Forget Expensive Microphones, Buy THIS Instead!

[00:00] When I started content creation, the

[00:01] microphones being recommended to

[00:02] beginners were expensive and not

[00:04] designed for them. Influencers

[00:06] recommended overly sensitive condenser

[00:08] mics that cost way too much, like the

[00:11] Elgato Wave or the HyperX QuadCast. But

[00:13] then it got worse. Eventually, I

[00:15] upgraded to an XLR setup, and that mic

[00:17] that I bought became useless because it

[00:20] was only USB and didn't work with

[00:22] mixers. It became a literal waste of

[00:24] money that I had to replace. Thankfully

[00:26] these days that isn't a problem anymore

[00:28] because of these. This is the Fifine AM8

[00:31] microphone. This is the Fifine K688 and

[00:35] this is the Fifine SC3 mixer. All of

[00:37] these cost around 50 USD each, which is

[00:40] a third of the price of those mics I

[00:42] just mentioned. And today I want to show

[00:44] you why these are an utterly amazing

[00:46] choice for you to start with. And I'm

[00:48] going to be giving away four of these

[00:50] five fine mics. So stick around for

[00:51] that. I'll be cutting between all three

[00:52] of these mics for this entire video. So,

[00:54] you'll be able to hear real world

[00:55] examples of the sound quality as we go,

[00:58] focusing mainly on the AM8 because it's

[01:00] the most value for money. And before we

[01:03] get into that giveaway and explain the

[01:05] SC3 mixer, I want to start with the

[01:07] intentional build of the AM8 because

[01:10] every time I use Fifine products, I find

[01:12] myself realizing that it's a brand that

[01:14] puts an amazing amount of thought into

[01:16] what they do. For example, when using it

[01:18] as a USB microphone, it has a tap to

[01:19] [music] mute button that doesn't click,

[01:21] meaning you don't get a big clicking

[01:23] sound when you want to quietly mute

[01:24] yourself. The same can be said for the

[01:26] RGB controller that's right here as

[01:28] well. You're currently listening to me

[01:29] speak and and now I'm unmuting myself.

[01:32] See, no tapping, no clicking. Works

[01:34] perfectly. The other thing I love is it

[01:35] doesn't use large clicky buttons to

[01:37] change the gain or the volume of the 3.5

[01:39] mm headphone jack. Instead, it uses

[01:41] these lovely slidy knobs to minimize the

[01:44] noise that you can hear while adjusting.

[01:45] Obviously, you can hear my voice

[01:47] changing as I move it, but you can't

[01:48] hear much microphone sound. And yes, as

[01:51] I just said, it has a 3.5 mm headphone

[01:53] jack, which means you can monitor your

[01:55] voice without [music] any kind of delay

[01:57] or latency, which is fantastic. Right

[01:59] now, I am listening back to my voice and

[02:01] my PC sounds through the Fifine AM8. The

[02:04] stand it comes with is solid and heavy

[02:06] as well, so it's not going to fall over

[02:08] at the slightest bump. And when I remove

[02:09] the microphone, it actually has inside

[02:11] the mic mount a 5/8 and 3/8 mic thread.

[02:15] So new creators don't get confused on

[02:17] how to attach this mic to a mic arm or

[02:19] other thread. And of course, it's a

[02:20] cardioidnamic microphone, meaning it's

[02:22] naturally less sensitive than condenser

[02:24] microphones. For example, if you see me

[02:26] moving off to the side right here,

[02:27] you'll slowly hear that my voice is

[02:29] dropping off pretty quickly. And if I

[02:31] move over this side, it'll drop off even

[02:32] more again. And if I wanted to, I could

[02:34] move pretty far away. And you'll hear my

[02:36] voice goes away quite quickly. Meaning,

[02:38] if someone else is in the room, it's

[02:40] going to be great at noise rejection

[02:41] overall with a slight noise gate. One

[02:43] thing I noticed about the AM8 is it's

[02:45] actually less sensitive than the K688,

[02:47] which is another microphone we've looked

[02:48] at and love on this channel. But because

[02:50] it's less sensitive, it actually means

[02:52] it's better at rejecting background

[02:54] noise than the K688. On that note, I

[02:57] will say that the AM8 sounds a lot less

[02:59] colorful. It has a lot less personality

[03:01] by default than the K688. I also noticed

[03:04] it naturally feels like it has less

[03:06] midtones with a bit more of the bass

[03:08] added into it, which now that I say that

[03:09] is pretty common for a lot of dynamic

[03:11] microphones. Now, this lack of

[03:13] personality is technically a really good

[03:14] thing. A lot of people will prefer it as

[03:16] it makes it more flexible to adjust with

[03:18] EQ to match their voice. Now, yes, it is

[03:21] great at noise reduction, but I will

[03:23] say, would I use the stand it comes with

[03:25] as a streamer or gamer? Probably not,

[03:28] because it would be right in front of

[03:30] the keyboard on the stand while I'm

[03:32] typing on my keyboard. I actually have

[03:34] to hunch every bit to get close enough

[03:35] to this because of the way the stand

[03:36] works. Now, that wasn't terrible. that

[03:38] is totally usable with a default

[03:40] expander filter. But if I was a streamer

[03:42] or gamer, I'd get the AM8T version,

[03:45] which is the same microphone, but it

[03:46] comes with a mic arm and is roughly the

[03:49] same price.

[03:51] Hello there. My name is LJ and I am

[03:53] currently typing on my keyboard. You can

[03:55] probably hear it in the background.

[03:56] Podcasters or beginning voice actors or

[03:59] anyone who doesn't need a keyboard or

[04:00] mouse clicking constantly around them,

[04:02] this stand will work great for you. Now,

[04:04] I said two things earlier. first that I

[04:06] had a giveaway coming up, which I do, so

[04:08] stay tuned for that. And second, I said

[04:10] the phrase when using it as a USB mic,

[04:13] and that's because this mic, much like

[04:15] the Fine K688, includes one of the most

[04:18] important features of a value or budget

[04:20] mic. To me, it is both USB and XLR,

[04:22] meaning if you ever want to upgrade to

[04:24] an XLR mixer, such as this beautiful

[04:27] Fifine SC3, which we will cover in a

[04:29] second, you can without needing to

[04:31] replace the microphone. I will say when

[04:33] you run this mic through an XLR

[04:34] interface, you obviously won't be using

[04:36] the buttons [music] on it to mute or

[04:37] change the gain. Instead, you'd

[04:39] obviously use the interface. So, these

[04:41] become inactive and so does the RGB

[04:43] light strip. Except that's where this

[04:45] kind of becomes amazing. Just like the

[04:47] Fifine K688, you can actually use this

[04:49] microphone as a USB mic and an XLR mic

[04:52] at the same time. It's called dual

[04:54] output. So, you can send USB to your PC

[04:56] and send the XLR to an external

[04:58] interface or recorder or a different PC.

[05:01] And with that, let's talk a little about

[05:03] the SC3 because it's pretty much

[05:05] plugandplay. Normally, setting up a

[05:07] mixer and a new mic takes around 20 to

[05:09] 30 minutes of fiddling minimum. This

[05:11] took me 30 seconds because that's how

[05:13] long it takes me to plug a USB in when I

[05:15] can't see the back of my motherboard.

[05:16] Now, unlike other mixers, when you plug

[05:18] this in, you'll notice that there is no

[05:20] software. Your PC will read this mixer

[05:22] as a pair of headphones and a

[05:23] microphone. It will show up in your

[05:25] sound settings as Fifine SC3 for both

[05:27] input and output. And because there is

[05:29] no software required, this instantly

[05:31] plug and plays not just for PC and Mac,

[05:33] but also for a PlayStation 5. You can

[05:35] just plug this into your PlayStation 5

[05:37] and use a professional microphone on

[05:39] that. From here, you'll plug your

[05:40] headphones into the back of the mixer

[05:41] and you'll be able to hear all your

[05:42] desktop audio such as your game, music,

[05:44] Discord, etc., and adjust all of that

[05:46] just from your desktop slider. Now, on

[05:48] the other side, you have your XLR port.

[05:50] This is where you'll plug your XLR cable

[05:52] in that is connected to your XLR

[05:53] microphone. Today I am using Amazon

[05:55] basic XLR cables because if you buy the

[05:57] SD3 by itself, it doesn't come with XLR

[05:59] cables, but there are five bundles that

[06:01] do. So, I'll link those below. Once your

[06:03] microphone is plugged in, you can adjust

[06:04] the gain with your mic slider on the far

[06:06] left. As you can see, I'm boosting my

[06:08] gain right now. I should probably lower

[06:09] it back down so I don't blow your ears

[06:11] out. And as I do that, you're going to

[06:12] see my levels moving up and down on my

[06:15] mixer. And once I've set my levels down,

[06:17] those lights will disappear and I'll

[06:18] just have my reactive voice levels.

[06:20] That'll show where I'm talking at right

[06:21] now. A really important thing to note is

[06:23] underneath your mic slider, there is the

[06:25] mute button, obviously for muting your

[06:27] microphone. It's actually quite tactile

[06:28] [music] and feels really, really nice to

[06:30] press. There is obviously a mute button

[06:32] for every single slider [music] except

[06:33] for the headphone slider, which is

[06:35] instead replaced with a mic monitor

[06:37] button, so you can hear what your own

[06:38] voice sounds like with zero latency,

[06:40] which again is an incredibly helpful

[06:42] tool. And once you've done those three

[06:43] things, plugged your headphones in,

[06:44] plugged your XLR in, and plugged it into

[06:46] the PC, congratulations, your entire

[06:48] interface is set up. You can go to OBS

[06:50] or Discord and select the SC3 as your

[06:52] mic and your headphones and it just

[06:54] works so simply because [music] that's

[06:56] what it's designed for, an entry-level

[06:58] simple interface for you as a gamer and

[07:00] creator. If you want to add filters such

[07:01] as compressor, EQ or anything else, it

[07:03] is true you can't do that inside the

[07:05] device, but you can do that inside

[07:07] either OBS or in post-production

[07:09] software. As for virtual routing, yes,

[07:12] this doesn't handle that. So, you can't

[07:13] tell Chrome or music to go to one slider

[07:16] and your game to go to another slider

[07:18] like you could with, say, a $500 USD Go

[07:20] XLR or a $400 bridgecast. But remember,

[07:24] again, this is a $45 interface. And it

[07:27] does have a lot more to it. So, let's

[07:28] talk about the bells and whistles and

[07:30] explain how to enter that giveaway I

[07:32] talked about. For example, one of my

[07:33] favorite parts is the 3.5 mm line input

[07:35] on the back here, which will let you

[07:37] connect phones, tablets, or even

[07:38] instruments if you want to do that,

[07:40] which means the audio from those devices

[07:42] is coming through the interface as a

[07:44] mixer, so you can hear it and output it.

[07:47] [music]

[08:04] >> [music]

[08:09] >> And then we also have a 3.5 mm line out

[08:12] for sending your audio to external

[08:13] speakers. Or if you wanted, you could

[08:14] output this into a phone so the person

[08:16] on the other end hears your mic and mix.

[08:18] These line in and outs are connected via

[08:20] these other two sliders as you can see

[08:22] right here. And the mute buttons beneath

[08:24] correspond to them. Coming up to the top

[08:25] of the mixer, we can see all those bells

[08:27] and whistles that I talked about, such

[08:28] as 12 tone autotune. And this is how my

[08:31] brain decided to test that. Let it go.

[08:34] It go

[08:36] back anymore.

[08:39] Let it go. Let it go. Can you tell I

[08:42] have a 2-year-old daughter? It's pretty

[08:43] easy to pick which tone. You just tap it

[08:45] each time as it cycles through. And then

[08:47] when you want to stop, you just hold it

[08:48] down for a few seconds, which is also

[08:49] how you use the voice changer, which has

[08:51] all the things you'd expect. a male,

[08:53] female, robot, monster, baby, elder. And

[08:55] then underneath these, we have the four

[08:56] sample pads. Now, to use these, you just

[08:58] hold down the sample pad.

[09:00] >> I turned myself into a pickle, Morty.

[09:01] And then you let it go, and then you're

[09:03] going to press it back. And

[09:05] >> I turned myself into a pickle, Morty.

[09:06] And ta, it plays the voice line that you

[09:08] had recorded. Again, that giveaway is

[09:10] coming up very soon. But first, it's

[09:11] time to plug in the Shure SM7B, one of

[09:13] the most expensive and gain hungry

[09:15] dynamic microphones in the space. This

[09:16] thing requires so much power to sound

[09:18] good. And professional mixers that cost

[09:20] hundreds of dollars use the fact that

[09:21] they can power this Shure SM7B as a

[09:24] baseline. It's a selling point. If a

[09:25] mixer can handle the Sure SM7B, they

[09:28] want to brag about it. So, [music] can a

[09:30] $40 to $50 mixer handle the SH SM7B?

[09:33] Okay, this is the Shure SM7B plugged

[09:35] directly into the SC3.

[09:37] There's no filters or anything on it,

[09:39] obviously, because that's not how this

[09:41] interface works. Uh, yes, it can. And

[09:43] that is nuts. You know, thinking back to

[09:45] when I started, it's hard not to be

[09:46] jealous of you guys. The fact that

[09:48] companies like Fifine are creating not

[09:50] just microphones that sound great on a

[09:52] budget, but also interfaces for [music]

[09:54] you to start your journey with is

[09:57] it's it's amazing. You can spend 90

[10:00] bucks and have everything you need to

[10:02] begin content creation. The

[10:03] accessibility of that makes me really

[10:06] happy [music] because you guys can

[10:09] follow a dream of yours without

[10:11] stressing like I did. I've got way too

[10:13] many microphones lying around. So, if

[10:14] you want to win one of the four Fifine

[10:16] mics I have, comment down below the

[10:18] answer to this question. Is the Fifine

[10:19] K688 and the Fifine AM8 XLR or is it

[10:23] USB? And make sure you include the

[10:25] secret code word accessible. Keep your

[10:27] DMs open. I'll be reaching out to ship

[10:28] them over the next few weeks. And if you

[10:29] want to learn about the K688, click

[10:31] right here. It's it's on screen. One of

[10:33] these places. [music] You'll know where

[10:34] it is. See you next week.