Audio Technica AT2040 Hypercardioid Dynamic Microphone Broadcast Podcast Mic

The AT2040 is a hypercardioid dynamic microphone built for spoken word. It takes its design cues from the BP40 broadcast mic and brings that voicing to podcasters, streamers, and anyone recording narration in a room that was never meant to be a studio.

Three things make it work outside a treated booth. The hypercardioid pattern is tighter than a standard cardioid, so it holds focus on your voice and rejects keyboard clatter, room reflections, and a second person talking across the desk. The multistage windscreen pairs a nonwoven filter with foam mesh, giving you internal pop filtering close to the grille without a separate screen in front of your face. And the integrated shock mount absorbs thumps traveling up a boom arm or desk stand.

As a dynamic element, it needs no phantom power and shrugs off high sound pressure, so it works with a simple USB interface or a broadcast mixer and stays clean when you get loud. Frequency response of 80-16,000 Hz and 600 ohm impedance suit voice rather than orchestral capture, and the 3-pin XLR output plugs into standard gear.

It ships with a pivoting stand mount, a 5/8 inch-27 to 3/8 inch-16 threaded adapter, and a soft pouch, so it mounts to a desk stand, a boom arm, or a tripod out of the box.