Best singing vocal mic on a budget.. Is Shure PGA58 a good option?

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Icewalker

New member
I placed an order for Shure PGA58 (half the price of sm58; 34 euro without cable) (not PG58, but PGA58). There's not a lot of reviews on that mic. I want to know if it's a good quality mic and suitable for recording applications on a computer with ardour and audacity workstations on Linux. I need something with a sweet tone, needing little post-processing reverb, etc.Also, I would like to record falsetto and contra-tenor, sopranist voices on it along with normal singing. Was this a good choice or should I look for something else? I live in India and the options are a bit limited.

Also, what cable should I look for for this mic? Is it just called three-pin XLR-XLR? Or are there male or female sockets of different kinds? I hope to plug it into my hi-fi Swan stereo for amplification as well as for the recording application on the computer. Also for plugging into computer, what cable is needed for 3.6mm mic in socket?

And most importantly was this a great choice for the budget? I spent the equivalent of 34 euro for the mic on a discount offer.
 
Icewalker said:
...There's not a lot of reviews on that mic. I want to know if it's a good quality mic and suitable for recording applications on a computer with ardour and audacity workstations on Linux. I need something with a sweet tone, needing little post-processing reverb, etc.Also, I would like to record falsetto and contra-tenor, sopranist voices on it along with normal singing. Was this a good choice or should I look for something else? I live in India and the options are a bit limited.

And most importantly was this a great choice for the budget? I spent the equivalent of 34 euro for the mic on a discount offer.
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Basically, what you're getting is 'A mic'.

All those 'qualifiers are sort of irrelevant. I.e. it's just a mic. Not 'special' not 'best of.
The computer, app, all that stuff, even which kind of voice is in front of it etc.. for the most part.
When you get to 'sweet 'needing little post processing'.. When a mic 'hears' 'sweet' in front of it, or not 'sweet, and all the recording rig down stream.. reproduces that.
:)
What generally happens, is we jump in -start with what we can, then build and learn from there- a lot of which is things that need to happen to get to 'sweet, 'sounds real good ('with out a lot of processing etc..)
It's a work in progress. :>)

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en...ype=&as_rights=#hl=en&as_qdr=all&q=mic+cables

I don't know what a Swan stereo is, but your inputs may or may not take a balanced mic line in (look it up) and you'd want one of the little mic pre USB interfaces.
 
As long as it gets the job done, it's okay...
My Swan stereo is a set of two hi-fi speakers and they seem to have a weird four-pin XLR connector.
Anyway, right now that's not important, but what is is how to connect my new mic that will be delivered to the computer for recording. I guess I can go with a female XLR to 3.5mm cable (I have no idea why they are mostly listed as TRS 'stereo', I will be recording my vocals in mono from only one mic so I don't know if this type of cable is sufficient and will work or not.) Or if there is a 3-pin XLR-F to USB cable that works with Linux, I don't know if that would be better. I have no clue about what a balanced and unbalanced line is except that the mic specification says it is dynamic and no phantom power required. No clue if that relates to anything either. For a little mic pre-USB interface, are they expensive? I'm on a very tight budget ( don't have more than about the equivalent of 20$ for this cable or interface), and don't even know what I should be looking for as I'm just starting out. Can you point to an example of this kind of interface and what kind of search terms I should use to look for? What's a cheap and passable solution for decent even if not the best quality? Thanks.
 
Icewalker said:
I have no idea why they are mostly listed as TRS 'stereo',
Click to expand...

T.R.S. stands for Tip, Ring and Sleeve. It refers to the three separate connections available on that type of connector. Most commonly they are used for a stereo device such as a pair of headphones - the tip connector might be the left channel, the ring connector the right channel and the sleeve is the ground (earth) that they share.

This type of connector is also used to make a balanced microphone connection; XLR pin 1 (ground/shield) goes to the sleeve, pin 2 (hot) to the tip and pin 3 (cold) to the ring.
 
Go read everything in the Newbies forum - you'll answer a lot of your own questions. And find some more money somewhere. I hear kidneys sell well and you probably have one more than you need, really. :thumbs up:
 
Yes, do some reading first - this thread and this thread to start with.
If you just use adapters to plug that mic in, you're are going to be sadly disappointed with the sound - mics need a preamp designed to take the low electrical signal they produce and amplifying them to a point that is usable.
But before you run out and buy a cheap mic preamp, do the reading recommended - to record to a computer you need an audio interface that converts that analog electrical signal to digital.
 
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Armistice said:
Go read everything in the Newbies forum - you'll answer a lot of your own questions. And find some more money somewhere. I hear kidneys sell well and you probably have one more than you need, really. :thumbs up:
Click to expand...
You're mean :(

Didn't see a 'proper pout face..
Oh well :D
 
i think the PG 58 is pretty good for live vocals. I have had one for years. I also have a couple of SM48's, some SM57's, and a SM58.
The PG58 is shures budget version of the SM58. When I did a side by side comparisan with the SM58, before purchasing the PG58 I was really impressed. They are very close in sound. The SM58 is a hair smoother in the high end frequencies...but its not obvious at all. The only obvious difference is in handling noise. You can hold a SM58 and shuffle it from hand to hand and there is very little audible noise. You're gonna want to leave the PM58 on thr mic stand. Every touch slide and tap of your fingers is highly audible.
So, in my opinion the PG58 is a hell of a deal if you need a shure 58 mic to place in a mic stand....its not such a goid deal if you're a singer looking for a hand held mic.
 
I think the pg58 is terrible. I sang karaoke with it and it was by far the worst Mic I've ever had. I quickly sold it. I would spend the extra money on the shure Beta 58a. Its the only mic that i own 2 of. Its really good for live and not bad in recordings as well. As of now I own Shure sm58, beta 58a, beta 87a, beta sm87. If I could have just 1 mic for live singing it would be the beta 58a.
 
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