Which mic?

[martinw2k]

Recently (finally) got the Alesis io|14 and the only mic I had, which was terrible, is broke now.

Im wanting to record instruments: Guitar, Bass, Piano, Vocals, Harmonica. I am looking to buy one mic preferably under £50 that can do all that well for the price range. I will be using the built in preamps on the io14.

Can anyone recommend any? The only mic I know is the sm57 which I think is probably going to be recommended, but its a bit out of my price range at the moment.

Cheers.

[PSN John Davidson]

Martin,
Do you have access to any condensor microphones? When recording piano and voice and the more delicate instruments, it's nice if you can use something more "sensative" to record them. Maybe one of the lower line AKG's might work. There are some out there for pretty cheap. But remember, you get what you pay for...

[Scratchy Potts]

Recently (finally) got the Alesis io|14 and the only mic I had, which was terrible, is broke now.

Im wanting to record instruments: Guitar, Bass, Piano, Vocals, Harmonica. I am looking to buy one mic preferably under £50 that can do all that well for the price range. I will be using the built in preamps on the io14.

Can anyone recommend any? The only mic I know is the sm57 which I think is probably going to be recommended, but its a bit out of my price range at the moment.

Cheers.

you aint gonna get to much for fifty qiud mate
but if thats all you can afford,then I would suggest
somthing used a 57 or a AKG ,failing that a PZM from Tandys
you can remove the plate as well
two for the price of one
but they pretty good mics for the price.

[otek]

This is actually something of a historical moment.

Far be it from me to make light of anyone's fiscal dilemmas - I've been in this business too long for that - but this has to be the first time I've heard the SM-57 described as "out of my price range".

Sorry, I couldn't stop myself. :D

Though seriously, I can't help but thinking you may have budgeted this slightly wrong. You spent 200 quid on a firewire interface with 14 inputs, and you only had one mic?

I mean, the FW interface is certainly cheap for the amount of features, but for half the money, you could have gotten a 2-input version and had £100 left for some kind of mic purchase. I agree that the 14-input version has room to grow, but if you're in that kind of money trouble, growth should have been trumped by survival.

I wouldn't bother to purchase something new in your case, but instead look at the used market. You can find pretty damn good deals on particularly quality dynamic mics on E-bay and similar sites.


Best of luck with your search.

otek

[malice]

At that price, it's gonna be tough not to chose a 57.

At least you'll be able to start working and expand your mic locker from there.

malice

[martinw2k]

Well first off im a poor student, so I never have any money therefore everything is out of my price range.
Also I didnt budget wrong, I bought that FW interface (which only has 4 analog inputs btw...) knowing that Id get what Id pay for. One of the main reasons I got it was to record drums in a studio/rehearsal room, where I have access to mics and a mixing desk. So I left my mic budget practically non-existant because I knew I could use the ones in the studio anyway...

But I would like a decent mic to use at home to do single instrument stuff, so I only need one mic. If I want to have more then Ill have to go the studio and do it there, which is more practical also.

As I said, the only mic I know of is the 57, which I would have to scrape more cash together to get. But I get the feeling that itll be worth it?

Oh and go and ask any student, £70 is a lot of money :icon_eek:

[otek]

Also I didnt budget wrong, I bought that FW interface (which only has 4 analog inputs btw...) knowing that Id get what Id pay for.

Ok, fair enough.

As I said, the only mic I know of is the 57, which I would have to scrape more cash together to get. But I get the feeling that itll be worth it?

I would say it's one of the few mics in that price bracket that makes any sense.

You can get it from Thomann (http://www.thomann.de/gb/index.html) for £64 including shipping AND a mic cable!

http://www.thomann.de/gb/shure_sm57lc_bundle.htm

The 57 will stay with you for a long time, is great on a wide variety of sources, and is "upwards compatible" with audio gear of any price bracket.


Cheers,

otek

[Brendo]

Yeah... 57.

[lebouche]

I'll give you a 57 for 57% of you and your bands publishing for the next 10 years.
:D
Try it on evreything...its a good solid mic for 70 quid...skip the beers for a few weeks and you'll soon save 20 squids.

[martinw2k]

I'll give you a 57 for 57% of you and your bands publishing for the next 10 years.
That would be the worst deal you have ever made!

I think Ill bide my time and get a 57 then. Be prepared for more 'which mic' questions when I can afford it....

[martinw2k]

Ok, I got my 57 finally.
I need to have the gain on the preamp (onalesis io|14) to max. I looked it up on google, few sites saying it generally needs a lot of gain.

So when I record, say acoustic and vocals using this one mic, in sonar it comes in at a really low level. So i have to turn the gain up in software by about 20dB or something ridiculous.

Is this normal?

[maccool]

Are there -10/+4 switches on that puppy?

[otek]

So when I record, say acoustic and vocals using this one mic, in sonar it comes in at a really low level. So i have to turn the gain up in software by about 20dB or something ridiculous.

Is this normal?


A couple of questions:

When you say you record "acoustic and vocals", do you record both at the same time?

Is it a soft piece, or are you banging away and singing loudly?

If you keep the fader in Sonar at 0, what does the meters tell you about the signal level? What is the maximum level recorded?


Just a couple of facts: The SM-57 is not intended primarily for ambient miking, in other words, it sounds best if the mic is within a couple of inches from the source. All directional mics have what's called a proximity effect, where the low end frequencies are accentuated when the mic is close to the sound source. So if you are recording both guitar and vocal at the same time, and the mic is maybe 2-3 feet away, you are probably getting a very thin sound, with low levels.

Maccool was talking about +4/-10 switching in his post, most audio equipment is designed to run at either of these nominal reference levels (the numbers pertain to a reference standard measured in decibels). Some hardware can be switched between these two operating levels, which is why he asked. Look it up in your manual.

Some mics have pretty low output. For applications where higher gain is needed, sometimes a condenser mic may be a better choice. The 57 is a great mic for a lot of sources, but it's not perfect for every application. For recording acoustic guitar and vocal at the same time, you may wanna have something like an SM-58 on the vocal, and a 57 on the guitar, facing away from each other, the 58 very close to the mouth and the 57 close to the guitar.


otek

[jacvenza]

As mentioned..look at ebay (or similar sites). I have bought two of my four 57 there, noone has cost me more than 75 bugs. Nearly new ones, with no scratches...:)