Customer Reviews

MXL USB006 USB Cardioid Condenser Microphone

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I got this microphone to record voiceover narration for a video. There are points where there will only be narration, and no music or background audio.

Although it sounds pretty good for a USB mic, in that it gives a rich, faithful reproduction, there is a noticeable pitch generated by the microphone itself. This self-noise is audible during quiet moments or even when speech is recorded, if you listen carefully. On the plus side, it does come with a nifty case, desktop tripod and has hardware gain control with three settings. It worked right out of the box with my Mac, so no problems in the compatibility department.

I was poking around to make myself feel better about buying this microphone over the popular Samson C01U and Snowball, and came across a review of all of these microphones, including the new Rode Podcaster, pitted against each other. The reviewer noted a distinct B-natural pitch from the MXLUSB.006, though it did have less self-noise than the Samson. Check out the review at Emusician, search google for Samson, MXL, Podcaster and you should find it.

Wish I saw that review before I bought the MXL, since I experienced the same thing. Though the MXL has a rich sound, the noise is unacceptable for my application and I'll be returning it.

Although USB mics are notorious for noticeable self-noise, I went ahead and got the Rode Podcaster, and have not noticed any significant self-noise.

If a faint high-pitched noise is not a big deal to you, this is a pretty good condenser microphone. I would be all over it if it weren't for the fact that I need a really quiet mic.

I've been a home recordist for about 30 years. I've owned a variety of mics, from old Crown PZMs to higher-end Audio Technicas and a few exotic Germans. These days, I don't do as much recording as I did when I had dreams of becoming the next Nils Lofgren, but I occasionally like to doodle with music. These days, I'm a great believer in the ease and rock steady performance of Garageband on the Mac. I honestly much prefer working with it, rather than many "better" programs out there. It's just so solid on the mac. The reason for this long intro is just to introduce my approach to recording. I want stuff that works, and that works with little muss or fuss. When I sold of my last AT stereo mic and E-MU 4040 preamp, I thought I was done with wrestling with wires and recording. Well, I caught the bug again lately and felt guilty about ridding myself of all my equipment. But I wanted ease and convenience and I started researching the USB mics out there. I listened to about every sample available, and I was fairly sure the MXL mic were worth investigating further. They have a rich, full-bodied sound which I like. They also seemed to suffer less from ambient noise than the Snowball and Sansom mics. The MXL sounded a little darker, which some might think meant a bit deader, but I was sure that wouldn't be the case when it came down to recording. And I was right. First of all, the .006 works flawlessly. I plugged it it. My mac recognized it and I was up and rolling without latency. Occasionally you'll get hit with latency in Garageband -- but that usually just requires a restart. Then it's gone. The MXL was up and running in less than a minute. No problem getting enough power from my USB port, something I even had problems with with an old Belkin USB mic adapter. No, the MXL worked great. It's fairly well made, the only "suspect" component being the gain switch, which is pretty inexpensive and felt a little unsure. But it works fine, so I wasn't too worried about it. Plus, look at the price of this mic. The sound? Well, I would rate it an 8.75, which I think is quite flattering. I was able to mic myself singing with my guitar amp about 8 feet way and achieve a nice mix. And it recorded my 5-year old's faint, faint whisper (too shy to talk into the mic) perfectly. Stunningly, actually. So this mic is actually capable of great detail and sensitivity when your hitting it within its working range. Not dead sounding at all. I really like it's balance and design which make for quick and easily recordings without a whole lot of tweaking. As far as vocals, my teenage daughter voice sounded fantastic. Very nice with female vocals. I really like my "voiceover" sound with this mic. Rich and fully, but not over bloated. As far as my singing, it handles dynamics great and, as I said, it will handle a whisper to a shout without blinking. It's not a 100% 3-dimensional and rounded like a great Neuman Old Blues Eyes mic, but it's excellent for male vocals when doing home recording. I think I got my best take (of a male vocal) when I was cranking up my delivery a bit. A little R&B shouting, and it was as good as any mic I've played with for a long time. So consider that my take of it's vocal abilties for the male voice. It's less a Leonard Cohen mic and more of a John Lennon mic. And, as I said, I really think it shines with female vocals. I didn't hear the whine as described by the other reviewer. But my recording room wasn't dead silent and the noisest thing I heard was the fan from my mac. I think you're more likely to be bugged by uncontrolled sound in your environment than any noise inherent to the mic -- if there is any. I wrote MXL and they said poor power supplies and likely user error is probably behind the claimed noise. I just know, recording music, that you just aren't going the hear it in the mix even if it does exist. I did some dead silent voiceoever again tonight, and I still didn't hear a whine. So overall, I'm very happy to recommend this mic. Make sure you get a pop screen, it helped alot. I really, really like this mic for both its performance and especially its fantastic convenience. If you don't feel like dealing with the time (and expense) of rigging up a mic and preamp and just want to "plug and play", well, I don't think you can make a better choice than his MXL .006 mic or one in its USB line. And I look forward to hearing more of the mics in their USB line.

When it comes to recording, I pretty much know nothing. And I have no problem being the first to admit that. Anything technical has never really been my forte. But when I decided to go pro with my humor blog and as an added bonus for my readers, offer an audio mp3 of me reading each post aloud, I realized real quick that not just anything will do.

Three years ago, I developed a cyst on one of my vocal cords. We didn't get to it fast enough and when it burst, it managed to permanent damage my voice when a piece of the left cord went AWOL; it's been MIA ever since. Seeing how my vocal cords cannot ever completely close, I constantly sound hoarse; as if I have a cold. Some days are worse than others. I needed a microphone that could compensate for this as well as my simplistic technical skills and short attention span. A great guy down at The Guitar Center recommended this microphone to me.

I read the owner's manual immediately. It was the least I could do after all of the goodies Marshall included (cool case, desk stand, etc). Amongst the advice, they mentioned how dropping the microphone or even bumping it can damage it enough to cause what I see other reviewers tend to complain about. It's always easier to blame to manufacturer than admit you're a klutz, I suppose. But at the same time, the reviewers very well could've taken perfect care of the microphone as instructed-- but the 18 year old playing with it at the store it came from didn't. Who knows.

All I know is this. I followed the instructions and suggestions (i.e. purchasing a pop filter, placing the mic in the middle of the room, and everything else) and within seconds of USBing it into my PC, it was ready. My voice sounds ridiculously damaged as it should. And I'm as happy as a lark.

Purchased this mic for podcasting and I am very impressed. I did a bit of research and found a few audio recordings from various mics and the MXL USB.006 was the one that stood out amongst the rest. If you've ever watched/listened to a recording of yourself and said "is that what my voice really sounds like when I talk!?" then you will be absolutely amazed at what your voice really sounds like with this mic. My wife was also impressed at the quality and she had no trouble jumping on the mic and giving it a test run with her vocals. Very clean, rich sound. I also purchased a pop filter, which was recommended by a few reviews, you can certainly tell the difference but still a great mic even without it.

I don't have much experience with microphones, but this one captures good sound detail - amazingly so. Initially I was getting distortion on my recordings even on the lowest setting, till I realized my microphone volume in the windows sound panel was at 100%. Cranking this down to 25-50% fixed it. As I said, incredibly sensitive - never ran into that issue with my previous headset mic.

It also captures more voice bass than real life, so you'll need to do some EQ in a program like Audacity to get proper sound. After a white noise removal and EQ you get a nice pristine recording. It's an affordable option for anyone who is interested in podcasting or any sort of amateur voice work.

Sounds absolutely amazing. Beautiful in the high end and low end frequencies. I used it to record voice & guitar (separately) and the results are close to professional quality. USB latency on a PC (win 7) was an issue until I installed asio4all. I'm currently using cubase 5 and it works marvelously. In short, this is an AMAZING mic for its price, and is perfect for home recording.

The moment that I took it out of the package, I tried to turn the dial that lets you choose the setting of the mic and I discovered that it was broken. I'm not sure if me touching it one time broke it because it was just that improperly built & cheap quality or it was sent to me already broken I have a feeling that the quality was not very good based on the rest of the build as well. It is very easily broken so I was very disappointed. I asked for a refund the very next day. I ended up buying the Audio Technica AT 2035 & the Studio Projects C1 microphone which are both very very well built. I really love them especially the Audio Technica. I also have the Audio Technica headset as well. Great quality. I'm glad that I decided to ask for a refund. Save your money if you want a truely good mic. I bought mine for my work because I have my own in-home studio so the MXL was not acceptable quality at all for business purposes. A good mic should last a couple of yrs this one you will be lucky if it lasts 24 hrs

I have a digital home studio where I use a M-Audio Project Mix I/O with Protools 8 but I don't always feel like setting up my entire rig to record quick demos when they are fresh in my head. Enter MXL's Cardioid Condenser USB Mic. This mic simply plugs into the USB port on my Mac Pro and is instantly available for use in Garage Band or any other DAW that doesn't require specific hardware (i.e. Protools).

My only complaint is that the input volume cannot be controlled via software. There is a switch on the mic itself for Low/Medium/High performance which works fine but I'd rather have complete control.

Overall it's great for quick projects and demos.

its a really good mic. i had da samson 1c0u mic. no comparison. This mic is better.

It is safe to say that the MXL USB006 mic has the same quality as any comparable mic running through a mixer and into the Behringer UCA202. See how I came to this conclusion at [...].