When I first started recording courses, I was looking for a good but low cost microphone. I did a research through youtube focusing in online course creation, 90% of the course creators recommended Blue Yeti, which cost about RM700++. I am not a person who likes to invest too much money in tool and equipment compared to investing in knowledge (meaning I would rather spend my money in attending classes to learn something new). Hence I kept searching and I couldn’t remember where I found the recommendation of Samso Go USB microphone, it costs about RM200++, one third of Blue Yeti’s price.

After getting the Samson Go microphone from online store, before I even used it, I attended an online class learning how to be an international speaker, the trainer taught us how to record online course by just using an earpiece. I was like ‘WHAT!?”, and the trainer was making millions from his online course! He demo’ed how he use the earpiece by inserting the earphone in the shirt but left the mic outside, with this, it prevent movement of the ear piece, and the voice quality was super good.

Since then, I use Samson Go USB microphone and my Vivo earpiece to record courses. There was an occasion I need to stand in front of the phone camera to take video, meaning it was a distance between myself and the camera, hence I need a lavalier mic, there are a lot of wireless connection microphone like the Rode brand, however, it is quite costly. I then decided to try a low cost microphone, a wired clip on mic that came with an extension cable and allows a few meters away me to shoot using my phone, it costs me only RM30.

Here are the sample recording with the 3 types of microphone I mentioned above.
1. Samson Go Recording
2. Earpiece Recording
3. Lavalier Recording
Definitely Samson Go mic stands out as the price is many folds compared to the other two. However, I feel all the three are not bad, loud and clear. If I need louder after recording, I can also use editing software to adjust.

I always advise my students not to invest too much in tool and equipment but focus more on course design. For noise control, it is more effective to record in a quiet environment than using software to remove the noise. If the environment you are in is really noisy, you can either wake up extremely early to record your course or to rent a meeting room to record the course. There are always many ways to do something and just need to be creative. When you start to earn some profit, you can then consider to invest in an expensive mic.

So what kind of microphone have you invested, let us know your recording experience!

You can’t find your voice if you don’t use it.

Austin Kleon

~Cheers!