Shopping for a Cheap, Good quality Microphone: Any Suggestions?

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RACECAR

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After doing a fair share of messing around, I'm actually considering doing voiceovers and to do that, I'd like a good quality Microphone I can afford. Now I don't have a fancy recording studio, all I have is a laptop with Sony Vegas 10 and Audacity so all I want is something I can afford and its good enough in quality where I don't have the horrid static effect in the background.
 
There are some cheap condenser mic's out there that are reasonably priced. What's your budget?
 
Pako
There are some cheap condenser mic's out there that are reasonably priced. What's your budget?
Click to expand...

Meh, not sure. Just would like to get idea as to what the cheapest, best one would be.
 
Ok. Now a lot of my posts in this category of GTP can be called somewhat inexperienced, since I"m still learning about computers, but this particular topic is something I'm very familiar with. Having done this sort of thing for upwards of 7 years, I've got the lingo. Not trying to toot my own horn, but you get the drift.

First off, NO USB!!!!! USB completely ruins your sound, as the internal connectors pick up frequencies in the recording. NEVER use a USB mic, or USB interface.

What you will have to do is record off Audacity a raw signal. And by raw signal, I mean nothing but the mic, straight into the mic jack of your computer. Now you can pick mics up for around $30 - $40, but they're cheap 🤬. Something decent, but still cheap, will be around $90 - $110. Of course, mics can cost thousands of dollars, so this is still in the cheap price range, but $100 will get you a solid mic that will last you years.

I'll do some research and post again tomorrow some time with my findings. Just remember, NO USB!!!
 
Definitely go with a line in mic as opposed to USB. I would also recommend Shure, made their business in microphones and are some the best quality ones for the price out there. They have a ton of choice on the website including ones specifically for pc recording, check it out.
 
Rode, Shure, AKG, Sennheiser are a few of the brands I would look into. Although I would agree with tlowr4 that a USB mic can/will color your sound, so will bad A/D converters, cheap plugins, and any numerous amounts of components along the signal path. The issue here isn't the USB interface, the issue is the A/D converters that are being used in the mic. There are plenty of studio grade A/D converters that are USB that have good quality sound. An option my be to get a good quality converter allowing you to hook what ever kind of mic you would like to it. My buddy that is in radio, does on-site voice overs for commercials and uses a Shure XLR to USB adapter and a Shure SM58 mic and gets great results.

This is a proven commercial grade setup. $200 USD might be beyond your budget range, but it is something to consider.

Here is a good review of some USB to XLR converters.
 
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Personally, I've noticed anything to do with USB and recording is rubbish. What I would suggest is a mic, with an XLR to 6.5mm jack plug, then a 6.5mm to 3.5mm plug to go into the computer. Like I said, bare bones raw signal. If you want some effects, there should be a freeware program somewhere to do that (I think audacity has simple reverb and delay effects).
 
tlowr4
Personally, I've noticed anything to do with USB and recording is rubbish. What I would suggest is a mic, with an XLR to 6.5mm jack plug, then a 6.5mm to 3.5mm plug to go into the computer. Like I said, bare bones raw signal. If you want some effects, there should be a freeware program somewhere to do that (I think audacity has simple reverb and delay effects).
Click to expand...

I am in no way discounting your personal experience. I will go on to further say that your personal experience with USB as a connection interface is not the standard. If it were, the industry would have dropped it long ago as a viable interface. I have been recording for 12 years (DAW/Protools) and have been in the music industry for the past 22 years (live performances and FOH sound reinforcement). From live recording to post production, I have been exposed to a large array equipment, scenarios, and circumstances.

The limiting factor that USB 2.0 offers is the lack of bandwidth for multi-channel audo delivery. This lack of bandwidth is also why you see most USB interfaces limited to 16-bit 48khz sample rates. A firewire interface offers superior bandwidth capable of 16 channels of audio at floating bitrates of up to 32-bit and sample rates exceeding 96k. I am curious what USB 3.0 brings to the table in terms of multi-channel DAW recording.

The dis-advantage of going direct per your example is mic gain and headroom limitations of your sound card. Having an external preamp is a huge advantage in getting your gain set right and having your signal optimized before it ever hits the computer for processing. The Shure X2U that I linked to satisfies this need.

If you experience "noise" with your USB ports, you have something else going there.... Grounding? Improper shielding? Could be a number of issues.
 
So after looking around and going off the advice and recommended brand given here, I've come across a Shure PG48 found on ebay for $38.50 on eBay, but found a used one for $23.49 on Amazon.com so this looks like an interesting buy so far.

Shure-PG48.jpg


Only question is if it'll plug into the mic jack in my computer or if I need some sort of adaptor to make that happen.
 
RACECAR
So after looking around and going off the advice and recommended brand given here, I've come across a Shure PG48 found on ebay for $38.50 on eBay, but found a used one for $23.49 on Amazon.com so this looks like an interesting buy so far.

Only question is if they'll plug into the mic jack in my computer or if I need some sort of adaptor to make that happen.
Click to expand...

Like what tlowr4 said,
tlowr4
What I would suggest is a mic, with an XLR to 6.5mm jack plug, then a 6.5mm to 3.5mm plug to go into the computer.
Click to expand...
 
Those adapters are readily available at any electronics store, or music store, just remember XLR > 6.5mm, then 6.5mm > 3.5mm. That'll give a pure raw signal.

Also, Pako, I'm also interested to see what USB 3 brings to the table. My experience with USB has been nothing but trouble, but maybe I'm just jinxed :lol: I know it works for some people, but I always pick up little 'artifacts', if you will, within the recording. Just not for me. :)

Out of interested, I use a Carillon MX12 12 Channel Mixer to plug my mics and guitars into, then run the two mains out into a single 3.5mm jack. I do all my mixing and effects pre-recording, since I don't like software effects. I just use pedals (delay etc) and use the on board reverb. It's not a great reverb, but I"m saving up for a TC Electronics multi effects unit for a better reverb.
 
Not to take away from RACECAR's original post, so lets make this relevant. Here are some other options he could look into.

@tlowr4: Awesome. Yes, running any kind of preamp is almost certainly better than no preamp at all.

I've had my share of running analog mixers to apogee converters then to DAW's. About ten years ago I built a little project studio and decided to go almost all digital. I have been running a Digimax, 8 channel preamp via lightpipe/optical to my Digi002 that has another 8 channels into my Mac. I can track up to 18 channels simultaneously if I also use the 2 channels of S/PDIF. Besides pedals, etc, I also use a TC Electronics M-One for some nice verb, but most of my effects are ProTools RTAS Plugins. I've been using the Wavelab's Platinum plugin pack for some time. Very useful. The digimax also has built in limiters which can act as a easy compressor.

All in all it's a pretty compact setup and has served me well.

Here is the original thread that has some pics from a few years ago ;).
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=61932#post61932
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=61932#post61933
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=61932#post61934
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=61932#post61935
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=61932#post61936
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=61932#post61937
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=61932#post61938
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=61932#post61939
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=61932#post61940
 
Be careful when buying Shure mics on ebay, there are quite a few fakes knocking around and if its particularly cheap it might be risky. Google some sites to see the differences between the real and fake ones. 👍
 

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