When you’re running multiple channels on YouTube, you must be using good equipment. So what does the controversial Youtuber Keemstar use for a mic?
Keemstar uses the BM-800 and the Heil PR40. The BM-800 is a condenser microphone whereas the Heil PR40 is a dynamic microphone. Condenser microphones are best used for voice recordings on podcasts, videos, or even in music and pick up most sounds. Dynamic mics are mainly for voiceovers.
You can read more below about condenser mics. the specs of both of these microphones and
What are Condenser Mics?
Condenser mics are the most commonly used microphones by professionals who make recordings. This is because they are a lot more sensitive to sounds and pick up more frequencies than their counterpart the dynamic microphone.
The condenser is essentially what people in the world of electronics call a capacitor. It can be complicated to describe how a capacitor microphone works, however, some have simplified its function.
According to the Sonic Bids Blog, the big differentiator in a condenser microphone is that it can pick up small nuanced sounds “with a lightweight membrane (referred to as the diaphragm) suspended by a fixed plate. Sound pressure against the diaphragm causes it to move, which in turn creates electrical output.”
Condenser mics can use three different kinds of diaphragms to achieve this ability to pick up sounds. Those diaphragms are large, small, or electret. The type of diaphragm used determines how the microphone will pick up and then transmit sounds.
A large-diaphragm mic will traditionally have a diaphragm that is one inch in diameter or larger. In general, the large-diaphragm mics are used for vocals, guitars, pianos, and ensembles.
A small diaphragm mic will have a diaphragm that is 3/4″ or smaller. These mics are used to do what is known as close-miking and are almost exclusively used for instruments.
The electret diaphragm is a more affordable diaphragm that is permanently charged and therefore doesn’t need to use a heavier power source. These microphones can be used for any sound.
Condenser mics can also have different polar patterns depending on the microphone. Hypercardioid picks up sound mainly from the front and also a bit from the rear. Supercardioid pick up sound the same as the latter type but with a smaller rear detection.
Omnidirectional picks up sounds from every direction. Bidirectional pick up sounds from the front and rear equally with a small side detection too.
Finally, condenser mics can either be side address or front address which determines the spot that they best pick up sounds.
Keemstars BM-800 is a large-diaphragm omnidirectional microphone that appears to be a front address.
You can watch the below video from Ken The Content Coach who explains the difference between condenser and dynamic microphones.
Keemstar’s Dynamic Microphone
If Keemstar’s BM-800 works as we described above then how does a dynamic microphone, like the Heil PR40, work?
Well, the term dynamic when being used to define a microphone has to do again with how it works on the electromagnetic level. According to the microphone manufacturer Neumann, dynamic microphones “are microphones that convert sound into an electrical signal by means of electromagnetism. They fall into two categories, moving coil and ribbon microphones.”
Put into understandable terms, a moving coil mic has a coil attached to a membrane and a magnet surrounds that coil. When sounds hit the membrane it vibrates the coil that then turns the sound into an electrical signal.
A ribbon microphone uses a ribbon of aluminum that works in the same way that the coil with the membrane would and picks up sounds more acutely. It then turns those sound vibrations into an electrical signal.
Ribbon mics are bidirectional and very fragile while coil mics are more popular and often used for onstage performance because of the sound they emit.
As for Keemstar’s Heil PR40, it is a moving coil dynamic microphone. Heil boasts that this microphone is best used for voiceovers which explains why he would be using it for his YouTube Channel Drama Alert where he is always seated and commenting over other videos.
The cost difference between these two mics is huge too. The BM-800 which is manufactured by the company Zingyou sells for about $45 on Amazon and it can be bought in four different colors. The Heil PR40 sells for $329 and comes in five different colors.
With the media company that Keemstar appears to be building, he needs varying equipment to get the job done.