Getting audio right for my videos took me some time, while that is still very much a work in progress, judging by the lack of negative feedback on my videos, I got to the point where microphone setup is at least passable. For a couple of months, I had been using Tonor TC-777 which worked well but had its quirks. The company sent me a new cardioid microphone Tonor TC30 (AmazonUK, AmazonUS) to test and see if I like it better.
Tonor TC30
Just as before, this is a USB microphone, so the use-cases are limited to devices that feature a dedicated sound card over USB: mainly computers and laptops. That’s fine as Tonor TC30 is very much a podcast/voiceover type of microphone – anyone looking at these will have a computer at hand.
Inside the box (a much bigger box than it needs to be) you will find the mic itself, Tonor branded pop shield, a microphone cradle, a simple tripod and a 2 m long USB-A to USB-C lead. For once, I feel like someone listened to my feedback and did exactly what I asked them to do during my review of the TC-777. Tonor TC30 features not only a detachable cable but a USB-C connector; both come in handy when it comes to storing it.
The microphone cage uses the friction of the rubber bands stretched inside to grip the microphone inside it, and prevent vibration from ruining your sound. Despite my previous not so impressive experiences, this works well, even if the microphone itself offers little in terms of grip. The shield is easy to remove, and just the right size, so the whole package remains relatively compact.
I only wish that included in the box, the tripod used a 1/4″ adapter so I could mount the microphone with the accessories I already own. It uses a much bigger screw diameter, but something tells me this is the one you will find on a dedicated microphone stand.
Tonor TC30 is best for…
Inside the Tonor TC30, you will find a condenser microphone with a cardioid pickup pattern. As you probably figured out from the packaging and the accessories included, the microphone is best suited to capture high fidelity audio of your voice. Alternatively, you could also use the microphone to capture music from acoustic instruments with decent results.
My main complaint about the previous Tonor mic was the gain required to make the recording usable. Tonor TC30 addresses that and brings a very nice sensitive microphone to your recording studio. The usable recording volume range in windows spans from about 50% (for loud recordings) to 90% for careless whispers directly to the microphone.
It means that you will make it work with your voice as well as some musical instruments without the need for screaming down the microphone’s mesh.
Mic’s pickup
I used it in an overhead configuration in my voiceovers, as the main microphone capturing the room’s audio in my live stream and using a dedicated stand to record my “podcast” voice. Pay attention to where you point the Tonor TC30 as this will define the quality of your recording and the noise level of any background noise (keyboard included).
Overhead configuration works nice for streaming but will pick up keyboard clicks quite significantly. It’s not a bad thing, as sometimes these can be used for dramatic effect, but bear this in mind.
If you position the microphone from below, hopefully using a Tonor mic stand, then you can cut out the noise of the keyboard quite significantly. So experiment with positions to get the best pickup pattern that suits your needs.
Final thoughts
I’ll have to come up with a better way of mounting it, but the Tonor TC30 (AmazonUK, AmazonUS) microphone is here to stay. While I can’t use it with anything other than computers, it has been proven handy for all my voice over. As a bonus, I have a very sensitive microphone to film all these ASMR videos in case NotEnoughTech goes bust! Let’s hope it won’t come to that! Let me know how was the sound in this video in this Reddit thread.
🆓📈💵 – See the transparency note for details.
