22. The Samson Q2U and What Makes a Mic "Good"

If you're looking for a solid mic to start with, or you just wanna try something new, check out the Samson Q2U. It's a solid mic with a lot of flexibility that will last you a long time (if you don't break it like I did).

But the truth is, the best mic is the one you're actually gonna USE.

about the host:
Angela Briones is an award-winning podcaster and the creator, host, and producer of The Gay Podcast for Everyone, a podcast for the lgbtq+ community, family, friends, and allies.

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music for episodes 12+: (1960's 2 house) by mobygratis

Transcript

Edited via Descript.

Angela [00:00:00] Hey friends, if you're looking for a great mic to start out your podcast with, or just looking for a new mic in general, you just wanna start using something new.

I wanna tell you about one of my favorite microphones. It's a Samson Q2U. This is not sponsored, but it should be. Let's face it.

Because I'm gonna tell you why I think it's a really great microphone at a really great price point.

My name is Angela Briones, and I wanna welcome you to the space where we talk about podcasting, sharing our voice, and life behind the mic.

So the Samson Q2U is not the first mic I started the podcast with technically, because when I started the podcast I used the Blue Yeti mic, but I also don't count that period of time because, like, here's how it went. I did the Blue Yeti mic, I recorded like two or three episodes, and those never got published.

For whatever reason. You know, I'm sure that's an episode down the line, but those never got published and I sat on it for like. I dunno, about a year maybe. And then when I actually came back to podcasting and said, you know what, I'm gonna do it this time. I'm gonna publish episodes, I'm gonna, you know, I'm actually going to go through with it.

That's when I purchased the Samson Q2U. And that's why I kind of refer to it as the first microphone I ever had because that was the microphone I had when I actually started the podcast and I actually published episodes and I underlined that because I feel like there's, for me at least, there's a big distinction between, you know, when I recorded episodes that never saw the light of day, and when I recorded episodes that actually went out to the world.

So. you know, to me, that's where I draw the line of, that's when I started my podcast. But anyway, the Samson Q2U, when I first started using it, honestly, I knew a lot of people who used it also, but what was really weird is I felt like my sound was not as great as theirs. And honestly, you guys, that was all user error. That was all me being, you know, pretty new to podcasting, et cetera, and and definitely learning how everything goes, but I honestly just wasn't sitting very close to the mic.

The Samson Q2U is a dynamic microphone, which is wonderful. It's what you want, because it kind of eliminates the sound. Everywhere else, it's just kind of focusing on what's in front of the microphone, which obviously, is great.

But it does require you to be a little closer to a microphone than probably feels comfortable. And, like I said, a lot of that is just like when you're new to podcasting, you don't know where to sit, you know, that's something that you kind of learn over time. what feels comfortable, what sounds good, et cetera.

But to the microphone itself. The reason I love the Samson Q2U is when you do find that, you know, sweet spot of where you're supposed to speak into the microphone, the sound is really great. The sound is solid, sound is really nice. Um, it also has a USB and XLR output. So the USB, you know, obviously super easy.

You can plug that into your computer. Easy breezy. The fact that it also has an XLR output gives you some capability there where you can plug it into an external interface face, [00:03:00] which I still don't have yet, to be honest.

I would love something like that. Um. love to record into some sort of external interface. Or if you're recording with other people, like say you've got two or three other people, that XLR output allows. Like if you all had Samson Q2U microphones, you could all. Put it into that interface and record together, which is awesome. 

And the price point of the microphone, when I first started podcasting, it was like $70. Now it's closer to a hundred. 'cause of course, you know, it feels like a hundred years since I started.

But even at a hundred dollars, I mean, that's a really good budget price point I think for a microphone. You can get other microphones that are less expensive than that and probably still super solid. I just don't know them to be honest. This is what I know, you know, Samson Q2U I really like the microphone.

I like it so much that I actually lent it to a friend who we were gonna start podcasting together, and I tell you the story very specifically because this is what happens when you say, I am gonna start a podcast and then it kind of drops to the side. 'cause I gave it to her. As like a way to make it easier for her. You know, she's one of my dearest friends and we were gonna, you know, one of those things where we're gonna podcast together and just kind of talk about, talk about movies, this and that, whatever, you know, kind of a fun podcast for us at least.

 So I give her the microphone. I'm like, here, use this mic. The path of least resistance. Right? And I was speaking as somebody who'd been podcasting a couple of years at that point, so. I was like, trust me, like you're gonna wanna get in the flow of podcasting in general. And then you can kind of back into the other things.

And so she has the microphone, and in the meantime, it was kind of a win-win for me 'cause I was like, if you use this mic, I'm actually gonna. Be able to get a different mic and kind of try something new.

And I really wanted to do that, you know, like you wanna try different things, you wanna do something new in the podcast, there's not a lot of equipment that you need. So whenever you can upgrade or get something at a good price or whatever, it's kind of exciting. So I was like, this is my chance to kind of try the road NT USB Mini, that's the one I wanted at the time.

 Then I kept podcasting, and something happened in her world where she couldn't meet up to record virtually at all, much less a person. And it was that thing where one day turns into a week, turns into a month, turns into a year.

Now it's been three years, and that entire time she had the Samsung microphone with her. And I really missed the Samsung mic in the meantime. And I just started thinking, you know, that's exactly what this podcast is about. You know, your mindset is more important than your mic because. Even if somebody gives you a microphone, even if somebody says, Hey, here's a microphone. You don't have to go and do the thing. It's the sitting and the doing the thing and making space and all that.

That's you doing the work. That's you showing up. So I wanted to kind of underline that because.

The microphones are definitely important. I think you're gonna love a Samson Q2U if you're looking for something to get started or something different maybe in your podcast.

But at the [00:06:00] end of the day, whether you have a Samson Q2U, whether you have a Rode, whether you have a Shure mic, and I say this knowing full well that I want a Shure microphone, but it doesn't matter. Like, the microphone is great, but it doesn't matter, because. Whichever microphone you have, whichever price point, what have you, what's really gonna matter is are you using it?

 now here's a quirky thing with regards to the story I just told you about my friend who didn't get to podcast. 'cause you know, she just decided, she was like, look, obviously I'm not gonna do this, and it's not as important to me as I thought it was, so I'm not gonna do this, and I was like, cool. Can I, you know, if you're not gonna use that mic, do you mind if I grab it back from you?

Like, I didn't really know how to ask for that. Right. But I'm like, if you're not gonna use it, I would love to use it. Do you wanna hear something crazy? She gave me the mic back. She was like, yeah, of course. She gives me the mic back, y'all. I use it for literally. Maybe a week, and I was having the best week ever.

The sound was amazing. I'm telling you I love - I love - The Samson Q2U sound was amazing. I was really excited to be reunited with my Samson Q2U, but what happened was, for some reason, I was hyper aware of how the USB wasn't connecting into the mic, like it was pretty loose at the base of the microphone and I had never noticed that before and I thought it was broken, so I forced it in a little bit. And y'all, that was. A bad thing because now it's broken. So I say this to you, and I share this to you, that if you have an older Samson Q2U, my understanding is that this doesn't happen on the newer Samson Q2U, but if you have an older Samson Q2U that was maybe handed down to you from, you know, a podcast friend or that you purchased online or whatever, if there's like a loose connection at the base of the microphone.

That's okay. Look at your computer or whatever you're recording on, and make sure, as long as it's recording the sound, you are fine. So I don't know why I panicked, but I did, and now I'm at a space where even though I'm on my Rode currently right now, my birthday present in June is is gonna be a Samson Q2U.

I really like the mic, so I wanted to share that with you. I think you're gonna love the mic. It's a solid mic. It has the flexibility to grow with you, and if you don't mess up the connection like I did, you'll have it for so many years. I mean, look for five years.

It was fantastic until Angela messed with it. So here we are. All right, you guys. I hope you have an amazing podcast day. Until next time.