Electro-Voice RE20 podcasting mic review

The Electro-Voice RE20 (Amazon.com | B&H) is designed for broadcasting and you'll find it in many professional radio studios. This dynamic mic sells for only $449, and it boasts highly accurate sound reproduction.

Why spend money on a good mic?

Your podcasting microphone is the best investment you can make for your podcast. The principle of “garbage in, garbage out” starts with your mic. A bad microphone produces bad audio that is hard to enhance. But a great microphone will produce high-quality audio that you won't have to fix.

Positioning with an end-fire microphone

The Electro-Voice RE20 captures audio from the end, not the sides. So it's best to speak 4–6 inches away from the mic.

If you have to turn your head, pivot around the mic so that you voice is always in front of it.

I recommend positioning the mic slightly off-axis, about 45º to your right or left, to prevent your plosives from hitting the microphone.

Built in pop filter

Plosives are the pops of air that come especially from the consonants T and P. Unlike most other microphones, the RE20 and RE320 have a built-in pop filter that does a good job preventing these plosives from being in the recording.

If you still get plosives with the mic slightly off-axis, then I recommend the Popless Voice Screens VAC-RE20 Pop Filter (Amazon.com | B&H).

Variable-D for reduced proximity effects

Electro-Voice's exclusive Variable-D effect reduces or prevents tone changes when you get extremely close to the mic or far away. This was most impressive compared to the Heil PR40 and Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB. Both of those mics had a serious drop in quality as little as 8 inches away, but the RE20 and RE320 both still sounded great.

Bass Tilt Down switch

The RE20 has a “bass tilt down” switch that marginally changes the dynamics of the microphone. It's essentially a bass-reduction switch.

Off (left)

A highly accurate representation of your voice.

  • -3 dB at 45–80KHz
  • Flat frequency response at 80 Hz – 6 KHz
  • +2.5 dB at 6–14 KHz

On (right)

In case your voice is too booming, try the Bass Tilt setting.

  • -4.5 dB at 100–400 Hz

Most accurate, professional sound

The Electro-Voice RE20 is $449, which is a lot, but I think it is worth it if you want a professional-sounding podcast. Since testing the RE20 and RE320, I've discovered just how much of a bass boost the PR40 (the over-praised “gold standard” in podcasting) gives. The PR40 also tends to make sharper S sounds.

Recommended accessories for RE20

RE20 vs. RE320, PR40, and ATR2100-USB

  • The RE20 is a little quieter than the other dynamic microphones.
  • Both the RE20 and RE320 sound great even 8 inches away.
  • Side rejection is almost the same on all mics, but the RE20 seemed to reject the background noise a little more than the other mics.
  • Both the RE20 and RE320 reproduced voice the most accurately.

Equipment used in this video

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About the Author
As an award-winning podcaster, Daniel J. Lewis gives you the guts and teaches you the tools to launch and improve your own podcasts for sharing your passions and finding success. Daniel creates resources for podcasters, such as the SEO for Podcasters and Zoom H6 for Podcasters courses, the Social Subscribe & Follow Icons plugin for WordPress, the My Podcast Reviews global-review aggregator, and the Podcasters' Society membership for podcasters. As a recognized authority and influencer in the podcasting industry, Daniel speaks on podcasting and hosts his own podcast about how to podcast. Daniel's other podcasts, a clean-comedy podcast, and the #1 unofficial podcast for ABC's hit drama Once Upon a Time, have also been nominated for multiple awards. Daniel and his son live near Cincinnati.
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Jon Buscall
10 years ago

Thanks for this really cogent review, Daniel. I enjoyed it very much. Like you I’ve moved over to the RE 20. I did this about 6 months ago, maybe longer, after I felt the Heil was extenuating the sibilant sounds in my voice.

I’ve got the Audio-technica too but I would never use it on my podcast. It’s just too thin; however, I think it works fine as a USB mic for voiceovers although I prefer my Røde Podcast for that.

I listened a couple of times with headphones and I actually prefer the RE320 with your voice. It’s got the precision of the RE20 but is slightly warmer. Only just, but I like it.

I don’t have the RE320 yet but it’s on my list to try.

I would certainly recommend the Røde Procaster (which I review here: http://jontusmedia.com/rode-procaster-or-podcast-whats-better/ ) as another mic to try in this class. It’s slightly cheaper than the REs but it’s got outstanding build quality and produces some great audio through my Saffire PRO.

Thanks again.

cutemonster
cutemonster
8 years ago

Did you ever have any problems setting up the RE20? I recently purchased the mic along with a Mackie 802vlz4. Connected them via an XLR cable to Mic 1. Turned on the gain, the fader, and the main mix to unity. But the mic did not register at all. The sound meters didn’t light up. I checked the connections, etc. but no luck. Consequently I just sent the mic back for an exchange. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue. I’ve heard such fantastic things about the mic and I’m keeping my fingers crossed the exchanged model will work.

cutemonster
cutemonster
8 years ago

I’ll be sure to try the gain knob at the 3:00 position as you suggested when the replacement RE20 mic arrives. I have a Blue Microphones Spark Digital but was finding it insufficient because of the external noise I was picking up consistently. Hoping to get my podcast up and running soon. I have guests lined up but have not been able to actually schedule recording yet because of this current mic hiccup. 🙂 For future reference, it’s called The CuteMonster Show. It’s on iTunes and Soundcloud respectively. I only have an introductory episode currently. Thank you for your help. Perhaps you can join me as a guest one day on the show!

cutemonster
cutemonster
8 years ago

So just to recap, you’re suggesting I shouldn’t see any audio metering lights at all on my mixer when using the RE20? Also, I plan to record using a h5 zoom connected to the Mackie 802vlz4. The h5 has two types of recording, multi and stereo. Which should I use for recording a Skype conversation?

cutemonster
cutemonster
8 years ago

Okay. I’ll be using a mix minus setup. So a 1/8″ TRS into my Zoom H5 to dual 1/4″ TS into the main of my Mackie mixer. Would that be considered a single line since I’ll have one mic hooked up to my mixer and my computer hooked up for Skype? Last question. The Cloudlifter CL-1. Would that help the RE20 specifically with gain or would it be overkill? I do some singing as well. Thanks.

MySchizoBuddy
MySchizoBuddy
7 years ago

Can the h5 give re320 enough gain to be usefull?

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