CAD Audio U37 USB Studio Condenser Recording Microphone

At first I was going to give this mike 4 stars because I'm a perfectionist and I've seen better studio mikes. But those studio mikes were expensive; this one is under $50. Therefore, 5 stars. Here's why: PROS: * Good quality recording with variable settings on the mike itself * Very easy to install. No driver software-- just plug it in and it works * Responsive cyan LED to help indicate power / recording level * Excellent size. When set on a table it's at just about the perfect height for recording * Surprisingly good sound quality, especially for a mike this light-weight and low-priced * Neat little table tripod stand, easy to set up and use * Comes with generous-length cable CONS: None really. Terrific little mike. These are more "be aware of these things when recording": * This is (as advertised) a studio mike. It is really, really, really sensitive and will pick up all sounds in the room-- including computer fans and a small 10" room fan I had set on low about 6 feet away. Such noise of course can be easily overcome in post-processing using a program such as Audacity (available free on the Net) or other music processing software. * That said, it has a "bass switch" that provides reduction of background noise by reducing mike sensitivity for some sound levels. * That said... the bass switch also alters the overall quality of recording sound. This can also be adjusted via post-processing. * THAT said... it's best to record in an enclosed room using a tablet or laptop with as little fan sound as possible, because this WILL pick up all sound in the room. It's meant to do so to provide distortion-free recording. For best recording I use this with my Windows tablet (zero fan noise, easy portability and setup). The result is a very effective "recording studio" which does a good job for not a lotta cash. Quality Windows tablets today can be purchased for around $200. So that along with this mike and free downloaded software provides a good recording environment that will suit the needs of many users. And of course it functions perfectly as a high-quality computer mike for Skype or other chat purposes. WHAT TO EXPECT: A good-quality voice and instrument recording mike. Solo voice/guitar? Yes. Computer voice mike? Yes but it will pick up background noise. Group mike? Yes, it's a studio mike; it picks up sound well. WHAT NOT TO EXPECT: Don't expect $300 + $20 wind screen sound recording from this. It has very good sound recording, but there are better mikes on the market if your budget allows. However if you're on a limited budget and want GOOD results and would like a USB mike that plugs right into your computer, I don't believe this can be beat. I've purchased several microphones and this has as good a quality sound recording as any mike I have purchased. This isn't a "band" mike. This is for use in "studio conditions" (ie, in a closed environment without background noise) directly plugged into your computer's USB port. Used as an outdoor mike at a concert or such... well I haven't tried that yet. Typically studio mikes are not good for such. Used in live performance: no. The background noise pickup and feedback potential would be immense. SOLO STUDIO RECORDING: Because it does pick up external noise you can play it with an acoustic instrument without miking the instrument separately; it will pick up about the same quality and positioning as the human ear. Interestingly this mike seems to work better from 12 inches than the standard 2 to 4 inches that most recording mikes prefer. I got excellent results when recording at 12". At 2" from the mouth the sound is still excellent but one gets the feeling of "really not necessary and is actually too much". 12" or even further seems perfect, which is great news for solo acoustic guitar performers. This mike would work equally well running an electric guitar through an amp and setting the amp to the side. The mike has such faithful reproduction of sound it should lose little or nothing in the distance translation. In short, a terrific mike for studio recording. If you're looking for an inexpensive quality studio microphone, this is well worth your consideration.

I bought this mic to make my own home made audiobooks and so far it performs beyond expectations; I sound WAY more professional than I expected as an amateur who knows very little about microphone quality. While it's true that this USB microphone is "plug and play" in the sense that the drivers installed to Win 8 instantly and correctly, I feel some reviewers may not understand that once it is installed, settings and levels must be adjusted to suit your recording environment and needs. I find this to be a very useful feature, as you're able to customize your levels and thus have the ability to record a wide range of productions; for example, at it's most sensitive settings ( AGC ticked 'on' and maximum input gain), I was able to listen to -both sides- of a telephone conversation taking place roughly 20 feet away, and at the opposite end of the settings/gain spectrum I was able to record clear, crisp conversational-level voice while all the usual household background noises (such as a nearby TV, family members rustling about, PC tower/fan noises etc) were barely noticeable in the recording. For those who are expecting to be able to hear what is sung or spoken into the microphone in real-time without any delays, understand that this will not be possible with current USB technology, you'll need to get something with a little more power. All that said, this mic works and sounds AMAZING for the price! And yes, the flashing LED is maddening. I too stuck some black electrical tape over it to stop myself from becoming hypnotized, hah.

I bought this mic for podcasting work a couple years ago. Very happy with it. It's a great mic for the price. You can get a very nice, warm, vocal tone with it. Be sure to invest in a pop filter though. One disadvantage of this mic is it's a condenser mic so to get good quality sound I've found you need to speak directly into it at keep it at very low input volumes. It does not do a good job recording otherwise, condenser mics pick up every little background noise (CPU fans especially) . If you are recording video in addition to audio (such as a youtube video) I don't recommend this as it sits too high and will block your face. Something like a snowball is better for that. I've found the quality is not that good if you're not speaking directly into it (pick up sound from a whole room for example). I can only get good quality at lower mic levels. High mic levels I get bad fuzzy/distorted sounds. But it does great for singing/podcasting. One other issue is the indicator light is extremely bright. I've had to put a piece of black tape over to cover it as otherwise it lights up my face and I don't want that when I'm recording myself for youtube. Edit: It's 2021 now and I've owned and have been using this mic for over 7 years. Mic works just as well as when I first got it. It has stood the test of time. I still use it for Twitch streaming and for youtube videos. I invested in a cheap $14 boom arm this year and it's a huge upgrade from the included stand.

I bought this mic to record spoken voice for game commentary and pod casts and the like, not to sing (so I can't comment on what its like to record singing). I have had massive problems with other microphones (that were also cheap) because of the background noise in my computer room (window unit A/C - even with the compressor off, the massive fans make a fair amount of noise for my other mics to deal with, 3 computers with fans and the like). This has been an amazing microphone for me so far (had it a couple months now). It is very sensitive, which you would think would be counter-productive for a noisy room, but in my experience, since you can turn the volume down REALLY low (my windows mic volume is sitting at 5) and it will still pick up your voice loud and clear, as long as you get the positioning right, the background noise becomes negligible. I will admit I have to turn off the a/c (just the compressor part, not the fans) to get crystal clear recording, but it is miles ahead on sound quality than any other cheap microphone I have tried, and you can't really fault it for picking up loud noises that are actually in the room (after all, that is what a microphone is supposed to do, and that compressor is LOUD). I normally shut the door to the room, run the a/c on high for a few minutes before I want to record, and then turn the thermostat up so the compressor shuts off while I record for a couple hours. I had no troubles getting this to work in any of the software I use to record, I also have started using it in things like ventrilo because its just so much better than my old desk mic. Also, the stand it comes with is great for the default stand you get with a mic. The center pole moves up and down (not much, but about 2-3 inches of lift) and the part the mic attaches with pivots up and down about 180 degrees. The cord is also decently long, I have no problems mounting this on an arm on the opposite side of my desk from my pc. I think the cord is nearly 8 feet long. For the price, this thing is nothing short of amazing. My only complaint is the blue led that is right above the switches is really bright, and I normally record in a dark room... But, when the worst thing you can say about a product is the led is too bright, I call that a win. I am actually buying a second one today for my partner so we can both record at the same time and not have to be sitting on top of each other in front of my computer.

The microphone, which I primarily use for speeches and voice overlays, is a reliable personal microphone. Correctly editing the audio and going into a quite place, you will get the best performance. Unfortunately the microphone does pick up background noise (though being USB you would have to expect that.) Like I said, just add some noise removals, and you'll be good. Quality of audio becomes flawless. Both the switches on the front of the microphones only make a tad bit of adjustments to the overall quality of the microphone, but those tad bits can actually turn out to be a big difference in most situations. I also put a nice little wind screen onto my microphone just to decrease even more the amount of noise that I could possibly get. The other criticism I also have for the microphone is the blue flashing light on the front face when in use. It get's a bit annoying. Solution, put a piece of tape over it. Starts to look like handy man's project, but can help keep from straining your eyes. Also, the microphone has a body make of plastic, but don't, it's still an amazing microphone to work with, not some cheapy generic product for sure. For the price of $40+ makes the microphone worth trying for people who are interested in a starting microphone. You will enjoy using it, and you will enjoy the quality of audio that you get from it. All in all, the microphone picks up a little bit more noise just because it's a USB mic, the blue flashing light can get annoying, but with adequate audio editing skills the audio from the mic will sound flawless, and all of it for a nice cheap price of around. $40 Hope this helps you guys out in making your decisions. -AL

This is a decent microphone. There are a few design flaws, and one major issue. 1. The Blue LED light on the front is extremely bright, and this is distracting in any environment and with any placement of the mic. As a general rule, no peripherals should use bright blue LED lights, but this one is always in front of you, so this is a really big design mistake. A red LED would be fine, and it should have a cloudy cover piece to soften the light. 2. The stand is very cheaply made and has stability and durability problems. The plastic is cheap, and the tri-leg design is flawed. The microphone is heavy enough to topple the stand over when positioned to the side of the legs. This is avoidable, if the microphone is installed upside down and flipped to the other side. 3. The unit has a problem with randomly "freaking out" when transmitting audio and it garbles the sounds transmitted. This happens frequently in Skype. I have not conducted extensive tests to see if this happens in other applications. Minor issues: Does not come with a pop-filter. And it does need a pop-filter, if you are using this to record vocal music up close. This is not necessary for regular voice chat.

Although I've been shopping with Amazon for quite some time, I don't ever review products. However, I do read the reviews and often rely on them. I was torn about purchasing this microphone. I've never bought one before and I'm only learning the intricacies of good vocal recording. As a part of my job, I write and produce corporate videos. I use a microphone to record the video voice-overs. Our "studio" such as it is, has a condenser mic available, but I found myself spending hours cleaning up the audio tracks after recording them and some simply can't be cleaned up enough - they have to be re-recorded. There is a great deal of white noise in our "studio" as well as a very loud HVAC system directly overhead. It's almost impossible to get that noise completely out of audio tracks. In desperation, I decided to purchase my own microphone. But, who wants to spend a lot of money on equipment to perform their salaried job? I'm not ready to lay out thousands of dollars on a microphone. I was attracted to this model because of the cardiode pick-up and the bass reduction switch. I recently recorded my first audio track using this microphone. And I didn't have to clean up a thing! Even absent the rumbling HVAC and ubiquitous white noise, the sound quality was much sharper and clearer than the much more expensive The complete absence of that vexing background noise has quickly made this microphone indispensable to me. I've saved hours of tedious and often useless audio file cleaning. I gave it five stars based on personal satisfaction, not based on any in-depth knowledge of microphones. I'm definitely not a sound geek. But this is a working product for me and it works wonderfully.

I needed a better quality microphone to use for VOIP/gaming chats and the occasional commentary for Youtube videos. I didn't see the need to spend the $100+ price point of popular mics like the Blue Yeti or Audio-Technica AT2020 , nor did I want to skimp and pick up something in the lower price range like the Zalman Mic1 . Just wanted a middle of the road model that'll make voice recordings sound better than the built-in mic on my laptop. After doing some research I found this mic and it got enough good reviews and was in a perfect price point so I decided to try one out. Setup was easy with the microphone. Windows 7 instantly installed the drivers through the USB plug/play connection. I keep the switches at -10 for the top and the straight line for the bottom bass reduction setting. I also went into the Control Panel > Sound > Recording tabs and changed a few of the properties to get better sound: CUSTOM - UNCHECK AGC LEVELS - Moved the slider to 50 ADVANCED - Change from CD to DVD quality (1 channel, 16 bit, 48000hz) I then went into my Realtek Audio Manager (every computer will be different so you'll need to research which soundcard your computer has to find your exact settings) and unchecked any microphone 'boost' settings. Then I loaded up Audacity (free sound editing program) and recorded some voice samples at different angles/distances. The pickup of the mic was pretty good at all tests. I use it positioned directly in front of my mouth about 6-8 inches away and the audio is extremely clear with little to no background noise. Most importantly though is there is no fuzzy/static sound at all. Instead of picking up a bulky pop filter or even a windscreen I simply took a clean sock and covered the mic to help prevent any spit getting into the mouthpiece. Comparing the voice samples covered/uncovered, the simple sock works pretty well to help tone down any sharp sounds. It also has the benefit of covering the blue LED from shining in your face. Talking to a few family/friends on Skype and in games they almost all commented on how much better I sounded from the built-in mic. Job done. I did take off a star though for a fairly annoying problem. The USB connection is very finnicky. Any reposition or slight movement in the USB cable will disconnect the mic. Not sure if my mic is just defective or if this is a common problem with the mics. Please leave a comment or message to let me know if you have any issues with yours please. A simple jiggle on the cable fixes it so I'm not going to bother sending back for a replacement .... yet. Overall though, this is a good microphone for voice commentary and sets up easily. Very clean natural sounding voice recording and has just enough features/accessories to make it worth the price. Recommended. Edit - January 2020 Still using the microphone. The issue above with the mic disconnecting was due to the assembly of the mic. The two plastic shells have a channel in between them that the wire from the USB port is supposed to fit into. During the assembly of the mic this wire was out of the channel and pinched in between the two shells. This caused the insulation on the wire to pinch and expose the bare wire. The mic would short circuit which explains the disconnects. I opened it up and wrapped the wire in electrical tape and the mic has been fine since then. Getting 7+ years out of the mic is not bad. Still recommended.