Log in Sign up
Voice over microphones

The best microphone is the one your room can't ruin.

Five microphones that working voice actors actually own, from a first serious mic to the one in every studio photo, which of them suits your room and your budget, and the technique that makes any of them sound expensive.

See the shortlist Pick one for my room
  • Every budget, all respected
  • Room advice before mic advice
  • Prices in US dollars
Pickup patternLive
YOUTHE ROOM
Hears the room

Some of it. Front and sides in, most of the back out. The everyday pattern.

Before the microphone

Spend on the room first. Then the mic.

Every microphone on this page hears whatever your room does. Clients reject echo, hum and hiss long before they notice which capsule you bought, so the first money goes into soft, heavy things and a stand that doesn't touch the desk. Here is the shape of a first budget.

  • Echo is the deal-breaker

    Fabric behind you, fabric beside the mic, a rug under you. A wardrobe full of clothes is a booth that came with the house.

  • Noise is the other one

    Fridges, fans, the computer. Record twenty seconds of silence and listen back loud; whatever you hear, the client hears.

  • The stand matters more than you think

    A boom clamped to the desk edge, a shock mount, the laptop clear of it. Desks carry every thump straight into the capsule.

Where a first budget goes
  • The room40%Curtains, rug, panels, a duvet on a frame
  • The microphone35%One from the shortlist below
  • Interface and stand15%Phantom power, clean gain, a boom
  • Headphones10%Closed-back, so you hear the room first

A shape, not a rule. Once the work is regular, the mic share grows and the room share shrinks, because you already fixed the room.

The shortlist

Five microphones, every budget.

Nothing exotic and nothing a working voice actor would raise an eyebrow at. Each one has a job it does better than the other four.

The first serious mic

Rode NT15th Generation

The first serious microphone for a generation of voice actors, and plenty never left. Famously quiet, so the room is the only noise you will hear, and the current one has an XLR socket and a USB socket on the same body, so it grows with you. Being a condenser, it hears everything: treat the room before you blame it.

  • TypeLarge-diaphragm condenser
  • PatternCardioid
Today's priceOn Amazon

Needs: An interface with phantom power, or the built-in USB. A treated corner.

See it on Amazon
The forgiving one

Shure SM7Bor the SM7dB with the preamp built in

A dynamic hears far less of the room than a condenser, which is why this one lives in radio stations and spare bedrooms alike. Big, warm, hard to make sound bad. It wants a lot of clean gain: an interface with plenty of it, an inline booster, or the dB version that carries its own.

  • TypeDynamic
  • PatternCardioid
Today's priceOn Amazon

Needs: Sixty decibels of clean gain, or a booster. A stand that can hold its weight.

See it on Amazon
The industry shotgun

Sennheiser MKH 416the short shotgun

The trailer and promo sound. Tight and directional, so it points at you and ignores the room behind it, and light enough to travel. If you have ever wondered why a hotel-room read from a working pro sounds like a booth, this is usually why. The one in our travel kit.

  • TypeShotgun condenser
  • PatternSupercardioid
Today's priceOn Amazon

Needs: Phantom power. A pop filter or a slight off-axis angle; it is unforgiving of plosives.

See it on Amazon
The studio condenser

Neumann TLM 103the U 87 sound, one capsule

Neumann detail at a third of the U 87 price: open, present, very quiet, and flattering on almost every voice. When a voice on the roster names a microphone in their profile, Neumann is the name that comes up most, and this is the Neumann most of them mean. Like every condenser it repays a treated room and punishes an untreated one.

  • TypeLarge-diaphragm condenser
  • PatternCardioid
Today's priceOn Amazon

Needs: Phantom power, a proper shock mount, and a room that is already quiet.

See it on Amazon
The one in every studio photo

Neumann U 87 Aithe reference

Nearly sixty years of records, films and commercials have been through this capsule, and it is still what a client pictures when they say studio. Three switchable patterns, a pad, a sound that needs no explaining. Buy it when the work pays for it, in a room that deserves it. Until then the TLM 103 gets you most of the way.

  • TypeLarge-diaphragm condenser
  • PatternCardioid, omni or figure-8
Today's priceOn Amazon

Needs: Everything the TLM 103 needs, and a reason.

See it on Amazon
Prices move; these are today's US-dollar street prices.The links show the current ones. Also respected on the roster, if one of these finds you second-hand: the AKG C414, the Audio-Technica AT4040, the Electro-Voice RE20 and the Rode NT2-A.
Which one is yours

Three questions, one microphone.

The honest answer depends on your room more than your voice. Answer these and we'll point at one.

1Your room right now
2Your budget for the mic alone
3Where you record
Your microphone

Answer the three on the left.

There is no wrong answer, and there is no prize for spending more. The room you tick in question one decides most of it.

Technique

Make any of them sound expensive.

A $250 microphone used well beats a $3,000 one used badly, every single time. Six habits the voices who get rebooked all share.

A hand's width away

Four to six inches for most reads. Closer for intimacy and bass, further for a big announcer voice. Pick a distance and keep it; wandering is what makes a read sound amateur.

Talk across it, not into it

Angle the mic a little off your mouth so your Ps and Bs blow past the capsule instead of at it. Add a pop filter anyway. Plosives are the fastest way to a re-record.

Peaks around minus twelve

Set the gain so your loudest line peaks around -12 dBFS and never near zero. Quiet is fixable in the edit; a clipped take is not.

Stand, never desk

A boom arm clamped to the edge, a shock mount, and nothing on the desk that touches it. Your keyboard, your script and your elbows all travel up a desk stand.

Closed-back headphones, always

You hear the hum, the click and the echo before the client does, and you catch a mouth noise while the take is still cheap to redo.

Same spot every time

Tape marks on the floor and the stand. When a client asks for one more line next week, it has to match the file they already have.

The rest of the chain.Interface, stand and editing software, and how to make a hotel room sound like a booth, are on the travel kit page. Between the two pages you have the whole home studio.
The Gear Room

The microphone is one purchase.

A microphone on its own records nothing, and the room around it decides more than the badge on the body does. The Gear Room covers the rest of the chain at every budget, with prices checked by hand.

Want a coach in your corner?

Talent who train book more.

Our online course takes you from first read to a demo you're proud of, with real direction along the way. It's the same standard the clients on this site are used to hearing.

See the course Voice Master Academy
Free guide

Breaking into voice overs, the PDF.

Home studio, finding work online, standing out. The kick-start we send new voices. One email, no follow-up sequence.

Microphone questions

The things you're still wondering.

What is the best microphone for voice overs?
There isn't one, there is one for your room and your budget. Most working voices start on something like the Rode NT1, move to a Sennheiser MKH 416 or a Neumann TLM 103 once the work is regular, and a few finish on a U 87. If the room is untreated, a Shure SM7B will sound better than any of them until you fix it.
Condenser or dynamic for voice over?
Condensers (NT1, TLM 103, U 87) hear more detail and more room, and they are the studio standard for narration and commercials. Dynamics (SM7B) hear less room and less detail, which is a fair trade in a bedroom. Treated room: condenser. Untreated room: dynamic, or a shotgun pointed away from the trouble.
Do I need a shotgun microphone for voice over?
No, but the MKH 416 is the sound of trailers and promos for a reason, and its narrow pattern forgives a bad room like nothing else. If you travel with your work or record where you can't hang a duvet, it earns its price.
Is a USB microphone good enough for voice over work?
For auditions, e-learning and podcasts, a good one can be. The current Rode NT1 has a USB socket next to its XLR one, which is the honest way to start: plug it straight in today, add an interface later without buying a new mic. Most working voices run XLR into an interface for the gain control and the upgrade path.
How much should I spend on a first microphone?
About $250, in US dollars, buys a microphone that clients will never object to. Spend what you saved on the room: a rug, heavy curtains, a wardrobe to record into, a proper stand. A $250 mic in a treated room beats a $3,000 mic in an empty one every time.
Why does my expensive microphone sound echoey?
Because it is doing its job. A good condenser hears the room exactly as it is, and an untreated room with hard walls is echoey. Soft, heavy and close is the fix: fabric behind you, fabric beside the mic, you closer to it. The mic was never the problem.
Do I need a pop filter?
Yes, or the technique that replaces it: speak slightly across the mic rather than straight into it, so the air from your Ps and Bs misses the capsule. Most voices do both. A shotgun like the 416 needs it more than most.
What interface do I need with these microphones?
Any respected two-channel interface with phantom power runs the condensers. The SM7B is the exception: it wants sixty decibels of clean gain, so either a generous interface, an inline booster, or the SM7dB with the preamp built in. The rest of the chain, interface, stand and software, is on our travel kit page.

As an Amazon Associate, The Voice Realm earns from qualifying purchases.

Got the mic? Now get heard.

A respected microphone in a quiet room and a demo that plays is everything a client here needs to press play. Send it, and let the site do the selling.

Apply to be listed See what's casting