Tonor USB microphone
A few years back I bought a powered mic, with a boom for recording my voice in video interviews. It was for a hobby and it worked great, I could hear the quality of the recordings improve instantly. Over time the mic started to fail, new video conferencing allowed better audio and I needed a new one, however the technology had moved on. I was on the look out for a USB microphone. I did not want to spend a fortune on a new unit, looking around in the ‘cheaper’ category, I found one that stood out from the rest. There were loads of 4 and 5 star reviews on Amazon and for only about £30, the Tonor USB microphone was about to be the replacement.
I placed the order and it arrived the next day. If I was being honest, I did not expect what actually arrived. Opening the box, the Tonor USB microphone surprised me. It had a quality feel and was already fully assembled, ready to be used. Having a good look over it, it had the foam sock fitted and even a ‘pop’ filter (this takes out the sound of fast moving air over the microphone and reduces the popping in the voice, as it is being recorded). The tripod was solid and all that was needed was a small amount of pressure to pull the legs out. The cable is attached to the bottom on the Tonor mic, it is a fixed unit but the cable is long enough with a USB socket on the other end, to give me a chance to comfortably locate the mic around the desk.
Using my new laptop, the Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 I plugged in the Tonor mic and was almost ready for testing. The driver installed automatically and then a small amount of setup was required, I used Audacity to set it up. Testing the voice pick up, seeing the blue wavy line expand as I spoke into the mic, I adjusted the volume until it was comfortably in between the 2 lines (for my laptop it was set at 80).
I was ready to put the new mic to the test and to use the Tonor USB microphone. I had been invited as a guest on a podcast so wanted to get a good audio. Headphone on and mic in front of me, I started the podcast and recorded my end of the talk with Audacity, so that I could check the playback quality afterwards.
Using the Tonor USB microphone
After an hour of chatting, I got to listen to the recording. My hosts had been using an expensive looking mic, in a small studio and had put out an amazing tone and capture of their voice. Whilst I was using the Tonor USB microphone, I could hear virtually no difference in the quality of our two mics. The sound quality was superb and my hosts were more than happy with the audio in their podcast.
After giving the Tonor a proper test, it was ready to used for the real reason that I had purchased it. It was to start my own Pod Cast! Blue Light Humour is now live, with guests being interviewed about their funny times whilst wearing a uniform. The Tonor USB microphone has given me a fantastic recording ability and has boosted the professional recording output for my new Pod Cast. For the price I paid, I have to say that the Tonor is worth every penny and I am very pleased with it.
