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What is the MOST POPULAR Microphone on Twitch? - YouTube

Channel: Gaming Careers

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- Yes, okay, I did spend

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a whole day watching Twitch.

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But I'm justifying it

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as a day of work

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because I was trying to pixel peep

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and look in the webcam frames

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of the top 250 twitch streamers

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and see exactly what microphone they're using.

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Why?

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Honestly, I don't really know.

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I think this quarantine might just be

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getting to me a little bit.

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But some of the results are pretty interesting.

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I guess I'm just kind of curious

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as to what the most commonly used microphones are

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amongst these top Twitch broadcasters,

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people getting thousands and thousands

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of live concurrent viewers at a time.

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Is there any correlation between

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how much money you spend

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and how many viewers you get?

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Is there anybody in the top 250

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that's using cheaper USB microphones

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versus the more expensive XLR microphones

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that require mixers or preamps?

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Ultimately, I want to help you guys decide

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do you need an expensive microphone setup

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to be a contender

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for a top Twitch streamer?

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And we're going to answer that question in this video.

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(chill music)

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Before we start

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I just want to give a quick thank you

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to the sponsors of this video,

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using the link in the top of the description.

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All right, let's start by talking about

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exactly how I gathered this data.

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Firstly, to get a list of the top 250 streamers,

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I went to a website called sullygnome.com

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which is basically a Twitch statistics

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and analysis website.

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I wanted to see the most watched channels,

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and I changed it to display

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the data from the last 30 days.

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I then exported this data

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to a spreadsheet so I could have a list

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of the top 250 streamers from the past month.

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Next, this is the painstaking bit,

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I went through each streamer,

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one by one,

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opening up their live stream

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or a recent vod,

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trying to see which microphone they used.

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Now this could be from either

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seeing the microphone in the camera

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or searching in the panels below the stream

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for a gear list or seeing if they had a website

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or a YouTube video exploring their setup.

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I would say that probably

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for about 15% of the users

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I couldn't find out

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which microphone they used

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and I also filtered out

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any channels that were big esports channels

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like Riot Games or ESLCSGO.

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To make sure that I still maintained the list

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of 250 streamers at the end,

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I kept going,

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so I probably in the end looked at about 400 streamers

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which filtered down to around 250 results.

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Now last thing to mention

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before we dive into the data

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is that some big streamers

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are obviously sponsored by microphone companies,

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and may have to use a specific microphone

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or just a specific brand of microphone

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on their streams

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as part of their partnership.

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Right, so results time.

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The most popular microphone,

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maybe not surprisingly,

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is the Shure SM7B.

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I actually have one right behind me here.

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Very very common microphone,

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and it would've been my guess going in

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but I had no idea

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just how popular it was.

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An incredible 110 out of the top 250 streamers

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on Twitch are using the Shure SM7B

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as their microphone of choice.

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That means that 44%

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of these top 250 Twitch streamers

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are all using the exact same microphone.

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I'm going to dive into some examples

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and some reasons why

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later on in the video,

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but for now let's keep going through the data

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and see which other microphones performed well.

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In total, there was 36 different microphones

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that featured in the top 250,

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which is a good indication

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of how much choice there is out there.

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After the Shure SM7B,

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the next most popular,

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maybe a bit surprisingly for me,

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was the Blue Yeti.

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Now this is obviously a USB microphone,

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and a condenser microphone,

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so quite different to the Shure SM7B,

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and we saw 9% of users

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still using the Blue Yeti.

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Now the Blue Yeti is rightfully so

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a very popular microphone

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around smaller streamers.

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And it's usually what people pick up

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as their first professional microphone.

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But it is still a USB condenser microphone

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and really very different to the Shure SM7B.

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So I was certainly very surprised to see it

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so high up on the list.

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Next we have the Audio Technica AT2020,

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and there's two different variants of this.

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A USB version and an XLR version,

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which I kept separate

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because I wanted to look specifically at

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some stats about USB versus XLR.

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If we combine them together,

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then 11% of the user base

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are using the AT2020.

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Some honorable mentions

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are for the Rode Procaster

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and the Electro-Voice RE20,

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a couple of dynamic microphones

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that are very popular in the podcasting industry,

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each picking up about 4% of the market.

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Next let's look at how much people are spending

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on their microphone typically.

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The average spend

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over the whole analysis

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is just over $300.

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But I think that was kind of skewed

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because there was a few users

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that were using some seriously expensive microphones

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at over $1,000 a piece.

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If instead we break up the pricing into some groups,

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we can see the most popular category

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is the $300-$400,

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which is where the Shure SM7B

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sits at, $400.

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The second most popular price range

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is the $100-$200 range,

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which sees nearly 25% of streamers buying microphones

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in that category.

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So this is where some of those lower end XLR microphones

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start to come in,

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like the AT2020,

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also some of the higher end USB microphones

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like the AT2020 USB,

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or the HyperX Quadcast,

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or the Rode NT-USB.

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They all sort of fall in this price range.

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If we look at the actual connectivity

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of these microphones,

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we can see that 77%

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of Twitch streamers are choosing XLR,

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and 23% are choosing USB connections.

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Now obviously an XLR microphone

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can't connect straight into your computer

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like a USB microphone can,

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so the streamers that are using an XLR microphone

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need some kind of interface

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or mixer to connect it to their computer.

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Something like the GOXLR

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or the Scarlet2i2

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or the 2i4,

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or just a generic mixer.

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So you can expect any streamer

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that is using an XLR microphone

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to be spending an extra $100 to $500

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on an interface of some sort

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to connect it to their computer.

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In terms of the

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dynamic versus condenser microphone argument,

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this was kind of close,

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which is probably what I expected,

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with 60 40 split in favor of dynamic microphones.

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Brands wise, we can see

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that obviously Shure has the highest market share

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because of how popular the SM7B is.

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Audio Technica next up with 16%,

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Blue with 13%,

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Rode with 10%,

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and then we start to fall off

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through the rest of the brands

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as they only have one or two mics

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that are popular amongst streamers.

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So now let's talk about the Shure SM7B.

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44% of streamers are using this microphone.

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That is just a crazy number,

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there must be some reason.

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Let's actually jump onto the computer

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so we can use the Shure SM7B

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as a sample and you can actually

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hear exactly what it sounds like,

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and I'll try and explain

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why it's such a popular microphone for streamers.

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So you're now listening to the audio

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from the Shure SM7B,

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a $400 mic that's been around for a long time.

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Apparently actually the original SM7

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was used for Michael Jackson's Thriller

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and the variants, SM7A, SM7B,

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really haven't changed much of the fundamentals

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of the mic internals.

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Just like streaming

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it has become the staple microphone

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of the podcasting world

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with many of the popular podcasters choosing the SM7B

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as their microphone of choice.

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Let me go through exactly

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the setup that I have here,

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because it's important for you to be able to understand

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exactly what you're listening to.

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So I have the Shure SM7B

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plugged into something called a Cloudlifter,

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which I'll explain in just a second,

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and the Cloudlifter is then plugged in

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via XLR to a Focusrite 2i4.

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I do have a GoXLR

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which is obviously another interface

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that you can use,

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but I wanted to give you

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the cleanest signal

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with no alterations.

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So no compression,

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equalization, de-essing, noise gating.

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So this is a pure signal

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from the Shure SM7B

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through the Cloudlifter

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into my interface

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which is the Focusrite 2i4,

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and then that goes straight into my computer.

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I have the gain on the Focusrite 2i4

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set to around 60%,

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so what you're hearing now is exactly

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what the microphone sounds like

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I've done no post processing in the audio.

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I may have just boosted it slightly

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so the volume is the right level for you guys,

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but it's just the raw feed

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from the Shure SM7B.

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So what is the Cloudlifter thing

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that I have which sits between the microphone

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and the preamp or the interface?

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Effectively, the Shure SM7B

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is a notoriously quiet dynamic microphone,

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meaning that it needs around 70 decibels of gain

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to be able to be at audible levels.

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Most preamps and interfaces

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only provide about 70 decibels of gain,

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and when you're cranking it

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all the way to 100% like that,

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they start to introduce self noise.

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So the actual audio signal

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starts to sound noisy.

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A Cloudlifter or a Fathead,

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there's a few different products out there

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that do the same thing.

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That sits in between the microphone

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and the preamp and provides around

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20 to 25 decibels of clean gain

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before it hits the preamp.

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That means that you can turn the gain down

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on the preamp or the interface

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from 100% to something like I have,

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about 60% now,

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and therefore reducing the self noise.

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So let's talk a little bit about the Shure SM7B.

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Why has it become the staple

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in the live streaming and podcasting industries?

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Is it a warranted title?

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Or are people just following the trends

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and seeing what popular streamers are using?

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Well, let's start off with the pros.

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The Shure SM7B is a very natural sounding microphone.

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Meaning that you can shape the audio

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in many different ways,

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which is why it is so versatile

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and used in so many different industries

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from live streaming, podcasting,

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to live recording and even live shows.

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Since it's a dynamic microphone

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rather than a condenser microphone,

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it's very good at rejecting some of the background noise

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or noise that isn't directly in front of the capsule.

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To simulate this,

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I'll do some typing on my keyboard

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so you can hear how much of it

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it picks up.

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This is quite a loud keyboard.

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If I stop talking you might be able to hear it

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a bit clearer.

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Another thing about it

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is that it is very well built.

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It's mostly metal construction

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and it doesn't actually need a shock mount

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since the inside capsule

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is apparently internally air suspended,

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so it isolates itself

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from mechanical noise.

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Also, it looks good.

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I know that the aesthetics of a microphone

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should be the lowest of priority

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when you're shopping around,

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but there's no denying

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that this microphone does look quite good

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in a webcam frame

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compared to some of the offerings out there.

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Okay, the cons are it is expensive,

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at $400 plus the need

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for a Cloudlifter or Fathead

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as well as some kind of audio interface or mixer,

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you're looking at spending

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quite a lot of money

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to upgrade your whole audio setup,

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especially if you're coming from a USB microphone

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and you don't already have the interface.

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It's worth noting that the GoXLR and GoXLR Mini

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as well as some other interfaces

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do have particularly clean preamps,

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so you can get away with using a Shure SM7B

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without the need for a Cloudlifter or a Fathead

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if you wish to.

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The other major con I would say about this microphone

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is just how close you need to be to it

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for it to sound good.

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You're really going to need to have this microphone

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in your webcam frame for your streams.

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If you have it out of frame,

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it's just going to sound so much worse.

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To demonstrate that,

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I'm right up on the microphone now,

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if I move about a foot away,

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this is what the microphone sounds like

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from about a foot away from the mic.

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So this would be when the microphone

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isn't in frame.

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Before we wrap up this video,

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I want to really emphasize

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three major points

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when it comes to choosing a microphone

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for your streaming setup.

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Point number one is don't just follow the trends

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and buy what everyone else is buying.

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You really need to do your research here

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because microphones are so dependent

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on the speaker's voice

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as well as the environment that you're recording in.

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Do your research.

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Do you want a dynamic or a condenser microphone?

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How close do you want to have it to your mouth?

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How sound proof can you get your space?

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You really need to get a microphone

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that fits your specific needs.

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Point number two is to make sure

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that you're really getting the most

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out of your current microphone before upgrading.

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You can make pretty much any microphone

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on the market sound awful

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if you don't follow the advice in the manual

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or online to make sure

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that you're setting it up correctly.

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If you've got some questions,

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why not join the Gaming Careers Discord

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where we have thousands of members

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with so many different microphone setups

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that can help make sure

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that you're using your microphone

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in its best way?

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And point number three,

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maybe the most important one,

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is that the microphone that you use

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is not going to be the reason

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that you make it or don't make it

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as a streamer.

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As long as you can be heard audibly,

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I promise you

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that it's not going to be the difference maker.

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As we've shown in the data,

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there are 10% of the top 250 streamers

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that are spending less than $100

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on their microphone,

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and getting away with USB microphones.

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There's even a few examples

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in the top 50

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of people that are just using headset microphones

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and have still managed to make

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their streams incredibly popular.

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Your content is always going to be what matters most,

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much more important than which microphone

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you end up choosing.

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Guys I really enjoyed making this video.

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It was a ton of work

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going through like 500 streamers

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trying to work out

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which microphones were most used,

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but I really think it was worth it

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and hopefully the data has been useful for you.

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If you would like to see me do

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