BehringerXM8500, Wired Microphone, Cardioid, 20dB, 3000Hz, 1000Hz, 1000mV, 1000nV, 1000pV, 1000Typ, 1000W

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/2hqI4ByI 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.

I bought 2 of these to use in practice and studio settings. I've used many different microphones up to $200 to mic my guitar rig, but this one put all my other mics back in the box. I couldn't believe it. I tracked an entire album using this mic and I didn't regret it. It also works great on vocals. There are also many YouTube videos to confirm how great this microphone is especially at this price point. I believe this mic to be as versatile in the studio as an SM57, and as clear and full to be an excellent choice for podcasting. It's a great well balanced microphone, that has it's own voice. It can be compared to the SM57/58 but really, it has its own characteristics that set it apart in a good way. If you record or do live work, why isn't this affordable mic in your arsenal already?

Best inexpensive microphone on the market hands down. Only complaint is there's no on off switch. These rock, seriously as good as the big name brands but a fifth of the price and even better on sale. I have no idea how they can sell them that cheap. I'm most impressed and have used them in professional gigs. No complaints.

Ok, several pros-and-cons on this microphone, and as much 'cardioid vs electret' issues as this mic in particular. I use microphones creating podcasts. That said, the cheapie '$1.99 plus shipping' lapel mics are often excellent quality for podcasting. If you are one person doing a podcast or something equivalent, then stop and go look for a high-rated one now. You DO NOT need this microphone. If you are going to be in a studio hall, doing multi-person interviews, etc., then you most-likely have no choice but to go with a cardioid mic. With that, I'll offer that this mic is pretty good overall. The weight is TREMENDOUS compared to some I've used. In a holder, not that bad - but if you are walking around with this in your hand, watch out - this is a serious barbell workout!!! The mic is a 3-pin XLR open connector at the base, you get no cable (as usual with most higher-end equipment), but you do get a decent plastic carry-case with foam shell liner. You also get a mic clam mount for a stand, but the one I received (and was rather ticked off about) was a 20-35 mm clam, and does NOT (in any dreamable way) fit this 40-mm monster. I happened to have a larger clam, so it didn't affect me, but don't think that you're going to actually get a mount that works with this mic (though the rubber-band isolation mounts work great).Out of the box, I found terrible echo when first plugged in on this mic, but after some acoustic foam, a tweak on the mic gain, a drop in the mic volume, etc., I had a perfect mic audio coming through. You cannot take 'next level' gear and plug-and-play with it like it's a 'made for novices' $1.99 toy and expect it to work the same.All that said, the Behringer is a solid 4-star mic, and I would have probably gave them a 5-star, but that wrong clam-shell mount, combined with an overnight price jump from $19.99 to $40.38 really made me say WTF, and drop them a star as a result (I meant to buy two, not one, went back the next day to order the second one, and the price doubled overnight!).** UPDATE **I have found with a Y-cable, I can run two of these microphones via a USB connector to the Y-cable to the mic's, and have good voice quality still (though, no independent volume control without adding a mixer). They are still solid microphones, still a great microphone for studio work, very nice if you are looking for a directional (unidirection) microphone for voice work. HARD, and I mean REALLY HARD to catch them at $19.99 - this microphone varies in price more than a gallon of gasoline! You can catch them for $20 often, but not always. They are VERY durable, though!

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