A Basic Microphone For Recording

[Marc Jensen]

OK, I've noticed how the majority of the equipment mentioned on this site is top of the line, or in other words, expensive. I'm a poor 18 year old dealing with rent and saving money for school next year, and I was wondering if there is such thing as an inexpensive mic that has decent recording quality. I can get a pretty good discount on some mics from my uncle, but they are all the type of mics that are used more for performing than for recording. I noticed that a lot of the mics I have to choose from are described with words like UNIDIRECTIONAL DYNAMIC. Can anyone tell me what this means? I'm going to study audio recording next year, but right now, I'm kind of clueless about equipment. So, if you have the time, can you check out the limited selection of mics I have to choose from on the Radio Shack site that I added below (There are two pages of available mics, so please look at both of them.) I'm not interested in a basic computer mic, since they are good but not great. Basically, I'm asking if a performance mic can be used to record and if it can, which would be the best to choose from the choices I have. Also, I record on my computer, so would I need anything to connect the mic to the computer? Probably just an adapter to alter the mic plug size so it can fit in the computer. That's all. This is a stupid post compared to the others, but any responses would be appreciated.
http://www.radioshack.ca/estore/category.aspx?language=en-CA&pagenum=1&category=Microphones&catalog=RadioShack

[Enlightend]

I can't help you out here, but what I wanted to say is, if you do get one of those mics consider posting something you make with it to the web, so we can hear what it sounds like. I'd be interested to know. If it sounds good to me I will probably get one, why not.

Lots of people seem to like the ShureSM57 and the StudioProjects Mics, both should be affordable for you. When I look for a mic I will look at these. We all would love to have the money to get the very highest-end gear, but I do think that you can do fine with the 'low end' stuff(and maybe in some cases the difference is not worth the money?). I've been listening to quite a bit of music made by "project/home studios" etc, and it sounds great to me. Check out some of the tunes coming from folks using Storm, what's wrong with it? Nothing. It is very beautiful and gratifying to me that musicians can take control of their own music production, without being loaded $$. [Random Thought: What good is 24bit when you end up putting it on CD anyway? End Random Thought] When I have enough saved up to upgrade my Pc, I intend to do everything myself, including CD inserts, production and distribution. I don't know exactly how I'll do it yet, but I'm sure I'll start locally. Maybe I'll stay local, Who Cares. Why depend on some studio, publisher, etc - do it our Damned Selves. It takes like $15 to register a trade name(DBA), then you can sound professional and make business cards.

Anyway Good Luck to You, keep at it......if the shoe(Mic) fits, I suggest wearing it, even if people are telling you you must by Nikes. It may seem that I've rambled off-topic here a bit, but in fact I do think it's related to where you're coming from...

OH yeah, I downloaded a free Microphone tutorial from M-audio's site....


[This message has been edited by Enlightend (edited 11-20-2002).]

[subaua]

hi marc,

i can imagine what does it mean walking in your shoes, i'm just 21 and getting recording gear costed me nights over nights of hard work and savings and sacrifices (i'm an uni student).

anyway, back to your question. when I had to chose a mic i considered these facts:

i've got a discrete audio I/O unit with balanced XLR inputs (a Tascam US428).

i'm in a bedroom studio environment, as probably you are. my computer is quite noisy, noises comes from outsides (my dog), noises from all around (my family). even if I had the economical opportunity to get a condenser mic + pre amplifier, it would have been a misapplication of money in my case, i could never create the right silent ambient to take benefit from the condenser high sensibility. i would probably get more shades of background noises in my vocal track instead.

anyway, the vocal part in my productions is not so relevant, so investing in top-end condenser mic was not a big deal.

after some researches i went for a dynamic mic, a Shure SM58. is affordable, robust, good for vocals (meant for vocals, different from an SM57), fair good for instruments recordings too, you may also like to know that many pros uses it for live performance and in studio as well. i used it for a number of purposes and it's just fine to me. if i could turn back, i would maybe go for a Shure Beta 58 instead that is known to be even better with a slightly higher price, but i'm really satisfied with my SM58.

this is just my personal experience anyway. i think you could get more satisfying, answers from many pros that are in this forum.

don't forget doing research too. internet is a goldmine of knowledge, i owe all i know about audiostuff to it and to the good fellas posting articles, reviews, useful material, sharing their experiences generally speaking. sometimes (not always) visiting the producer website is useful too. take a look at www.shure.com (http://www.shure.com)

good luck with your mic and with your studies too.

take care
[subaua]

[Robert D]

Hi - What soundcard are you going to record through? Does it have line inputs only, or does it have built in preamps? What instruments are you recording? How many things do you need to record at once? What is a realistic budget for you over the next few months?
You can do some good quality recording with a very small budget to work with, but you have to look at this from a complete signal chain view. The above info will help folks here steer you in the right direction.
Cheers, RD