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jamesdelfresco
05-21-2014, 07:43 PM
I was wondering why Headset microphones are not popular in podcasting? Can someone suggest a good one?

MovieBuff
05-21-2014, 10:52 PM
I was wondering why Headset microphones are not popular in podcasting? Can someone suggest a good one?

Probably because of the aesthetic, but the weird thing is a lot people wear visible earphones.

Here's a great headset/microphone: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Audio-Technica+BPHS1&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

Example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyVEXPGRrOI

PaulSaunders
05-22-2014, 06:04 AM
I have also wondered the same thing. Why dont we wear headset microphones. Im not talking about the crappy phone headsets. Many broadcasters and sports guys wear headset mics. Any experts here to give us some insight on why?

AlBurr
05-22-2014, 07:41 AM
I've invested in a small cheap headset mic <$20 to test with my wireless setup. I think for video they make sense unless you like seeing those giant headsets on people :) If you're just doing audio who cares and in fact they make sense so that you can more closely monitor your audio. Imagine if news anchors all wore those huge headsets... I don't even like headphones.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/844/c7sx.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/ngc7sxj)

mcphillips
05-22-2014, 05:05 PM
I tested the BPHS1 headset mic. It was terrible.

PaulSaunders
05-22-2014, 05:25 PM
@ Mike What was so bad about it?

Could you suggest a few ones that are good?

mcphillips
05-22-2014, 05:37 PM
The microphone sounds very thin, and its output is as low or lower than an SM7B. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend one at the moment although I expect the Countryman E6 is pretty decent.

MovieBuff
05-22-2014, 09:13 PM
I tested the BPHS1 headset mic. It was terrible.

Darn, my school uses two of them (sounded good to me). Let me know what mic headset you prefer?

mcphillips
05-23-2014, 04:35 AM
Maybe my two were bad. It it works for you, go for it.

I actually took mine to the Alabama Theater for a show we produced. The sound board guy refused to let us use it because the output was so low. He was concerned that running the gain so high could allow transients to get into the chain and destroy his speakers. (It has happened to them before with a bad cable or bad mic that required a lot of gain.)

If I recall correctly, Dave Ramsey uses one. If so, his sounds great. I've tried to get clarification from his former engineer, but he will not respond to my emails.

Podnutter
05-23-2014, 08:12 PM
It is interesting that we dont see many broadcasters using it. It might have something to do with the lack of good audio coming out of them .

AndrewSeabrook
05-24-2014, 01:25 AM
I use three in a live sporting environment for the commentators. In that environment they are great. I don't have problems with the output, in fact I often have to dial the gain back a bit. Positioning the Mike is critical and for different commentators you need to make subtle changes. If you have the Mike too far off axis you tend to pickup background noise and the vocal sound is thin. My only complaint is with the earpieces. They tend to become hot and sweaty after a couple of hours. Using liners is a good tip. The sound in the headphones however is excellent. Would I use them in a studio? Not by preference but if I had a round table of guests I wouldn't have qualms using them. I am just about to buy 3 more for my stats team....

Dahalabit
05-29-2014, 06:48 PM
Whenever I have listened to a podcast that was using a headset mic i was really disappointed with the quality. I don't know what microphones they used but its never that great. I would stick to the traditional mic.