recommend a microphone?

tyllwyd

Thanks everyone! In the end we decided to spend a bit more and get the Focusrite Scarlett studio which was recommended earlier because it looked like you got quite a lot for your money and it seemed to get good reviews.


We're happy with it so far - it was a bit of a struggle to get all the software downloaded and licensed, but she did manage to do a first recording, which was great. I think there will be a bit of a learning curve using the software, but luckily her piano teacher knows it and is happy to help!


Thanks everyone for advice and opinions!

ASIMAndy

Hi. You should def buy this:

samson-c01u-pro-usb-studio-condenser-microphone (it wouldn't let me post the link as I'm a new user!)

it's USB, which means you can plug it straight into the laptop, without having to buy an interface too. It's also a large diaphragm condenser mic, which'll work great on guitars and voice.

You won't be able to use it live though, but this isn't a problem, as any music venue will have their own. I'm a live sound engineer, and the pro singers that come to my venue very rarely bring their own mic.

If you def want something for live, a trusty sm58 is the one, and this will work well on vocals in the studio too (bono uses one in studio), but it'll be less good on acoustic guitars, but good on electric guitar amps.

RHemmings

tyllwyd wrote: »

The trouble is that £200 is a lot of money, and we need the microphone stand and pop filter as well, so that's more on top. I'm still trying to work out what is the best compromise between budget and performance!

You can make a pop filter with an old metal coat hanger and a pair of old tights.

There are a lot of usable microphones for not much money out there. E.g. "The t.bone" is a range of microphones sold by German store Thomann which copy existing microphones. I haven't used one myself, but extensive reviews suggest that something like this will be well inside your budget and most likely acceptable. http://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tbone_mb85_beta.htm

The biggest expense is probably going to be the interface to connect the microphone to the computer. The Focusrite posted above is a good option, but as you can see, it does cost. You'll probably want an interface with two inputs so that you can, in the future at least, put microphones on both her voice and the guitar separately. Or, plug the guitar directly in if she obtains an electro-acoustic guitar in the future.

M-Audio is generally a reputable brand. This is £69. The MKII model is £89. Combined with a cheaper but still acceptable microphone such as one of the many t.bone mics or the Behringer XM8500 (which is more or less a copy of the SM58 - though it's not a complete copy as it sounds different) will get her going. Have a listen to the sound samples on some of the t.bone mics, e.g. http://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tbone_mb78_beta.htm. To my ears, they don't sound bad at all and they are as cheap as chips. You can read the customer reviews too.

Note that some audio interfaces come with software, which can be a very good deal, and give her a more sophisticated production setup than using Audacity. Audacity is good at what it does, and is fine for simple recordings/productions. But if you bought the M-Audio interface and therefore received Ableton Live Lite as part of the package, it would give her the opportunity to learn recording with a tool that looks a bit more like professional recording software. I use ProTools and Logic Pro a lot, and do recommend that people try something more professional as while the learning curve is steeper, you end up being able to do a lot more. Of course if she likes the singer-songwriter thing.

I would hesitate to buy a mic-USB interface as quite a few of them are of poor quality. They also don't (I think) provide phantom power, which means that you can't use many mics (e.g. some of those I link to above) which require phantom power. I own a M-Audio Fastback Pro bought many years ago, and it's a good interface with low noise and good sound quality. The current M-Audio offerings should give similar quality, I would hope.