the waves, which reduces their vibration. It is a perfect way to enhance a room’s recording qualities because it can also handle lower frequencies and is reasonably priced. Although there are foams on the market with varying levels of quality, and the sound absorption properties might vary greatly, sound-absorbing acoustic foam also absorbs sound waves. Rockwool-based solutions can be preferable if sound absorption is the only goal. The advantage of acoustic foam, however, is in the way it is sliced. Pyramids and wedge cuts are two of the more popular shapes. Along with their ability to absorb sound, the foam shapes also can manipulate the sound waves in space to enhance good quality.

Does Acoustic Treatment Make a Difference?

Acoustic treatment, when performed correctly, can significantly alter how a room sounds. As was already noted, choosing suitable material and placing it in the right location is essential for outstanding results. If done correctly, good acoustic treatment may turn a room that would be terrible for recording without it into one that will thrill your podcast listeners.

Watch the video below to see a contrast between the rooms before and after the acoustic treatment was installed. The differences are like day and night. Creating your acoustic panels is possible if you enjoy DIY projects. The ability to customize the panels to meet your unique needs is the key benefit, not cost savings (although this is a huge bonus). Making them yourself gives you total control if you need them to be a specific size, shape, or aesthetic. It’s not a complicated procedure, though; all you need is some simple equipment so that it might make for a fun weekend project.

How to Tell if your Room is Echoey

The presence of echo will be pretty noticeable in a room. Though many rooms have too much echo for recording, you wouldn’t necessarily notice it if you were utilizing the space daily because you wouldn’t be alert for it. The “clap test” is one of the most excellent methods for detecting echo. It’s straightforward but highly effective, and if you save the video, you can repeat the test after treating the room (if the initial test shows that it needs to be treated) to determine how big of a change was made.

How, then, do you put the clap test to the test? Set up your microphone where you intend to record it and take a seat behind it as though you were about to address your audience. However, instead of speaking, give four or five quick handclaps, pausing for a few seconds between each one. Make sure to record these so you can later listen to the audio. Put on your monitoring headphones and play back the recording you just made. Can you hear an echo after each loud clap? Exists an echo exist at this time? If so, you must take care of this if you want your podcast to have the highest audio quality. Let’s have a look at how you could accomplish that.

Tips for Recording in an Echoey Room

Do you need to immediately go online and begin ordering pricey panels to solve your problem? You could, but first, try certain things to see if you can avoid doing this. The clap test should be conducted initially in various locations throughout the room. If you can record in a particular area where the reverb is much more muted, it may not be necessary to use acoustic treatment.

A portable vocal booth can be a less permanent and more cost-effective option you want to consider. This gadget keeps your microphone close to a small amount of acoustic foam by allowing you to attach it. This indicates that the foam behind the microphone instantly dampens sound waves as you speak into it. As demonstrated below, you can create a DIY version using a storage box and cushions. This works surprisingly well.

What’s the Best Type of Microphone to use in an Echoey Room?

As previously said, we’d always recommend a dynamic mic over a condenser for a venue that isn’t ideal in terms of echo and sound treatment. Due to their greater sensitivity than their dynamic cousins, condenser microphones tend to pick up many unwanted soundwaves. Condenser microphones excel in a well-treated space, such as a recording studio, and their natural-sounding, vibrant tone can make your podcast stand out. However, an excellent dynamic mic can also sound fantastic when used with a good preamp and set up correctly.

5 Best Mic for Untreated Room

Comparison Table:

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Shure SM7B

Due to its stellar reputation as a vocal microphone, the Shure SM7B is a favorite among podcasters. A good preamp is necessary for dynamic microphones because they frequently need a lot of gains, and the SM7B is no exception. To give it an extra boost before it reaches your preamp, you might even want to use an inline mic activator-like a Cloudlifter. It has a great sound despite the amount of gain required to drive it.

Shure SM57 / SM58

The SM7B is an expensive microphone that you might not be able to afford, or you might need to invest in several microphones, so purchasing more than one SM7B might not be practical. Consider looking at the Shure SM57 or the SM58 if this is the case. The SM58 includes a built-in pop filter inside the ball grille but is the same microphone. These two microphones produce excellent audio that is very similar to that of the SM7B. Many people in the world of podcasting view them as a vital substitute. These microphones are gain hungry, just like the SM7B, so you’ll need a powerful preamp. For more details, see our article on the best preamps for the Shure SM57.

Rode Procaster

Rode intended a voice mic through and through when they created the Rode Procaster. Its tight polar pattern, built-in pop filter, and shock mount, and tight polar pattern make it ideal for that problematic, echo-filled room. The low-end sound is fantastic, but like the Shure versions listed above, Make sure your preamp is capable of driving it because it will require a lot of amplification.

Rode PodMic

We offered a low-cost alternative for the high-end Shure model; for the Rode model, we did the same. The Rode PodMic is a well-made, inexpensive microphone that, in our opinion, offers performance above its price range. The sound has a nice crispness to it and is warm and rich. You won’t make many mistakes here if you’re on a tight budget.

Heil Sound PR-40

This mic is worth consideration if money is not a concern. It is a voice mic classic, and many podcast producers have it in their setup. The resulting audio is clean and warm while still being bright, and the frequency response is pleasant and flat with a wide frequency range. Put this on your shortlist if you’re thinking about something like an SM7B, then compare the two to see which is best for you. Either option won’t let you down.

Related Issues

For a podcast, how many microphones are required?

Your show’s total number of performers will determine how many microphones you need. Always try to mic up each person separately if at all possible. The best audio quality will result from this, and recording them on different tracks will give you much more flexibility during post-production.

While it is feasible, it is not ideal for everyone to swarm around a single microphone. Choose a microphone with an omnidirectional pickup pattern if this is what you intend to do, perhaps to start with until you have the money for additional microphones. This will ensure that sound is picked up equally from all directions.

How Near Your Mouth Should a Microphone Be?

You’ll probably use a cardioid polar pattern microphone for voice work like podcasting. The proximity effect is a concept that applies to this pattern. To put it simply, the proximity effect is the phenomenon whereby, as you get closer to the microphone, the low-end frequencies become more prominent, giving the voice more bass and depth.

Conclusion

These are the best mic for untreated rooms that can be used in untreated rooms. However, as was previously mentioned, don’t solely rely on the microphone; instead, aid it by experimenting with various methods to reduce room echo, such as changing where you are in the room when recording, reducing the reflected sound waves by draping an acoustic blanket in certain places or employing a portable vocal booth.

Avoid assuming that a small amount of echo or other undesirable sounds will be acceptable. Your podcast listeners will become weary of audio issues, so if you want to keep as many of them as possible, always aim for the highest production quality. You don’t need to think about it once you’ve figured it out. You only need to set up in the exact location with the same tools each time, and you’re ready to start.

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