Logo RaxSade

Why choose an external microphone?

2021-04-04 12:56

External microphones generally have significantly better signal-to-noise ratio than laptop microphones.

  • Since the laptop's microphone is far from the mouth, the sound has to be amplified much more, which also means amplifying the background noise and room echo. The external microphone can be brought much closer to the mouth, so the sound does not have to be amplified so much with the background noise.
  • While laptop microphones are usually unidirectionally sensitive, external microphones are usually more sensitive in the direction of the speaker and less sensitive in other directions, further preventing background noise from entering the microphone.
  • While laptop microphones are very small and their frequency range is quite narrow, external microphones have a much larger diaphragm, which allows sound to be received in a much wider frequency range, which sounds more natural and pleasant.
All in all, listening to audio from a laptop microphone tires listeners more because they are forced to work harder to distinguish the signal from the noise.

In addition to the external microphone, I also have an external USB sound card with which I can continuously listen and monitor the sound of my own microphone through headphones, with no perceptible delay. Such continuous feedback allows you to quickly discover unwanted sounds and correct sound problems, conveniently set the sound level, better notice the dynamics of your own voice, intonation and other sound characteristics that others can hear. In professional studios and stages, the use of (in ear) monitors is a basic way of checking your performance and sound. In addition, the use of an external sound card significantly expands the range of microphones and also improves the sound quality.

In terms of price-quality and functionality, I would currently recommend the following set: