Good mic for recording at home?

theMAD2

theMAD2

theMAD2

Associate
Joined
2 Aug 2005
Posts
680
Can anyone recommend a good mic for recording music at home on a PC? Just using a standard setup with Cakewalk, but might look at getting a better sound card.
 
The old Shure SM57/58 is a good work horse, will be happy placed in front of most things.

sm57 is more of an instrument mic and the sm58 is more of a vocal mic as it has a windshield. having said that they are both the same underneath. check the auction site.

as for sound cards you'll need something like the Delta Audiophile 192 and a XLR female to balanced TRS (1/4" mono). and of course a XLR lead..

Jack
 
Depends what you will be recording, and you're budget. A dynamic microphone is going to be cheaper and will give a fair quality of recording, but having heard recordings made with a condenser at home I'd say that it will give you a much better recording. They do require extra equipment though.

Also for soundcards, some sort of external audio interface/sound card would be better as there's a lot of noise inside a computer case which will interfere with the recording.
 
chino said:
Also for soundcards, some sort of external audio interface/sound card would be better as there's a lot of noise inside a computer case which will interfere with the recording.
Click to expand...


really?

as far as i know quite a few studios still daisy chain delta 1010s together without any problems and my 1010 has never had any noise on it. Or for that matter any internal sound card i have ever had.. :confused:
 
Can't disagree with the two replies so far.
I have about 12 SM57's for mic'ing gear up on stage and its also suitable for vocals.
However, after GordyR's advice I bought a Studio Electronics condensor and it gives a much clearer and purer sound when recording.
 
yeah, it all comes down to the amout of money you have to spend. if you give us some idea of a budget then we can give you some advice on which way to go :)

but as said a condenser mic will give much better resuts than a dynamic. you just have to be careful not to put them in a kick drum of 2" from a bass cab ;)
 
skinnyl said:
The old Shure SM57/58 is a good work horse, will be happy placed in front of most things.

sm57 is more of an instrument mic and the sm58 is more of a vocal mic as it has a windshield. having said that they are both the same underneath. check the auction site.

as for sound cards you'll need something like the Delta Audiophile 192 and a XLR female to balanced TRS (1/4" mono). and of course a XLR lead..

Jack
Click to expand...

The SM58 tends to produce a more bassy tone, IIRC, due to the rounded head. Don't mistake it for an omnidirectional mic though, other than the rounded head, they are identical, as skinnyl stated.

If you're just planning on doing vocals and a guitar amp/acoustic guitar, then an SM57/58 will do you just fine.
If you're doing drums, you'd be better off with some overhead condensers, and maybe a kick mic (AKG D112/Shure Beta52)
 
also depends on the type of vocals, because as far as i know condensers arent really good for scream vocals, they tend to buckle and out comes the trusty SM57/8
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom