XLR into a PC first time advice

T

Terrace123

New member
Hello, probably best to start off with a clear description of what i'm doing, I record videos for Livestreaming and Youtube where i'm gaming and commenting. Currently i'm using a crummy headset but i'm looking to up my quality to a new level for my audience as i'm starting to gain popularity and my sound isnt doing me any justice, because the headset is on my head you can hear annoying creaks of the headphone strap when I open my jaw and my hair rustling and other junk that really should not be in a high quality recording.

So all i've used up to this point is a headset plugged into the onboard sound card with 3.5mm jacks for the stereo headphones and mic. So with using a new platform I thought it best to ask people who would know what they are doing rather then just spending money blindly but I wanted to show that atleast I was putting a effort into finding things for myself rather than just have someone else do it for me, the plan so far is to buy:

Shure PG58 [New user not allowed links] quick look on the shure website for their cheapest mic (only mic company I actually know))

cheapest mic stand I could find [New user not allowed links]

Cheapest pop screen with the least complaints comments [New user not allowed links]

So that all comes to £72.97 (appologies if it's annoying that its not in the readers currency) And then I get stuck, obviously XLR doesn't just plug into a PC's onboard sound cart and even if it did the only control I would have over the volume would be in windows which leaves possibly future problems of it not being loud enough with the slider on max.

So what goes between the XLR cable and the PC? I see plenty of cables £2 - £10 that say they convert XLR to 3.5mm jack, but all the comments on these generally say that you get tons of background noise, pops and crackles which defeats the purpose of spending alot of money on the other hand a few do have good reveiws.

Then there is the Blue Microphones Icicle XLR to USB converter thats a huge £44 and there were just as many complaint comments that it gives off loads of pops and crackles and distortion

And finally I didn't know if something like a 'USB Mixer' would be something I could use (Behringer Xenyx 502 mixer), would that be something I could use to add/lower volume outside of the windows control panel? does a XLR mic even plug into something like this? will windows just pick this up simply as a recording device? seems if it does work fine could be a good price at £35 (considering if it enables me to amplify the volume)
 
Last edited:
About USB mics, I Brought a Blue Yeti from amazon as my first venture into raising the quality of my audio and had a terrible experience with it, the quality was god aweful and you could hear me speaking clearly into it from any angle at all while it was on the cardoid mode which was pretty rubbish, it was basically acting like the description of the omni mode and so wasn't of any use for me as you could hear my PC fan in it as clear as day no matter how much I tweaked it, which I tried for 4 days before I had to get on with getting a refund on it, I actually think it was a cheap bootleg copy of a real mic, either that or every review of the blue yeti I read was wrong (I know which one sounds more plausable)

in addition since I brought the 'bad' blue yeti the price has gone up £20 which is an incredible price hike that I wasn't really wiling to pay just to test again.

About the second link, the cheapest computer interface recording device from that list is £80 in england from some shop i've never heard of, and unavailable on amazon which pretty much puts it out of my price range when combined with all the other equipment (£153)

Although both the links are very helpful and informative, I can't really apply them to my situation and question, unless I phrase it as: will a Behringer Xenyx 502 mixer do the exact same job as a Cakewalk UA 1G USB or a Lexicon Omega or any of the others? : )

If a Behringer Xenyx 502 Mixer plus a Shure PG58 would be a working combination to get my voice from a mic to my PC then even with a stand and a pop filter that puts the price at £108 which is just a mere £4 more expensive than a Blue Yeti USB mic with NO stand and NO pop filter. Seems like a bargain.

EDIT: already have the RCA to 3.5mm jack cable that would go from the Behringer Xenyx 502 to the PC, so if the Behringer Xenyx 502 would work for my setup all I need to do is order it then i'm ready! can't wait to hear if someone could tell me if this will work
 
Last edited:
The 502 is not an interface, so no, is the answer. You need something that will first-bring your mic to line level (preamp), then send it to you computer via USB of Firewire. Forget about the Firewire thing. If you need phantom power (which you need for any condenser mic), then you will need an interface that has it. The Omega has that. I would not recommend a condenser mic for your application, unless you like to hear your keyboard, your neighbors dog, your own farts, as well as the neighbors canaries farts. Not kidding. :)

A dynamic mic would make more sense for your purpose. In which case, the Lexicon Alpha may be better suited for you in your region, as far as price. It is not the best of the bunch, but it is cheap, works well with one dynamic mic input, and has 2 line inputs as well.
 
getting a XLR mic plugged into a PC really is alot more expensive than I thought it would be, I guess thats why the Blue Yeti Icicle is £44
 
Yeah, it can be. Trust me, it gets much worse. I'm looking to my left, and I could be driving a nice new truck, for what is sitting in my rack right now. And it is mostly low end gear..

It does not take a huge amount of money to get good results, but it does take more than $100 to get any kind of interface/mic that is worthy of getting a somewhat clean signal. There may be others that will show you another direction, but you get what you pay for. I would personally not waste money going the cheap route. It never seems to be a good investment.

Just my opinion though...
 
There's a refurbished/ex-demo Lexicon Alpha on eBay for £39 (+ £4 postage) here: -

Lexicon Alpha Stereo USB Audio Interface (DEMO) | eBay

You can pick up a decent dynamic mic for around £60-£70 new (I have an AKG D5 which is in that price range and pretty good), or scan eBay and Gumtree for a second hand deal (beware of fakes, though!).

I have a cloth pop-screen I don't use that I can send you, otherwise, stretch a pair of tights over a coat hanger. Personally, I found the cloth screen altered the sound, so I didn't use one (until I got a metal one bundled with another mic). As ever, YMMV and my cloth pop-screen might just be a rubbish one.

You should be able to pick up a basic mic stand for less than £20 - again, have a look at eBay and Gumtree and find out the price at your local music shop.
 
Are you kinda looking for an sm7b sound out of a sub £100 mic and the cheapest interface you can find.
It aint gonna happen!!!!
If you want qaulity your gonna have to pay for it.
If all your doing is commentry on a gaming site i'd go the usb mic route with a wind sock on it, on a deck top stand.
you wont find much improvement in qaulity unless you go over the 300 mark for mics and if you pay for a rubbish a/d converter or interface thats what its going to sound like sorry to be blunt, no offense meant.
set your budget get the best you can for your bucks.
Ask about techniques to better your sound and experiment with room treatment.
Good luck :)
 
I'd actually second that.
I know it's been mentioned to avoid condensers because they are more sensitive, but still.
At your price point I think it's the best way to go.

You'll just have to be very careful using it. Get a good pop filter or better yet, a big foam head.
That'll let you stay close on the mic which in turn will keep ambient noise down a good bit.

The preferred option is definitely to just save money and buy a little interface and a 58 / sm7b, but for sub £100, go usb.
 
Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply, all the information gave me a very clear veiw of the sort of prices i'm looking at to upgrade the sound quality on something that really doesn't go beyond the hobby stage, and spending alot of money on it is kinda out of the question.

To round out the view of the situation i'll have to fumble to try and describe Adobe Audition without knowing all the right terms to describe what i'm trying to describe (my fault)
When i'm recording with my current headset mic and not saying anything the background noise is represented as black colour on the visual display if there is a small amount of noise that is barely audiable thats purple the louder that gets it goes through red, orange and yellow if the sound is really loud.
Now I got really lucky my £16 headset with mic attached actually makes a 'black' none level of background noise which is amazing as nothing else i've brought before in the price range of £20-£100 over the course of 15 years had filtered out that much room noise (PC, Mouse clicks, Keyboard Clicks, Noise Neighbours) the only problem is when I move my head a little or open my jaw in a certain way the headphones creak and crack which goes right through to the end of the colour chart and is really really bright yellow which is really really bad.

So i'm kind of spoilt for sound quality (all be it with a huge flaw), so for upgrade options I was probably hoping for too much, considering so far my audio solution costs £16 and I thought going up to £100 (for a unpaid hobby) was actually quite an investment. It just turns out I was wrong thinking that, sorry for wasting time and thank you for the answers once more both the cruel truth and the hopeful optimist, I was just trying to better my medium :guitar:

I still think a brilliant sound for "just recording for games" is still really important, it's the charismatic broadcasters and presenters that get the return viewers and subscribers, but its very easy to be turned off of anyones videos no matter how good or intresting they are if they sound they are in a tin can, or they have pops, crackles and distortion.

EDIT: If the USB Blue Yeti mic goes down to £80 ever again i'll combo it with a £15 mic stand and a homemade pop screen (thanks for the tip :D ) and hope I don't get another Dud/Fake
 
Last edited:
It may be too late but the Blue Yeti is actually a darn good mic--and if it's picking up all around even in cardioid mode it would be a quick return on guarantee job as far as I'm concerned. It shouldn't do that.

A second thought: next time your want to buy something, check out THOMANN. They're in the UK (actually a German company but with a UK distributorship) and their prices are generally the best around. That Lexicon Alpha interface is under £40 there.

Finally, the acoustics around you make a big difference when you do get a good mic...but a duvet hung up behind you goes a long way!
 
If you do decide to go for a cheap interface and dynamic mic as sugested by Steeno then a pop filter and good use of proximity effect will be to your advantage.
You will be able to keep the mics preamp volume low and get in real close giving you that voice of god effect (proximity effect) but i would still go with a floor standing mic stand and maybe a shockmount too. (These can be home made from pvc pipe and elastic chord.)
that way you wont get the mouse clicks and the hard drive working noises you do when you put a mic stand on the desk. Been there i sometimes do scratch vocals with a desk stand which is fine because they will be discarded later. but not for better qaulity work.
I really hope you find a solution.
We all want to help and btw i forgot to say welcome aboard. How rude of me.
 
Terrace123 said:
If a Behringer Xenyx 502 Mixer plus a Shure PG58 would be a working combination to get my voice from a mic to my PC then even with a stand and a pop filter that puts the price at £108 which is just a mere £4 more expensive than a Blue Yeti USB mic with NO stand and NO pop filter. Seems like a bargain.

EDIT: already have the RCA to 3.5mm jack cable that would go from the Behringer Xenyx 502 to the PC, so if the Behringer Xenyx 502 would work for my setup all I need to do is order it then i'm ready! can't wait to hear if someone could tell me if this will work
Click to expand...

Yes, that will work, that is if your computer sound card has a line-in jack. Simply connect a RCA to 3.5mm cable between the tape-out on the Xenyx and the line-in on the sound card. That small mixer will have enough gain to for the Sure PG58 you are interested in. The ADC of your sound card likely won't be as pristine as those from an outboard audio interface, but it should still provide a noticeable improvement over the gaming headset you were using.

I use a setup similar to this for my own hobby enjoyment, using a Heil Goldline Pro (now called a PR-20) mic into an small Mackie 402-VLZ3 mixer, tape-out to the line-in jack on a HT Omega Claro Plus+ sound card. While it certainly isn't a professional setup by any means, it works perfectly for my hobby needs and sounds leagues better than a gaming headset or webcam mic!
 
Last edited:
Bad, bad advice. The build in sound cards on every computer I know of is built from a few cents worth of components and designed for game/video playback and a $5 microphone to make Skype calls.

Your sound card may be better than the standard built in--but it's speciality is doing 7.1 playback, not sound recording. If the OP is going to spend money (and I'm not sure that he is) he'd be better off investing in an interface designed for recording, not surround sound playback.
 
Bobbsy said:
It may be too late but the Blue Yeti is actually a darn good mic--and if it's picking up all around even in cardioid mode it would be a quick return on guarantee job as far as I'm concerned. It shouldn't do that.

A second thought: next time your want to buy something, check out THOMANN. They're in the UK (actually a German company but with a UK distributorship) and their prices are generally the best around. That Lexicon Alpha interface is under £40 there.

Finally, the acoustics around you make a big difference when you do get a good mic...but a duvet hung up behind you goes a long way!
Click to expand...

I'm still here, just took a little while before I was back at a keyboard. I took a look at the Thomann site you recommended, Blue Yeti is £119 (£106 on amazon at the moment) Googleing around I spot on on sale at the moment for £90 from some website i've never heard of. With all the good things I hear about the mic I really should give it another go sometime.
Took a look at the Lexicon Alpha on there £49 and the Shure PG58 is £37 (£52 and £53 amazon today)

Looks like getting the Lexicon Alpha and the Shure PG58 could actually save me alot of money.

I could definately do the Duvet thing too.

kip4 said:
If you do decide to go for a cheap interface and dynamic mic as sugested by Steeno then a pop filter and good use of proximity effect will be to your advantage.
You will be able to keep the mics preamp volume low and get in real close giving you that voice of god effect (proximity effect) but i would still go with a floor standing mic stand and maybe a shockmount too. (These can be home made from pvc pipe and elastic chord.)
that way you wont get the mouse clicks and the hard drive working noises you do when you put a mic stand on the desk. Been there i sometimes do scratch vocals with a desk stand which is fine because they will be discarded later. but not for better qaulity work.
I really hope you find a solution.
We all want to help and btw i forgot to say welcome aboard. How rude of me.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the welcome aboard! Will I need a shock mount if I don't ever knock it? I know never say never but I really don't think I will, do things like (crazy example) pressure on a loose floorboard come through in a recording?

SevereWX said:
Yes, that will work, that is if your computer sound card has a line-in jack. Simply connect a RCA to 3.5mm cable between the tape-out on the Xenyx and the line-in on the sound card. That small mixer will have enough gain to for the Sure PG58 you are interested in. The ADC of your sound card likely won't be as pristine as those from an outboard audio interface, but it should still provide a noticeable improvement over the gaming headset you were using.

I use a setup similar to this for my own hobby enjoyment, using a Heil Goldline Pro (now called a PR-20) mic into an small Mackie 402-VLZ3 mixer, tape-out to the line-in jack on a HT Omega Claro Plus+ sound card. While it certainly isn't a professional setup by any means, it works perfectly for my hobby needs and sounds leagues better than a gaming headset or webcam mic!
Click to expand...

Its good to know that the Behringer Xenyx 502 would work which gives me another option, watched a youtube demo of someone using one that i'd link if I wasnt under the post count and it all seemed nice enough. Definately someone already using a similar setup was what I needed to hear about before taking the plunge.

Bobbsy said:
Bad, bad advice. The build in sound cards on every computer I know of is built from a few cents worth of components and designed for game/video playback and a $5 microphone to make Skype calls.

Your sound card may be better than the standard built in--but it's speciality is doing 7.1 playback, not sound recording. If the OP is going to spend money (and I'm not sure that he is) he'd be better off investing in an interface designed for recording, not surround sound playback.
Click to expand...

So you would definately say that anything I look to buy really should not plug into a onboard sound card at the end on the line . Which really just leaves something that plugs in as USB at the end. Quick question, what is the difference between Line-in and Mic-in and on that topic do things plugged into the Line-in socket just appear on a computer on the recording device list just like something plugged into the Mic-in slot? If it doesn't it could be a pain getting programs to recognize it.

Overall looks like the 'contestants' are:

£12 cheap stand (Amazon) £90 Blue Yeti
£12 cheap stand (Amazon) £37 Shure PG58-XLR (Thomann) £49 Lexicon Alpha Studio (Thomann)
£12 cheap stand (Amazon) £37 Shure PG58-XLR (Thomann) £28 Behringer Xenyx 502 (Thomann)
 
Last edited:
No man, the 502 is not a good option. You should never use the on-board sound card unless you desire to have poor quality. Even $100 Soundblaster cards are worthless for getting good sounding input signal.

Mic-in is just an input that brings a low level source to line level (preamp). An external interface will have both. Well, it should. Go with the Alpha dood. At the very least, forget about anything audio, that plugs into your PC that isn't USB or firewire. If it involves an 1/8" mini jack, it is likely worthless to you.
 
Terrace123 said:
So you would definately say that anything I look to buy really should not plug into a onboard sound card at the end on the line. Which really just leaves something that plugs in as USB at the end. Quick question, what is the difference between Line-in and Mic-in and on that topic do things plugged into the Line-in socket just appear on a computer on the recording device list just like something plugged into the Mic-in slot? If it doesn't it could be a pain getting programs to recognize it.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I'd say that. The standard sound cards in computers put their effort into playback and tend to skimp on the input side...more noise that desirable and often a lack of headroom before clipping.

Line vs. Mic. There are two basic standard "levels" (what you might call volume) in audio. Mic level is a super-quiet signal--mics either generate (dynamics) or modulate an electrical signal when the diaphragm moves in the tiny sound vibrations in the air, hence the low levels. In electrical terms, mic level is measured in thousandths of a volt and is seriously vulnerable to outside interference.

Line level is the "standard" level used inside mains powered audio equipment. There's a good article on Wiki if you're interested in reading up but, effectively, it's a signal up nearer 1 volt in level.

When you plug a mic into a mixer, sound card or interface, the first thing it goes through is a "microphone pre amp" which amplifies the low level signal from the mic up to the standard line level so it can be processed in the device (and be more resistant to electrical interference). So, if your sound card has mic and line inputs, the mic goes into a cheapie pre amp to raise it to line, while the line level goes straight into the analogue to digital converter.

Your mic input and line input should both show up on the audio control screen of your computer to be selected for recording. Exactly how this works will depend on your version of Windows and the sound card installed...older Windows have a nice mixer with sliders for mic, line and other things. Win Vista and 7 have a more clunky control screen but you should still be able to select one or the other to be passed to your recording software.

If you buy an external interface, it'll almost certainly come with a disk including drivers and most likely it's own control panel for routing the signals.
 
jimmys69 said:
No man, the 502 is not a good option. You should never use the on-board sound card unless you desire to have poor quality. Even $100 Soundblaster cards are worthless for getting good sounding input signal.

Mic-in is just an input that brings a low level source to line level (preamp). An external interface will have both. Well, it should. Go with the Alpha dood. At the very least, forget about anything audio, that plugs into your PC that isn't USB or firewire. If it involves an 1/8" mini jack, it is likely worthless to you.
Click to expand...

Good explaination, I see there are some other Behringer's on there that have USB in the title but I wasn't sure if that was powered by USB to avoid plugging it in to external power, or if the signal from the mic was transfered to the PC via USB, the Behringer Xenyx 302 USB for example.

I edited the bottom of my last post to show a few options and their cost and it really seems like I could be paying almost exactly the same price I would for a Blue Yeti as I would for a Shure PG58 and a Lexicon Alpha together, So i'll ask whats probably a dreadful question, but which of those would you perchase for spoken recordings?

Bobbsy said:
Yeah, I'd say that. The standard sound cards in computers put their effort into playback and tend to skimp on the input side...more noise that desirable and often a lack of headroom before clipping.

Line vs. Mic. There are two basic standard "levels" (what you might call volume) in audio. Mic level is a super-quiet signal--mics either generate (dynamics) or modulate an electrical signal when the diaphragm moves in the tiny sound vibrations in the air, hence the low levels. In electrical terms, mic level is measured in thousandths of a volt and is seriously vulnerable to outside interference.

Line level is the "standard" level used inside mains powered audio equipment. There's a good article on Wiki if you're interested in reading up but, effectively, it's a signal up nearer 1 volt in level.

When you plug a mic into a mixer, sound card or interface, the first thing it goes through is a "microphone pre amp" which amplifies the low level signal from the mic up to the standard line level so it can be processed in the device (and be more resistant to electrical interference). So, if your sound card has mic and line inputs, the mic goes into a cheapie pre amp to raise it to line, while the line level goes straight into the analogue to digital converter.

Your mic input and line input should both show up on the audio control screen of your computer to be selected for recording. Exactly how this works will depend on your version of Windows and the sound card installed...older Windows have a nice mixer with sliders for mic, line and other things. Win Vista and 7 have a more clunky control screen but you should still be able to select one or the other to be passed to your recording software.

If you buy an external interface, it'll almost certainly come with a disk including drivers and most likely it's own control panel for routing the signals.
Click to expand...

Great explaination, I'm on Windows 7 64bit and If I select show unused and unplugged devices Line in is sitting there so thats that concern over with. I edited the bottom of my last post to show a few options and their cost and it really seems like I could be paying almost exactly the same price I would for a Blue Yeti as I would for a Shure PG58 and a Lexicon Alpha together, So i'll ask whats probably a dreadful question, but which of those would you perchase for spoken recordings?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top