The 10 Best 3.5mm Microphones

Editor's Notes

October 06, 2020:

While there wasn't a ton of turnover in this category, Rode finally did something I've been wanting them to do for a long time in coming out with their Rode VideoMic NTG. I've long relied on their VideoMics Go and Pro for a variety of hot shoe-mounted applications, but whenever I needed better audio I'd turn to their NTG series of shotgun mics for film audio, which set the standard at almost every price level. Now, with the Rode VideoMic NTG, there's a mic capable of that level of quality, but designed to be mounted on your camera and feed its signal directly to your video track.

We also added the Neewer CM15, which is an extremely inexpensive solution. It likely won't be able to compete in terms of sound quality with the likes of Rode and Sennheiser, but it can provide more directional audio pickup than you'd get from your camera's built-in mic, which is enough for a variety of uses outside filmmaking. It also boasts a predominantly metal construction, so it should be pretty durable.

For field recordists and foley artists looking to make recordings on the go, the Audio-Technica Pro 24 Condenser is still one of my favorites. It's one of the most portable solutions out there, and it allows you to take a simple recording device and dramatically increase the quality of its capture.

November 12, 2018:

Most of the best 3.5mm options on the market seem to be aimed at video production, so Rode ended up with a lot of traction thanks to a number of well-designed products. One dynamic mic by Audio-Technica just squeaked its way into the ranking for its tonal quality, if not its volume.