Muffled Sound... help is much appreciated

[dankasprick]

Hey all, I am currently using Cool Edit Pro 2.0 with an Audigy 2 ZS soundcard. I understand that the Audigy is not the premier option for home recording but it is all I have for now. My question is basically in regards to what type of mic you reccomend that I use with the audigy 2/cool edit combination. I have tried several cheap computer mics that I found lying around my house and I just tried a 20$ Audio technica mic from bestbuy. None of them are up to par. BTW, I am comparing them to a few recordings that were done on my computer last year using the same card and same program, but with a mic that one of my neighbors brought over to use. This guy barely had enough money for food and he said his mic was dirt cheap, under 20 dollars. The recordings didn't have any unbeleivable bass or anything but they were very crisp and clean. Do I need to purchase a mic along with a pre-amp to get some decent sound quailty? I'm not too picky, I'm only recording tracks that I can use to practice improv lead guitar over... i'm not trying to market any of this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks alot. P.S. I am pretty familiar with manipulating settings within the windows mixer control menu, also familiar with changing the recording level of the mic in cool edit... I'm using the 20db and everything, I seem to need to turn the track volume way up though after I've recorded to make it loud enough.. I'm lost.

Dan

[2lim]

You need a decent mic and a preamp to make veen the most basic recordings. To eliminate needing to turn the volume wayyy up, you need a preamp that will boost the input levels, thus eliminating the need for an extreme volume increase.


Simon

[dankasprick]

Thanks for the advice... does anyone have a recomendation for a basic pre-amp and mic combo that will get the job done? I know that you get what you pay for but I am working with a tight budget here and I'm not looking for anything superb... just something good enough for me to record tracks that I can jam over. Thanks

Dan

[jbroad572]

M-Audio DMP3 SM57 and/or SM58 might be a good place to start.