Recomend me a GOOD QUALITY mic for podcasting + other equipment.

jpe20

Hi folks,

I am after a good quality microphone for around 30quid say for doing podcasts. In addition I am after a simple 2-4 channel mixer (no idea which one) and maybe a lapel mic with splitter for doing interviews. Finally I am after a decent cheap recording mp3 player with a mic connector for doing "on the job" recordings (heard that some i-river players have mic connectors).

Appreciate your advice chaps and gals.

Jules

energy80s

Firstly, you won't get a decent (much less Good) mic for 30 quid, even second hand. Budget about £100 - look for an Electrovoice RE50 - a standard reporters mic. Lapel mics (personals) are more expensive. Look for a Sony ECM-77 (again a standard TV persenters mic). Your best bet for recording / editing is to get a cheap laptop - you don't need a top spec model or VISTA - budget £300 - £350. This will also allow for Podcast uploads, etc. If you need a small recorder for location recording, look out for a second hand minidisc machine. They have went out of fashion recently and are quite cheap s/h - new they will cost about £150. The I-river H120 is available on ebay for about £120 but it is nearly 3 years out of date (and not worth 120!!), but it is all digital and would be easier to transfer recordings onto a PC for editing.

sra

Have a look at Podcast User magazine for advice for equipment
It looks like the August edition has some mic info and previous ones have reviews

jpe20

Ok chaps I have been doing some digging around and my initial ideas are the following ....

Yamaha Mixer MG10/2 70quid. - Looks like a good basic mixer
Sony ECM-MS907 Stereo Digital Microphone 59quid Amazon - Looks like a good general purpose mic.

Need RCA(L,R) -> 3.5mm stereo cable x3 say and some XLR cables?
3.5mm -> 1/4 stereo jack (TRS) say x2

Some mp3 recorder ideas
EDIROL R-09 recorder - dear 200quid!!!!
ZoomH2? -> indications it will be dear!

Creative and iRiver have line-in inputs so a portable battery powered preamp may do the trick.
Belikin TuneTalk - 40quid ... (have ipod video) will only record for 1hr max!
Creative Zen V+ - 4GB MP3 Player - Line in .. need preamp

So I need a decent small microphone preamp that takes batteries if I end up with an iriver or creative. Any ideas?

Jules

PS I have 2 pc's and am planning on using both 1 for recording etc and the other for playing tracks through WMP into the mixer.

emilie03

youn should look into automation software, to produce podcasts, there are a number on the market that would be suitble.
otsdj, drs2006, which professional stations/etc use depends how serious you are and cash, this will then take the nead not to habe a mixer, for a mic
use a shure 58, that u can pick up for around £80.
anymore help , just ask
there is a free software programme called KRAMMIXER that u could try.

jpe20

Any idea of decent online stores I can buy this kind of kit from??

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Yamaha mixer is £59 here

http://www.soundslive.co.uk/product~name~Yamaha-MG-10-2~ID~2279.asp

Which is a well known music equipment shop. Not sure you really need all those inputs though. You could look at the Tapco mixers which are made by Mackie and aren't to bad. But then at the price you can't complain about the Yamaha.

Other shops for mixers:

GAK

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/

Dolphin

http://dolphinmusic.co.uk/d2/

Digital Village

http://www.dv247.com/

Sound Control, Absolute Music Solutions, Dawsons, Imuso

£$&*"($£&(

I assume your planning to record to PC so you might need a vaguely decent soundcard. Of course you could get a mixer that connects to the PC via usb (Yamaha do some). Or you could get a mic that plugs into a usb port.

A cheaper portable recorder is the Boss MicroBR which is about £140,

jpe20

I have a 24bit soundblaster live external unit for my recording pc rig. I plan to connect the mic and 2nd pc (track playback WMP) to the mixer and the mixer output to my recording pc.

Budget is roughly say 80quid for the mic, 70quid for the mixer and 70/80 quid for the other stuff. So I don't want to go mad say 225tops! So the portable recorder is out for now I think. As I have an ipod video I think I will use the Belkin TuneTalk for 30odd quid (imperfect as it is!!) I can always go for the more serious options at a later date. Unless I find a cheap MD recorder.

So looking like at the moment ...
(1) Yamaha mixer - 60 quid ... great buy for the money more inputs and options than I will probably ever need but the mic preamps on it make it worth the money on its own!
(2) Belkin TuneTalk 35quid
(3) Mic --- Rode S1 or Shure 58 not made up my mind (condenser mics are supposed to be better) also hyper-cartoid?(spelling!) ie good polar profile for voice recording and helps noise reduction.

Cable accessories etc. 30quid prob.

Thanks for the tips so far.