PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic Microphone and recording advice needed please?

Hi there,

I am going to try to record my voice in biab and would like some advice about a microphone to buy.

Now I have to say I am not a great singer, though some songs I am passable enough in. So to be honest an expensive microphone is not going to make my voice sound good, it may help a good singer but not me I'm afraid.

So any recommendations on cheapy mics to buy and if its also a good idea to buy one of those pop shields to cut down on breath noise etc, or can you get a small shield to fit around mic?


Kind regards
Jan

I bought an MXL V63M condenser mic for ~ $49 and a Art TubeMP Studio Preamp (~$29) from Amazon.com a little over a year ago and I have been pleased with what I can get out of it. My voice isn't that good and my range is limited, but I do what I can do. I have some recording at the soundclick site listed below that have examples of my vocals (and acoustic guitar) recorded through this mic and preamp (mic --> preamp --> tascam 224 audio interface --> PC --> Sonar HS 6XL).

Kevin

I'd go for a Shure SM58.
For about $100 you'll have the world's most used vocal microphone. Countless hits have been recorded with the SM58 and most if not all rental companies use SM58's.
If you want to cut down on cost: do it on the popscreen. You can easilly make your own with a piece of electrical wiring and a nylon stocking.

I went to Musician's friend and bought a behringer XM8500, well actually three of them, for $59 They sell for $19 each, and i find them to be very comparable to the SM58, which i also have. For the money that would be a great choice. Add one of those to a nive Art tube pre and for around $50 you would have what you need for your purposes.

OK, don't everybody beat me up at once, but Radio Shack has a few good options. I've got one I use in church and also use it for some home recording at home. When at home I run it through a TEAC 6-channel mixer. Works nice as a pre-amp and allows me to plug other components in at the same time.

I have one RS mike that is a shure made product and it works just fine, i have done several recordings and played live with it. The Teac will work, but does not usually have the routing to monitor the mix like a dedicated mixer would have, but heck experiment and see how it works for you.

Hi again,

Thanks very much for all your kind replies and suggestions.
I was checking out the behringer XM8500 on the uk amazon site and this shure mic came up as well, the shure c606 which seems to have got good reviews on there. Some suggest its as good as the sm58!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shure-C606-Dynam...0337&sr=8-2

Will do a little more thinking before I commit.

thanks again very much

Regards
Jan

Jan,

Before you buy check out the CAD 189. I offer this for a couple reasons 1st of all this mic makes my voice sound a lot better than it actually is, I know this for a fact. Secondly the company is very generous when it comes to charities and community projects and from the top they are just fine people, I know this through personal dealings. Also not for sure but I am thinking this mic is priced to be competitive with Shure.

Just my 2 cents.

Good Luck,

Hi Jan,

I am not going to recommend a mic, since it is in the end always a personal thing, but I try to show some things that might help you in chosing one. Best way though is go into a shop and try them out.

Chose dynamic mikes, condenser, or ribbon? There you got allready a choice that determines a lot in your recording. I try to mention the most important things to consider, in a generalized way (because I aim it at this question):

Advantage/disadvantage/usage/budget versus quality


Dynamic:

adv.:
* more robust than the other types
* often cheaper
* no extra power needed
* more related to "live"situations: less chance for feedback (because it's lower sensitivity especially for the high frequencies)

disadv.:
* less responsive ("lazier", not very suitable for softer sounds)
* less lineair recordings

usage:
* live performance
* studio (louder)instrument miking
* for vocals less used than condensers

budget:
There are already some pretty nice ones for little money (starting around 50-100 euro)


Condenser:

adv:
* very responsive
* more clear and lineair recording (what you hear is what you get)
* (imo the best choice for vocals)

disadv.:
* Powersupply needed (mostly +48v--> on a lot of mixerdesks build in -phantom power, or use a seperate unit especially for supplying this phantom power). Some optionally use also batteries, which skips the need of the power options mentioned above.
* Vulnerable, so more sensitive for damage
* More feedbackchance in a system where you work with speakers such as live performance (studio: if you are not doing this yet: use headphones to eliminate this and as well crosstalk from the speakers).

usage:
* mostly studio
* almost every source

budget: There are already some pretty nice ones for little money (starting around 50-100 euro)


Ribbon:
A bit of-condenser-like microphone, but precharged. (don't react with it is different, coz I know, it is just the response quality I talk about) Thus:

adv.:
* Very responsive
* no extra power needed
* often very cheap (but that is really much less quality then the more expensive ones).

disadv.:
* Extremely vulnerable

Usage:
* studio

budget: The real nice ribbons are more expensive (starting from approx 200-300 euro)


Then to end this thing a nice priced internet providing shop in Europe with quite a large assortment: Online shop

Hey Jan. If you go to this site and click on the song "Waiting In The Wings" you'll hear me singing into a Blue Snowball USB mic with no effects and just my soundcard that came with my Dell. It's recorded straight onto my computer with no mixing. And it plugs right into the usb port. I'm still working on it but it will give you an idea of it's sound and it's easy to use and it costs about 70 or 80 dollars through Amazon.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=460722370

Steve

Hi Jan.
Like abadio says a mic is always a personal thing.But I think that if this is your first mic, I would personally go for the SM57.
It is a dynamic mic, and this mics are (like abaudio says) robust, they need no extra power, and it is not to expensive.
Like Mike say you have the worlds most used vocal mic, and countless hits have been made with SM57.
If this mic is good enough for the professionals it should not be to far of as a starter mic ?.
A pop screen is not to expensive, but like Mike say you can easilly make one from a piece of wire and nylon stocking (The hazardous part is to take your girlfriends nylonstocking)
There are also cheap rubber foam pop "pop screens" you can place directly on the mic. They will take away a little breath noice and sibilance. To my upinion the wire popper screen is a better solution.

Best regards
Tono

You are absolutely correct abaudio. I was talking about the SM58 of course.
Thank you for the correction.

Best regards
Tono.

Thank you all for your very kind and helpful advice. I have decided that I will go for a shure c606 mic as some of the reviews I have read for it state that it is almost as good as the sm58 but only 1/3 of the price.

kind regards
Jan

The Shure SM-57 was originally designed by the Shure Brothers as a Vocal Mic. (first named the "Unidyne") It exhibits the "vocal peak" in its frequency curve, by design.

I still use one for vocals, they are great vocal mics for baritones.

An SM-57 with the Shure designed long foam boot can work and sound very much like an SM-58, too.

They use the same capsule.

Whenever this one comes upm I refer folks to this webpage, in which an SM-57was used for every track on the song featured there:

The "All '57 Song"

I think (I KNOW) that a '57 is more versatile for home recording than a '58, although either can serve you very well. The '57, however, can be pressed into service as a vocal mic, guitar mic, wind instrument mic, stringed instrument mic, drum mic, etc. without much coloration. That makes it still a first choice for many on-location recording and broadcast soundstages. AND studio.


--Mac

Good information as always Mac.always something new to learn.
It can also be a good thing to listen to Ray Thigpens album "50 years singing and playing" the lead vocal is all done with an SM57,

and to my upinion the results is exelent.

Best regards
Tono.