Zoom / Teams and different microphones.

fretmeister

After an evening of testing, it turns out that my £19.99 POS Fifine USB microphone outperforms my Rode NT1A phantom powered condenser mic for any video calling platform. 

I don’t know why I felt the need to test it, but now I know.

The Rode works much better as a dictation microphone for Nuance/Dragon though. The text generated is a lot more accurate. 

Now I have a craving for a good shotgun mic to test as well.

I do wish Zoom had more audio setting options though. I want to control my own compression parameters!

So, well done to Fifine. Might try some other USB mics next. But not SM7B inspired stuff that needs to be very close to the mouth and thus be in the picture. 

I hate that new trend of having the mic block out half the face. It looks crap.

sev112

I use conventional apple earphones, not pods.  And everyone sitting at home complains that they can hear everyone else in the office over my inbuilt headphone mic ?!

anyone know how to make that better in TEAMS ?

fretmeister

I’ll have a look at the teams audio settings tomorrow.

Might have to run OBS with it for noise gate/suppression filters.

Lestratcaster

I sometimes use Zoom for meetings and stuff, not for online lessons though cos its audio processing is rubbish.

Got the same issue though with the mic (Shure Beta 58a) on a mic desk clamp arm thing and it does cover up a lot of the view. Sounds good however. Might consider a lavalier mic (like newsreaders and presenters use) for a more neater apperance on meetings.

exocet

These work very well.

Jabra Speak 510 Speaker — Portable Bluetooth Speaker, Conference Speaker — Connects to Laptops, Smartphones and Tablets — USB Plug https://amzn.eu/d/6ENMXaE

Sporky

sev112 said:

I use conventional apple earphones, not pods.  And everyone sitting at home complains that they can hear everyone else in the office over my inbuilt headphone mic ?!

anyone know how to make that better in TEAMS ?

We have people who use them when on calls in the office - they pick up as much background noise as they do the person speaking. 

Mostly our standard is these, which are superb:

https://www.hp.com/gb-en/shop/product.aspx?id=77Y87AA&opt=&sel=ACC

Dave8

sev112 said:

I use conventional apple earphones, not pods.  And everyone sitting at home complains that they can hear everyone else in the office over my inbuilt headphone mic ?!

anyone know how to make that better in TEAMS ?

Something designed for the job would be better, I used to provide Plantronics headsets which for Teams calls etc were great.. all the problems with sound feeding back/poor sound was down to people using their own headphones... or just the laptop speakers/built in mic.

menamestom

To be fair to the rode it is a studio condenser designed to be very sensitive and pick up everything and supposed to be used in an acoustically treated environment.  It's the opposite of what you need for a conferencing mic because it doesn't have any noise cancelling, in fact it's the opposite, it's noise amplifying for nuance and also very sibilant which usually needs post correction with a desser.  Does Zoom have it's own noise cancelling built in?
I wonder if it's best to have in the headset/mic or PO, or does it not make a difference?

Most conferencing mics tend to be close address so they pick up mainly voice, either on a headset or end address dynamic mics like the SM7B type.  The Aston Element may be worth a shout though, it's a full range dynamic that you are supposed to use a little further back, rather than right against like your classic radio mic.  It's inexpensive too.

Aston Element Cardioid Microphone - Andertons Music Co.

I've no experience of shotgun mics, but their supercardioid patters should keep things tighter.

TTony

sev112 said:

I use conventional apple earphones, not pods.  And everyone sitting at home complains that they can hear everyone else in the office over my inbuilt headphone mic ?!

anyone know how to make that better in TEAMS ?

Having sat on many Teams calls when someone else on the call has been using their Apple earphones, I agree that they are AWFUL.

I use a Jabra Evolve2 65 headset.

Connects via bluetooth (which is handy if you need to move around a bit while on the call), battery lasts forever and charges quickly via the deskstand, connects to two devices simultaneously (so can take mobile calls as well as Teams calls without reconnecting), comfortable to keep on your head for hours on end, and never had a single complaint about extraneous noise.

fretmeister

menamestom said:

To be fair to the rode it is a studio condenser designed to be very sensitive and pick up everything and supposed to be used in an acoustically treated environment.  It's the opposite of what you need for a conferencing mic because it doesn't have any noise cancelling, in fact it's the opposite, it's noise amplifying for nuance and also very sibilant which usually needs post correction with a desser.  Does Zoom have it's own noise cancelling built in?
I wonder if it's best to have in the headset/mic or PO, or does it not make a difference?

Most conferencing mics tend to be close address so they pick up mainly voice, either on a headset or end address dynamic mics like the SM7B type.  The Aston Element may be worth a shout though, it's a full range dynamic that you are supposed to use a little further back, rather than right against like your classic radio mic.  It's inexpensive too.

Aston Element Cardioid Microphone - Andertons Music Co.

I've no experience of shotgun mics, but their supercardioid patters should keep things tighter.

I realise that but at equal distances the cheap USB mic had a higher signal strength and better tone for speaking.
I had the Rode with a 51db gain setting. The Fifine does have a level control but I don't know if it is a booster or attenuator. I suspect a booster.

Zoom has 3 or 4 noise cancelling presets available. I tried them all with both mics, and then for the Rode I also tried a noise gate and compression in my Helix.

I have not tried singing into the Fifine yet.

guitarmangler

I used a lav mic from Amazon during online teaching during the pandemic. I ran it info the second input of my helix where I added extra processing etc.
Zoom was always the worst for audio quality, compression off ( or background noise off, I forget the terminology) for both me and the student. FaceTime was the best. 

 If I needed quiet from the mic, I just programmed a snap shot to mute the mic and stomped on it. 

This is the mic

https://amzn.eu/d/13TzPGn

TimmyO

I'd been using AirPods  on all my calls for ages and not giving a thought to sounds quality of the mic part - then I was on a call where someone else was using them and was surprised how BAD that person sounded compared to everyone else. I did a little test recording myself with mine and compared to the various other mic sources I had available (MacBook built in mics, a USB mic I had, a cheap lab mic going via camera input) and the AirPods were woeful compared to literally anything else - I was really surprised.

They ARE very good at rejecting background noise though, so maybe that's the payoff. Now I use them as the 'speaker' on calls and literally anything else (often just laptop mic) as the mic. 

I can't quite bring myself to go full telemarketer-look but they are undoubtedly the best thing for the job (if a bit bulky when you need to be out and about) 

Sporky

For out-and-about I favour holding the phone itself to the side of my head. I know it looks odd, but it's as if that's how it was designed to be used. 

TimmyO

Sporky said:

For out-and-about I favour holding the phone itself to the side of my head. I know it looks odd, but it's as if that's how it was designed to be used. 

Not at all what I meant - I mean needing to dial.in to Zoom/Teams from laptop when at other locations and having needed to operate out if laptop bag as mobile office for the day 

TimmyO

So perhaps more correctly "in and about, but not in-in as in at home, but not walking outdoors" 

Sporky

That makes sense.

Though I was just going for a cheap laugh.  

fretmeister

Sporky said:

sev112 said:

I use conventional apple earphones, not pods.  And everyone sitting at home complains that they can hear everyone else in the office over my inbuilt headphone mic ?!

anyone know how to make that better in TEAMS ?

We have people who use them when on calls in the office - they pick up as much background noise as they do the person speaking. 

Mostly our standard is these, which are superb:

https://www.hp.com/gb-en/shop/product.aspx?id=77Y87AA&opt=&sel=ACC

I'm sure they are great, but I prefer to not have headgear.

It's only me in the room so it's not too bad to sort out.

sev112

I’m happy to stop using my iPhone headphones, but (a) no batteries to be charged, (b) not bulky head things cos they need to be carried about every day and they will get damaged and are too big for narrow thin briefcase

any suggestions ?

ps until now, after 4 years of every day TEAMS use, no-one has said they sound crap, which now sounds quite surprising and I’ve never read it before, but I’m happy to swap for something with the abive criteria

rze99

I have been informed that "MS approved" headsets perform better / cancel surrounding noise better but that's all I know,

Sporky

Mostly the Teams Certified ones are exactly the same as the standard version of the same model, except the manufacturer pays Microsoft a fee for every one they sell with the logo on. And they pay to get certified in the first place. 

UnclePsychosis

I get increasingly irate that after four years of the whole fecking world doing remote meetings, there's still people who use shit microphones, who haven't worked out that if they don't use headphones then everyone else gets feedback, who don't understand that not muting when there's loads of background noise is awful for everyone else and who still haven't worked out how to do things like screen share.

I genuinely wonder how some people manage to walk and breathe at the same time, sometimes...