Is a USB Microphone Good for Recording Vocals?

For those who were blessed with a singing voice, you have probably asked yourself: is a USB microphone good for recording vocals? Whether you know a lot about computers or nothing at all, this is definitely a question that should be addressed.

If you do not get the right microphone, you may not sound the best that you can. Understanding how microphones work and if the USB connection will affect the sound quality is a good place to start.

Ease of Use

One of the easiest microphones to use out of them all,USB microphones are plug and play. This means, all you have to do is plug your microphone into a USB jack on your computer and you are good to go.

The drivers for your microphone usually will install automatically, otherwise, you may be given a disk with the installation on it. USB Microphones are great for recording because they are extremely newbie friendly. Anyone can set them up and get started right away.

Other microphones might have multiple cords to plug into work. This can get confusing if you are not used to using microphones. There are cons to using USB microphones though.

Lack of Control

Usually, the sample rate for USB microphones are fixed and cannot be changed. If you ever need a higher sample rate, you cannot get it with a USB microphone. Analog microphones often give you multiple choices when it comes to customizing the quality.

Price

One of the main reasons that USB microphones are chosen over analog microphones is due to the price. You can find a USB microphone for much less than an analog microphone. This has to do more so with the specifications of USB microphones.

As discussed previously, there is little to no control over sound quality and sample rate for USB mics. This lowers the price. Price is a relative number though.

Just because a microphone is expensive doesn’t mean it is a good microphone. You should always look over mic specs before ever purchasing.

Sound Quality

With a cheaper price comes cheaper quality. USB mics do not sound terrible; however, you can tell the difference between it and an analog microphone.

USB microphones are different than analog microphones in that they contain analog to digital converters or A/D converters. This affects the sound quality as the sound must go through another conversion.

When you use normal analog microphones, the sound goes straight to your PC as analog and thus, the sound is of higher quality.

Portability

One great thing about USB microphones is the ability to carry them around with you wherever you want to go. They work on any computer that has a USB port and you are not limited by the size or shape of it.

Most analog microphones don’t have this issue either, but you will find it much easier to use a USB microphone when doing a lot of moving.

Popular USB Microphones

Now, even though USB microphones are known for their inexpensive price, you can also find expensive USB mics. When these microphones first came out, there was very little variability in them. Now, you can find very high-quality USB microphones.

The ease of use of the microphones became too popular to ignore. Many manufacturers started producing USB microphones for all types of microphones.