The XCM-50 seems much different from the average streaming mic like the Blue Yeti and Razer Seiren V2 X, trading in the soft pill-like shape for a sharper and cleaner cuboid professional look.

As someone who takes great pride in their gaming set-up, it was refreshing to have a stylish peripheral that did the job well and looked good doing it. Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the sleek and cool style of the XCM-50. While the tripod does take up some more space, I used the XCM-50 along with Rode’s PSA1+ Professional Studio Arm, which lifted my mic above my workspace and made the sound quality even better thanks to the mic being further away from my keyboard and mouse. The XCM-50 mic in itself is relatively small, being 62 (W) x 42 (D) x 118 (H) this is great for streamers with limited space, such as myself. For first-time streamers wanting to fine-tune their vocal input, this is a great way to get started. It’s easy to download and use, with instructions on the box.

Using the included Rode X Unify Software that comes with the XCM-50 is a must.

I also appreciated having a USB-C port, which gave me much-needed different options. It is about managing the advantages and disadvantages, or better it is about setting up goals while minimizing unwanted side effects.The Rode X XCM50 is a plug-and-play mic, so you can set it up and use it in minutes, which is ideal for a novice fan. Like with a lot of things in life, everything comes with drawbacks, and so it is with microphones. You should definitely make sure to use a dedicated preamp with it or a clean signal boosting in-between amp instead of only your i nterface‘s preamps. You will need about 50-56db of gain to drive the mic for spoken dialog, depending on how loud you are and how close you want to get. It does not require as much as a Shure 7B, yet it is not far off either. Like other known broadcasting microphones, the Rode Procaster is a gain hungry beast. That said, you might want to get a dedicated preamp, a FetHead, or a CloudLifter to reach enough pre-amplification and eventually get a good signal to noise ratio. Driving the Procasterīeing a dynamic microphone, it is to be expected to use more gain to drive the microphone. Tapering off the bass frequencies comes in handy when being up close! While I like some of my condenser mics a bit better in sound, they are more transparent than the procaster they also tend to get very “boomy” when being super close, which you have to do when you want rich sound while eliminating as much background noise and reverb from the room. Even though the procaster is a large-diaphragm mic, it takes up much less of your view (also, because a shock mount is not needed). I have to say, I personally like front addressed microphones at my desk for the voice-over work I do or when doing Skype interviews. In normal circumstances, you do not need an additional shock mount, so, get it close! This microphone wants to be worked hard! By that, I mean, you want to get close to it. This pickup and rejection pattern combined with the sensitivity characteristics of being a dynamic microphone makes the procaster ideal to use in broadcast scenarios, which are usually not noise-free like a vocal booth would be. Being a front addressed microphone, it picks up all sounds from the front and rejects almost all sound signals coming from the backside (except some high frequencies over 4kHz). This setup is a classic configuration for voice microphones not only in live situations but also in a studio environment. The Rode Procaster is configured to have a cardioid polar pattern. These EQ characteristics are very targeted for voice and might take away some tweaks for you to do in post. While it tapers down to the lows, it also has a little bit of a bump around 200Hy and even a boost in the high frequencies around 5-10kHz. And comparing it to my other mics, it does not get muffled in the lows when using it super close up. However, this most likely has been done to counteract the increased bass response when leveraging the proximity effect. It is to note that it tapers down in the lows and then cuts off at the 75Hy mark. The Rode Procaster’s frequency response ranges from 75Hz – 18kHz.

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