Mic Recommendations For Live Music Recording

[irregularjoe]

Hi.

I plan to record some live Classical voice with piano (accoustic) accompaniment.

This will be in the living room of my house. One singer and a baby grand piano.

I'm probably going to use Audacity and my WinXP laptop.

Does anyone have recommendations for a mic? USB or Line in?

I also have an Audigy 2 ZS Pcmcia card.

Thanks,

Joe

Edited February 16, 2007 by irregularjoe

[isteve]

Check out the Samson C01U USB. Really good price for a USB condenser.

[irregularjoe]

Check out the Samson C01U USB. Really good price for a USB condenser.

Thanks for that info.

I'm assuming though that I'd have to use a "mic in" connection to utilize the Audigy cards benitits.

Could I gain back the loss of quality that I get by using a USB mic and my laptops built in crappy sound card by re-recording the file via the line-in of the Audigy card?

[isteve]

The best thing about usb mic is the A/D (Analog/Digital) conversion happens outside the computer. This frees up some cpu because your computer doesn't have to do the A/D.

The samson is very high quality and you will get a very good high quality digital signal. You should be able to get Audacity to record directly from the USB mic for a excellent sound.

I'm a Mac/Garageband/Peak user so I'm not to sure of the details of Audacity on windows but I'm sure it's pretty straight froward.

If you want to do recording through sound card you may want to get a cheap mixer with phantom power about $40 and a condenser mic.

[irregularjoe]

The best thing about usb mic is the A/D (Analog/Digital) conversion happens outside the computer. This frees up some cpu because your computer doesn't have to do the A/D.

The samson is very high quality and you will get a very good high quality digital signal. You should be able to get Audacity to record directly from the USB mic for a excellent sound.

I'm a Mac/Garageband/Peak user so I'm not to sure of the details of Audacity on windows but I'm sure it's pretty straight froward.

If you want to do recording through sound card you may want to get a cheap mixer with phantom power about $40 and a condenser mic.

OK. That helps.

I didn't know about the A/D conversion issue.

And the mixer is needed if using the sound card for the same reason?

Thanks,

Joe

[isteve]

If you use line in the A/D will happen in the card. But the mixer will do two things, first condenser mics need to be powered some are powered by a battery in the mic, most use phantom power(get power from what they are plugged into) mixer. And second if you want a good signal you want the mic iimpedance to match the line-in called line level. A lot of line in's can work with some mic level but not ideal for quality recording.

Now you could use a dynamic mic and get good results, actually for singers this works real well but condenser mic are very sensitive and warm perfect for instruments and great for vocal. And any good mic dynamic or condenser will have a XLR plug.

This is why USB mic's are a good idea. Just plug it in and go.

Edited February 17, 2007 by isteve

[iccaros]

The Laptop makes it tough, but you only need one mike, and Dynamic is the way to go with a Piano and vocals.

I will tell you how I would do this..

I would get a firewire pcmica card

then connect a http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MOT...face?sku=241880

I would buy at least one http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ART...eamp?sku=180581

then I have had great luck with http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Beh...hone?sku=270491 as it takes abuse and keeps going..

you would do well with any good mic and this system..

plus you can use hydrogen to get drums or procusion

and better software like http://ardour.org/

[isteve]

USB and Firewire digital audio interfaces have very good mic-pres and you can find them cheaper then motu units. Also most come with DAWs usually cubase. And the mic you recommended was a condenser mic.

This is a very old question I'm guessing he is a old pro by now.

Do you do home recording podcaster / musician?

[iccaros]

I a have a small recording studio made up of a Behringer 48 channel (a/B) board with a Alesis HD24 connected to my Mac with a MOTU 2408 where I use ardour to do mix down and add effects. I have used Cakewake and cuebase but once I stated using ardour they did not seam to be worth the price or limitations that the version have that come with hardware. for windows I would use ntrack pro as its is simple to get started and make work.. but I don't work in windows after some bad crashes in the middle of recording.

If I was to buy any DAW software I would probably buy either Logic Pro, or change out and go all Pro Tools, but that is costly...

your right on the condenser I should have stated better as the two comments were unrelated, as I was interrupted while writing and came back to my post latter on. I had thought of recommending a Shure SM57 or 58 (the beta's work as well) but then as I started looking for parts I come up with the list I posted.

the ART tube pre-amp is one of the best I have used, and for the price its a steal. it can be used as a pre, phantom power or as a direct box with connector conversion (XLR to 1/4 inch or vice versa) plus a ground inversion switch but no ground lift, probably safer with the phantom power.

while there is cheaper than the MOTU, but I find that they make some of the best gear and if you ever want to expand the motu will never let you down or make you wish you bought something else.. so I have problems recommending other boxes but the M-Audio gear seams to be much better then when I first used it in 2003, so I think they have usb boxes at $199 or lower, but most are two input (fine in this case) but I always feel that you need at least 8 tracks so if you end up recording an entire band you can (record drums, mix down then move on).

[isteve]

I also have a ART tube pre. I mainly use a Alesis Multimix 8 FW with my iMac and a Presonus Inspire for portable recording with my powerbook. I mainly use Garageband and just recently started using Logic Express. before Garageband I was a bias deck user. I should have bought Logic Pro, have you tried it yet I can not believe what you get with the pro version for the price.

I just bought a cool Zoom H2 handheld digital recorder that I think would be great for podcasters, works as a Mic/interface also.

[iccaros]

I like the pro and used it on my last studio recoding, but have not owned it.. its a good deal,

I use guargeband when I need something fast, but I hate the interface, I want to feel like I am sitting in front of a board adjusting sliders (I know so old school)

I was looking at the Zoom for church recording, right now they send out tapes to older folks who can not make it in but would like to here the service.. but I am now leaning towards doing Video, as a lot of the children stuff is visual.

It's amazing what you can get for the money.. I bought the HD24 because I did not want to trust a computer to live tracking, and now its just apart of my process. record then bring into the system for mix down and add effects. then do puch ins or outs on the computer. I still would not trust windows for this.. so I have my G4 Mac (dual 1.8 ) for this and its rock solid at 72 tracks (not all with effects.)

the alesis looks nice, I would go for the 16 so I could record a entire drum set at once.. but 4 ins would do for most recordings.. but do you find the built in effects do anything for you.. I personally only like to add reverb and compression at mixdown.

I was looking at express, but I hate to be limited even if I never use the options..

[isteve]

My drummer has a hart dynamics kit great for recording. We just make cd's to give out at shows although haven't played out in a long while.

The multimix has 4 pre amped ins and 4 stereo line in's more then enough for me. I don't use the mixer Fx for recording I have plenty of great AU's.