Excuse my ignorance :)

Lunaarli

I've been recording a few songs on my little 10 watt guitar amp with a really cheap crappy mic.

I practically have to hold the mic inside my mouth to get sound but that's what €10 will get you!

So I bought a second hand shure mic for €75 in the hope that it would sound great.. no sound at all!!!

I googled it and I think I need a connector but still unsure.

Any help appreciated :D

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

What model did you get? if it is a consider mic it will need power from either a battery or phantom power from your desk.

if its an sm57/58 you have, they dont need power

artvandulet

What exactly are you plugging the new mic into?
I think we need more details.

Lunaarli

I was plugging it into my squier 10 amp :rolleyes:

It's a sm57.

Cheers for the help, I'm utterly clueless

artvandulet

Well it will never sound 'great' plugging a mic into a amp, but you should still get sound. I assume you are using an XLR to Jack cable to connect the 57 to the amp. Is this the same cable you used with the original mic? What are you recording with?

Demeyes

What are you recording with? Why are you plugging the mic into the amp for recording? You shouldn't need to do that, you should b able to plug your mic into whatever you are using to record.
Anyways, a small practice amp isn't going to sound good regardless what microphone you end up using on it.

Lunaarli

I feel really stupid.

I was using the cable I got with my electro accoustic guitar for the first crappy microphone (the one that worked)

Then my new one the shure one , I used same cable.. no sound.

So you're telling me I don't need an amp?

Do I just get a cable and plug the mic in?!

I'm sure you're scratching your head at how thick I must seem but I've never used a mic at home before.

I'm just trying to record some songs with a video recorder.


I have a mac, could I plug a mic into the mac?


My face is red writing this btw

Lunaarli

I'm willing to buy a new audio amp or whatever I need as long as it's not too expensive

rcaz

If you're looking for something to make recordings with your computer, look at getting an audio interface. It'll take your mic cable in with an XLR socket, convert it to digital signal, and send it into your computer through USB or Firewire or whatever else you want.

Thomann online guides are great, have a look here
http://www.thomann.de/ie/onlineexpert_105.html

rtron

I've wrote the notes here assuming that you are trying to Play a song with Guitar and Vocals:

Depending on your Mac it may have a "Mic" input and/or a "Line in" input -

If it has both inputs, plug your Electro Aucostic into the "Line in" and Microphone into the "Mic" input. (The settings on your Mac may require tweaking to get this working).

If there is only one input - just try whats mentioned below recording one track at a time.

Download some free or inexpensive recording sofware that allows you to tie each of the inputs to a different track for recording. You maybe able to get trial versions of professional software like ProTools.

If you get this far and everything works, record Guitar and Vocals. Listen back to the song (on head phones) -
You will find that the Mic input will probably pick up your voice and Guitar and not be so clear. But the Guitar "Line in" should have no interference from the vocals.

You can then scratch the Mic track and record your vocal along with the recorded Guitar track from the first take Again listening to the Guitar track on headphone as oppsoe to speakers otherwise the Mic will have interferance from the played back guitar track.

Hope this makes sense or at least points you in the right direction.

rtron

Forgot to mention, you will probably need 2 of these to connect the guitar and Mic cables into the Mac. But they can be got in any TV shop.

http://goodcans.com/HeadphoneStore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=46