Episode 117
The best USB microphone for podcasters in 2024?
Oh my, do I have a lovely microphone to show you today!
The sE Neom microphone presents an intriguing option for podcasters seeking USB-only solutions.
With its distinct design, on-brand red meshing, gunmetal colouring and unique features, the sE Neom aims to carve out a niche in a crowded USB microphone market.
I have been testing this microphone now for about 6 months in a variety of locations and use cases. As a podcaster myself and a producer of over 50 podcasts, I’m always looking for microphones to recommend to my community.
So I decided to put this one to the test.
Thanks to Chris from Sound-Music for sending me this microphone! They’re a great bunch of humans based out of Melbourne who distribute the best gear to audio/production stores around Australia.
—
00:00 Introduction to SE Neom Microphone
00:31 Microphone Features and Controls
01:59 Sound Quality and Pop Filter Issues
04:08 Microphone Performance in Different Settings
06:13 Proximity Effect and Singing Test
09:14 Final Thoughts and Recommendations
11:23 Conclusion and Upcoming Comparisons
BAMBY MEDIA LINKS:
GEAR WE USE HERE AT BAMBY MEDIA:
Aputure Amaran 200d LED Video Light
Pre-Amp/Mixers we recommend
Transcript
Today, I'm testing out a
Speaker:microphone called the SE Neom.
Speaker:It is a USB only microphone brought
Speaker:to you by SE that I thought I'd give a
Speaker:little bit of a run because they don't
Speaker:really have any other USB products.
Speaker:And I wanted to see whether they brought
Speaker:something to the podcasting space that
Speaker:felt like a good fit for podcasters.
Speaker:And so here it is.
Speaker:Is at the back of this microphone,
Speaker:we have the headphone jacks.
Speaker:You can plug your
Speaker:headphone straight into it.
Speaker:And then on the front of the microphone
Speaker:is where all the other action is.
Speaker:You've got a mute button, a
Speaker:dedicated mute button, which
Speaker:actually is really good.
Speaker:And then you've also got
Speaker:three other controls here, which
Speaker:most USB, in fact, I would probably
Speaker:argue all other USB microphones
Speaker:don't have, they don't have knobs
Speaker:for all these specific things.
Speaker:So below the mute button, you have a
Speaker:mic gain button, and this is controlling
Speaker:how loud you can turn up the microphone
Speaker:level, like how strong the signal is.
Speaker:Most USB microphones don't have that
Speaker:control, on the microphone itself.
Speaker:You can go into the
Speaker:settings of your computer.
Speaker:And of your sound settings and
Speaker:control the microphone level from
Speaker:there, but you can't do it on mic.
Speaker:And so this is really good.
Speaker:I really like that.
Speaker:It has that as a feature.
Speaker:Next one down is the
Speaker:actual mic high level.
Speaker:Level control.
Speaker:And that's for your headphones.
Speaker:So how much of the microphone
Speaker:and yourself do you want
Speaker:to hear in your headphones?
Speaker:And then the next one down
Speaker:is the playback level.
Speaker:So if you've got music coming in at the
Speaker:same time, like in your headphones, how
Speaker:much of that do you want to hear versus
Speaker:how much of yourself do you want to hear?
Speaker:There is knobs for each of those
Speaker:things, which again, is something
Speaker:that I, for any other USB microphone
Speaker:that I have tried, they don't
Speaker:have that kind of customization.
Speaker:This microphone.
Speaker:Is the only one that does that.
Speaker:Let's actually get into how
Speaker:this microphone sounds because
Speaker:that's the most important thing
Speaker:the knobs are certainly nice.
Speaker:You know, it's nice to have some of
Speaker:those I like the you know feedback
Speaker:on that But as far as how it actually
Speaker:sounds let's just have a little
Speaker:listen to it So that you can decide
Speaker:for yourself whether you like it.
Speaker:As you're listening to it.
Speaker:Now, what do you hear?
Speaker:What do you hear in my voice?
Speaker:Do you hear nice things or
Speaker:do you hear not nice things?
Speaker:Is there anything that
Speaker:is missing for you?
Speaker:Now the first thing that I would
Speaker:say about this microphone straight
Speaker:off the bat, if this is for
Speaker:podcasters, is you need a pop filter.
Speaker:You cannot use this microphone
Speaker:without a pop filter.
Speaker:Did you hear me pop then?
Speaker:Pop.
Speaker:There is a very significant issue
Speaker:with this mic and so unfortunately
Speaker:that sucks a little bit because this
Speaker:microphone looks really cool and now
Speaker:I have to cover it with a Pop filter.
Speaker:I'm just using the pop filter that
Speaker:came with my other SE product,
Speaker:which is the SE DCM8, which
Speaker:is the microphone I use a lot.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:This is my favorite
Speaker:microphone at the moment.
Speaker:I've done a bunch of reviews and I've
Speaker:battled it against other microphones,
Speaker:like the Shure SM7B, which is, you
Speaker:know, the one that everyone uses.
Speaker:So we're just going to use this.
Speaker:Okay, we're going to put it on top
Speaker:doesn't look very good anymore.
Speaker:And now you can't see my mouth So
Speaker:now when I do my pops pop pop pops,
Speaker:it doesn't have anywhere near the
Speaker:popping sound, which is good So you
Speaker:definitely need a pop filter For
Speaker:this microphone, for it to work,
Speaker:the microphone has a polar pattern.
Speaker:That only has the sound being
Speaker:picked up from the front and around.
Speaker:If I'm over here, you can
Speaker:hear it, but not as much.
Speaker:If I'm over here, you can
Speaker:hear it, but not as much.
Speaker:If I'm over here, you
Speaker:can hear it really well.
Speaker:If I turned it around, then
Speaker:this is not picking up that it's
Speaker:picking up from here at the back.
Speaker:So definitely don't face it
Speaker:this way because that's not
Speaker:the way it should be facing.
Speaker:Okay, and so then now it
Speaker:sounds much nicer, doesn't it?
Speaker:Because it's in the right location.
Speaker:So this microphone is a condenser
Speaker:microphone, which means it's going
Speaker:to be suited best for spaces that
Speaker:are more controlled, environments
Speaker:that are more controlled.
Speaker:This environment that I'm in right now
Speaker:is not a controlled acoustic space.
Speaker:And I do that on purpose just because.
Speaker:For mostly what I'm reviewing here on
Speaker:this channel is stuff that podcasters use
Speaker:and they're mostly at home podcasters,
Speaker:so they don't have treated spaces,
Speaker:they don't have acoustic paneling,
Speaker:they don't have that sort of stuff.
Speaker:And so it's best for me to try and
Speaker:emulate that when I'm doing this
Speaker:sort of thing, so that I'm not
Speaker:giving you a false sense of what your
Speaker:microphone is going to sound like.
Speaker:This is a very small room, this is
Speaker:like two, three meters by two meters.
Speaker:Two and a half or something,
Speaker:maybe three by three.
Speaker:I haven't mapped it out, but
Speaker:it's quite a small space.
Speaker:I've got lots of hard furnishing
Speaker:things in the background there.
Speaker:Lots of Lego bookshelves.
Speaker:I've got a hard desk.
Speaker:I've got concrete floor.
Speaker:You know, it's not a space that
Speaker:I would recommend for podcasting
Speaker:and certainly not for podcasting.
Speaker:Music making for vocals, but it
Speaker:is what most podcasters have.
Speaker:They have something like this.
Speaker:I've got a little rug on the
Speaker:floor, but that's pretty much it.
Speaker:So there's lots of things
Speaker:for this to bounce off.
Speaker:For those interested, it has a
Speaker:frequency range of around 20 Hertz
Speaker:all the way up to 20 kilohertz, and it
Speaker:supports sample rates starting at 44.
Speaker:1 all the way up to 192
Speaker:kilohertz, which is really good.
Speaker:So that's the normal things you
Speaker:kind of look for in a microphone.
Speaker:Yes, it's USB.
Speaker:Does it have some controls?
Speaker:How does it look?
Speaker:How does it feel?
Speaker:Do you need a pop filter?
Speaker:That's all the stuff you kind of
Speaker:need to tick, tick, tick, tick,
Speaker:tick, tick off to begin with.
Speaker:The next thing I'll say as well with this
Speaker:particular USB mic is that you need to
Speaker:plug it into the back of your computer.
Speaker:Or like your laptop, not with a USB hub.
Speaker:It doesn't seem to work, uh,
Speaker:with it being plugged into a hub.
Speaker:And I've got a Satoshi hub, which I've
Speaker:had for ages, and it works with all
Speaker:my other USB microphones pretty much,
Speaker:but it doesn't work with this one.
Speaker:For it to work for me, I had to plug
Speaker:it into the actual computer itself.
Speaker:Now, if we get onto a few little trials
Speaker:here, I mean, obviously you can hear
Speaker:the way it sounds when I'm talking.
Speaker:Uh, if I get closer to the microphone,
Speaker:this is the kind of proximity effect.
Speaker:I'm talking quietly.
Speaker:This is kind of the ASMR vibes as I
Speaker:get further away, sort of at a position
Speaker:where I potentially would be talking
Speaker:in a podcasting setting, then that's
Speaker:kind of what it sounds like here.
Speaker:So it's about, Oh, no, 10
Speaker:centimeters maybe away.
Speaker:And then if I go back, Hello, this is me.
Speaker:There is no way I would ever do this
Speaker:or recommend that everyone anyone
Speaker:ever does this because it's way
Speaker:too far away It sounds like trash.
Speaker:I would recommend you never ever do that.
Speaker:Now if we were going to sing into this
Speaker:microphone again, this is going to
Speaker:be a little bit of a struggle because
Speaker:This is a condenser microphone and
Speaker:it does seem to have a little bit
Speaker:of a trouble with the Volume, it's
Speaker:not great with that, but i'm just
Speaker:gonna sing some so you can hear it.
Speaker:So if i'm nice and close, all
Speaker:right At last, my love has come
Speaker:along, my lonely days are over.
Speaker:Sounds quite nice, doesn't it?
Speaker:Now, if I wanted to give it more
Speaker:juice, more volume, I'd have to be
Speaker:further away from the microphone,
Speaker:which means you're going to hear more
Speaker:reflections, and in a space like this
Speaker:I don't think that's
Speaker:going to work, ready?
Speaker:Life is like a song, oh yeah,
Speaker:yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, at last.
Speaker:The skies above are blue.
Speaker:My heart was wrapped in clover.
Speaker:The night I looked at you.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So you can hear there that it peaks.
Speaker:Hopefully you can hear
Speaker:that it peaks quite a lot.
Speaker:Even if I'm all the way back
Speaker:there, it's not handling very well.
Speaker:So you would need to
Speaker:have this through a DAW.
Speaker:and having compression on at
Speaker:the time of recording for that
Speaker:to not peak all over the place.
Speaker:And so that's not ideal.
Speaker:If I turn the mic level
Speaker:down, now it's pretty soft.
Speaker:So now I have to get like really close.
Speaker:And then I go back to try
Speaker:and get it to not peak.
Speaker:Life is like a song, yeah, at least.
Speaker:The sky's above a oomph of blue,
Speaker:my heart was wrapped in clover.
Speaker:Okay, so I have to do a lot of
Speaker:like mic technique with this
Speaker:microphone to make that work.
Speaker:I'm just going to turn it back up.
Speaker:That's not ideal.
Speaker:This is not a microphone that
Speaker:I would recommend you use.
Speaker:for vocals, because it just
Speaker:doesn't, doesn't function very
Speaker:well with the dynamic level.
Speaker:And if all you're doing is using it,
Speaker:well, if you're singing, then there's
Speaker:so many other microphones that I would
Speaker:recommend for vocals other than this one.
Speaker:Now, if you're just recording a podcast
Speaker:and you're a solo person in your house,
Speaker:then this microphone's pretty good.
Speaker:You can talk really quite softly.
Speaker:It will pick it up very nicely.
Speaker:It's not bad.
Speaker:The only thing I would say.
Speaker:Is that, with this microphone, because
Speaker:it has to have a big ol pop filter on
Speaker:it, if you're hoping to have it be the
Speaker:microphone that you use for YouTube,
Speaker:I don't think you should do that.
Speaker:Sorry, it's so big, it takes up so
Speaker:much room, and although it sounds
Speaker:nice, it doesn't look very nice.
Speaker:It looks better, like this.
Speaker:That looks better.
Speaker:That looks actually kind of cool.
Speaker:But you can't use it like this, because
Speaker:it's going to pop all over the place.
Speaker:Even if I go off axis.
Speaker:Hello, I'm off axis,
Speaker:popping, popping, popping.
Speaker:It's still popping, popping, it
Speaker:doesn't really matter where I am, okay?
Speaker:So, it does pain me.
Speaker:To say that for video, you wouldn't
Speaker:use this microphone for audio only.
Speaker:This is a fantastic microphone.
Speaker:This is a lovely piece of kit
Speaker:for an audio only professional.
Speaker:It wants to be able to do nothing to
Speaker:the sound after you've recorded it.
Speaker:No EQ, no nothing.
Speaker:This can handle that like
Speaker:it sounds really nice,
Speaker:especially for a female vocal.
Speaker:This is really quite special.
Speaker:But I want you to be really close
Speaker:to the microphone to get the best
Speaker:out of it because it is a condenser
Speaker:microphone It needs to be close if
Speaker:your room is not something that you
Speaker:can control too much talk softly into
Speaker:it, close to it as an audio person.
Speaker:Video person, you got to
Speaker:get a different microphone.
Speaker:This is not going to be
Speaker:great for that setting.
Speaker:Vocalists, also not a great microphone
Speaker:for vocalists, in my opinion.
Speaker:That's my wrap up of this
Speaker:microphone, the SE Neom.
Speaker:Leave me a comment.
Speaker:What do you think?
Speaker:I'm going to do a battle with
Speaker:this microphone between some of
Speaker:our other USB microphones, and we
Speaker:will see who wins there as well.
Speaker:Stay tuned.
Speaker:Bye.
