Thanks to your support over the years I think I'm getting to the point where I can consider upgrading my casting set-up i.e. a higher quality microphone, possible a decent Mic-Stand, a video camera for between games, and possibly even some sound blocks for room acoustics. My current MIC setup is a simple Shure SM58 with XLR cable to an Alesis i02 preamp (which then USB's into the PC). My mic is stood on a broken cheap desk stand wedged inside a drilled hole in a block of wood precariously balanced between my screens. I have a pop-screen but can't really connect it to anything and get a decent angle in front of the mic and so can't really use it at present. It has a big clip on the end rather than something that can fasten to things like cylindrical stands etc and the neck is only quite short so doesn't have a lot of posturing ability either. Recommendations please! Looking for a great mic, but my price ceiling is probably around £400-£500. Again many thanks for all your support!
How old is the IO2? The preamps on those were pretty thin to begin with, and degrade pretty fast with use. That being said, preamps are money, so only replace them if they are actually an issue. I’ve been using an SM27 that I bought for some choir recordings for some time now, and I’d say that moving to a condenser will have a huge impact on tone. Transparency does sometimes however make things sound less warm and delicious however. You’re fairly far away from the SM58 right? Directional microphones sound significantly different at close range, so it might be the case that you’re not really getting a huge amount of microphone warmth anyway. If you are up for it, I’ll happily listen to some unprocessed WAVs and see what you stand to gain.
In that case, any gains made through new kit are going to be dwarfed by those made by getting a more appropriate stand. You’ll get a much better signal to noise ratio if you can find yourself a stand setup that gets you between 10 and 15 cm without causing too much physical inconvenience or unpleasant bass boost. Once there’s less noise, you’ll be able to be far more aggressive with the audio processing too. I’ll watch your most recent video when I get home.
