Shure MV7 - THE Home Office Microphone

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tl;dr -- If you read no further, know this: investing in a quality microphone for your home office will drastically improve the way you are perceived. The Shure MV7 provides phenomenal sound out of the box for a very reasonable price.

$219-250 via Amazon

The Problem

Whether you use Zoom, Google Meet, Webex, Skype, Facetime, or other video teleconferencing software, all of them depend on a critical piece of hardware: your computer's microphone.

If you've ever been on a video call, you've absolutely heard these:

Onboard laptops mics are small by necessity and designed to pick up sounds from all around the laptop. That's convenient for you as the speaker but often an awful experience for your audience as they get to listen in to the TV in the other room, kids playing, city street noises, and the clatter of your mechanical keyboard. To be fair, audio quality from these onboard mics has improved a lot in the past few years and combined with noise reduction software this setup is perfectly suitable for the occasional quick call.

If you attend a lot of meetings and it's important that your audience comprehends what you're saying, it's a worthwhile investment to ensure they can hear you clearly.

The Solution

Enter the Shure MV7.

Shure has been building microphones since 1925 and is one of THE names in professional audio. From their marketing material:

Inspired by the legendary SM7B, the MV7 is a dynamic microphone with both USB and XLR outputs for use with computers and professional interfaces alike.

Let's break that statement down:

Like most of Shure's product line, the build quality of the MV7 is solid. Aside from the top-mounted touch panel to control mic and headphone levels, it's all metal construction. There's a physical mute button in hardware, always a good thing. There's a handy headphone jack on the back so you can monitor yourself during recording, which will appear on Apple devices as new sound output. The foam windscreen can be removed for cleaning.

The MV7 is a dynamic mic with a cardioid polar pattern, meaning that it's going to pick up sound primarily from the front, a little from the sides, and reject most everything from behind. It also means that there's a sharp drop-off the further you move away from the mic.

Example mic placement and resulting effect on spoken words:

I can play music through computer speakers from behind the MV7 and unless I crank up the volume, all my audience can hear is me. None of the music, let alone any echo from my voice bouncing off the monitor or wall.

The MV7 is designed to capture your voice, up close and personal, and reject everything else that's farther away or off-axis. Say goodbye to room echo, noisy neighbors, and keyboard clattering. And you're going to sound good, real good, in a full, natural range, rich, buttery, velvety way that's difficult to explain until you do a side-by-side comparison with friends over video chat.

Mic technique still matters, however. With dynamic cardioid mics, you've got to keep them in front of your face. And to make that easier you're going to want a stand.

Stands

If you move around a bunch or want to be able to swing the mic out of the way when not in use, I'd recommend the Gator Frameworks Deluxe (2000 Series) boom stand ($100). In ideal circumstances, the boom will allow you to keep the mic a few inches from your face but out of frame -- or pull it into frame for the classic talk radio appearance.

There's a 3000 Series model for $10 more that includes a built-in mic cable, should you want to use the MV7 with an existing audio interface. Build quality is slightly better than the 2000 Series, mostly nicer adjustment knobs.

For my stand-up desk, I use a simple and inexpensive ($15) desktop mic stand. I can pick it up and move around if I want to, but mostly it keeps me in frame so that my audience can see me.

Any stand or boom with a standard 5/8"-27 threaded connector should work.

Wrapping Up

Can you spend less on mics targeting the home and office market? Absolutely, but like most other things you get what you pay for.

Working from home has plenty of challenges. Being heard shouldn't be one of them. With solid build quality, a responsive manufacturer, rich and deep vocal tone, potential dual-use with both computer and pro audio connectivity, the MV7 has been a worthwhile investment.

Loose Ends

The MV7 ships with USB-A and USB-C cables, both a very generous 10 feet long. The mic receives a standard USB Micro-B plug, should you want to use your own cabling.

Shure does provide software to alter the tone of the MV7 and to further adjust gain levels, but I found it didn't have much of an impact for my voice and it added unnecessary bloat to my system. YMMV.

One common question, "if it's so great, why not just buy the SM7B?" The SM7B is larger, heavier, and $200 more than the MV7. It also requires additional hardware (i.e. mixer, cloud lifter, or audio interface) to bring volume levels up to working levels and to get the mic signal into your computer. After all that the improvements in audio quality probably won't be noticeable to audiences over a video teleconference. It's a great mic but overkill and too expensive for typical home office rigs.

References

Shure: MV7 Podcast Microphone

Shure: Difference between a dynamic and condenser microphone

Synaptic Sound: Mic Pickup Patterns

Wikipedia: Microphone Varieties - Dynamic

Wikipedia: Microphone Polar Patterns

Last Modified: 2021-12-18

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