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Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

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Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#501

Post by varispeed »

ruph123 wrote: post #500
varispeed wrote: post #499

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it ethical to buy such equipment from China? You never know how it was made and that country does have a record of human rights abuse. I'd rather pay more and buy something made locally.

> I'd rather pay more and buy something made locally. Do you mean the lavalier mic from Aliexpress I mentioned? Well I first ordered one from Amazon and from knowing that and from looking at many other offers it is clear that these are pretty much all the same model. And so you pay for different marketing. When it comes to “not knowing how it’s made”: It is not even using a USB connection but rather plugs right into…

I did a little research when I was looking for a lav microphone and narrowed it down to those options - Sanken Cos-11D (Japan) and DPA 4060 (Denmark). I also considered Sennheiser ME-2, as it appears to be made in Philippines. Eventually I got Sanken. I costs about 10 times more than Chinese microphones on Amazon, but I feel better knowing I am not helping building Chinese vision of communism.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#502

Post by walshemj »

andrewzah wrote: post #490
walshemj wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Err no an xlr mic into a sound card is going to be better.

What sound cards support direct XLR input? In nearly every case, a dedicated usb interface is going to have better quality ADC and mic preamps. High-quality sound cards are not prioritized by consumers, so they remain rather poor quality in most laptops and pcs. Even something like a focusrite scarlett is going to improve the signal chain immensely (plus you get the added bonus of a decent DAC as well).

Focusrite for one :-) and external sound card worth its name with have them

I did of course mean a real external sound card.

And a usb mic is not going to have as good a mic capsule at the same price point which was my point.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#504

Post by angrais »

xiii1408 wrote: post #377

I was lucky enough to realize, a month into the pandemic, that I would be having all meetings on Zoom for at least 3-4 months. I did three things, which seemed a little excessive at the time, but turned out to be great investments, since I've been working for home for over a year since then. 1) I bought a reasonably nice Logitech C920 Webcam. At the time, it was a $100 on AliExpress, which seemed like a crazy markup…

@xiii1408 - just to add to this. I've went and bought the mic that you and others in this thread recommended. I've used it for a few hours now and compared it with BoseQ35 mic and of course it's amazing.

For anyone else reading: do it. Buy it. You'll sound more real on teleconference calls and.

As for (1), I'm not bothered about video too much so use 720p webcam.

Either way, thanks again!

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#505

Post by stunt »

jimsmart wrote: post #309
stunt wrote: post #88

It really bothers me that I can't lock mic gain on macOS. You can adjust it, but then it will self adjust itself automatically. Somehow some background noises in my room trigger it to increase the mic sensitive to 100% after a few minutes. It's much worse with iPhone EarPods.

I'm pretty sure that macOS doesn't do this by default at all, based upon over a decade of experience. This StackOverflow seems to agree — but it also offers suggestions to help find the actual culprit (a lot of third-party software seems to auto-level the mic volume), and also offers a further suggestion of configuring an Aggregate Audio Device (using the default Audio MIDI Setup app) which doesn't have a mic-level c…

You were right. I tested it and it turns out that Microsoft Teams is doing that.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#506

Post by jimsmart »

stunt wrote: post #505
jimsmart wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure that macOS doesn't do this by default at all, based upon over a decade of experience. This StackOverflow seems to agree — but it also offers suggestions to help find the actual culprit (a lot of third-party software seems to auto-level the mic volume), and also offers a further suggestion of configuring an Aggregate Audio Device (using the default Audio MIDI Setup app) which doesn't have a mic-level c…

You were right. I tested it and it turns out that Microsoft Teams is doing that.

Glad to hear you managed to find the culprit!

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#507

Post by technofiend »

obsequiosity wrote: post #416
technofiend wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The booming, echoy audio you get in most zoom calls from people sitting 4 feet from their microphone is a little aggravating. If you'd like to help your colleagues hear you better and want something subtler than a large microphone on a big boom arm then go for a lavalier microphone. See https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ME4--sennheiser-me-4... for one example, but even a $10 microphone from Microcenter, Amazon…

What would you recommend for someone who specifically would want a large mic on an arm? Would that pick up keyboard noise?

That depends on the pickup pattern of the microphone, the gain on the mic and the distance between the mic and the keyboard.

The pickup pattern dictates which direction(s) the microphone is sensitive to: see https://ehomerecordingstudio.com/microphone-polar-patterns/ as one example. You'd want a cardiod mic turned so that the least sensitive part of the mic faces your keyboard.

Secondly you'll need to get the microphone close to you so you don't need a ton of gain to be heard well. You can put the mic 10 feet from you and with enough amplification people will hear you, but they'll hear every chair squeak and you shuffling your feet and the ac coming on as well. Get it close and you don't have to increase gain nearly as much.

Finally the greater the distance between the mic and keyboard the less likely your tapping will be heard. But again if gain has to be used to pick you up, you're more likely to hear the keyboard even with a cardiod mic because sound still reflects and echoes. Consider something like the Blue snowball as an intro microphone or call up a supplier and have a conversation with a real audio tech, which I am not.

The issue is once you get off into mics then you have to ask yourself which input type(s) do you want, what sort of pre-processing you may want, etc.

Good luck.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#509

Post by daveslash »

JJMcJ wrote: post #428
Cd00d wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It baffles me that some people don't seem to care about their audio quality on calls. The most obnoxious are those who use speakers and you get echo on all your talking, and despite telling them, they still never bother to get a decent mic. I see comments along these lines here all the time, and I don't get it. I'm on zoom a majority of my day, and have maybe two colleagues that don't just use the laptop mic/speake…

> don't care Until you spend 1/2 hour talking to a certain family member, the one who calls from Burger King and sits right next to the soft drink machine so you can hear the ice being dispensed, you haven't fully lived.

I live next to a U.S. Marine Air Station. Until you get to share the full force of F/A-18s buzzing your place at full throttle, you haven't lived. Seriously - very loud.....

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#510

Post by JJMcJ »

daveslash wrote: post #509
JJMcJ wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> don't care Until you spend 1/2 hour talking to a certain family member, the one who calls from Burger King and sits right next to the soft drink machine so you can hear the ice being dispensed, you haven't fully lived.

I live next to a U.S. Marine Air Station. Until you get to share the full force of F/A-18s buzzing your place at full throttle, you haven't lived. Seriously - very loud.....

When Moffet Field was an operational Naval Air Station we would get P-3s, both going out to/returning from patrols, and circling around for touch an go landings for training, also C-5s and C-17s, and some fighters. The fighters were of course the noisiest, so you've got some serious loudness going on.
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