Microphone recording

nettranny

Hey, wondering if someone could help me with buying a microphone for recording stuff onto computer. i wanna spend roughly 50euro. I have no idea what im looking for. I have downloaded "multitrack studio" and wud like to use this to record. Haven't used it yet. Just need a mic! thanks

cornbb

For decent studio quality recordings you should buy a 'condenser' microphone but unfortunately this may be outside your budget. A cheaper 'dynamic' microphone will do the trick, albeit with lesser quality, and doesn't require 'phantom power'. A decent soundcard or 'recording interface' would also do the world of good. I'd recommend googling all the stuff I just put in quotes so you can learn what it all means

Back to your question - you should be able to pick up a half-decent second hand Shure or Sennheiser dynamic mic within your budget on ebay or elsewhere. If you are going to get serious about recording, however, you should think about seriously increasing your budget and getting a condenser mic.

nettranny

thanks, very helpful. Two other questions- do i need a special connection between my computer and the mic and is there any major difference between mics used for recording and those used for live performance?

frobisher

I'd strongly suggest either saving a little more for a shure SM58 or else taking your time time to find one used in the buy and sell or eBay. They are not that dear and even the absolute most expensive studios on the planet will have them in stock. Bono (who has a quid or two) has used them on vocal U2 vocal tracks too and they are the international standard for live vocals on stage.

cornbb

nettranny wrote:

thanks, very helpful. Two other questions- do i need a special connection between my computer and the mic and is there any major difference between mics used for recording and those used for live performance?

Condenser mics are usually used in the studio and dynamic mics are usually used live. There are a few main differences: condenser mics usually have a much better/flatter frequency response (i.e. much clearer sound quality) but they are very prone to feedback and are quite delicate, therefore they are not that suitable for live use.

Ideally, you should have a special connection between your computer and mic - this would be a recording interface which would match the impedence of your mic and supply phantom power if necessary. If, however, you are on an absolutely tight budget and you are using a dynamic mic, you could get away with plugging your mic lead directly into your soundcard's mic/line-in socket. You would probably need a 1/4" jack to minijack converter for this (google it). Beware that your sound quality will suffer horribly without a dedicated recording interface though.

nettranny

so, this "recording interface" would be an mbox or something like that? is that the only use for mboxes and the like, and to allow you to hook up multiple mics? thanks a million, by the way, you're being very helpful

cornbb

Exactly. The Mbox is a popular interface, although there is a huge range of them to choose from. Serving as an interface/preamp/converter for microphone inputs would be their main task, they can also have other functions like surround sound output, MIDI I/O or extra DSP chips to take some of the load off your computer's CPU. The Mbox will let you hook up 2 mics with phantom power, you can buy interfaces with more inputs and outputs if need be.

You're welcome

frobisher

If I was buying something like you seem to be after, I'd take a serious look at the TC Electronic Projekt 24. Pretty serious looking piece of kit from a company that know who to make very good studio gear.