Forum Discussion

DavidAnderson's avatar
10 days ago

🎙️ What microphone are you using for e-learning audio? Share your examples!

One of the questions I get all the time is, “Hey, what mic are you using?” or “What’s a good mic for e-learning?”

So, I figured I’d share some of my go-to mics and more importantly, hear about your audio setup!

Real-world samples are always super helpful, so drop a quick audio sample of your  microphone and let us know:

 🎙️ What brand and model are you using?

 🔌 Any extras? (Preamp, interface, effects, secret sauce?)

And if you need something to record, here’s the snippet I used for my demos:

The most pleased of the lot was the other lion, who kept running about everywhere pretending to be very busy but really in order to say to everyone he met, “Did you hear what he said? Us lions. That means him and me. Us lions. That’s what I like about Aslan. No side, no standoffishness. Us lions. That meant him and me.” At least he went on saying this till Aslan had loaded him up with three dwarfs, one dryad, two rabbits, and a hedgehog. That steadied him a bit.

Shure SM7B

If you’ve listened to podcasts, you’ve heard the SM7B. This is a classim dynamic mic used in radio and podcasting. It has a warm, flat sound, and it's the mic I've used for over 20 years. The only catch is that it needs a strong preamp because it requires more gain than most mics.

Electro-Voice RE20

The RE20 is a radio and podcasting classic and has a slightly brighter sound than the SM7B. Since it’s designed for radio, it does a great job blocking out background noise. The best part is that it doesn’t need as much gain as the SM7B, so it’s easier to work with.

Sennheiser MKH 50

This is my go-to mic for on-camera work. It’s super sensitive, does a great job blocking background noise, and its small size makes it easy to hide in a shot. Perfect for video, voiceovers, or anytime you need clean, professional audio.

Neumann TLM 103

The TLM 103 is a condenser mic with super clear, detailed sound. It’s perfect for voiceovers and vocals, but it picks up everything, so a quiet space is a must. When the setup is right, it sounds incredible. TBH, I don’t use it as often because it’s too sensitive and overkill for the type of recording I do.

  • I use an Audio Technica AT-2020 USB mic. It does the job fine, but it does pick up everything as well so I always clean up the audio after recording.

  • LM-ID's avatar
    LM-ID
    Community Member

    I only use AI now, with all the realistic sounding AI voices available, for efficiency purposes, it just doesn't make sense for me. I don't miss having to re-record entire segments of audio when things need changing, and gives me the ability to focus more of my time on content.

    • Griffingriffind's avatar
      Griffingriffind
      Community Member

      We don't use voice recordings anymore because as you said, it's hard to update the content. I miss it thought. I know it's a lot of work but it was fun to do and I think the end product sounds better. For really long narrations, good AI voices like those from ElevenLabs are great. The old storyline voices/Amazon Polly are... awful.

  • KarlMuller's avatar
    KarlMuller
    Community Member

    Like several others here, we don't use voice recordings anymore, only AI voices.

    Our content changes frequently, and updating voice using AI is much simpler, very consistent quality, and more cost effective.