Mic setup for Accordion? (+vocals and guitar)

Kokoskoarl

New member
Hi community,

Since we are under a Quarantine and shouldn´t leave our homes except for grocery shopping etc. I have more time now to think about recording my music.

I play mainly the accordion (+vocals) and sometimes guitar + vocals. I would like to record accordion, vocals, guitar and smaller percussion instruments like a cajon, eggshaker and the kind for a relatively small budget.
My goal is to put Videos of my songs on youtube, nothing professional, but the sound should be as good as possible, because who knows, maybe I´ll have a small gig or something sometime in the future plus I want to have good recordings of my song ideas as a memory (kind of like photos of friends and family).

I bought a Blue Yeti USB Mic since I wanted to go the cheapest possible way.
I live in an old appartment where I don´t have the opportunity to set up a home studio, because me and my gf need the 2 rooms to live in.
By now I regret the purchase because I can really hear a lot of background noises. I always turn the gain nob on the mic all the way down and that helps, but only up to some point.
Another problem I´m having with the mic is the delay when I record a second track while listening to the first. I do everything in Audition and couldn´t find a way to cancel the delay so far, maybe somebody can help?
From what I´ve read that´s a problem of USB Mics and since my Laptop wasn´t made for recording the bad quality of the sound card isn´t helping either.

I thought of getting a SM57 + a VM-57 (better to record both sides of the accordion seperately I guess), what do you think?
Another thing I want to ask is what do you think of a XLR to USB cable, will I have the same problems as with a USB mic and should I get an audio interface instead?
What do you think of a mount for Cajons, something like this: 71o8PrlvVJL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
Anybody had any experience with this kind of mount?

Also what I should mention is that we will move into our house at the end of this year where I will set up a small home studio in the basement (same instrument setup as now), so I don´t want to invest into something which isn´t suited for a studio environment.
I have a full time job and when we will have kids I´m sure I won´t have a lot of time left for my hobby, so for these reasons I don´t want to spend a lot of money on my equipment. Not planning on trying to go big :)

Thank´s for reading through this in advance,
Daniel
 
Wow.......an accordion. I used to play one. Grew up in an Italian family and it was almost a requirement that you learn to play one. What went through my mind about your question was how much the accordion moves around when you play one and how the bass buttons and keyboard side sound is in two different places on the instrument. I have no idea how to approach that. I know.....big help right?
 
RE: getting an XLR to USB cable, forget it. You will have the exact same latency issues with that as with the Yeti. Going "cheap" sounds great, but you make a lot of compromises that way. If you're doing a Youtube podcast or just recording live to a single channel, you can probably get away with USB mics, but if you're trying to do multitrack recording, it doesn't work nearly so well.

The advantage of getting an interface is that it should use an ASIO driver which is designed to reduce latencey, and should offer the option of direct monitoring so you have no latency. ECC83 likes one of the Behringer units (Maybe the UMC202?)

I noticed that Audient has a new line out call the EVO4. It looks pretty good for $129. Two mic preamps, instrument input and headphone outputs. Audient has usually done quality stuff.

Instead of getting some special bracket to record the cajon, why not just get a mic with a boom. That way you can use it for other stuff as well.
 
What they say ^^^

Given your recording needs, you are better off getting an audio interface. It will allow you to use a variety of inputs, including the two you will need for accordion (one for each side). Also, two mikes are often used for cajon, one at the back and one at the front.

Likewise, don't get a specialised cajon mike fitting. YOu are better off getting something that you can but to a variety of uses.
 
Every time people ask about USB mics somebody mentions but what happens when you need two mics? Usually they say they never will. Six months later they're back asking about adding an extra USB mic, and we advise an interface and then extra channels are easy. Not the fault of the people excited by the very nice USB mics now available - but the manufacturers are never going to say don't buy this mic if you ever want two mics, or stereo. I hate the damn things, such a flawed system for expansions.
 
Thanks for the helpful feedback! (and for reading through this kind of post for the 100th time I guess)
I´ve come down with the following setup now:
2 SM57 Mics (+Pop Filters). I could also get the SM58 for the same price, but from what I´ve read the 57 is more versatile since it doesn´t come with a "pop filter" as the 58 does (don´t know how else to call the metal thing around the 58). Or do you think the 58 would be a better choice?
UMC204HD Audio interface from Behringer. I chose this because I want to have the possibility to attach a Midi keyboard one day. And it´s really cheap compared to other Interfaces who also have 2 XLR ports.
2 Mic stands, on one of which I can put my phone to record myself while singing/playing. Looks like this:
51woIRh6XuL._AC_SL1000_.jpg


Im at 340€/370$ now and thats 100€ more than I actually wanted to spend, but I guess it´s always like that...

If someone thinks Im making a mistake on any of this stuff please tell me, I don´t want to regret my purchase lateron like I do with the USB mic. Thank you :)
 
I don't know if the SM57s are the best option for an accordion. Their output is relatively low compared to most condenser mics, and you probably will need to set the mics a good 12-18" away from the instrument to account for any movement, especially if you work the bellows a lot. You mentioned vocal + guitar, and I'm assuming acoustic here. I don't care for the 57 on guitar.

I dont know your location, so pricing might differ from me, but a mic like the AT2020 or AKG P120 are about the same price as the SM57s. If you wanted a SDC mic, I would look at the AKG P170. You can often find that one on sale for around $80 or so. Its reasonably quiet and is good for acoustic guitar. You might consider both a LDC and a SDC combination.
 
For the accordion I’d strongly suggest using an old ribbon mic and supplying with phantom power. The same goes for banjos and bag pipes ??
 
Ribbon mics are great for accordion. You’ll probably need a Cloudlifter or a preamp that has 65-70dB of gain.
 
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