Is It Worth It? - $500 Audio Setup Vs $20 USB Mic

hi there Jamie Keith here tonight a teachers tech hope you having a great night tonight I'm taking a look at audio quality so with my screencasting I do have a certain set up here that I've changed over time but can it be done on a much less expensive scale so I went out and looked for a top-ranked USB mic on Amazon this one I ordered the Klem $20 mic so I'm just gonna go I'll show you what I have my setup and compare it to this 20 dollar mic and do some tests back and forth and see is my setup really worth it or can you get started with creating good videos with something like this $20. 00 mic that is so simple to use just plug and play

back in Camtasia now this is the software that I record all my tutorials with I'll put the links down to everything down below so you can check out anything too but so before I get over to recording with the Clem $20 mic I just want to put things in perspective I'm still recording with my rode nt1 right now but I just kind of want to show you a price comparison between the two and then you can really kind of justify what's worth what and so I am using the rode nt1 and I'll just show it here on Amazon you can see it at $269 and this I like this mic this has been great but do I need a mic like this is there other ones that I probably could get similar sound probably out there but I have no complaints with this something it's a I like to use it now when you get a mic like this though you just don't stop with a mic you need other things when you're hooking it to computer if your screen recording like I'm doing you need

to have a preamp now you can get a package deal with rode with this I think it's like around $350 you can see even on the page that they'll match it with another preamp so what I mean by a preamp is something like this so your mic will hook into this and then this device will hook into your computer so then you can record directly to your computer now you can start to see the cost add up my the mic was around 270 dollars this is around 260 dollars and with any of these you can search other you know looking through your views of different mics you can pay a lot less or more and probably get very good results with it now when you get it also a mic like this you just can't set it in front of you need to hold it somehow now what I have is the

rode swivel arm and I love this thing this is super sturdy I can move the mic and or hurry adjust it up down sideways whatever but again it adds cost to it this is going to run you about $90 or $100 and there's other ones out there you can look at them at $50 maybe similar quality but I have no complaints with this one it were great so this kind of gives you a overview of what I have and the overall kind of that price setup and again you can range that up or down depending on what type of mic setup you get preamp and the swivel boom arm that you get with it but now let's go over to the twenty dollar Clem microphone where it's as simple as just plugging it into the USB no stand required okay so I'm talking into the Clem $20 mic here that you see on the screen to the USB desktop microphone just plugged straight in I'm probably about six to seven inches away from the microphone right now talking into it you might be able to hear a difference already but then when you think about the price point of kind of the $500 setup that I showed you before versus this $20. 00 plug-and-play now it might not be for everybody if they're thinking about recording these type of tutorials or using different things but it does improve the quality of the microphone rather than being straight from the computer now I do like kind of how sturdy this microphone is you can bend it around and it has a really good feel to it doesn't feel like a kind of a inexpensive $20. 00 mic so it does have that to it and it's just the place of right in front of you and turn it on and away you go so again what I'll do now is I'm just gonna go back and forth so you can hear kind of the difference with closed sections between what I'm using versus this mic this is a test speaking using the rode nt1 this is the test for the Klim $20. 00 mic well I hoped I gave you a little bit of a perspective from kind of both ends of the spectrums of microphones from something where I have mine set up to a $20. 00 quick easy USB mic now this could be a good way for you to jump in to maybe doing some YouTube or increasing your audio content because it is really important to up your audio when you're putting out videos and it can be done at a fairly inexpensive price point if you look around see what's out there so I do have a special offer if you're interested in learning more about screencasting and teaching with video check down below I'll put the link to that but thanks for watching this time on teachers Tek I'll see you next time with more tips and tutorials