Testing my new USB microphone for live shows

[Samson Meteor stock image curtsey Wikipedia]

I've been having quite a lot of trouble getting my condenser mics and recording interfaces to play nice with Skype and Discord.

In fact it's been such a challenge that for the first Sounds of Steem event, in desperation I ran the master output of my console through an old acoustic guitar effects pedal with a built-in USB interface. I was overjoyed when this actually resulted in something of a signal being passed through Discord but unfortunately it broke up quite a lot during my performance.

[zoom A2.1u acoustic guitar effects pedal]

For Songwriter Shop Talk Episode 6 with @meno, I wound up using an old USB Logitech headset which at one point fell off my head mid performance. Not cool.

[Logitech Heaqdset - not exactly high fidelity]

I've since replaced my PreSonus StudioLive 16.4.2 (16 channel firewire console) with a PreSonus StudioLive AR22 (yeah ok I'm kind of a PreSonus fan-boy). Aside from the additional channels, upgraded preamps and bluetooth/iPad connectivity that I was primarily interested in, I had also hoped it would fix my Discord issues. Sadly it didn't.

[PreSonus StudioLive AR22]

In fact, it's been worse, regardless of whether I use "Tap to Talk" or "Voice Activity". The input from the console constantly drops out like it's loosing connection.

So when I was hunting around on Cash Converters the other day (think Music Go Round for those based in the USA) and I spotted a USB Samson Meteor mic for $30AUD I figured it was worth a look.

For those who aren't familiar with Samson, they make (in my opinion) high end gear for the price-point they operate in. I have two Samson C01 condenser mics, which are probably my most versatile microphones and sound great on everything from vocals, to acoustic guitar, guitar amps and make awesome drum overhead mics too. My favourite pair of reference headphones I own are also made by Samson, they're the SR850's and despite the slightly amped low end, I've come to get to know them and because my studio monitors are a little lacking in bass response, I know that slightly under-cooked on the speakers and just a tad driven in the headphones is the sweet spot for kick and bass.

Anyway, I digress, today my Samson Meteor arrived in the mail (Yay) and I have to say if first impressions are anything to go by this is an impressive little microphone. For a start it's built like a brick shit-house - that's Australian for "heavy duty", a shit-house being a toilet or water closet. It's weighty and feels solid. It's egg-like shape and foldable legs make it look like it's rocketed from a far distant land and parked itself on your desk, ready for orders from home-base.

[Samson Meteor on my desk]

But does it sound good?

Well, I'll let you be the judge, here's a little tune I recorded just a few minutes ago.

For those who have followed me for a while you may have heard this song before, it was my first ever Steemit OpenMic entry (Week 46) back when I had a crankin' beard on the go and we were living at our old rental.

I should mention that I’ve set the input format in Audio MIDI Setup (Mac OS) to 48,000 Hz and I’m using SoundToys Little Plate to add a touch of reverb - which I was lucky enough to get for free when it was introduced last November.

For live streams I’d most likely drop the format to 41,100 Hz as there’s no real need to have it set any higher than 44.1 for an internet stream, in fact thinking about it, that’s possibly why the StudioLive has been dropping out… there’s something to try when I have a few spare moments ;)

Let me know what you think, it's definitely an improvement over the in-built camera on my Zoom recorder and in my opinion a great little addition to my arsenal of microphones for just $30 AUD.