condenser mic

[sammyd]

is this mic any good for recording my vocals and stuff or would i need a better one or can someone recommend me one?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Condenser-930B-Microphone-PC-Studio-Mic-Vocal-Audio-USB_W0QQitemZ270468284487QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Mus ic_Instruments_Microphones_MJ?hash=item3ef92a8047&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

[smittytom]

That mic would be terrible mate,
How much money do you have to spend?

[sammyd]

was looking 1 just for a guide on what 2 save for

[smittytom]

Well it massively depends on if you are ever going to want to have a collection of mics for different reasons or just throw it away if you get bored of it,
Also other things to take into consideration are:
What Pre-Amp?
D/A - A/D converstion,
DAW?
Acoustic treatment,
to name a few

It just depends on how far you want to go really

[djmartin]

tbh condenser mics you need to spend the bucks to get a good one mate.

USB ones are shite.
samsung do one.

most condenser mics are +48volt powerd so this means you need a mixer with phantom power.

look into
Rode
AKG
Neumann


but I know for a fact you cant afford the ones I have mentioned above so on a low budget look at behringer C1 or B1. there ok for a home based studio for radiostations forget it lol.

either that or do the sensible option. purchase a Shure SM58 they do not need phantom power but they are not a condenser mic as such more as a backing vocals microphone but still put across a nice warm sound. any of the above you will need to buy a mixer with 48volt phantom power.

so you will end up spending even more money mate ;)

you will also need to buy foam treatment pads. to sort out the acoustics in the recording area in question. if you dont then you will get noise bleeding from reverb bouncing off the walls. and it sound shite mate trust me haha.

EDIT: you will also need a pop shield, good mic stand, gold XLR leads to get the best sound richness possible.

[smittytom]

Tbh i would go for a 57 over a 58 just purely because you dont need the wind shield, Also easy to use for other applications,
You wont need a desk it if you have a descent sound card with 1 or 2 mic pre's as i doubt you will need the EQ and you could just add a plug-in afterwards to achieve that.
Do you have Firewire on your computer or just USB?

[sammyd]

lol no worrys lol i want a good one but needa save over time:( i wanna get serious about producing recording and stuff so if you lay out a good one for a nice price range

[djmartin]

lol no worrys lol i want a good one but needa save over time:( i wanna get serious about producing recording and stuff so if you lay out a good one for a nice price range

forget a mic then mate lo. you needa good outboard rig up first if you're taking it seriously.

PC add-ons can only do so much.

real hardware is where its at if you're taking it 100% seriously!

you need a vocal booth thast sound proff the lot.

top of the range condenser mics usally will filter out alot of noise so its not always sutable to put them in full sound proofed rooms. but then there ran via compressors,fx racks, hpass/lpass filters and Eq racks.

which if taking seriously the mic along would be around £800 compressor around 2k, basicly for a proffesional rig up you're looking around 6-8k easily lol. that aint including the mixing desk or DAW either lols.

personally i think you need to get the room sound treated first before even thinking of a microphone.

you need this stuff.

http://www.foambed.com/merchant/images/eggcrate1.jpg

http://www.showroom411.com/Media/Category/soundproofing%20logo.jpg

http://www.truesoundcontrol.com/images/products/WEDG96-LARGE.jpg

[craig180]

I have a Sennheiser e845s mic which I used as a PA mic and have used it to do some recording.

As Martin said though your biggest concern should be the rest of your hardware and an acoustically balanced and sound deadened room

[smittytom]

Granted Plug-ins are not as good as hardware but if you dont have thousands of pounds to spend on outboard they are well worth the cash like the SSL and API plugins they are awesome for plugins,
You could get one module for the price of the plugs which would sound shit hot for tracking and mixing through but soooo limited when it comes to mixing unless you print everything to audio
which is just a pain in the ass and limits you on what you can do when your mixing.
If its just vocals that are only ever going to be tracked why waste money on an analogue desk?
Why not get something like a Controller for your DAW like this
http://www.mackie.com/products/mcupro/index.html
Then you can automate on the fly and which you wouldn't be able to do with an analogue desk unless you spend some big money
Then just get a good a good A/D converter and an awesome Mic Pre and mic etc

Google this stuff for an awesome vocal chain,
Would cost you a lot of money for it though
Vocal Chain

U87 -> Neve 1073 DPA -> LA2A

You should post up what kind of vocals/style your going to be recording because different mics are better for different styles,
Also if your ever going to be multi-tracking

[djmartin]

just buy these sammy ok!


Yamaha AW2400

http://www.musiciansbuy.com/mmMBCOM/images/yamaha_aw2400.jpg

basicly is a studio in a mixing consol automated channels,DAW etc etc etc.

then on the side get somat like

Korg Electribe SX
http://www.spacemunchkin.com/images/korg%20sx%20production%20sampler.jpg

Korg Electribe MX
http://www.korg.co.uk/images/products/dance_dj/EMX1/hero_emx1.jpg

one is a rythm/syth pattern module and the other is a drum machine/sampler

them alone with the yamaha would suit the music you're doing since its Dance/hardhouse//Hardstyle etc etc ;).

if you're on a really low budget look into
Yamaha RM1X

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul05/images/qac1yamaharmix.l.jpg
Darude - Sandstorm was basicly made with just that and a midi keyboard :)!

[smittytom]

Double Post

[smittytom]

sandstorm = 10years old Technology much further on these days,
All the hardware is good if you have a good understanding of it,
Tbh the AWS2400 isnt exactly cheap and would be better to buy a second hand macbook and logic or use cubase on a windows machine,
The software instruments inside of logic would be fine for everything that he wanted to do I expect.

IMO

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m252/smittytom/WhiteMacBook.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m252/smittytom/LogicStudio.png

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m252/smittytom/AkaiMPK49.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m252/smittytom/FocusriteSaffire.jpg

And then a mic of your choice so you can record record live instruments

[djmartin]

all hardware can usally be upgraded bud. and in the case of the yamaha RM1X it can be.
I had an Access Virus indigo and I upgraded the firmware and it was basicly a polar ;).

what you have listed there are good stuff but i know for a fact unless he gets a loan he aint buying that stuff anytime soon. yeh what I listed aint cheap regarding the AW2400 but the rest are easy enought to buy and are resonable in price. plus it depends on how sammy feels does he like it more hands on or is he ok with clicking a mouse a million times to select a sound etc etc. Cosmic Gate they would rather use real hardware as its more hands on instead of just using VST's.

I speak to sammy on msn you see so I know most of his set up lols lol.

sammy is using Ableton which is far more stable then logic. I know this for a fact as tenthu (who is in the top 100 djs in russia) tried to get me onto logic and on a normal pc its having none of it logic is based for apple only tbh. there is only 1 version of logic that works on a normal pc but even then it crashes and uses up way to much CPU.

dont think sammy is on an apple based computer. plus he is not using a firewire sound card. may even be an onboard one lol sammy will have to confirm that.

any pro producer who uses there head properly will tell you the most important item to a producer/sound engineer WAYYYYYY before any musical instrument or hardware is there monitor speakers and soundcard.

whats the point me and you listing all those items and sammy is on poxy pc speakers? LMFAO!

so tbh sammy forget the mic idea and get a good monitoring set up. told you this loads of times already on msn lmao.

[smittytom]

100% agree with you the most important this is the room,monitors and A/D D/A conversion.
I wouldn't say the stuff I listed you would need a loan for,
2nd hand MacBook = £500
Logic Studio =£399
AKAI MP-49 =£319
Focusrite Saffire =£212
=£1430
Mate I am complete gear slut i love hardware and i hate mixing with a mouse but when your starting out there is no other way unless you have £1000's stashed away to spunk on hardware,
When i last used logic on a Windows OS it was version 5 I think, It wasn't too bad but I would use Cubase now over live on Windows much better for composition than live IMO,
Dont get me wrong I love using live for live stuff,
I really do recommend Logic studio though you should ask someone you know if you can borrow there system for a while because it is well worth it.

[djmartin]

you can borrow there system for a while because it is well worth it.

no need bud lol I litrally have most the software and I actually went out and purchased it not illegally downloaded lol.

logic
soundforge
reason 4
cubase
ableton live
fruityloops

etc etc etc.

im on Reason 4 rewired into Cuebase.

but then I have hardware such as

roland fantom X8
roland jp8000
roland g600
yamaha cs6x
yamaha su10

just to name a few lol.


monitors im on alesis m1 active Mk2's & wharfedale Diamond 8.3's

I think off the top of my head I must have spent in the region of 13k easily most probs more fantom x8 was £1,500 on its own lol.

have a type up on youtube or google mate.
Martin pritchett ;)

[smittytom]

no need bud lol I litrally have most the software and I actually went out and purchased it not illegally downloaded lol.

logic
soundforge
reason 4
cubase
ableton live
fruityloops

etc etc etc.

im on Reason 4 rewired into Cuebase.

but then I have hardware such as

roland fantom X8
roland jp8000
roland g600
yamaha cs6x
yamaha su10

just to name a few lol.


monitors im on alesis m1 active Mk2's & wharfedale Diamond 8.3's

I think off the top of my head I must have spent in the region of 13k easily most probs more fantom x8 was £1,500 on its own lol.

have a type up on youtube or google mate.
Martin pritchett ;)

TBH mate your talking to me like i'm a dickhead which I am not,
Great way to ASW yourself too,
Your music is okay doesn't really do anything for me but thats my opinion i'm not really into dance music,
Dont really like M1 actives Tbh.
The ones i have used started to resonate and add loads of shit into the lower-mids weird,
Good moniters ATC SCM50's now they are shit hot speakers ;)
And with regards to purchasing software legally so you should if your making money from it dont see why you needed to get that in but hey ho,

[djmartin]

TBH mate your talking to me like i'm a dickhead which I am not,
Great way to ASW yourself too,
Your music is okay doesn't really do anything for me but thats my opinion i'm not really into dance music,
Dont really like M1 actives Tbh.
The ones i have used started to resonate and add loads of shit into the lower-mids weird,
Good moniters ATC SCM50's now they are shit hot speakers ;)
And with regards to purchasing software legally so you should if your making money from it dont see why you needed to get that in but hey ho,

alot of people download illegal software to then start making money off it which is just not right at all. if anything its dam rude and is an insult to the industry the individual is trying to get into!

from actually been signed to labels there aint alot of money made from your own productions average rate for dance/trance producers is about 15/20% per track the rest goes to the label.

its more about the passion for the music.

Sammy wants to take this seriously but what he does not realise is it takes years/decades to get into the industry properly. you need to have the contacts (and I dont just mean a couple of people on a forum, I mean home addresses, phone numbers).

I dont see you as a dickhead at all mate its more the fact we both have gone the wrong way of informing sammy.

for example.
what would be the point in sammy getting a resonable Condesner mic. for us to then find out he does not know how to level/master/set up a mic properly for certain situations?:fcuk:

out of the stuff I listed but removing the ASW2400 your looking at around £600 for second hand gear which he would have all connected via midi then to a soundcard that takes midi and can be controlled via ableton live. for an extra £150 he could get a midi keyboard so £750 would see him with 4 bits of real hardware that can be updated (except the keyboard) hardware wise he would end up with drum machine, vocoder, rythm maker, sampler, synth, sequencer and none of that would effect his CPU on his pc either.

your list dont get me wrong is actually pritty spot on but again its £1,430 he would then (if he is goin to take it seriously) purchase VST's like Nexus, vengance sample packs, T-racks Deluxe mastering suit or whatever one he prefers. before he knows it he will have spent 2K easily.

its all about bang for your buck (which im sure you agree)

sammy would not just get bang for his buck BUT learn valuable priceless experince of using real hardware. I cant enforce how much of a difference it makes to learn on hardware first to then cross over to software based stuff. what would take a person 15mins to do on software they have just installed would take you 5mins on hardware.

best example is djin. get anyone who djs from there pc (virtual dj for example) take them to a club and put Pioneer hardware in front of them I garentee 99% would fcuk up or not have a clue where to start (but its the exact same thing they would have in front of them on there pc screen?). but the other way around a dj who has used pioneer gear goes on virtual dj and thinks dam this is poo and is easy to use! same principle with production.

Sammy ignore most the stuff me and smittytom have said and focus on getting a soundcard and monitors first! then come back to us about asking for Condenser mics! you could buy a shit hot condenser mic, record some vocals. then you master them to the sound you hear from your monitors which could be shitty pc speakers or some Hi fi set up. you would then go to an audioshop or a nightclub play the recording back on some shit hot monitors to then find out your recording sucks donkey dick lol.

[Carlvtr88]

id say a simple shure sm57 for a vocals.. retail about £80 i think. we used a few at college in the studio ( amongst other mics) for a bands vocal and it was pretty good not too much spillage .. they can get really expensive with mics that have specific polar patters which means the mic rejects noise from certain angles and accepts it from another... usually the sound source .. I.E your voice.