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by zten 609 days ago
This is tricky to do correctly if you don't want to look like one of three things:

1. Podcast bro / Twitch streamer (giant mic inches from face)

2. Gamer (headphones with or without a headset mic)

3. Call center employee (open back mono headset with mic)

Turning off video is obviously the fastest fix to this. But assuming you don't want to do that...

You'll find a lot of people hate wearing headphones since it messes up their hairstyle or just looks distracting or some other sensory issue with having something clamped to your head. Earbuds work better for them; as long as the mic can't hear other speakers, the annoyance of half-duplex audio is eliminated.

The mic problem is harder if you don't want something obvious in frame. Lav mics work if you know how/where to attach one and to minimize clothing movement noise. Other options will require some level of room treatment if the mic isn't close to the speaker's mouth.

1 comments

I suspect there are fashion/social signaling type reasons why streamers and podcasters put the mic visibly in frame. I found it wasn't difficult at all to get it out of the camera view with a minor but acceptable quality loss and no echo. My walls are mostly bookshelves which helps but is not exceptional.
you probably have a condenser mic. dynamic mics should be 1-2 inches away from your audio source (think of a handheld mic)