Recommendations for a USB headset for making screencast, tutorials etc

[Fatboy71]

Hi everyone.

I am into making screencast, tutorials on my iMac. I currently use the built in mic that's in my iMac, and while it's not bad, I have to be sitting right up at the desk and leaning towards the iMac for the audio quality to be acceptable.

For my uses, I think a headset with the mic would be the best option has it would mean the mic would always be in the correct position for optimum quality.

I'd considered a desk mic, but these are a more expensive, plus I can't justify the extra cost for the amount of usage I would use it for. Admittedly a desk mic would be better quality, but the mic would need to sit where my keyboard is, which isn't convenient when I'm doing tutorials as I need to use the keyboard, so thats why I figure that a headset would be a better choice.

Just wondering if any of you guys are into this kind of thing, and could recommend a good headset that work on Mac's?

Thanks in advance

 

[smirking]

Fatboy, I've had to go the route of using Dragon Dictate for Mac for extended periods of time in recent years so I've played around plenty with headsets and microphones and I hated everything I tried. There's also a problem that you run into with headsets and that's there is a fine line between the optimum position that you're after and having the microphone capture the percussion from your breath as you speak. Once you get it adjusted perfectly, all it takes is one nudge and you're spending time tweaking the position again.

Add to that it's just not very comfortable to wear a headset for long hours if you need to. I was really exasperated with my headsets and was considering the option of one of those very expensive multi-directional speech recognition mics when it dawned on me that my iPhone would probably be a pretty decent mic if there was an app for it. Fortunately there was and that's what I use whenever I use speech recognition. It works better than any headset I've ever tried, but I don't know if it would translate to what you need it for.

 

[Fatboy71]

Fatboy, I've had to go the route of using Dragon Dictate for Mac for extended periods of time in recent years so I've played around plenty with headsets and microphones and I hated everything I tried. There's also a problem that you run into with headsets and that's there is a fine line between the optimum position that you're after and having the microphone capture the percussion from your breath as you speak. Once you get it adjusted perfectly, all it takes is one nudge and you're spending time tweaking the position again.

Add to that it's just not very comfortable to wear a headset for long hours if you need to. I was really exasperated with my headsets and was considering the option of one of those very expensive multi-directional speech recognition mics when it dawned on me that my iPhone would probably be a pretty decent mic if there was an app for it. Fortunately there was and that's what I use whenever I use speech recognition. It works better than any headset I've ever tried, but I don't know if it would translate to what you need it for.

Thank you for the very helpful reply, appreciate the help.

Basically with my main usage. I would be recording my iMacs desktop and whatever application I was doing a video guide on. For this I use an application called Screenflow. This records the video and also the audio from either the in built mic or an external microphone (such as a desktop mic or headset mic).

I was thinking with a headset mic I would have both hands free for the use the keyboard, whereas if I used my iPhone, I would need one hand to hold it and using the keyboard would be cumbersome.

Out of interest, what is the app you use on your iPhone?

And also, can you get the recorded audio off of the iPhone and on to a computer, for then to attach it to the recorded video in an application such as Final Cut Pro?

And if so, what format is the recorded sound in?

Thanks again.

 

[Felasco]

I bought Telex USB headphones about ten years ago, and they've worked great ever since. Like you I do screen recording videos, using Voila. I tried to look up a link to my headphones for you, but I'm not sure Telex sells this product anymore.

You are on the right track, USB headphones/mic will definitely improve the quality and convenience of screen recording.

I'd suggest you go to the Nuance forum (voice recognition software) and you should find many discussions of USB headphones there.

http://nuance-community.custhelp.com/pages/home

 

[Fatboy71]

I bought Telex USB headphones about ten years ago, and they've worked great ever since. Like you I do screen recording videos, using Voila. I tried to look up a link to my headphones for you, but I'm not sure Telex sells this product anymore.

You are on the right track, USB headphones/mic will definitely improve the quality and convenience of screen recording.

I'd suggest you go to the Nuance forum (voice recognition software) and you should find many discussions of USB headphones there.

http://nuance-community.custhelp.com/pages/home

Thanks very kick for the useful reply, appreciate it

I'll have a look on the forum you mentioned, thanks again.

 

[smirking]

I was thinking with a headset mic I would have both hands free for the use the keyboard, whereas if I used my iPhone, I would need one hand to hold it and using the keyboard would be cumbersome.

Out of interest, what is the app you use on your iPhone?

And also, can you get the recorded audio off of the iPhone and on to a computer, for then to attach it to the recorded video in an application such as Final Cut Pro?

I use a makeshift stand to keep the iPhone relatively close to my face. I don't know how good the recorded audio quality is since I don't actually listen to the playback because I'm using it for speech recognition, but I can say that the accuracy for Dragon Dictate shot through the roof once I started using my iPhone instead of a headset. The accuracy is fine even when the phone is half a meter away.

The app I used is a specialized microphone app that Nuance created to allow you to talk to Dragon Dictate. I know there are apps out there that are just microphone apps. I don't use any of them so I don't know their names, but I know they're out there and some more sophisticated ones have different modes for recording in different situations.

I'd throw in a word of caution about looking for microphones from the Nuance website. If you're trying to avoid spending a lot of money, look for those microphones on eBay. You can sometimes find the same model brand new without a box from a bulk package at a far far cheaper price than what Nuance lists them at.