- Hi, and welcome back to my channel. Now, in this video, I'm going to look at the difference between recording with a USB microphone, rather
than an audio interface. So this question of, should
you buy a USB microphone or an audio interface when you're doing your first recordings in your
home studio is a common one. What I'm going to do is I'm
going to directly compare using the same microphone, the USB version and the XLR version of
the Audio Technica AT2020. So you can hear the difference, see the difference. I think we can look at
some of the advantages and some of the disadvantages of each approach and see
which one is right for you. Now I post lots of
videos on home recording, especially for people who are new to it. So if that's the sort of
thing you're interested in then please do subscribe to the channel. And if you liked the
video, give it a thumbs up. If there's anything else you want to know, don't forget just post your comments and questions in the box below and I will reply, or maybe
even make my next video based around your question. So I look forward to hearing from you but meanwhile, let's go and
explore the USB microphone versus the audio interface. The only real difference
between these two microphones is this one is the USB version. So this one can connect straight up to your computer via USB. This one is the XLR version. And so to connect it up to your computer, you are going to need an audio interface. So this is a great way
of directly comparing two recording scenarios that
you might be considering. Okay, let's start with the USB microphone. So the USB microphone is a
completely self-contained device. This is a microphone
that has, built into it, the capability to take your sound source and turn it into a digital audio stream so that it can be connected
straight up to your computer via USB, without any other equipment. Now, this microphone comes
also with the desktop stand which connects via a little mic holder and it also comes with the USB lead. It's a plug and play device, so you literally get it out of the box, plug it into your
computer, select the device as your recording device
and your output device in either Windows or on your
Mac using the control panel or the sound preferences. And you're good to go. This microphone also has
a headphone out port. So the only other thing
you're going to need is a set of headphones
so that you can listen to your computer sounds
and to your sound source as you're recording it through the headphone
port on the microphone. So it's an input and
an output device, okay? We look on the front, you'll see that you can adjust the
volume of the headphones here and you can also choose
whether you completely listen to the sound of the microphone
as you're recording, or whether you completely
listen to the sound coming out of your computer when you're
monitoring software and so on, or whether you do some mix of in-between. The benefit of this USB
mic is it is cheaper because it's a completely
self-contained unit. That's all you need to buy. And it is simpler. The final benefit of this one is also that it's really portable. You can see that all this stuff is going to fit in this little zip case. And so if you want to record on the move, this would be all you'd
need to take with you, along with your Mac book or PC, laptop and you'd be good to record on the move. So let's move on to the XLR version. Now, the XLR version does
not have any built-in way of connecting this
directly to your computer. You can't connect this microphone directly to the microphone port on your computer. You need to get an XLR lead and you connect it to your
computer via an audio interface. And you see this interface here. It has two microphone inputs,
special inputs on the front that will take the other
end of the XLR lead. You can adjust the gain. So it's got a built in pre-amp. It's also got built in phantom power, so it can power the mic as well. And then this box does the job of what the inside of
the USB microphone does. It takes the analog stream
from the microphone, turns it into a digital audio signal that can then be transferred to your computer and
recorded into software. The main disadvantage of this setup is obviously going to be cost because as well as buying the microphone, you're going to need to buy the interface. You're going to need to buy an XLR cable. You're going to need to
buy a microphone stand. And you're also going to need to buy a good quality set of headphones, or you're going to need
to buy a good quality set of studio monitors to
listen to what you're doing. The other disadvantage of this compared to the USB mic is it's
more complex to set up. Often, you will have to install
drivers for the interface. Even if you don't have to install drivers, you often have to install a control panel. It's a little bit more complex
to get it set up in software. And so if you want a simple,
cheaper way of recording, then your USB microphone
is going to do the job. However, there are a number of advantages to going down this microphone
and interface route. So let's have a look at those. Now, the thing with this USB microphone is it is actually a bit
of a one trick pony. It is good for setting up quickly and recording one audio sound source. So one voice, or group
of voices, or a guitar, or some other acoustic
instrument that you're playing and whatever you're playing all at once, you can record as one audio
stream with this microphone. With the microphone
plugged into the interface, you've got the option of recording multiple things at once, because you've got multiple inputs. So you could connect two microphones. You could connect a
microphone and a guitar, say or you could connect, because this is a four channel interface, you could connect a keyboard to the two line inputs on the back. You've got midi in and
out as well on the back. And then on the front, you
could connect your microphone. So you could connect up
to four things at once or two stereo sound sources
and you could record them at the same time on different tracks. So as well as being able to record multiple different kinds of things like devices with line output, instruments with quarter-inch output, you can also record
them on different tracks and record separately, so
that you'd have a voice going in there and a
guitar going in there. They could be recorded
on two separate tracks. And so this ability to be
able to record multiple things on multiple tracks, is a good reason why you would want to go
down the interface route, rather than just relying
on a USB microphone, which will only record one thing at once. Now, the other benefit of
going down the XLR mic route is once you have bought this XLR mic, you are not confined to just
using it with a computer. This USB mic is only ever
going to work with a computer because it's only ever going to work when the USB lead is connected, so it's going to have to be
connected to either a computer, or a mobile device with
the appropriate connector. So that is the only way you're
going to be able to use it. With the XLR microphone, I could connect it to a
mixing console like this, connect it to the mic input
and then play it over speaker. So I could use it live. If I wanted to, I could use
it with this loop pedal. So if I look on the back of that, I've got a microphone input so I could connect this
microphone to that. It provides phantom power, so
I could use it to loop with. So I've got multiple options of how I can use this microphone. I don't just have to use it
to record on my computer. So my XLR mic and my
interface I can use together, or I can separate them out and use them for different things. So it is much more flexible. And that's one of the benefits of spending that little
bit more money, now. Now the final advantage
of the XLR microphone with the interface over the USB microphone is recording quality and resolution. This USB microphone is
only a 16-Bit device, so you'll only ever be
able to record at 16-Bit and it has two sampling rate options of 44.1 kilohertz or 48 kilohertz. Now that is CD quality and this is a good quality
recording microphone. So that resolution may
easily be good enough for you to do good voiceovers, good vocal tracks, to
record your instruments and you'd be perfectly happy with it. The benefit of going
down the interface route, this interface has the capability
of recording at 24-Bit. So immediately, you've
got a lot more head room and it has a sampling rate available of up to 192 kilohertz. Now the higher the sampling rate, the more you can represent
the sound digitally. And so you get a much
better representation of the original sound. So it is well beyond CD quality. And if the quality of your recording is super important to you, then the interface is
the obvious route to go. On top of that, this interface has really high quality pre-amps which are going to be better than the one built into this interface. And so you're going to be
able to get super quiet, super clarity recordings
via this interface, compared to using the USB microphone. Even though the microphones
themselves are identical. So in summary, the XLR
mic plus audio interface is a more flexible recording solution. You can benefit from multi-track recording and you'll get better recording quality but it will come at a higher cost and it is a bit more complex to set up. What I'm going to do now is I'm going to do a little head-to-head so that you can see if you
can hear the difference. So what I've done is I
have set both mics up inside my vocal recording booth. Each mic is going to have a
pop filter in front of it. So this is a direct
side-by-side comparison. The XLR mic is connected to my MaBook Pro through the Scarlett 4i4 interface. And then the USB mic is plugged into one of the USB ports directly. So in my DAW, I have created two tracks. On the red track, I have got the XLR mic recording
through audio interface and on the blue track,
I've got the USB mic. Now because I'm doing a
side-by-side comparison and recording them at the same time, they're going to be recorded
at the same resolution, which is 24-Bit and 48 kilohertz. Now for the USB mic, because it's not a 24-Bit
device, that will be padded out. It's not a genuine 24-Bit recording. And so I'm not going to actually play this little bit to you because what I'm doing is
I'm double tracking here with the two mics. What I will do is I will do
a side-by-side comparison in a minute by moving the
blue track so that it plays after the red track, so that
you can hear the XLR mic first and then you can hear the USB mic. This is a side-by-side comparison of the audio Technica, AT2020 USB Plus versus the XLR version. I'm using a pop filter and recording from a distance of 12
inches or 30 centimeters. This is a side-by-side
comparison of the audio Technica AT2020 USB plus versus the XLR version. I'm using a pop filter and recording from a distance of 12
inches or 30 centimeters. Now, the problem with this experiment here is that in a YouTube video, you're probably not going to perceive much difference at all. So what I have done is I
have uploaded the original recordings that I've made here
onto my SoundCloud account and I will give you a link below so that you can go and listen to them in the full recording resolution. And I'm also going to
upload two recordings made at the maximum recording
resolution that I can. So with the XLR mic, it will
be at 192 kilohertz, 24-Bit. And with the USB mic, it will
be at 16-Bit 48 kilohertz. So do go and check those out, so that you can really
listen to the difference and see whether the USB microphone is going to be a good enough
recording device for you, or whether you would prefer
to spend more money now and upgrade to the XLR mic
and audio interface route. Well, I hope you found that helpful. If you did, don't forget
to give it a thumbs up. That will really help me out,
do subscribe to the channel if you want to get more of my home recording tips and tricks. If you've got any other questions or anything you want to say, then don't forget post it below. And I look forward to
seeing you next time. Thank you for watching.
