Advice on microphone set up

R

richardak

New member
Hi all :)

So recently i bought a Rv6 microphone with a phantom power supply...
Just so i could do some voice recording at home.

The problem is that my computer doesnt seem to be picking up any sound from the microphone.

I have a Dell hybrid computer with regular 3.5 input jack.
I bought a 3 pin (xlr) to 3.5 converter cable so i could plug the mic & power source into the computer.

Any ideas why its not working??

do I need an amplifier or pre amp?


Also if i choose another recording source other than a computer what options do i have?

I mean what media can i record to other than computers?

could i plug the microphone into some kind of mp3 recording device ??

im not up to date with personal music systems/walkmans of the modern day.

I have a dictophone but that doesnt seem to work with the microphone plugged into it either!!

I just want to be able to record my voice in decent quality!!!!

wondering if i have wasted money on the microphone :/
 
Hi Richard, welcome to the forum.

It sounds like the mic. needs phantom power and the computer does not supply that sort of thing - or - if you have a separate power supply, it is either not powered up properly, or you are connecting it to a line input instead of a mic. input - or - the plug-in poer from the computer (designed for cheap electret mics) is damaging the phantom unit because eit does not have blocking capacitors,

The best solution is to get a CEntrance MicPort Pro.

This is a USB unit that will supply plantom power to the mic. and also give you a decent headphone monitor amp. - much better than the computer one.


It's a nice piece of kit and not expensive.

mpp_main.jpg
 
Make sure you are useing the " MIC " port on your PC and not the " line in" .....

The Mic port will be connected to a shitty mic preamp on your sound card where the Line in port will have a preamp but not with enough gain to amplify a Mic sufficantly .....

It will never sound very good when useing the shitty Sound card in your PC , you need to get yourself a proper interface that has mic preamps and phantom power built in .... you can get one for fairly cheap ....


Cheers
 
Yep, forget the PC sound card and get an audio interface designed for recording.

This one has good preamps and excellent AD/DA converters:
Emu 0404 USB ($200)
 
All the extra stuff needed just to get a voice track that sounds good... Try something like this stuff (hopefully you can get some money back on the mic instead of having to shovel more and more into your computer setup just to use it.) Both of these can USB right into a computer. They record onto their own memory card, but you can transfer the files over to a computer to do whatever in some free software like Audacity or whatever you may want to edit or play around with them.

There are more than just these, but here's two off the top of my head.


http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--ZOMH2
This guy is a nice sounding stereo mic that records to a memory card and offers a bit of editing capability. Approx $150


http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--BOSMICROBR
This one's another little hand held recorder with built in mic (also about the size of an Ipod or a **********). It is more of a midget studio where you can layer tracks, add in special effects, plug in instruments, use a chintzy built in drum machine, use as an mp3 player and all sorts of other little gimicks. Approx $200
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top