Combining Blue (not "Pro") USB Mics with Dynamic Mics in a Mixer -- Possible?

[Dirtysauerkraut]

Combining Blue (not "Pro") USB Mics with Dynamic Mics in a Mixer -- Possible?

Hi,

I am wondering whether it is possible to run USB condenser microphones along with regular dynamic microphones through a phantom-power capable mixer. The condenser mics are the Blue Yeti and the Blue Snowball. The Yeti is not the "Pro" model, and Blue seems to make no promises about its capabilities with XLR.

Since the mixer has phantom power, do I really need the Bluebird XLR connector? Seems like a potentially unnecessary expense since the mixer includes phantom power, though it may function solely as an adaptor. A really expensive adaptor.

Is the any other way to connect my USB condenser mics to an XLR male end, in order to get them into the mixer?

If so, would the sound quality suffer at all by running these mics through the mixer, as opposed to straight into a computer?

My current setup is to run the dynamic mics through the mixer (Behringer: EURORACK PRO RX1202FX) from which I run an audio-out RCA cable into the microphone jack of a computer. The condensers are connected to two additional computers. I use Audacity to record everything.

In order to sync the audio from the condensers, I have to first export the Audacity projects as WAVs, transport via flash drive to the main computer, and manually sync. It would be much easier if I could just implement the phantom power on the mixer, and record everything into one track after leveling.

If you have any recommendations as to how I may improve my overall setup based on what I have, please let me know.

Thank you for your advice,
James

 

[Bobbsy]

The output of a USB microphone is digital...to get it into an analogue mixer you'd be doing a A to D to A to D conversion. Inside your mic, the analogue output of the mic capsule is converted to digital. To get it into a mixer this would have to be converted back to analogue...then back to digital to get the signal into your computer. Even if possible, this wouldn't do your quality any good at all.

There are in-line devices that convert an XLR mic to USB but I've never heard of any that work the other way around. With lots of fiddling you might persuade your computer and DAW to recognise two USB devices (i.e. your mixer and your mic) at once but this would have to be using MME drivers which will be pretty bad for latency. Note my "might" in the previous sentence--often this simply isn't possible.

Sorry, but your best bet would be to put the Blue USB mic up on eBay and buy another XLR mic. The Blues are (justifiably) popular so you should get a decent price.

 

[Dirtysauerkraut]

Hi Bobbsy,

Thanks for your advice.