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theBuddha

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Hey

I've been making hip-hop music for a pretty long time now and i want to take my recordings to the next level. I've got a Shure SM58 and a Rode NT1-a as my main microphones now. But I don't like the way they sounds.

This is how my recordings sound now: Speedyshare

It's a friend of me singing, I never really used a microphone better than the Rode NT1-a, never borowed a microphone or anything.

I was thinking of getting a new microphone and interface, for about € 500,- ($ 700,-), I would like to buy gear in Europe (Dolphinmusic and Thomann) because I live there, but I'm going to New York soon so maybe I could pick some gear up there.

I've made a list of gear I'm interested in:
Studio Projects CS5 - Was really expensive but now only $ 349,- never really heard it, but it has good reviews.
AKG C214 - I heard this microphone, and sounds great. Only costs € 285,-

As for the interfaces,
Focusrite Saffire 6 USB
EMU 0404 USB
MBox 2 Mini
TC Electronic Desktop Konnekt 6

According to a review on Sound on Sound the Konnekt 6 is the best interface, but I don't have firewire on my PC so I have to buy a firewire card.

Anybody has some good advice about which gear to get for recording hip-hop? I currently have no interface, just a mixer directly plugged in to the soundcard on my PC.
 
Listening to that vox, I think I'd look into the Audio Technica LDC mics, if you can get them. The 4040 (inexpensive), or 4050 (more versatile), etc.
 
Thats not my voice, it's a friend of mine.. But we are going to make some collaborations.

This is my voice: Speedyshare, really old recording and it kinda sucks, but it gives an impression of what my voice sounds like..
The mixing was done by me, and that has been done a while ago as well so it probably sucks too, but I don't have my gear right now so this is all I have at the moment.
 
Those vocals don't sound too bad. I think some eq would help alot. Also a deesser.

But I own a c214 and love it on vocals.

What interface do you have now?

Are you planning on just doing vocals? Or do you want to be able to record full bands?
 
I don't have an interface, I got a Xenyx 802 directly connected to my pc's soundcard.

About those vocals, I think they are already EQ'd and compressed, but no de-esser.

And I'm only going to do vocals, and maybe (but that's really a maybe) I'm going to record some acoustics guitars, would love to try to make some beats with an acoustic guitar in it.
 
I'd like to buy just an interface and experiment with it, but I have a time issue. Plus I live in Holland, the gear here is extremely expensive, for example,

AT-4040 in America = $ 299,99 = € 220,66
AT-4040 in Europe = $ 528,85 = € 389,-

The prices here are much higher here, that's why I'd like to know what to get as soon as possible :p

But I've at least already orderd a PCI Firewire card, the PreSonus FireBox is € 289,- in Europe, and I don't have a problem buying microphones in America but I'll pass on anything that I directly have to connect to a power socket :P
 
I have an EMU 0404 and i record totaly different music from thing, usually i record guitars, vocals and whatever else fits in it i guess.. it has 2 midi slots at the back which is good if you have any non usb midi devices!

Also you get a lot of good free programs with the interface too, and its built like a brick man, the thing is the most solid interface i have used (quality wise)
Ive seen so many M boxes fall apart which is terrible, especially for the money!

I guess this thing is move built for windows, especially all the programs that come with it but i now have a mac and works just as good..

If your looking for just 2 slots for xlr or 1/4 inch stuff at a time then its great!
Also there are lots of choices for where to send the outputs to.
 
I guess the interface wont really be the problem,

The MBox 2 Mini is a no go, because it doesn't work with Adobe Audition (at least that is what I read).
PreSonus FireBox is too expensive.

It's between the TC Electronic Desktop Konnekt 6 and the E-MU 0404 USB, I'm leaning towards the Desktop Konnekt 6 because it only has what I need and uses the same pre-amps as the more expensive Konnekt interfaces, and it looks great.

The biggest problem is the microphone, there are just so many that I can't choose which one.. Plus I lack experience, so I don't really know which microphone should match best with my voice, I'd like to test, but only test like the 3/4 best mics in the price class (€ 300,-). I think I narrowed the microphones down to the 4 best microphones in my situation:
AKG C214 (Sounds great, my friends favorite)
Audio Technica AT-4040
Sennheiser MD421-II (Sounds really clear, my other friends favorite)
HEIL PR-40 (Sounds good, a lot of people recommended it for rap music)

/Edit: I tried to EQ the vocals and add an de-esser, Speedyshare, that is what it now sounds like, does it sound any good?

And Speedyshare without the vocals panned left/right.
 
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Its true the mbox mini won't work with Audition, but it ships with Pro Tools LE. I own both Audition and Pro Tools LE and I would definitely choose PT over Audition. Any day.
 
I have an AT 4040 mic and love it! ivenever owned any other mic but havebeen fully satisfied with it's quality. I rap also.
 
@flyingsoulo: I'm just really used to Adobe Audition, I tried to work with other DAW's like Cubase and Reaper but I didn't like that, so I don't want to be stuck on one DAW for recording.

@Ldashpdx: Do you have any tracks I can listen to, so I could get a good impression of the microphone.
 
theBuddha said:
I think I narrowed the microphones down to the 4 best microphones in my situation:
AKG C214 (Sounds great, my friends favorite)
Audio Technica AT-4040
Sennheiser MD421-II (Sounds really clear, my other friends favorite)
HEIL PR-40 (Sounds good, a lot of people recommended it for rap music)
Click to expand...

If your coming to the states and going to purchase a mic you should purchase a Shure SM7b for rap music vocals. It would be right on the top of my list and you can get one for about $350.
 
But the Shure SM7b is a more dark sounding microphone, and I heard it need a good pre-amp to shine. That's something I don't have, plus I don't like dark sounding microphones.

While the Sennheiser & HEIL are more clear and crips sounding microphones which I like, the Audio Technica is a nice and crips sounding mic with a warm low end, and the AKG C214 is a really smooth sounding microphone and nice and warm..
 
theBuddha said:
But the Shure SM7b is a more dark sounding microphone, and I heard it need a good pre-amp to shine. That's something I don't have, plus I don't like dark sounding microphones.

While the Sennheiser & HEIL are more clear and crips sounding microphones which I like, the Audio Technica is a nice and crips sounding mic with a warm low end, and the AKG C214 is a really smooth sounding microphone and nice and warm..
Click to expand...

Did a mic shoot out with a rapper in the studio last night and he ended up choosing the Oktava 319 out of many expensive vocal mics for his vocals based on the clear / crisp sound of the mic....Just goes to show.
 
Do you maybe have a vocal of the rapper with the Oktava MK-319, and was it a stock Oktava or a modded one, because the stock was kind of dark sounding and not clear and crisp.
 
You could always go used. As long as you get what you can sell at a costs you can sell it at... Free Rental.

Or you could take another approach. Who do you want to sound like? What do they use? It might not be cheap, but there might cheaper like items that compare to a degree.

As far as what individuals like, that can be tainted by the interface, monitoring system, and room. And what they like today, might not be what they like tomorrow.
 
I never like buying used gear, I know it saves a lot of money but really never liked it. And with the pricing being so high in Holland importing is sometimes cheaper than buying used gear. Plus there isn't really much used gear for sale in Holland.

About knowing what we want, well. We are going to purchase the gear with 3 people (including me). One is looking for the brightest sound possible, thats why he wants the MD421-II, the other is like I want Neumann because everybody big uses that, doesn't want a dynamic microphone because well,. It's a dynamic. And me, I want a smooth/warm sound from the microphone, but not a dark sound.

So were pretty much stuck. We have to go out and listen, but thats a 150 km long trip which we are willing to make, but then we can only test the Bluebird, AT-4040 and AKG C214. To test other mics we even have to go further (for AKD and Heil we have to travel 300 km). And the more research we do the more possible microphones we have.

This sounds pretty good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acRyakJPYsc&fmt=18, I think they used an AT-40xx microphone.
 
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