I use audiophile headphones, so I need a separate desktop microphone rather than a headset mic. My current Audio-Technica AT2035 only sounds good when I speak directly into it, but I prefer keeping the microphone above or below my monitors and out of the way. At that distance it struggles to capture my voice clearly. Noise suppression with NVIDIA Broadcast either removes too much of my voice or makes it sound heavily processed, while disabling it lets my friends hear every keyboard keystroke. Would a different USB or 48V microphone work better for this setup?
4 Answers
A clip-on microphone such as an Antlion ModMic could solve this because it attaches to your headphones and stays close to your mouth. That avoids both the distance problem and most keyboard noise. Another possibility is a shotgun microphone mounted above the monitors and aimed toward you, similar to how microphones are positioned for film and television.
You may not need an expensive or specialized mic. A Fifine microphone placed slightly off to the side on the desk can still pick up speech clearly, depending on your room and how close you can keep it.
A shotgun microphone may be the best fit if it has to stay out of your monitor area. An Audio-Technica or Rode shotgun mic with 48V phantom power can work from roughly 1–2 meters away when aimed directly at the speaker, although it may still capture some room noise. Lavalier microphones are another option, but clothing movement can create rubbing sounds. A Shure MV7X would sound good, but it needs to be much closer—around 12–18 inches—and would still require some noise processing.
The main limitation is distance: microphones generally work best when they are close to the person speaking. Noise suppression cannot reliably fix a weak, distant voice while also removing loud keyboard sounds. A low-profile boom arm or a microphone mounted just beside the monitor may be more effective than replacing the AT2035, even if it means positioning it near the edge of your field of view.
I have a triple-monitor setup covering about 170 degrees of my view, and I already own a microphone arm. No matter how I position it, the microphone ends up blocking part of one of the monitors, which is why I was hoping for a solution that could sit above or below them.