What is a Good $50 Mic for YouTube?
I know how hard it is to start a YouTube channel. Everything costs money and, in the beginning, you don’t get a penny out of it!
Still, if you want to see your channel grow, at some point you will need to invest in your channel, starting with the equipment you use to record your videos.
Today we’re talking about mics!
There are two microphones I usually use for my videos. One is the Rode VideoMic Pro and the other one is the Rode Lav along with the Wireless Rode Go.
The VideoMic Pro can be found for around $160 and the combo Rode Lav + Rode Go can be found for around $230. I know not everybody has that kind of budget to start out and by the end of last year I received a smaller and much cheaper shot mic from Vitopal that can be found on Amazon for around $50 to $60 and decided to test it out and compare it to the equipment I already had. Would that be a good $50 mic for youtubers?
This is the VM-i2 video kit from Vitopal. It is a compact shotgun cardioid mic that can be connected either to your smartphone or to your camera and, in fact, it comes with both cables for that already. It also comes with a mini tripod and the adapter you can use to settle the microphone with your camera or your phone, an external windshield and a very nice hard case for you to carry this kit all around. Today we will test this out and see how it sounds.
I have to be honest! When I first listened to the audio from this VM-i2 isolated, without comparing it to the Video Mic Pro, I didn’t notice much of a difference. I was pretty impressed! The audio from this mic is very decent and I really consider this to be a good option if you’re on a budget and if you’re looking for something really portable. But what I think does not matter because we are talking about YOUR channel and the money YOU’RE going to spend in YOUR equipment! So, want to check it out for yourself?
02:38 — https://youtu.be/CIrNGndNKdc
Maybe you’ve gotten to your own conclusions but if you’d like to know opinion, the only thing I did not like much at first, was that I felt like it didn’t do too much of a good job when isolating my voice from the background noise. But it’s important to say that the volume for that background noise was pretty loud and, c’mon, we’re talking about a $50 tiny mic!
Of course, if you have some more money to spend and want to invest in a more expensive mic, once you compare the audio from one mic to the other and listen to them one after the other, you will realize there are some pretty clear differences. I recorded the exact same audio with the Video Mic Pro in the exact same place, distance and conditions that I used to record the VM-i2 audio so you would also be able to compare them also.
So here we go with the audio comparison to both mics!
04:40 — https://youtu.be/CIrNGndNKdc
To me, the $160 Rode Video Mic Pro does a better job in isolating the voice from external noises and also in killing some of the room reflection. Besides, it also has some more punch to the sound than the VM-i2. But hey, we’re talking about a mic that costs almost 3 times the value of the VM-i2. And not only that, we’re talking about a bigger mic than the VM-i2.
So is the VM-i2 a good $50 mic for youtubers? If you’re starting out and you’re on a budget, I think it is definitely a very decent mic. I would be careful with external noises and I would definitely use it as a boom mic to get the best out of it, though. Also, if your room is a reflective room like mine, I would try to kill some of the noise reflection of the room by placing some blankets around, and as you could see, you will get a very decent sound!
Even though the Rode VideoMic Pro will still be my main mic, I will definitely keep this VM-i2 to use with my second camera, with my phone and to use it in situations where I don’t want to take anything big with me. This mic is so small that it is a great mic to carry all around!
Now, you will find other cheap mics that can compete with the VM-i2, such as the Rode Video Micro, for example. It has a similar size to this mic but, I do not own it and I have not tested it, so I cannot tell you if it is better or worse than the VM-i2.
What I can tell you is, I tested this one out and you checked the audio test I did yourself.
I did not talk about how I use the Rod lav with the Wireless Go here because it is not a shotgun mic combo and even though it sounds great, the mic showing over my shirt is something that bothers me a little and, when I hide it, depending on the movement I make, it ends up making some noise, so I chose to go with the Video Mic Pro for most of my YouTube headtalk videos.
So? Do you like how the VM-i2 sounds? Do you think it could be good enough for you? Do you feel like it can do the job? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Also, if you’ve tested out this mic and/or also tested other mics at a similar price range, which one do you like better? I would love to know what equipment you use, why you use it and how you like it! I’m sure many of you have some nice thoughts to add to this review and you’re absolutely welcome to share your experiences down here, so that more people can benefit from them!
I hope this helped you…
Thanks so much for reading me, guys and… I will see you in the next post! Tchau!
