What is KHZ in Microphones ?

J

jonacade

New member
Hi, I've been searching for USB microphones from the last many weeks. I came across this website that mentioned best usb microphones under budget from my facebook feed and gave it a read.
In the article, the author mentions that Yeti records at 48khz, which is also the same unit for some other microphones. But at the end of the microphone, he mentioned a microphone named Apogee Mic 96k which records at 96khz.
Please tell me what is KHZ, how it affects recording, and which one should I buy between Blue Yeti and Apogee Mic 96k
 
The number you are referencing does not affect the mic operation. Recommend you look in the "digital recording and computers" section of this forum and read posts in the stickies for music making with computers and digital sampling as it sounds to me you need some introductory information on digital recording
 
Khz = kilohertz and refers to the sample rate at which the converter in the mike converts from analog to digital.

Some people will argue that 96khz is better than 48khz. It's debatable, and I am not convinced. I think that if you are asking about this stuff, it means that you are likely to have greater factors influencing recording than sample rate. Get one that you like the look of and can afford.
 
As gecko zzed says, that number represents the sample rate used in the mics analogue to digital converter. Some people claim to get better results with the higher sample rate but science says that anything above 44.1kHz won't make a difference.

Whichever you believe, the mic itself will make a far larger difference than the choice of sample rate.

I don't know if you've thought about it but a USB mic might not be the best choice for you. Although ostensibly simple, a USB mic can be pretty limiting in several areas. First off, you're stuck with the sound of that one mic whether you like it or not. Also, most of them force you to use Windows MME drivers and use your computers in-built sound card for monitoring--which is likely to be delayed by the round trip via your computer.

You may still choose a USB mic but I suggest you look into buy a standard XLR mic and a basic USB interface. As an example, the Alesis iO2 sells for about $100 and an sE X1 LDC mic is about $170. This would allow you to add other mics as required for different sounds, reliable ASIO drivers, and the ability to do direct monitoring with zero latency. FYI, these are just examples and there are tons of other choices if you go the mic and interface direction.
 
jonacade said:
Hi, I've been searching for USB microphones from the last many weeks.
Click to expand...

Make sure you check out the ATR 2100. I have 4 of them and they work great. It is a dynamic mic that has USB as well as XLR capabilities. You can also monitor it right from the mic with 0 latency. If you decide to upgrade to a mixer or audio interface, it will grow right along with you. If you do this with just a USB only mic, you will place it in a draw or sell it on weeeeeee bay.
 
What are you recording with it?

If it's a podcast or other spoken-word only format, then any decent LDC USB mic will probably work. Unless you're planning on having guests in-studio; then you probably want an interface so that you can easily sync more than 1 mic together.
If you're recording sung vocals to match with existing tracks, you may be able to get by with a USB mic provided it sounds good.
If you're recording other instruments as well, you almost certainly want to get a separate interface and multiple mics to use for different applications.
 
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