You probably need a better mic, and my go-to pick is on sale for $17 at Woot

A microphone is perhaps the most essential tool at your computer, whether you have lots of regular meetings or if you need to lend your dulcet vocals to, say, a podcast or a virtual tabletop session. My go-to mic for many years has been the Neat Bumblebee 2, a cardioid USB microphone from a company that knows what it’s doing in the space (compatible with both Mac and Windows PC). Right now, you can get a phenomenal discount on the mic from Woot, where it’s on sale for just $16.99 for the next four days, or until supplies last.

This model’s cardioid mic is great for blocking out background noise, and it comes with a headphone jack for directly monitoring your voice playback to make sure things sound right as you adjust the settings. I’ve been using the Bumblebee 2 on my desk since it came out in 2018, accompanying me through countless calls and game nights. I appreciate its easy button layout, which includes a mute button that flips on a red LED to very visibly indicate no one can hear you. The main star is the multi-function dial that lets you control the mix and make adjustments to how your voice comes through.

Neat is a microphone company with quite a bit of history behind it, in case you haven’t heard of it. It created Blue Microphones, which went onto be such a success with its Blue Snowball and Yeti microphones that Logitech acquired it in the 2010s. Neat was ultimately acquired by Turtle Beach in 2021.