
Now is a good time for recording at home—and the AKG Podcasting Lyra USB Microphone Kit purports to be an effective solution for exactly that purpose. Harman, the company that distributes AKG products, was kind enough to send me the kit to review, and lo, I am come, results in hand.
The kit itself essentially comprises two pieces: an AKG Lyra Ultra-HD Multimode USB Microphone and a pair of AKG K371 Over-Ear Closed-Back Studio Headphones. I shall be recording with one while listening back on the other; and you, dear reader, will hear the audio.
The Kit
The kit's Lyra USB microphone, inspired by the look of AKG's famous C414 (a mic often used in professional studios for acoustic guitars and the occasional vocal), promises 192 kHz / 24-bit conversion. 192 kHz is on the high end of the sample rates a pro studio might use, and at present, few USB mics in this price range capture sample rates this high.
The mic offers an Adaptive Capsule Array, with four condenser capsules and four user modes: front (cardioid), front and back (omnidirectional), tight stereo, and wide stereo.
The headphones, on the other hand, declare a frequency response of 5 Hz to 40 kHz, which is quite wide indeed. They are closed-back, over-ear headphones, boasting 50mm drivers, and a price point roughly in line with many cans used for studio recording.
Rounding out the kit is an activation card for Ableton Live 10 Lite—a very creative DAW indeed—as well as an activation card for a four-part introductory course on recording techniques from Berklee Online. Ableton Live will be a boon for recording, editing, mixing, and mastering your productions, while the four-part course will help you drill the basics of recording technique.
I’m going to put this combination through its paces in a variety of situations. I shall record myself in treated and untreated rooms. I’ll record myself playing an acoustic guitar (the mic advertises itself as being useful for live-studio recordings), and speaking plainly, as I would in a podcast recording. For this review, I will not test Ableton Live 10 because I can already vouch for its efficacy as a digital audio workstation, and I did not take class from Berklee, though I am sure it is quite informative to the budding audio engineer, since the good people at Berkeley are fantastic instructors, and the knowledge they are imparting as part of this podcasting kit is invaluable.
Operation
Unboxing the mic, unpackaging the headphones, and getting it all hooked up to my DAW (Logic Pro X) via my laptop (a MacBook Pro) was easy as pie. Recording in Pro Tools with my studio computer was also a breeze.
The mic itself offers a prominent headphone dial with a mute button on the front. On the rear, you can select among the four mic patterns, and decide how much you want to crank the gain.
The headphones can plug straight into the mic's 3.5mm jack, but that's not my preference when working with USB microphones. Instead, I opt to run the mic in Logic Pro X differently: Logic gives you the ability to choose one device for your input and a separate device for output monitoring, so I chose to listen through my usual interfaces. I made this choice after my initial tests.
You see, even the most expensive USB mics haven't sussed out doubling and latency issues when plugging headphones straight into the mic; that's been my experience, anyway. Splitting the operation between the mic and a trusty interface, or a built-in soundcard, is one way to sidestep the problem.
If your DAW doesn't allow for this kind of operation, hit me up in the Comments section and I'll walk you through alternatives. Or, just plug your headphones into the mic—the doubling and latency aren't exceedingly noticeable; I just prefer working in a different way.
Anyway, I was up and recording at my dining room table in minutes, recording myself playing a sad improvised melody inspired by quarantining on a blustery, windy day.
This is the first bit of audio I played through the mic, recording it at my dining room table. If you hear the birds, my chair moving, me breathing from time to time, well, that should tell you how much audio this mic can pick up.
Indeed, that's the headline here: this mic can pick up a lot of sound. I recommend working in a treated room, or else this mic will capture the slightest imperfections of your environment.
Let's see what the mic sounds like in a room with a little room treatment. Here are the four different mic modes, with me talking into the mic.
Please note: I have not EQ'd the mic at all, nor run any corrective software. What you hear is what you get: I'm showing off the mic; no windscreen, no processing, no alternative stand-mounting. In this way, I hope to create the most honest conditions for this review.
In general, I find the mic to sound quite good for the price. The operation is simple. With proper room treatment and a pop screen to filter out plosives, this mic could easily work for a variety of projects.
Again, I must point out the sensitivity: this mic can pick up a lot of sound, even at the lowest settings—at least, it was powerfully sensitive on all of my computers. Be conservative with the trim knob on the rear of the mic.
Also, as you could hear from the recording, the mic picks up a lot of ancillary noise—not self-noise, thank goodness, but room noise. So, make sure your room is as quiet as possible when using the mic, and do apply some WD-40 to your trusty podcasting or VO chair.
The Headphones
The headphones do the job quite well. My reference tunes sound like my reference tunes, with perhaps a little more midrange than I'd like, but good separation overall. I wore them for hours at a clip, and they were comfortable throughout the recording process. When monitoring my results over consumer headphones and my own monitor setup, I didn't find myself jarred: everything sounded just like it did when I monitored with the headphones. In other words, they do a good job of reproducing audio for tracking purposes.
For this kit, the cans do the job quite well—you can hear when you're being too sibilant, or when a stray noise might ruin your recording. You can easily use them while recording your podcasts, streams, or voice-overs, and expect to turn out a good result.
Conclusion
Overall, I enjoy the mic, and I enjoy the headphones. Should Harman forget to contact me about returning them, I wouldn't be dismayed—they'd both be put to good use. If you're in the market for a solo voice-over or podcasting kit that sits somewhere in between the bargain-basement and the penthouse, these will do the trick. What do you think of these items? Don't hesitate to reach out and let us know in the Comments section.
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