Need some help choosing USB microphone

[Afrolord]

Hello everyone
I want to buy a budget USB microphone to try some acoustic guitar and vocals recording, can't buy a microphone that requires a mixer or sound card as my budget is very limited right now and can't afford both.
I just need some help choosing between these 3 budget usb microphones that my local music store has in stock
-Behringer C1-U
-Superlux E205U
-the t.bone SC 440 USB

Which one would you recommend and why ? Thank you.

 

[ecc83]

Hello everyone
I want to buy a budget USB microphone to try some acoustic guitar and vocals recording, can't buy a microphone that requires a mixer or sound card as my budget is very limited right now and can't afford both.
I just need some help choosing between these 3 budget usb microphones that my local music store has in stock

Any of those 3 mics would probably be ok for lusty vocals but I doubt you would be happy with the results on acoustic guitar, reason? Noise, I had a £60ish "ProSound" usb cap' mic and it was ok but gave a poor noise performance on guitar and I suspect most of these cheap USB mics all use the same internal "works".

I know you are strapped for cash but I really don't think you can get decent quality recording of acoustic guitar for under around £150 and that is either capacitor mic, (small one) and an Audio Interface or a very much better USB mic at about the same sort of outlay.

Then there are other, operational reasons why mic+AI is the best way to go for home recording. I really do urge you to save for better.

Dave.

 

[Afrolord]

Hello everyone
I want to buy a budget USB microphone to try some acoustic guitar and vocals recording, can't buy a microphone that requires a mixer or sound card as my budget is very limited right now and can't afford both.
I just need some help choosing between these 3 budget usb microphones that my local music store has in stock

Any of those 3 mics would probably be ok for lusty vocals but I doubt you would be happy with the results on acoustic guitar, reason? Noise, I had a £60ish "ProSound" usb cap' mic and it was ok but gave a poor noise performance on guitar and I suspect most of these cheap USB mics all use the same internal "works".

I know you are strapped for cash but I really don't think you can get decent quality recording of acoustic guitar for under around £150 and that is either capacitor mic, (small one) and an Audio Interface or a very much better USB mic at about the same sort of outlay.

Then there are other, operational reasons why mic+AI is the best way to go for home recording. I really do urge you to save for better.



Dave.

Thank you for you reply, one of the reasons I fixed a limited budget for a microphone is being a beginner and total noob I just wanna try out recording acoustic covers and mess around with recordings. I might invest in a microphone + audio interface if I get more serious about it in the future.

Gotta start somewhere and if you don't have the budget for an interface and an XLR mic, I guess a USB mic will need to suffice for a while, but be aware of some of the pitfalls by reading some of the stickies in this forum about USB mics. I do have a dynamic USB mic I bought for a specific purpose. It has a built in headphone jack for "latency" free monitoring. Latency is a delay of the audio signal determined by how long it takes the analog to digital signal to be processed in the mic and computer. If you're tracking vocals and listening to yourself in headphones as you may want to do, there may be a delay of the audio as it comes through your computers soundcard back into the headphones and will sound sort of like an quick echo. Depending how much delay, it may tend to throw you off a bit in your singing (difficult to describe).

The mics you picked will likely be pretty close to the same as one another given the price, so for something as a first mic to start out with probably anyone of them would be OK. If I were to pick one myself I'd go on the high number of reviews/ratings found at the t.bone SC 440 USB - Thomann UK . To me it's an indication of higher sales and popularity than the other two mics you mentioned. Appears to include a shockmount also. Don't forget to get a pop filter That site also has some sound samples for the mics that might be worth a listen through headphones.

Behringer C1U - Thomann UK
Superlux E205U - Thomann UK

Note: Regarding the tbone sc440.... the writeup on the link above stated , "not compatible with WIN 8 and 8.1!". You may want to research this a bit if you're using Win8 or maybe even Win10.

I found this thread from a Google search and Bobbsy is a member here and I would trust his recommendation....
https://homerecording.com/bbs/equipment-forums/microphones/behringer-c1u-t-bone-sc440-usb-366274/

I ended up ordering the Superlux e205u after reading about the incompatibility of the T.bone sc440 with windows 8 and above (I`m using win10) and the low volume issue of the Behringer c1-u.
Thank you for your reply.

 

[rob aylestone]

A small mixer with USB out and cheap condenser is far more useful than a USB mic, because it has a gain knob. Such an essential feature, plus when I started out with one mic, money was tight and eventually I bought a second. USB mics are solo mics, for ever! Nobody has ever produced a mixer or input device with multiple USB mic inputs, so eventually your USB mic is scrap. You can also buy vintage mics which may well be from the fifties and sixties. They still work. When you upgrade your computer, will your USB mic still work? My first USB mic, bought for curiosity doesn't function any more, my mac accepts it but windows doesn't!

 

[ecc83]

"Nobody has ever produced a mixer or input device with multiple USB mic inputs, "

Interesting concept tho' Rob! To quote the inimitable Jezzer..."I mean, how hard could it be....?"

Dave