Boundary/conference microphone

[azuresea]

Hi I need a pc microphone that will record the room quite well (voice not music). I don't have the biggest budget - its for home use and skype conferencing. It needs a range of a several metres. It would be an added bonus if it isn't massive since I have jerky muscle movements sometimes and I wouldn't want to be knocking it off my pc table to often (its an over bed one).

I have tried the maplin approx. £7 cheapy but it doesn't work unless held a couple of inches from my face on normal microphone settings. Boosting it doesn't make a noticeable difference.

If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

Thanks azuresea

[steve]

Unfortunately, once you get into the realms of "several meters" rather than "centimetres" you need very high sensitivity and very low noise, and that means money.
The MX392 and MX393 from Shure are good for up to about 2 meters and cost around $140 US, plus you need a decent quality microphone pre-amp with phantom power, so you're probably looking at around $300 for the bundle.

Alternatively, how about using a cheap USB microphone and move it around so that it is close to whoever is speaking (for example, Logitec USB desktop microphone for around $15 US). Cheap USB microphones tend to have quite short leads, so the people may need to move around a bit to get close enough to the mic.

[azuresea]

Hi Steve, thank you for your reply. sorry I probably wasn't very clear - is the answer still the same if I only need the recording to be audible enough to transcribe (I am used to amplifying where necessary with audacity).

[steve]

The Logitec USB desktop microphone has had good reviews as a cheap microphone. It may be good enough for your purpose.

[kozikowski]

Logitec USB desktop microphone

Yes. Terrific microphone, but it's aggressively directional. Good for voices, although I have shot music with it.
Koz

[artigasw]

I used an Enersound conference microphone system and had great results. Each microphone costs around $220 each but you also need a control unit. You can find more documentation on the manufacturers website enersound.com under conference microphones.

Good luck