I did a review of all the microphones I use, and I forgot I bought a fourth microphone. This is the Shure MV88+. I primarily bought this because I have this vision or this dream that I’m going to record while I’m on the road. Again, my friend and I are going to do a nature podcast, and wouldn’t it be great for us to either create videos or podcast episodes while we’re outside looking for birds, checking out the weather, having this kind of nature aura going around us? The noises, the sounds, all the different parts of nature that I love to hear. Thinking about sitting in my tent recording podcasts. I want to have that full nature scenario.
When I looked at the reviews for this particular microphone, it got great reviews. It sounded good. People said it sounded amazing for what such a tiny little microphone it is. It’s about the size of my thumb with the pop filter and then on top of it. And when you buy it, it comes with a little tripod with a mic stand. There are some available wind filters on it which are important when you’re going out and filming nature.
##USB Connections and the Motiv App ##
It plugs directly in through a USB interface. There’s no XLR at all. And like the other microphones, you can plug it directly into your Mac using USB, your iPhone using USB, whichever way you want to go. It is portable and does everything that you need it to do. People say it’s also great for live music performances. That’s not my thing, but they say it just hands-down does such a great job. As with the other Shure microphones, it’s managed through the app either on Mac or on iOS. You can update the firmware, but there are also some settings you can set with it. You can also use the Motiv apps to record sound and video.
Condenser Microphones
Something to keep in mind is that this is a condenser mic, not a dynamic mic which means that it is very sensitive. I notice I’m peaking often when I use this mic, so I had to back it up quite a bit. It also is omnidirectional, which means it’s not going to do something other than that thing that the dynamic mics do, where it tries to focus the sound just directly in front of you, and it falls off as you back away or as you go side to side. This is going in every direction. That’s not great for a lot of situations, even including podcasting, but for me, again, I want to get that ambient noise when I’m out in nature. This is perfect for that. It also needs power which means it will be using power directly from whatever device it’s plugged into.
Monitor Jack
It also has a 3.5 headphone jack on the back, so you can plug in a monitoring headphone just like the other microphones that you have. That’s important as you’re recording podcasts to hear what it hears so you’re doing a better job of recording. So, the previous recording was done on the mic itself, and it does okay with voice for sure. It picks up a lot of extra noise, and I noticed the microphone is very sensitive to every noise. That’s what a condenser mic is supposed to be. It’s picking up everything, and it’s omnidirectional, so it’s picking it up from every direction.
I’m giving it a test run to show you what it sounds like outside in nature. Again, that’s the goal of it for me. A lot of people do different things with this mic when they need something different than a dynamic mic used just for voice. So, this is what it sounds like when we’re having a nature podcast and going for a hike, and we’re walking along in the woods.
So I thought it did a really good job of picking up all the ambient noise, the birds and the bees and the grasshoppers and everything that I was hoping to catch on some nature podcast. And if you have used a microphone that isn’t strictly for voice, strictly for podcasting, maybe a band, maybe something else, this is a really good mic.
Plenty of Accessories
Again, it comes with a lot of accessories that I can use to connect to my iPhone, cables, and mounts. And so, you’re all set to use it for whatever purposes you have. The mount that comes with it that clasps onto an iPhone makes it very easy for you to take that iPhone, hook it up to a tripod, and use it as a video and microphone setup. That’s not my thing, at least not right now. It could be in the future. But again, it’s so versatile in almost everything you want to do.
If you have any questions about this mic, if you want me to try testing something out for you, let me know. You can find me on Allison’s Slack channel. Or you can email me at [email protected]. Thanks very much.