Episode 90
sE Dynacaster DCM8 Review for Professional Podcasters
If you’re stepping into the realms of more professional podcasting and you’re confused as to what microphone will work best for you, I’d like to introduce you to one you should be considering.
I know we see videos all day long with the famous Shure SM7B as the “go to” microphone to use for professional podcasters, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, I think there’s another player that should be in the ring. The sE Dynacaster DCM8.
sE is a family-owned business that was founded by Siwei Zo. He studied Composition at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and became a successful conductor and composer. Visiting California on a scholarship, Siwei then found an opportunity to merge his musical knowledge with his love for design. He began building condenser microphones under his own brand name, “sE” which is a homage to the art of sound engineering. In just over 20 years of designing and building microphones, the brand has established itself as makers of precision tools for artists, by artists.
As a musician myself, this kind of “origin story” resonates with me, and I’ve been using sE microphones as a vocalist for over a decade, so I was eager to hear what they could do for podcasters.
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Transcript
Oh, hi!
Speaker:Today I'm recording a review
Speaker:of this microphone right
Speaker:here, the SE Dynacaster DCM8.
Speaker:SE loaned this microphone to me
Speaker:so that I could review it and
Speaker:then I love it so much that I'm
Speaker:definitely going to be buying this
Speaker:microphone because it's awesome.
Speaker:So now I'm going to get into why.
Speaker:This SE Dynacaster DC M8
Speaker:is an XLR only microphone.
Speaker:It is a dynamic microphone and
Speaker:it has a gold plated XLR thingy
Speaker:in the inside of this here, too.
Speaker:It requires 48 volts phantom
Speaker:power to actually work.
Speaker:You will need to connect
Speaker:this microphone via the XLR.
Speaker:Through to some sort of preamp,
Speaker:mixer, you know, a streaming deck
Speaker:or something like that for it to
Speaker:then connect to your computer.
Speaker:You cannot plug this microphone
Speaker:straight into your computer.
Speaker:It does not have a USB connection.
Speaker:This is a high quality microphone,
Speaker:great for broadcast quality sound.
Speaker:It is a full metal construction, and
Speaker:it's that really awesome black color,
Speaker:so it just works with everything
Speaker:else that I've got going on.
Speaker:Aesthetics are pretty important
Speaker:to me, especially having
Speaker:a YouTube channel as well.
Speaker:If I'm gonna have a mic in my shot,
Speaker:I want the mic to not look terrible.
Speaker:I want the microphone to blend in,
Speaker:but I also want it to be cool enough.
Speaker:I also don't want a bunch of
Speaker:branding shoving in your face.
Speaker:The Essie brand is so understated in
Speaker:that way, which I'm a massive fan of.
Speaker:I like subliminal messaging versus,
Speaker:here's my brand, and so I appreciate
Speaker:that this has a unique look, a full
Speaker:body metal construction, and it's
Speaker:not shoving its brand in my face.
Speaker:I will buy microphones like this all
Speaker:day long, because it has a signature
Speaker:look without it being too branded.
Speaker:I also really like that the red
Speaker:Essie branded color is coming in.
Speaker:Next thing I love about this
Speaker:mic is that it has a three
Speaker:layer pop filter in the body.
Speaker:Of this thing and it has a different
Speaker:extra external pop filter that you
Speaker:can also shove on to it as well,
Speaker:which is just that's so many levels
Speaker:And so you've actually got three
Speaker:layers of pop filter without having
Speaker:to have a like big old giant pop
Speaker:filter thing that sits in your face.
Speaker:You've got so much protection
Speaker:from the pop sounds.
Speaker:With all this stuff.
Speaker:So to give you a demonstration
Speaker:of how that works, Popping the
Speaker:popcorn and sizzling the sausages.
Speaker:Now I'm going to put
Speaker:these bad boys back on.
Speaker:Popping the popcorn and
Speaker:sizzling the sausages.
Speaker:Okay, so if that's not enough, if
Speaker:that's not enough pop filter It
Speaker:ships with this giant pop filter.
Speaker:Let's put it on and see
Speaker:what difference that makes.
Speaker:Definitely have your headphones on, guys.
Speaker:If you don't have them on, get them on.
Speaker:Popping the popcorn and
Speaker:sizzling the sausages.
Speaker:Why would you need this extra bit?
Speaker:If you were working with someone who
Speaker:has a, like, they're really powerful
Speaker:when they're talking, like if they
Speaker:were a rapper, or if they're someone
Speaker:that really accentuates all their
Speaker:words, if they're someone that gets
Speaker:really energetic when they're talking,
Speaker:maybe if they're a public speaker and
Speaker:they're used to projecting and really
Speaker:over enunciating things then the pop
Speaker:filter is going to just do a great
Speaker:job of handling that I don't need
Speaker:this on, so I'm going to take it off.
Speaker:It's very easy to position this
Speaker:mic in pretty much any situation
Speaker:that you may want it to be in.
Speaker:And it also Uh, works really well
Speaker:off axis because of the way you
Speaker:can position this microphone.
Speaker:So it doesn't take up a heap of my shot.
Speaker:You can see my mouth and you're
Speaker:also getting a high quality sound.
Speaker:So for me, that's huge.
Speaker:When you're filming on YouTube
Speaker:as well and you have a microphone
Speaker:in front of you, you don't
Speaker:want it in front of your face.
Speaker:In fact, I have had Plenty of
Speaker:people on earlier videos when I
Speaker:was reviewing different microphones
Speaker:say, Hey, I can't see your mouth.
Speaker:I can, can you put it so
Speaker:that I can see your mouth?
Speaker:It is off putting to not be able
Speaker:to see the person's whole mouth.
Speaker:So I really like that this
Speaker:microphone allows for that to happen.
Speaker:One of the best things about
Speaker:this mic for me personally is
Speaker:obviously the way it sounds.
Speaker:If it didn't sound
Speaker:good, I wouldn't use it.
Speaker:I like the way that it gives me depth.
Speaker:A lot of the time.
Speaker:When you get depth, you
Speaker:can also get muddiness.
Speaker:Let's say driving in a car and
Speaker:you're driving on a freeway and
Speaker:you have that hum of the freeway.
Speaker:The hum frequency of the freeway can
Speaker:also interfere with the hum sort of muddy
Speaker:sound that some microphones can give you.
Speaker:It's actually harder to get
Speaker:a nice, clear, crisp sound if
Speaker:you get too much bottom end.
Speaker:And you do have to kind of notch
Speaker:it out and play with the, with the
Speaker:filters there so that you can get
Speaker:the sound that you actually want.
Speaker:But it requires lots of work in
Speaker:post production to get it to sit
Speaker:where you really should have it sit.
Speaker:This microphone doesn't
Speaker:have that problem.
Speaker:It gives me depth without
Speaker:muddiness and it also gives
Speaker:me crispness on the top end.
Speaker:So if you listen to it
Speaker:in headphones, okay.
Speaker:Listen to the way I sound.
Speaker:You can hear that I
Speaker:sound nice on the bottom.
Speaker:It's not too muddy.
Speaker:And I also sound good on the top end.
Speaker:So I've got clarity and crispness
Speaker:and also a bottom end depth
Speaker:that I really appreciate.
Speaker:It's going to be good for male or female.
Speaker:That's another thing that I definitely
Speaker:want to hit on for everybody.
Speaker:Male, it's going to give you
Speaker:that depth without being muddy.
Speaker:Males generally, okay, generally
Speaker:have a lower body sort of bottom
Speaker:end sound to their voices.
Speaker:They've normally got
Speaker:more going on down there.
Speaker:And then they need a little bit
Speaker:of help in their mids to highs.
Speaker:So it'll be good for males
Speaker:because you can get that depth
Speaker:without the muddiness for males.
Speaker:And then for females, it's giving
Speaker:you that extra clarity up the top
Speaker:end, which is really nice, but
Speaker:also giving you depth and body in
Speaker:the lower end, which I appreciate.
Speaker:The SE Dynacaster DCM8 also
Speaker:has the settings that you can
Speaker:change on the microphone on the
Speaker:bottom, just like the SM7B does.
Speaker:So you can change a few little
Speaker:things like the boost level,
Speaker:you can turn it off and on.
Speaker:And there's a few little EQ
Speaker:adjustments that you can make
Speaker:to the microphone itself.
Speaker:Why would you potentially
Speaker:want to do that?
Speaker:If you put the settings on that you like,
Speaker:that you know, sound good for your voice.
Speaker:on the mic, then potentially
Speaker:if you take it somewhere else,
Speaker:the settings are still there.
Speaker:So you don't need them to apply
Speaker:anything because you already have it
Speaker:sounding the way you want it to sound.
Speaker:So it's nice to have those little kind
Speaker:of layered effects there that you can
Speaker:have inbuilt on the microphone so that
Speaker:it's set the way you want it to be set.
Speaker:This microphone also has the dynamite
Speaker:boost inside of it, so it gives you that
Speaker:extra boost, which is why it sounds so
Speaker:crisp and it also gives you that extra
Speaker:sound level, which is really cool.
Speaker:And it also means that it does
Speaker:perform pretty well as kind of a
Speaker:longer, like you can be standing
Speaker:further away from it and you'll still
Speaker:get a pretty good sound out of it.
Speaker:Anytime you stand further away
Speaker:from a microphone though, you are
Speaker:going to introduce reverberation
Speaker:and anything else that the room
Speaker:is letting you put in there.
Speaker:So in my situation, the fan on my
Speaker:computer is running a little bit hot.
Speaker:And then this room also has, uh, hard
Speaker:furnishings, so we've got a bit of
Speaker:bounce and we've got some ceilings
Speaker:that definitely need some acoustic
Speaker:treating on them, which I don't
Speaker:have in this space and it's not a
Speaker:space I'm going to be in forever.
Speaker:So it depends on what I want to do
Speaker:there as to how many extra levels of
Speaker:sound control I want to give the room.
Speaker:I think that's one of the things that I
Speaker:don't love as much about this microphone
Speaker:compared to other things that I reviewed.
Speaker:Although it is a dynamic microphone,
Speaker:And it does handle dynamic range well.
Speaker:It can handle a louder
Speaker:environment more generally.
Speaker:It can handle less controlled rooms.
Speaker:It still presents a little
Speaker:bit more of that background
Speaker:noise kind of coming into it.
Speaker:It still gives a little bit more
Speaker:of the reflection and it's probably
Speaker:because I have the boost on.
Speaker:If I turned the boost off, it
Speaker:wouldn't, you wouldn't be as
Speaker:noticeable, but I want the boost on
Speaker:because I like the way that sounds.
Speaker:It definitely brings in a little
Speaker:bit more than some of the other
Speaker:dynamic microphones that I
Speaker:have in a broadcast capacity.
Speaker:But I'm okay with it because of the
Speaker:way it sounds, because, as I spoke
Speaker:before, it gives me depth and it gives
Speaker:me clarity and it mushes it together
Speaker:for a beautiful sound for myself.
Speaker:Then I'm okay with it being a little bit
Speaker:more of a, uh, a situation where I've
Speaker:got more sound coming in that I have
Speaker:to manage in my post production because
Speaker:it's just a nicer sounding mic overall.
Speaker:Now I'm going to give you a test of
Speaker:how it sounds on and off axis and from
Speaker:different levels of further awareness.
Speaker:And I'm also going to do a little
Speaker:bit of singing so that you can see
Speaker:what that sounds like for yourself
Speaker:if it's a mic you're thinking of
Speaker:for singing and vocals as well.
Speaker:This is me talking into the
Speaker:microphone and I'm off axis
Speaker:right close to the microphone.
Speaker:This is me talking into the
Speaker:microphone and I'm off axis about 60
Speaker:centimeters away from the microphone.
Speaker:This is me talking into the
Speaker:microphone, and I'm on axis
Speaker:right up close to the microphone.
Speaker:This is me talking into the microphone,
Speaker:and I'm about 60 centimeters
Speaker:ish away from the microphone.
Speaker:Okay, and now I'm going to sing
Speaker:into the microphone, off axis
Speaker:and on axis, so that you can hear
Speaker:what that sounds like as well.
Speaker:here we go.
Speaker:Someday when I'm awfully low and the
Speaker:sky is grey I will feel a glow just
Speaker:thinking of you And the way you look
Speaker:Oh, but you're lovely, with your eyes
Speaker:so blue, and your cheeks so soft.
Speaker:There is nothing for me but to love
Speaker:you, and the way you look tonight.
Speaker:Okay, so that should give you
Speaker:a pretty good picture now.
Speaker:What it sounds like if I sing and
Speaker:if I talk at different distances.
Speaker:I hope you enjoyed this.
Speaker:What do you think?
Speaker:Do you like this microphone?
Speaker:Do you like the way it sounds for me?
Speaker:And I'm going to do some battles
Speaker:between this microphone and some
Speaker:others that are in the same wheelhouse.
Speaker:Like the SM7DB, and some others that
Speaker:are also XLR microphones as well.
Speaker:So stay tuned for this kind of content
Speaker:and I hope you have a lovely day.
