Omg I totally feel your pain with the ZV-E10 hiss!! It is honestly such a nightmare when you have great footage but the audio sounds like a bowl of Rice Krispies. Since you are on a budget but need that clean sound by Friday, you definitely gotta look at the Sony ECM-G1 Vlog Camera Microphone. I swear by the Multi Interface shoe on these Sony bodies... it basically lets you skip the 3.5mm jack which is usually where a lot of that interference comes from! It is super compact and fits way under your $150 limit. For that echoey room situation in London, distance is your enemy. If you can, maybe try the Sony ECM-LV1 Stereo Lavalier Microphone clipped to your collar? It is insanely cheap and sounds amazing for talking head stuff. You can actually plug it into the side of the G1 if you want the best of both worlds. If you really want a shotgun mic that punches above its weight, the Rode VideoMic GO II Shotgun Microphone is also a fantastic choice and even works over USB, but honestly, staying in the Sony ecosystem with the shoe is just so much cleaner for vlog style setups. Seriously, the G1 is gonna be a lifesaver for your tech channel! Good luck with the shoot, you are gonna do great!

To add to the point above: be careful with echoes, I struggled until trying:

• Deity V-Mic D3 Pro: reduces hiss, kinda pricey
• Rode Wireless GO II Single: fixes reverb, needs charging

Saw this thread earlier and figured id chime in. After dealing with similar hiss issues on my unit, I switched to the <a href=" https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt= Sennheiser+MKE+400+Shotgun+Microphone&BI=8941&KBID=10361&SID=12345&DFF=d50" target="_blank" rel="nofollow sponsored">Sennheiser MKE 400 Shotgun Microphone and have been incredibly satisfied with the results. The technical reason your old Rode sounds muddy is likely due to the impedance mismatch or just the low output requiring you to crank the Sony preamps. The MKE 400 has a +20dB toggle that is a lifesaver for this camera. It allows you to set the camera gain very low—around 2 or 3—which bypasses the noisy internal amp. My experience with the super-cardioid pattern has been great for echoey spaces since it rejects a lot of that side-wall bounce. Its been very reliable for my weekly uploads and definitely stays under that 150 limit if you shop around. Honestly, getting a mic with a physical gain switch makes a bigger difference than the digital interface for most talking head setups.

🙌

^ This. Also, while everyone is jumping on the hardware train, I'm gonna play devil's advocate here. Adding a sensitive mic to an echoey room often just amplifies the problem because you're catching all those reflections off the hard walls. Before you drop 150 on gear, you might want to consider some DIY sound treatment... honestly, even hanging some thick duvets or moving some rugs around can kill that reverb way better than a new shotgun mic will. I'd suggest being careful with on-camera setups if you're sitting more than a few feet away. To really narrow this down, I have a couple questions: how far is the camera actually sitting from your face when you record? And are you open to mounting the mic on a separate stand closer to you, or does it absolutely have to stay on the camera shoe? If the distance is the main issue, a new mic wont fix the room acoustics as much as just getting the capsule closer to your mouth.

Ive been really satisfied just sticking with the Sony ECM line for my audio. Going with any digital option from them works well and Ive got no complaints. Reminds me of when I first moved to London and spent all my money on coffee instead of gear. My neighbor always vacuumed the second I hit record. Anyway, any Sony digital mic will do you fine but yeah.