I am trying to find a good voice microphone for short voice over presentations, YouTube videos, and Podcasts. I own an AKG P120 and it is very good, but I wanted to try a non-phantom-powered free energy dynamic microphone. The 8500 has stellar reviews. I was worried about it being too shrill, and bright sounding because some said it runs "hot" and has a lot of presence boost, compared to the Shure microphones. My first impression is that it's very focused in the lows and mids, only. It has no treble whatsoever, just a lot of mids and low mids.
The low mids seem to be boosted as much or more than the upper mids, so it doesn't sound anything like it's voltage output vs. frequency range graph included in the instructions, which shows only a very large upper mid and treble range boost. I cannot hear any treble boost at all.
I am using a Scarlett Focusrite and I have tested this microphone with the gain maxed out on the Scarlett. With the gain at level 10, it does not have any line noise or aberrations of any kind, it has a silent noise floor, silent. Even when you then amplify the recorded sound using Audacity sound editor, after recording with the gain at level +10, you cannot hear any aberrations, feed back, or white noise. At least none that I've noticed. I have only just tested it for an hour or so.
Overall the sound is a little muffled and warm sounding without any harshness or bad upper range frequencies. However, if you speak a little further away, it makes it sound a lot more neutral, and clear, so speaking very close into the microphone isn't ideal with this microphone unless you can just use your EQ and dial down a little bit less bass. Once I edited the sound file using Audacity and did a "low cut" removing some of the bass, it sounded really good, and very natural, although speaking further away from the microphone, fixes excessive bass. All microphones have excessive bass if you are too close.
This microphone sounds totally muted in the treble region, there is no brightness, and no sharpness to the sound, it's a very mid range and low mid range heavy sound, that will need a slight bit of EQ adjustment if you are needing high frequency sound. But overall, I'd say that the sound is very natural, it does not add the really sharp fake shrill sound to the top edge of the treble region like I often hear in all the normal "condenser" microphone videos online. With the 8500, I would say that it lacks clarity and definition, while sounding more accurate, and gentle. Our voices are not meant to sound machine-like and overly sharp, like they sound in many YouTube video interviews using cheap microphones or improper EQ settings.
Voices should sound like they are produced by a Human, not a machine. The 8500 nearly has a perfect pitch for recording spoken words. It doesn't add any upper end "sparkle" but it does add a bit of bass boost and makes your voice deeper. Keep in mind that this is a new microphone, so I am giving a totally subjective review based on limited testing.
I would say that the 8500 blocks out background noise extremely well, you cannot hear anything in the background. It does not pick up the cat in the background or the cars going by outside.
This is an excellent microphone. For the price, it's very natural and has a good sound. It requires a tremendous amount of gain, which is normal for all non-powered microphones, although it does not have any white noise, or line noise, and the handling noise is very low. I tried banging the microphone around and it produces very muted noises, which indicates good vibration isolation.
For my first impression, the XM8500 would work best for people who do not have deep voices, unless they simply use an EQ and dial down a little bit of the bass. I think it would probably be an amazing microphone for anyone who has a neutral sounding or slightly higher pitched voice. If you speak further away it sounds a lot more natural, and the mids aren't as muffled by the bass. Using an EQ, I was able to remove the bass, while retaining the clarity and natural sound to the voice.
My AKG P120 is more forgiving for the bass "proximity effect" when speaking very close into it, but it's also more sensitive overall and picks up all the high frequency sounds coming from your mouth, from the chair you're sitting in, or from the cat across the room. The AKG P120 is a powered microphone, so it has more gain. If you turn the gain down, it picks up very little background noise, and you cannot hear a car go by outside.
The AKG P120 is slightly thin. It will smooth the rough edges of your voice, leaving it sounding more clear and precise than you actually are. The Behringer Ultravoice XM8500 does not clarify your voice. If you are rough sounding, it will muddy the sound. You have to speak clearly. If you have a rough deep voice, I would not recommend the 8500, but I would recommend the AKG P120. In comparison, the AKG P120 can miraculously remove all hoarseness and roughness coming from your vocal cords, so it records more clear than it should. The 8500 records low bass hoarseness in your voice accurately and doesn't smooth it away. I was trying to record today with a hoarse voice and the 8500 doesn't help to clarify my rough voice today. However, for light and thin voices, the 8500 would be magic.
I'm going to do some more tests, because my voice is dry today and it's not as clear as normal, so I don't have adequate tests to give a final conclusion. The 8500 seems very good for the price, and the only downside is that it's a dynamic non-powered microphone, so it is not as sensitive as the phantom powered "condenser" microphones. But this isn't a disadvantage, it's just an attribute of dynamic microphones.
Note: I also hooked up an impedance matching cable to test this out, by adapting this microphone to plug straight into my small hand held Sony digital recorder. The digital recorder has never worked better! Wow! I was shocked at how clear, and how loud the 8500 was, plugged into an XLR to 1/8" adapter cable, without any preamp or anything. So if you are using a DSLR camera, video camera or other recording device that accepts a 1/8" microphone input cable, this Behringer 8500 will work wonders if you just purchase this impedance matching cable: http://amzn.to/2hqI4By
I had the 8500 plugged directly into my hand held digital recorder using the onboard 1/8" port on the recorder, and it had tons of gain, and very clear signal. I tired the same thing on my computer on the front panel microphone input but that didn't work good at all, it was too quiet, and too much noise. But I haven't tried this using the ports on the back of the computer, or into a real sound card. I will do more tests and report back.
| Manufacturer | Behringer |
|---|---|
| Part Number | P0120 |
| Item Weight | 11.4 ounces |
| Product Dimensions | 1.97 x 1.99 x 0.63 inches |
| Country of Origin | China |
| Item model number | XM8500 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Color | Black |
| Material | Composite |
| Power Source | Corded Electric |
| Item Package Quantity | 1 |
| Sound Level | 70 dB |
| Special Features | Stand |
| Included Components | Dynamic Cardioid Microphone |
| Batteries Included? | No |
| Batteries Required? | No |
| Warranty Description | Please refer to http://www. Music-group. Com/warranty. Aspx. |
