XLR Microphone

8j1010

New member
I'm new to this site and I don't know if this is the right forum post this in. I've recently bought a MXL 770 Microphone, and bought a Nuosiya power supply. I have an XLR cable from my microphone going into the power supply, then I have an XLR to 3.5mm going from the power supply into Audacity. It sounds terrible, do I need an audio interface, do I need a new DAW, that's what I'm trying to figure out. I'm recording an acoustic grand piano if that matters at all. Thanks to anyone who responds!
 
Yeah.. a mic preamp. An interface with Phantom Power should have that and can connect via usb to Audacity.
 
The best solution would be an audio interface. The USB type are the most common for small setups with one or two mics. The interface will give you a proper XLR connection, phantom power, mic preamp, headphone connection, studio monitor output and facilities for hearing the live input and playback at the same time without any distracting delays.

An XLR connector and a 3.5mm connector may have the same number of contacts, but they're doing different things with them and aren't truly compatible. Sometimes you can fudge a little and get it to work, but you still lack a proper mic preamp and low latency input monitoring. It's just not worth the hassle when you can get it all done in one device made for that purpose.
 
The best solution would be an audio interface. The USB type are the most common for small setups with one or two mics. The interface will give you a proper XLR connection, phantom power, mic preamp, headphone connection, studio monitor output and facilities for hearing the live input and playback at the same time without any distracting delays.

Thanks a lot! This is exactly the kind of information I was looking for.
 
I'm looking at the Scarlett 2i2. All I understand about it is that I'd plug in a XLR cable into the XLR port.

What port is the output? Is it the right and left, or is it the USB?
 

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The unit plugs into your computer. Powered speakers and amplifiers go into the output - as in output from your computer. The mic or guitars/keys etc go into the inputs which go TO your computer.
 
I only have one microphone, so could I just connect my laptop speakers to the left or right port?

Connect the left speaker to the left output and the right speaker to the right output. Laptop speakers aren't really adequate for doing good mixing. Neither are headphones. You will eventually need proper studio monitors (and an acoustically appropriate space) to do good mixes. But if you must use computer speakers that have a 1/8" (3.5mm) stereo connector, it should be possible to use adapters to get it into the two 1/4" (6.35mm) outputs on the interface. Just don't try to plug your speakers into only one.
 
As suggested a USB interface that provides phantom power would be the best way to record. Perhaps since the Nuosiya power supply is a recent purchase you could possibly return it to help fund an interface. If it was from Amazon, they're usually good about returns.

If you want to use the laptop speakers until you can get good monitors that connect properly to an interface, you might be able to use the interface to record into Audacity and use the laptop speakers connected to the laptop as you normally would for playback. This would save the effort of finding adapters to connect the interface to the laptop speakers. The image below shows doing this. I made a mono recording through a USB interface, listened/monitored through headphones plugged into the interface while recording, and played back the recording through my computer connected speakers/monitors (mono went to both left and right).
I have a Behringer UMC404HD which I've found works well for most of what I do and was a bit more budget friendly than some others I looked at. At a minimum, do get an interface with a least two mic inputs. The UMC202HD is reasonably priced Behringer UMC202HD .

Are you recording singing, spoken voice, podcast, or something else?
 

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Mark, don't want to be picky but, the UMC204HD is the first AI in the UMC line that uses ASIO drivers and has MIDI ports. Only a few dollars more.

Dave.
 
Mark, don't want to be picky but, the UMC204HD is the first AI in the UMC line that uses ASIO drivers and has MIDI ports. Only a few dollars more.

Dave.

Good point, although if he sticks with Audacity the ASIO isn't usable, but certainly of value with a different DAW. Also has inserts and additional outputs :thumbs up:.
 
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