I have no idea what I’m doing... 

A LOT of people have recommended the GoXLR Interface since I want to use this setup for livestreaming. I think I will give that a try... its pricey though at $500. If it works out I will give my Scarlett and and a mic to Phil since he wants to stream too. Thanks for the suggestions!

"I have no idea what I’m doing..." basically

The warmtone comes from basically speaking right in front of it (within an inch) The SM7B It’s not the the right mic if you plan to set it far away from you

The SM7B works for people who know how to use it. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Musicians, this is the best mic you will ever purchase at the price. He is using this mic completely wrong.

Sound engineer of about 20 years here: You have to be CLOSE to the SM7B to get that sound you want. I do agree that it needs more gain, but with more gain comes more noise- especially in lower end preamps like the one in your Focusrite interface. At the end of the day though, if you're happy with your sound then you're doing it right! One final note: the SM7B is $399 everywhere, up from $349 just a few years ago. I know this doesn't make your point any different, but its still a decent amount less than $500 :) Cheers!

So the lesson is: Do some research first. The channels Podcastage, and Booth Junkie, are excellent places to go.

Gotta be closer to the mic.

"hey guys here's me being 6 inches too far from my microphone wondering why i need +80 gain"

Jay just pissed off alotta sound engineers lmao

That smooth tone you were talking about has a lot to do with the SM7b's proximity effect. From what I see and hear, you're simply too far from the mic IMO.

🤦 Sigh. The SM-7B is a mic that is properly used close to the mouth - inches away. This is like taking a shotgun mic and placing it on top of your camera and talking from 6-8 feet away, and saying it is not a good microphone - no mic (camera, light, screwdriver, etc.) will work well when it's being used improperly.

“This sm7b sounds terrible” as he is a foot and a half away from it. Knows ‘tech’, but not audio tech smh

*gets dynamic microphone* *puts microphone far from mouth* *microphone sounds bad* jay: *surprised Pikachu face*

Jay: take all the advice you are getting here, play with it, and do a follow up video. Tell everbody what you learned. I believe that would be really interesting. Why not even go the extra step and contact some other content creators who specialize in this type of area (sound, stream tech etc), and you both do a cross-over video for both channels.

Do you use the 48v Phantom power from the Scarlett or from the Yamaha? to power your SM7B

As a producer I always love to see the weird ass audio setups youtubers end up with lol.

F to pay respects to all audio people shaking right now

Jay, I'll be honest. As a sound tech I came in here prepared to absolutely blast you for calling the SM7B a waste of money. As other's have said, you have to eat that mic. The wind screen should be touching your mouth and pointed directly at your mouth, not at an angle. The SM7B has a cardioid polar pattern. It has decent rejection from the sides so therefore you need that mic touching your lips and pointed directly at your mouth. This whole video can be chalked up to user error. You look at Joe Rogan who also uses the SM7B, he is eating that mic the whole time, you have to. Also, the Scarlett Focusrite is the go-to for a reason. All you needed is the mic, cloudlifter, and Focusrite preamp, you just didn't use them properly.

11 months later this got recommended to me and it immediately, immediately reminded me of the Verge PC build guide guy

"Keep it about a fist from your mouth" -Joe Rogan

1.) it is a dynamic mic, you will need to have the mic literally in your face. That is what it is designed for. If you want to have a mic that is further away from you, then buy a condenser mic. 2.) 2min of research let's you know that the SM7b needs lots of gain, which can often be an issue with dynamic mics in general when used for low volume sources - such as speech, acoustic guitar e.t.c. 3.) Don't buy cheap crappy gear expecting it to improve quality of expensive high-end gear...

You gotta eat that mic! Don't treat it like a condenser. EAT IT!

I find it interesting that Jay said it himself: This mic is used worldwide in major studios and national radio stations creating amazing results. So why question and bash the quality OF THE MIC instead of thinking - "maybe it's a user error?" o.O It seems a bit naive IMO and surprises me coming from Jay.

“You have to eat that mic” is (one of) the best comment ever. Never heard of it before.

The closest analogy I can think of for what you've done here is buy a sports car chassis, plonked in a lawnmower engine, screwed on some biscuit wheels and gone "man this car drives like cr@p" It is literally the mic that Michael Jackson used for his lead vocal on thriller. It SH!TS on that blue POS. I've been a Sound Engineer for years and unfortunately you did a lot wrong to come to your conclusions. (and I say this as a big fan of your other videos). Please don't give up on the sm7b 1: The sm7b likes to be eaten. 1-5 inches away and speaking directly into it. It's a cardoid mic which has a beautiful proximity effect (Ie. it adds low end/bass as you get closer) Most people using an sm7b are wearing headphones and this helps them to hear themselves 'feel' where they are in terms of the low end response 2: Your eq setting was horrrrible. I don't know an engineer on planet earth who would add low end to an sm7b like that. If anything people would do a slight lower mid-range cut (160-320hz) and do a broad boost the upper mids (1-4khz). 3: The SM7b is NOTORIOUS for being gain hungry. Generally needing around 55db of gain to be useable. You don't get that sort of gain cleanly enough out of an entry level, all in one interface. Most radio guys and the big podcasters and radio stations are using a microphone pre amp that costs upwards of 1000$ a channel, and those channels are connected to other bits that cost much more. Now, you don't need that to get there for your uses maybe. But you do need a decent pre amplifier that costs at least as much as the sm7b per channel. 4: You've completely ignored dynamic compression. Also a huge part of the radio sound. In all, unfortunately once you get to the more professional side of sound, costs rise exponentially (and the sm7b is considered a bargain in the sound world!).

One thing to keep in mind when using the SM7b is that it's 'classic's sound is making use of the proximity effect that is inherent to all cardioid mics; you need to pretty much be on top of it to get that rich low end and midrange 'bite'

Rule of thumb: if a product works great for literally everybody, but doesn't work for you, it's probably that you're doing something incorrectly.

The SM7-B is really great and as some other people said, the proximity makes the warm tone.

I'm a music producer (yes you can touch me) and have recorded plenty of vocals with a wide array of mics, and to me, the Shure sounds head and shoulders above that USB one. The gain structure is off because you need to be speaking far closer to it. You know how Joe Rogen is always telling people to get in close to the mic? That close. It's so much warmer and nuanced, especially for your voice. I'd actually bring those low-mids down a touch if you want some more presence, plus get a high pass filter control those subs (especially on the Yeti). Plus you can hear the Blue Yeti overload the moment you get too close or do anything vaguely dynamic. There's a whole condenser rabbit hole you can go down too if you like. Obviously, there's some subjectivity to this, but really it sounds night and day to me. If you've got the money, which I'm sure JayzTwoCents Ltd does, it's well worth it.

I know others are already saying this, but it just hurts me. "Eat the mic" is a saying for a reason. You're waaay too far from the sm7b to get the sound you're looking for out of the box

Turns out Jay's two cents are worth exactly that.

The SM7B is great for what it's meant for..... close proximity sound. It's really designed for radio and vocal performance.

I changed the comment so people don’t know what I originally said.

Jay, sounds like you had the pad enabled on it. Also useful to have some pretty beefy compression on the SM7 on the way into digital conversion. Also, watch how people typically use an SM7B. That mic is meant to be used UP CLOSE. The weird bass response you're seeing on that thing raw comes from you not being up close enough and not compressed.

Thank you for your honesty Jay! And sorry your sound setup didn't really go as planned.

Jay, I've watched your content for years, but I have to put my own two cents in on this one. Everyone else has already touched on the major things here, mic distance (I keep my SM7B about 2-3 inches from my mouth), choice of gear, etc. I've been saying for a long time that condenser mics like the yeti are a poor choice for livestreaming. They're more sensetive by design, picking up background noise much easier, as well as catching room reflections of your voice, giving a "ringy" or "roomy" kind of tone in an untreated space. They're designed for use in treated studio environments, and are excellent for that. I would personally use an SM58 with a low end USB interface before ever considering one of my condenser mics in close proximity to a mechanical keyboard, mouse, PC fans, and AC unit. Condensers are by far cheaper, and more accessible, but marketed way too hard at the gaming and livestreaming crowd. If I had a treated room, a condenser might find its way into my setup, but for most people's situation, a decent dynamic mic is always the better choice.

Buy (by mistake) the right microphone for the job. Pair it with one of the cheapest interface around. Grumble. And worst of it, doesn't frickin learn how to use it. As it's been said a lot in other comment, the mic (like 99.999999% of microphones, by the way) needs to be CLOSE to your mouth. The distance from your lav to your mouth is already very much pushing it, for a dynamic mic for example. As for the tone of voice, the SM7B is a very smooth, and quite dark microphone. Unless you had an operation, I very much doubt you'll need more low end through EQ. Learn to use the gear, before throwing more money at it. And before complaining. Let me put it in terms you may understand easier: you bought a Ryzen 3900X for your gaming pc. And your paired it with a GTX 1050. And since it wasn't fast enough, you got an upgrade and a X570 motherboard for it. And since it didn't make any difference, you added an Optane drive because everyone knows Optane is fast. That's what you did for audio.

There’s a HUGE difference between the 2.. the Shure setup sounds AMAZING! If it’s the sound you’re looking for then it’s worth it. You did great when it comes to the sound clarity with Shure!

When he said Alesis Multimix, I took in a sharp gasp. I have an Alesis Multimix FX-6 hooked up to an MXL 770. Beautiful setup, and i've had it for years. It sounds AMAZING!

Things to mention: SM7B is generally used from an inch away to get that nice smooth proximity effect... helps achieve a warm sound. GoXLR Mini could have handled the SM7B in terms of gain needed and also provided EQ, compression, gating... for $250 Using the SM7B is useful for many over the Blue Yeti because it is a dynamic mic. Dynamic mics are less sensitive and reject noise better picking up less fan noise, reverb, and anything else you can think of. I did notice a hiss or fans coming through the background music which could have been avoided using a dynamic mic. With that being said, there is more cost effective mics out there but the SM7B is hard to go wrong with. Might be too dark for certain voices or perfect for smoothing sibilant ones.

1. That tone you're looking for is called proximity effect, and it starts kicking in about three inches away from the mic, maximum. 2. You cannot achieve what you're looking for by just throwing a mic at the problem. You need proper preamplification. The mistake wasn't buying that particular mic, it was attempting a professional microphone setup while knowing nothing about pro audio. 3. You should be cutting EQ bands rather than boosting. Take that curve you've made and move it all below the 0 dB mark. It's not a volume knob, for pity's sake.

I think the warm tone effect you're looking for is in part thanks to the proximity effect so you need to have the mic a lot closer to get it (without EQ).

blah...blah..blah, as a sound engineer, to get the sound you're looking for you need to be right up on the mic, as some have already mentioned the proximity effect (closer you get the increase of low frequency response), also unlike most dynamic mics the capsule for the SM7B is further away then most dynamic mics hence why u need to eat the mic, giving it that legendary sound we all look for. Anyway that was my two cents there's tons more id like to say but I'm shure other people are on to it, keep up the content!

One lesson to learn: Inform yourself about the right application and how to use it, before you buy expensive gear.

This is a case of, you should have asked someone how to use the SM7b before buying additional stuff.

Hey, Ban drew has created a podcast episode (BSB-212) with great information!

Hey JayzTwoCents I actually prefer that "clip on mic" sound at the start than all those other mics for what RU-vid actually finally outputs

Isn’t the SM7B notorious for having low output? I think you need to be a lot closer to the mic.

The SM7b was good enough for Michael Jackson to sing into. He recorded "Thriller" on one.

I love those funny “takeouts” during the video ❤️

are those vst plugin settings the one you are using for that sound?? wondering, so i can use it for a start

Now the one thing I'd point out, you are comparing a Dynamic Microphone vs. a Condenser Microphone.... Two different types of microphones.......

with any dynamic microphone you are going to experience a pretty substantial amount of proximity effect. The closer you are to the microphone the fuller and "boomier" the audio is going to appear. Even moving more than an inch will change the way the audio sounds in many cases. Going with a professional solution to any problem is going to demand a certain amount of knowledge and experience to get it to work properly. Now that you have this wonderful microphone you will on the bright side never need another and it can take anything you throw at it, you can also sell it as the there will always be someone drooling for a shure microphone :)

This was like buying a new corvette to haul 4’x8’ sheets of plywood on the roof! 😳😂

Man I’ve watched you for a long ass time now since I was a little kid only dreaming about having a computer that could run a game at 40 FPS lol, anyways. I’m very glad to see how much happier and healthier you’ve become. Keep on keepin on jay !

What you're referring to when you're comparing the Shure to the "radio" sound is proximity effect, you have to get your mic a lot closer to your face in order to boost the low end of your voice, without using EQ. A lot of streamers or content peeps don't speak directly into the mic when recording, and these professional mics operate best when the presenter is talking on axis to the mic capsule. I work in radio and we use the Sennheiser MD 421 mics in our A studio. By using the proximity effect to your advantage and adding compression as well, this setup will sound very decent. Compression is another tool I would highly recommend you use. Another issue could also be the Solo interface. Even with the Cloudlifter, sometimes it's just not enough gain to drive the mic, even with other dynamic mics like the RE20. Something like the new MOTU M2 would have been a better choice to pair with the Cloudlifter in this scenario. It makes me sad when others have an audio related issue :(

This just sounds like a lack of microphone proximity effect combined with a cheap preamp that doesn't have enough juice for the sm7b. It doesn't make a lot of sense to expect a $400 mic going into a $100 interface to sound absolutely incredible. It also just sounds like Jay doesn't quite know how dynamic microphones differ from condensers. I would also recommend that if you can use VST plug-ins with OBS, add a compression plug-in and it will help you greatly. As a sound engineer, I almost always use a compressor with a dynamic when vocals are involved.

At least one nice thing, the SM7B will hold it's value if you ever decide you don't really need it as a status symbol.

TLDR: Jay dumb. Don't be a Jay. :D

Several points to make here: Would loved to have heard you do some typing and mouse clicking and stuff... That Yeti will pic up everything in the room you don't want it to. The dynamic mic shouldn't. Also you should deffo be closer to both of them especially the Shure. Thirdly,... The Shure still sounds way better even when playing this video through crappy phone speakers.

Man, imagine being this wrong

Love my Samson G-Track USB mic. It's big, bold, heavy and made of brushed metal. Not a single problem with it.

I use the Blue Blackout Spark XL ($199) with a Yahama MG10XU ($199) connect to the Rode PSA1 arm and I love the setup. Warm sound with nice tonal base. I use to have the Blue Icicle XLR to USB but needed a way to monitor the audio over XLR since there is about a 200ms delay over USB. Glad I chose the MG10XU for monitoring and power. Gives me options I need with room to add more mics as I build out my studio. If you're interested in having faders per channel on your mixer, I recommend the MG12XU or higher.

More sound engineers in the comments than stars in the night sky

I personally use the SM7B for my home streaming setup and love it. I have the SM7B running to a Cloud Lifter and then into my scarlett 2i2. (also remember you can change the way the mic sounds with the tabs on the back, alot of people forget to make adjustments according to their wants. I made my a little bit brighter sounding by changing the one slider. It really does help) Makes for a phenominal setup. I sit right on top of the microphone as well like 1/2 the time im touching the mics spit guard. Its a great mic just gotta get into the mic itself. Its annoying at first but its the correct way to use it.

So I've been looking into getting a new and separate mic for myself to record while playing games or something and one mic I found was the HyperX Quadcast. Looking in the comments here, I didn't see anything about it. So I'm wondering, is the quadcast actually good or are there better and less expensive options?

As a public service, I would happily take the SM7B off of your hands 😊

"Because I'm stubborn" Ah, that explains so much. Also even EQ'd, the Yeti had a certain boxyness in the mids that made it sound way less smooth than the SM7B to my ears.

the mic you've got in your shirt sounds more natural to me than either of the other mics

Jay, random question. What is your open air test bench, where did you buy it, and can you do a review on it, or have you already done one?

Jay, your best sound is a the first part of the video...were you using the Lavalier and if so what brand and setup do you have? I have a very small channel and I struggle with audio, I have the AT2020, Shure SM58, Rode Wireless go, Rode VideoMic Pro +, etc, fed into a Mackie ProFX12 V3 and nothing sounds better than your Lavalier sound.

the SM7B is a great mic, but yeah it's meant to be used really up close and personal

Lol when you said you didn't wanna go cheap with the audio interface, I was expecting something really nice, and then you said Scarlett Solo

So I have a condenser mic (CAD GXL 2200) and I really wish it had a warmer tone. Since I already have it and use it, would it be beneficial to grab that Yamama MG06 so I could adjust the sound no matter if recording or talking live in to discord?

Hey Jay, this was a great video to put out. A lot of people, like myself, have or are pondering new mics. Some would go the route you did with the "gotta have it" and end up spending far more money than their true budget allows. Or like me, I now know that the mics I've been looking at in the $100 range will give me the sound quality I'm looking for.

Sound engineer here tearing my hair out

Former production sound mixer here. #1 Too far from the mic. #2 SM7B needs a ton of preamp gain which obviously the Scarlet Solo doesn't have. #3 Most radio stations use a lot of compression in conjunction with EQ to give you that "warm" sound you are referencing.

My huskies love to lie anywhere as well my pups love underneath my desk so I've got to sit with my feet up while gaming 😂😂

Thanks so much for making this video! My channel is definitely A/V quality challenged right now, but thanks to some smart purchases I've been able to slowly up the quality of my vids (which isn't saying much). I went with a Samson G-track Pro that I bought used and I got a Rode mic arm (like the one in your vid) at an in person auction for $20 (new in box). That would be my biggest tip to those it's an option for (once all this COVID stuff passes) is find a brick and mortar auction house and watch their upcoming auction listing for A/V equipment. I got lights, stands, and a UWQHD monitor for pennies on the dollar.

On my HiFi setup, there was a huge difference...

I’m listening to this on $5 headphones...

Im personally using the old Blue snowball mic, voicemeeter, and tweaked some settings. You get the tuned sound with a little play in the settings. The only drawback is the Blue Snowball is legendary in being difficult with Windows drivers. Less than £100 a few years ago and still going strong!

I said the same thing when I first saw the sm7b like 7 years ago... finally bought it today.

Jay doing audio advise when he clearly dont undestand the products he bought ! GJ Jay

you're too far from the sm7b! pro sound engineer here.

Mind making a Voxengo GEQ video and how to have it set up for OBS? Just can't get mine to work, at all.

I use a SM7B with the cloud lifter and my Apollo Twin Duo interface and use the Manley Voxbox in the console and Boyyy does it sound clean and crisp and loud

All I could focus on was the light flashing to your voice.

when the doggo matches the owner same hair style and color and literally the same eyes . this is too good to be true

I got a cheap XLR bundle on Amazon that really outperformed my expectations. I think it was around $35 for a mic, arm, windscreen, pop filter and XLR cable. I added a U-phoria UMC22 XLR interface and the sound has been better than every headset or lav mic I tried before. I went this route so that I could upgrade parts as necessary but I don't see myself upgrading anything but the arm any time soon. While I'm sure more expensive mics have a better sound, the performance per dollar I get out of this has been fantastic. I would highly recommend this route for someone who wants to improve their audio but doesn't want to commit a big monetary investment. For about $70 total (mic bundle + xlr interface), it's tough to beat the value.

I think that buttery warm tone you're looking for is mostly proximity effect. an inherent phenomena with cardioid microphones. From my personal experience using the Sm7B recording artists and such the sweet spot is usually around 3 to 4 fingers away from the top of the mic. Hope this helps!! By the way just for some cred. i'm a recording and mixing enginee. Love your videos!

This happens when "buy" goes first then "research" comes second. I recommend watching Juan Carlos Bagnell's response video to help you out in case you still don't acknowledge the helpful comments here. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lguFei5IS14.html

So, is it just me that started watching the green led light on the Scarlet Solo go on and off every time Jay spoke ?

So you don’t have 48v of phantom power turned on anywhere? If I go SM7B to CL to Scarlett, do I need the 48?

Less Jay, more doggo. This will drive the channel to 3m subs!

Hey Jay ... i feel like you're a bit far away from the mic and we can hear the room reverb a lot .. maybe with less gain and closer to the mic it would sound better because of the proximity effect too , the closer you are to a mic the low frequencies are brought up more

On the back of the mic, you will find the switchable bass roll off switches. I'm fairly sure yours is set to flat. Seeing that you didn't mention the switches, I'm fairly sure you didn't research the SM7B very well. Hope to see a follow up video when you try the roll off switches. Sorry if you wasted a bunch of money over a simple fix.

hey Jay, question, is there a way to insert a Raspberry pie between the yeti and your pc to make it into a digital mixer for usb as a premixer instead of just in OBS? I think that would be cool to have a touchscreen on that pie and run off that.... I think im gonna do little research. if anyone else knows reply back. tnks! food for thought?

Q. I've got a rog strix soar sound card in my pc. Not really used it as always used headset. Are these sound cards OK with a mic like this