SAMSON Meteorite USB Condenser Microphone

5 Stars for what it is – a cheap mic
So I ordered this Samson Meteorite for recording rehearsals as I am getting ready to pro record in a expensive studio setting, and I have a high, big female soprano voice type. I simply must be able to hear myself without the bass static of hot mic drowning my high range out or wet mic warbling my mids and low range and not spend an absolute fortune.This would be a perfect lesson mic for anyone who takes lessons. Back when I was in college, I had an old tape cassette to record on and there was simply no way to record my high end without a pro studio.This little USB Mic works better for me than the Samson Satellite that I ordered with it which I am likely sending back. I am keeping this little golf ball size mic, however. Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed I would like this cheap plastic golf ball with a magnet on it better than my own pro mics. Maybe it isn’t best for speaking or voice recognition software. But for recording my very high voice in rehearsal it is absolutely perfect! I would feel comfortable publishing it even as a raw track with no editing whatsoever. My husband and guitarist is utterly thrilled he just saved a small fortune..Like I say, it is NOT going to be a loud recording. But at least you will have an accurate notation playback and it won’t get hot or produce static.I must say I am VERY impressed – this thing didn’t even go hot on a warmup in which I went all the way to high F#, the famous note from Phantom of the Opera. I have honestly never been able to achieve that with any mic but another condenser I have which doesn’t even have a real mic input but an AV guitar jack. We all know how undesirable a guitar amp is for singers, but its still a better option somehow than my Sennhauser which cost me over $100 and a low end PA for high notes.Don’t go out and buy the Samson Meteor or Satellite Cardiod/Condenser if you are like me thinking that more money equals a better recording mic.. Just find a condenser of any type and see how well it works. Everyone who uses these mics for speaking gigs basically sounds far away and the mic is meant to pick up high range sound and not bass or speech. Some people say never to use a USB Mic to record anything music however I disagree, I like the unprocessed sound of a USB Mic for rehearsing much better that input sound boards. To me the more devices we feed our voice instrument through the more processed it sounds. If you have a big dynamic voice you will lose everything you love about your voice in that process of feeding through preamps and effects boards line after line and have a flat, tinny and much less than vibrant, resonant result. So for my own big and resonant voice, I actually love the new USB Mic tech.It actually picked up my voice and didn’t warp or static it at all. It tells you when it is hot by a red light, and stepping back worked well for me as I went up the scale past the top treble bar F. I did have to stand about 6 feet away in the high range.Its even made of plastic.No it is not going to be a loud and sibilant mic picking up your every emotional nuance and breath. For that you will require a few condenser mics set up.I might even buy a few more of these and see if I can layer up tracks since they’re so inexpensive for my band practice sessions so my instrument players do not argue with me about notation and key in studio..If you need to hear yourself to see if you are accurate and listen back to a voice lesson or recording rehearsal this thing is great. Some mics just won’t pick up anything over a certain range of notation or volume no mater what you do to make the mic not go hot.Long ago someone with a colaratura voice lead singer in a symphonic metal band with amazing recording quality suggested I exclusively use condenser microphones only, ignoring the price range – as in condenser ONLY – no cardiod and no dynamic ‘option’ and that woman’s advice was invaluable to me to this very day. Not even experienced engineers know this because the vast majority of recording artists have a rarer voice type than most in that their low range is sweet and soothing or velvety and liquid, not high and earth shattering. Not even my soprano voice coach knew this trick yet she did agree that condenser mics worked well for her recordings and that she always at least brought one along to any studio for her own use just incase.Believe it or not, most sound engineers have experience working exclusively with lyric sopranos, mezzos, and baritones. If you aren’t one of those stick with a condenser as that literally makes up about 85% of the music industry and pop or rock vocalists.Also if you have a very thin and sweet high voice you might be able to get away with cardiod for recording. But if you have a big, loud performance voice and are tenor or soprano you will want to use a condenser. Basically if you can fill a sound hall or an amphitheater without a mic, you will want to record with a condenser and maybe even perform with one as well.Like I said, if you cannot get a good take of yourself do not give up even if sound engineers and record studio pros have told you your voice type isn’t good for recording. Get a condenser and try again and above all IGNORE THE PRICE it just has to be strictly a condenser and if anyone tries to talk you out of it find someone else.I would however like to find something that catches the glow of sibilant timbre and emotional nuance in my voice without being too hot which I can stand closer to, yet that day is probably renting a very expensive condenser I cannot afford to own yet in a pro studio setting.I will also add I have no carpet or furniture in the rooms I recorded in, just vinyl floors and a granite countertop and my equipment which probably made a huge difference.

Great compact little Mike
Seems to be well-made

Great
Works great!

This microphone is decent quality except it picks up lots …
This microphone is decent quality except it picks up lots of background noise. There is no noise cancellation or filtering. You would need to use some sort of software effects to cancel out background noise even then it might not the microphone is ultra sensitive. Maybe mying was defective!? I did check for “AGC”. I did turn down volume in windows settings it helped with some background noise. But I had to tape the back of the bulb to reduce background noise. the Microphone is just too sensitive. I kind of regret purchasing it. The USB cable gets too hot and causes the microphone to not engage anymore with the PC.

so nice!

Nice, compact and has a good pickup range. I bought this to give Cortana a try in Windows 10 and it works like a charm! Cortana, not so much… If you’re looking for a decent mic for a decent price, then you want one of these! The mic itself wasn’t chromed metal, as I had hoped, but chromed plastic. The base is magnetized so the mic itself sticks to it and will hold position. There were no problems installing and configuring it in Windows 10. Getting Cortana to play nice… I’m still working on that part. At least I can rule put the mic not picking up my voice.

Ho acquistato questo microfono per fare delle registrazioni audio all’interno di un teatro dove stavo filmando lo spettacolo teatrale di una compagnia. La precedente ripresa video senza il microfono in questione, non era venuta granchè, vuoi per la struttura che la ospitava vuoi per la distanza dei microfoni sulle videocamere. Dopo una lunga ricerca ho trovato questo microfono che si è rivelato uno dei migliori acquisti che ho fatto. Nonostante le ridotte dimensioni è un top di gamma, riesce a cogliere tutti i suoni perfettamente ma soprattutto in caso di successo editing come ho fatto io, ho anche avuto un buon margine per il gain in modo da eliminare i rumori di sottofondo e sentire lo spettacolo come se fosse dal vivo. Consigliato.