Podcast Microphone Battle: Rode Podmic vs Shure MV7
I've got two fantastic microphones to pin against each other today. The Shure MV7 and the Rode PodMic. Why the battle, you ask? Well, these babies are essentially cut from the same cloth. They both offer the versatility of XLR and USB connections, and the price point is basically the same. Shure and Rode are both very well known in the microphone industry, and I felt like it was worthy of a good ol’ fashioned rumble!
Before I declare any favourites, I want to make it clear that what you're about to hear is my personal opinion and specific to my voice. Your voice will have different tonality, different inflection and different frequency “hot spots”, so use this as a guide.
We start with some tricky sounds like those with heavy P's and B's to see how they handle plosives. I even treat you to a bit of singing because, hey, microphones are often used for that purpose, and I'm a singer myself.
I read a passage from Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl" to see how well these microphones fare for voiceovers and audiobook narration. These are crucial considerations, especially if you're a content creator.
Switching to the USB inputs
I switch both microphones to USB mode to see how they perform in this configuration. I want you to get a sense of the tonal qualities and clarity each microphone offers when connected via USB.
The differences with USB input are mostly felt in the loudness, in my opinion. The Rode Podmic delivers a “louder” sound with the USB input, and an added level of crispness which I’m actually not the biggest fan of. It feels a little flat in the USB environment, but the other aspects of the USB input for this Rode Podmic handle very well.
For the Shure MV7, I found that it is less muffled than the XLR input but it handles the plosives less well also. It’s nice that the Shure MV7 has a companion Shure Motiv desktop (and mobile) app that you can use to adjust some settings. Rode Podmic also has this feature, but not for desktop.
The Verdict
Personally, I believe that the Rode PodMic shines in most scenarios, particularly for podcasting and situations where clarity and pace are vital. For my voice, I found that the Shure MV7 was too muddy in the bottom end. It felt too heavy, and harder to understand what I was saying.
The MV7 handled the singing fine, though again not as clear as the Rode PodMic. However, it's worth noting that the Shure MV7 takes the lead in voiceover work and audiobook narration. It delivers a warmer, fuller sound that might be just what you need. If you tend to speak slower and in a more measured way, the Shure MV7 may be perfect for you.
Final Thoughts
To wrap it up, I want to emphasize the importance of choosing the right microphone, depending on your specific needs and vocal characteristics. Don't be afraid to experiment and find the one that suits you best. I highly recommend listening with headphones on so that you get the best sense of tonality and audio differences between microphones you’re interested in. Whether you're a podcaster, a voiceover artist, or just someone who appreciates top-notch audio, this episode offers valuable insights to help you make an informed decision.
Head on over to the gear page of our website if you’re interested in what equipment we use and recommend for podcasting.
Transcript:
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[00:00:00] Brianna: Welcome back to my face. My name is Brianna. I'm the head honcho here at Bamby Media and today I'm doing a microphone battle. I've got two incredible microphones here in front of me. we've got the Shure MV7. And the Rode PodMic USB XLR. I wanted to put them against each other because they're essentially the same. Thing they can both do both XLR and USB and I wanted to put it to the test I Have been using the RØDE PodMic now for a while and I'm loving it Shure also makes incredible microphones.
[00:00:37] And so I wanted to test what the differences were between these two microphones. They're essentially the same price point as well. it is switching back and forth.
[00:00:47] when I change the microphone so that you can hear the differences and the intricacies between these two microphones. What I'm going to test here now is saying some sounds that have a lot of P's and B's and check the plosives. Popping the popcorn makes for a yummy after dinner snack.
[00:01:08] Popping the popcorn will make for a yummy after dinner snack. Now I'm going to test what these microphones are like when you sing into them, because singing is another thing that people do with microphones, and I am a singer myself.
[00:01:24] some day when I'm awfully low and the sky is grey I will feel a glow just thinking of you, and the way you look tonight. I'm gonna record a little bit from Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I actually haven't read this book yet and everyone talks about it and I know it's super old, but I haven't read it [00:02:00] yet. So here we go.
[00:02:01] When I think of my wife, I always think of her head, the shape of it to begin with. The very first time I saw her. It was the back of the head I saw. And there was something lovely about it. The angles of it. Like a shiny, hard corn kernel. Or a riverbed fossil. She had what the Victorians would call a finely shaped head.
[00:02:28] You could imagine the skull quite easily. I'd know her head, anywhere. Ooh, I'm intrigued. I want to know more. This is the book that I'm reading from, Gone Girl, Jillian Flynn, Okay, so now what I'm going to do is I'm going to make this The USB version of both of these microphones. And we're going to have a look at what that sounds like. this is now the Rode PodMic USB input. Popping the popcorn will make for a yummy after dinner snack. Some the rainbow.
[00:03:10] Brianna PODMIC: There's a land that I heard of once in a,
[00:03:24]
[00:03:25] Brianna MV7: Now I'm using the Shure MV7 with the USB input so that you can hear what this sounds like. Popping the popcorn will make for a yummy after dinner snack. some day, when I'm awfully low, and the sky is grey, I will feel the glow just thinking of you. And the way you look [00:04:00] tonight. Now there is a
[00:04:03] Brianna: Now I'm back to the PodMic XLR, and this will be the one that I use for the rest of this video. What did you think when you listened to that? What was your impression? What was your favorite? I have my thoughts. I think the Rode PodMic wins, and it wins on both the XLR input and the USB input, but there is one particular use case where I think that the Shure MV7 actually beats So, um, yeah, The pod mic, and that is in the voiceover slash kind of audio book realm.
[00:04:38] If you were recording an audio book or you were recording a voiceover or meditations or things like that, the MV7 is better because it sounds more warm. and it feels a bit fuller, I guess, in your ears. The problem with using that microphone in my So, in that if you speak a little bit faster, if you're doing tutorials, you're running things where you, you have a bit of pace in your voice, the RodePod mic for my voice wins because it gives me more clarity in the way I sound than the MV7 does.
[00:05:17] We have clients that use the MV7 in the USB input, and they sound absolutely beautiful with that microphone because they have different sounding voices. For me, because I have a little bit of a higher frequency voice, when it gets too muddy, when it starts to sound too warm and I speak a little bit faster, then it is more difficult to kind of hear me well, I think.
[00:05:45] And so for me, for this use case, for podcasting, the Rode PodMic wins. And I will always default to the XLR input because I just prefer that as a... audio input, and it gives me more flexibility with how far [00:06:00] away I can be from my actual recording source. I have a separate video on why you might need an XLR versus a USB, and I will make sure to link that wherever I can, so that you can have a look at that if that's something you're interested in.
[00:06:15] So if you're interested in doing voiceover work, if you have a voice that you speak a little bit slower, You can also adjust some settings. It's nice that there is that little app that comes with it that gives you some firmware updates and things as well. And you can either do manual mode or make some other adjustments, uh, there. So I really like this microphone, but for my purposes, it's not quite going to hit it. I also found with the Shure MV7 that it compressed on its own a little bit, and I don't know whether you could hear that, but it sounded like a more compressed sound.
[00:06:52] When it was in the USB mode, and I didn't have any settings turned up. I didn't have the compression on, it was completely flat with the way I recorded this so that it was a true representation on how the microphone sounds coming in, and that's exactly what you've heard as well. But I found that this struggled a little bit more with sounding a bit compressed and a little bit more digital.
[00:07:15] and for singing as well, I found that both of them were quite good with the vocals. Maybe if you're a singer, go back and listen to those singing bits and just ascertain where you think your voice sits within that.
[00:07:28] If you're a male voice, you'll, you'll sound really good with this microphone, with the Rode PodMic. Because it doesn't over accentuate your bassy tones. But if you like that bassy tone sound, that more radio, the hoo, hoo, hoo type sound, the MV7 is going to do that for you. So you will be fine with either just depends on what kind of sound you want, knowing that you can always adjust your EQ in post production if you have those sorts of skills.
[00:07:59] So that [00:08:00] is my wrap up of these two microphones, XLR, the Rode PodMic XLR USB, and the Shure MV7. I hope you've enjoyed this video. If you have, if you've got value, hit the subscribe button, the like button, follow the channel, and I'm definitely going to be doing more reviews If there's anything you want me to review, then please leave it in the comments. I read and respond to all of those and I love providing this value. So have a great day.
