SE Dynacaster DCM8 Review
If you’re stepping into the realms of more professional podcasting and you’re confused as to what microphone will work best for you, I’d like to introduce you to one you should be considering.
I know we see videos all day long with the famous Shure SM7B as the “go to” microphone to use for professional podcasters, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, I think there’s another player that should be in the ring. The sE Dynacaster DCM8.
sE is a family-owned business that was founded by Siwei Zou. He studied Composition at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and became a successful conductor and composer. Visiting California on a scholarship, Siwei then found an opportunity to merge his musical knowledge with his love for design. He began building condenser microphones under his own brand name, “sE” which is a homage to the art of sound engineering. In just over 20 years of designing and building microphones, the brand has established itself as makers of precision tools for artists, by artists.
As a musician myself, this kind of “origin story” resonates with me, and I’ve been using sE microphones as a vocalist for over a decade, so I was eager to hear what they could do for podcasters.
The Basics
The sE Dynacaster DCM8 is a dynamic microphone with a beautiful all metal construction and a distinct black colour that blends seamlessly with any setup. This XLR-only microphone requires 48 volts of phantom power for operation, delivering broadcast-quality sound ideal for podcasters, but not limited to that industry. As this microphone is more suited to the more professional podcaster, you’ll need to ensure that you’re plugging it into a mixer, stream deck, pre-amp that is capable of accepting XLR inputs and has phantom power available. I’ve linked a few options in the resources below.
Design and Aesthetics
Aesthetics play a significant role, especially for content creators. The sE Dynacaster DCM8 features an understated design with the signature red SE branding, offering a unique look without being overly branded. The microphone's three-layer pop filter system provides optimal protection against plosive sounds, ensuring crystal-clear audio during recordings. It also ships with an extra foam pop filter for very enthusiastic speakers.
Sound Quality and Performance
One of the standout features of the sE Dynacaster DCM8 is its exceptional sound quality. The microphone captures depth without sacrificing clarity, providing a rich and crisp audio output. The depth comes without the muddiness that we can hear in other microphones at this level, which I appreciate. Whether you're a male or female user, this microphone offers a balanced sound profile tailored to suit different voices.
Versatility and Control
Equipped with adjustable settings, including a dynamite boost and EQ adjustments, the sE Dynacaster DCM8 offers customisation options to enhance your audio performance. The microphone's off-axis performance allows for easy positioning without obstructing your mouth from view if you’re shooting videos,, making it an ideal choice for content creators and broadcasters.
In comparison to other dynamic microphones, the SE Dynacaster DCM8 stands out for its sound quality and performance. While it may pick up more ambient noise in less controlled environments, the microphone's overall audio output remains impressive. Whether you're recording vocals, podcasts, or live streams, the sE Dynacaster DCM8 shines in delivering professional-grade sound.
Transcript:
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[00:00:00] Oh, hi! Today I'm recording a review of this microphone right here, the SE Dynacaster DCM8. SE loaned this microphone to me so that I could review it and then I love it so much that I'm definitely going to be buying this microphone because it's awesome. So now I'm going to get into why. This SE Dynacaster DC M8 is an XLR only microphone.
[00:00:32] It is a dynamic microphone and it has a gold plated XLR thingy in the inside of this here, too. It requires 48 volts phantom power to actually work. You will need to connect this microphone via the XLR. Through to some sort of preamp, mixer, you know, a streaming deck or something like that for it to then connect to your computer.
[00:00:53] You cannot plug this microphone straight into your computer. It does not have a USB connection. This is a high quality microphone, great for broadcast quality sound. It is a full metal construction, and it's that really awesome black color, so it just works with everything else that I've got going on.
[00:01:12] Aesthetics are pretty important to me, especially having a YouTube channel as well. If I'm gonna have a mic in my shot, I want the mic to not look terrible. I want the microphone to blend in, but I also want it to be cool enough. I also don't want a bunch of branding shoving in your face. The Essie brand is so understated in that way, which I'm a massive fan of.
[00:01:33] I like subliminal messaging versus, here's my brand, and so I appreciate that this has a unique look, a full body metal construction, and it's not shoving its brand in my face. I will buy microphones like this all day long, because it has a signature look without it being too branded. I also really like that the red Essie branded color is coming in.
[00:01:57] Next thing I love about this mic is that it has a three [00:02:00] layer pop filter in the body. Of this thing and it has a different extra external pop filter that you can also shove on to it as well, which is just that's so many levels And so you've actually got three layers of pop filter without having to have a like big old giant pop filter thing that sits in your face.
[00:02:19] You've got so much protection from the pop sounds. With all this stuff. So to give you a demonstration of how that works, Popping the popcorn and sizzling the sausages. Now I'm going to put these bad boys back on. Popping the popcorn and sizzling the sausages.
[00:02:36] Okay, so if that's not enough, if that's not enough pop filter It ships with this giant pop filter. Let's put it on and see what difference that makes. Definitely have your headphones on, guys. If you don't have them on, get them on.
[00:02:47] Popping the popcorn and sizzling the sausages. Why would you need this extra bit? If you were working with someone who has a, like, they're really powerful when they're talking, like if they were a rapper, or if they're someone that really accentuates all their words, if they're someone that gets really energetic when they're talking, maybe if they're a public speaker and they're used to projecting and really over enunciating things then the pop filter is going to just do a great job of handling that I don't need this on, so I'm going to take it off. It's very easy to position this mic in pretty much any situation that you may want it to be in. And it also Uh, works really well off axis because of the way you can position this microphone.
[00:03:29] So it doesn't take up a heap of my shot. You can see my mouth and you're also getting a high quality sound. So for me, that's huge. When you're filming on YouTube as well and you have a microphone in front of you, you don't want it in front of your face. In fact, I have had Plenty of people on earlier videos when I was reviewing different microphones say, Hey, I can't see your mouth.
[00:03:50] I can, can you put it so that I can see your mouth? It is off putting to not be able to see the person's whole mouth. So I really like that this microphone allows for that to [00:04:00] happen. One of the best things about this mic for me personally is obviously the way it sounds. If it didn't sound good, I wouldn't use it.
[00:04:07] I like the way that it gives me depth. A lot of the time. When you get depth, you can also get muddiness. Let's say driving in a car and you're driving on a freeway and you have that hum of the freeway. The hum frequency of the freeway can also interfere with the hum sort of muddy sound that some microphones can give you.
[00:04:27] It's actually harder to get a nice, clear, crisp sound if you get too much bottom end. And you do have to kind of notch it out and play with the, with the filters there so that you can get the sound that you actually want. But it requires lots of work in post production to get it to sit where you really should have it sit.
[00:04:44] This microphone doesn't have that problem. It gives me depth without muddiness and it also gives me crispness on the top end. So if you listen to it in headphones, okay. Listen to the way I sound. You can hear that I sound nice on the bottom. It's not too muddy. And I also sound good on the top end. So I've got clarity and crispness and also a bottom end depth that I really appreciate.
[00:05:09] It's going to be good for male or female. That's another thing that I definitely want to hit on for everybody. Male, it's going to give you that depth without being muddy. Males generally, okay, generally have a lower body sort of bottom end sound to their voices. They've normally got more going on down there.
[00:05:27] And then they need a little bit of help in their mids to highs. So it'll be good for males because you can get that depth without the muddiness for males. And then for females, it's giving you that extra clarity up the top end, which is really nice, but also giving you depth and body in the lower end, which I appreciate.
[00:05:45] The SE Dynacaster DCM8 also has the settings that you can change on the microphone on the bottom, just like the SM7B does. So you can change a few little things like the boost level, you can turn it off and on. And there's a few little EQ adjustments that you can make to the microphone [00:06:00] itself. Why would you potentially want to do that?
[00:06:02] If you put the settings on that you like, that you know, sound good for your voice. on the mic, then potentially if you take it somewhere else, the settings are still there. So you don't need them to apply anything because you already have it sounding the way you want it to sound. So it's nice to have those little kind of layered effects there that you can have inbuilt on the microphone so that it's set the way you want it to be set.
[00:06:24] This microphone also has the dynamite boost inside of it, so it gives you that extra boost, which is why it sounds so crisp and it also gives you that extra sound level, which is really cool. And it also means that it does perform pretty well as kind of a longer, like you can be standing further away from it and you'll still get a pretty good sound out of it.
[00:06:45] Anytime you stand further away from a microphone though, you are going to introduce reverberation and anything else that the room is letting you put in there. So in my situation, the fan on my computer is running a little bit hot. And then this room also has, uh, hard furnishings, so we've got a bit of bounce and we've got some ceilings that definitely need some acoustic treating on them, which I don't have in this space and it's not a space I'm going to be in forever.
[00:07:10] So it depends on what I want to do there as to how many extra levels of sound control I want to give the room. I think that's one of the things that I don't love as much about this microphone compared to other things that I reviewed. Although it is a dynamic microphone, And it does handle dynamic range well.
[00:07:29] It can handle a louder environment more generally. It can handle less controlled rooms. It still presents a little bit more of that background noise kind of coming into it. It still gives a little bit more of the reflection and it's probably because I have the boost on. If I turned the boost off, it wouldn't, you wouldn't be as noticeable, but I want the boost on because I like the way that sounds.
[00:07:53] It definitely brings in a little bit more than some of the other dynamic microphones that I have in a broadcast capacity. [00:08:00] But I'm okay with it because of the way it sounds, because, as I spoke before, it gives me depth and it gives me clarity and it mushes it together for a beautiful sound for myself.
[00:08:10] Then I'm okay with it being a little bit more of a, uh, a situation where I've got more sound coming in that I have to manage in my post production because it's just a nicer sounding mic overall. Now I'm going to give you a test of how it sounds on and off axis and from different levels of further awareness.
[00:08:28] And I'm also going to do a little bit of singing so that you can see what that sounds like for yourself if it's a mic you're thinking of for singing and vocals as well. This is me talking into the microphone and I'm off axis right close to the microphone. This is me talking into the microphone and I'm off axis about 60 centimeters away from the microphone.
[00:08:49] This is me talking into the microphone, and I'm on axis right up close to the microphone. This is me talking into the microphone, and I'm about 60 centimeters ish away from the microphone. Okay, and now I'm going to sing into the microphone, off axis and on axis, so that you can hear what that sounds like as well.
[00:09:06] here we go. Someday when I'm awfully low and the sky is grey I will feel a glow just thinking of you And the way you look
[00:09:29] Oh, but you're lovely, with your eyes so blue, and your cheeks so soft. There is nothing for me but to love you, and the way you look tonight.
[00:09:53] Okay, so that should give you a pretty good picture now. What it sounds like if I sing and if I [00:10:00] talk at different distances. I hope you enjoyed this. What do you think? Do you like this microphone? Do you like the way it sounds for me? And I'm going to do some battles between this microphone and some others that are in the same wheelhouse. Like the SM7DB, and some others that are also XLR microphones as well. So stay tuned for this kind of content and I hope you have a lovely day.
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