[Richard Crowley]

The microphone is not 3cm from your mouth or we would see it in the video frame. Your nose is 3cm from your mouth. Maybe the mic is 30-40 cm?

The microphone appears to be aimed at the desk top which is VERY reflective. That is likely a primary source of reflections. You could consider putting down a thick pad and table-cloth on the desk top and see how much difference that makes?

If you want to use a distant mic technique like that you will need A LOT of absorption on the walls and ceiling (and maybe the floor). Much easier/faster/cheaper to get the microphone closer with a headset (or lav) mic. I would not attempt to use a shotgun microphone in such a reverberant setup like that.

Note also that the louder you speak the more you “excite” the room reverberation and “load it up” with sound bouncing around.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

I don’t hear any signal level or recording level problems. What I hear is entirely the result of a distant microphone technique in a very reverberent space.

How far away is the NTG4 microphone from your mouth? Every cm of extra distance adds a significant amount of room ambient reverberation. Note that “shotgun” microphones like NTG4 are typically NOT used for reverberent indoor use because reflections cause the microphone to lose its directional response. A hyper-cardioid microphone is the more favored type for indoor use on a boom.

Without actually seeing the room (and your acoustic treatment) it is not clear whether there is sufficient sound absorption for the size and shape of the room. Just putting up a few pieces of foam is unlikely to tame such a large and reverberent space.

Why do you feel you need to use a shotgun microphone out of frame? This is 2017, we don’t need to use 19th century technology and your aren’t trying to hide the fact that we can only hear you if you are using a microphone. After all, you YT channel is about technology. You aren’t doing a historic period video from the 1860s or something.

I would strongly recommend a headset microphone It gets the microphone head within a couple of cm away from your mouth. That enormously changes the SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) between your voice (the desired Signal) and the “noise” (the room ambient reverberation).

tl;dr
1) the space is way too reverberent and
2) the microphone is the wrong type and
3) too far away from your mouth

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

There are too many unknowns to make any specific recommendation.
Is this a nice, sedate sit-down session in an acoustically-friendly space?
Or are these people touring through a steel mill with deafening ambient noises?
Do you have a sound person (specifically a boom operator) who can aim the shotgun on a boom?
Is this just a one-off requirement and you should consider renting vs. buying a second lav?
Several other factors like these would go into the decision-making process.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

No question that the Sound Devices is essentially a sure bet for better performance.
But then the SD is also more expensive, so no surprise there.
(And even more expensive than price alone considering the input/track count as well. 3 vs. 4)

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

It is not clear that ANY of those little plastic “shaver” recorders has any better mic preamp performance than what you are already using?

If I were shopping in that price range I would seriously consider the Zoom F4

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

The microphone input on ALL computers is barely competent for crude communication (Skype, et.al.), gaming, etc. The internal mic preamp in a computer is probably not even as good as the mic preamp in your cell phone.

Even the most inexpensive XLR input USB audio interface will be orders of magnitude better than any computer internal mic preamp. There are competent USB audio interfaces with XLR inputs even down around US$50. I see the Behringer U-Phoria UM2 on Amazon for US$35

And I have even been seeing (on Amazon) cable/adapter/preamp “cables” with “XLR to USB” for around US$10 (and with free shipping for Prime). Might be worth trying at such a low price.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

Is there some set of speakers that you have (or are using regularly)?
Or are you asking generically about whatever speakers you encounter randomly?
Do you have a kit of various cables/adapters to connect to different speakers?
As I mentioned before, some speakers have outputs which would be suitable to feed to your recorder.
If we knew specifically which speakers you are working with, we could offer more specific suggestions.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

I am a bit confused here. Not sure what “part” you are looking for here?
From your photo, it appears that you can simple re-solder the cable to the XLR connector.
I don’t see that you need any extra parts. Or am I missing something here?

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

Probably an Electrovoice RE-50. https://www.electrovoice.com/product.php?id=2612

“Extremely low handling noise via Dyna-Damp™ “mic in-a-mic” shock mount system”
“Impervious to wind noise and p-pops via its four- stage pop filter”
“Withstands high humidity, temperature extremes, and corrosive salt air”

It is essentially an EV RE-635A microphone insulated and filtered inside a separate outer shell.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Richard Crowley]

Not clear from your question whether it was the 3.5mm connector or the XLR connector end that is damaged? XLR connectors are among the easiest to terminate and it would be nice if you could use this opportunity to learn DIY connector termination (at least XLR and TRS.

OTOH, 3.5mm connectors are rather small and fiddly to be used for learning how to terminate connectors.

I make my own cables, but if I had to buy one, I would probably have a vendor like Redco make one for me. I just used their online custom cable web page and they charge US$12.06 for a 1 foot cable with 3.5mm locking connector on one end and gold Neutrik male XLR on the other end.

Redco is also my source for bulk cable and connectors. They have a wide variety of cable/connector products and make custom cables at sensible prices.

Ref: https://www.redco.com/Custom-Cable.html?cableid=M5WGU

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.