AKG Perception 100: Convert to USB (how?) or buy different mic (which?) - help!

[Finley]

Hi

What do you think is the best way for me to achieve this for the least additional $$$ outlay?

I want to:
- Record a female speaking voice for an audio publication.
- Ensure that the voice is really pleasant to listen to for an hour or more, i.e. warm, clear vocals with no annoying noises.

I currently own:
- 1 x AKG Perception 100 mic (= non-USB)
- 1 x PC
- A few sound insulating foam panels that will become a makeshift 'studio' in the corner of a small, quiet, carpeted room.

Yes, that's it - currently I have no pre-amp to hook the AKG mic up to the computer with.

I am considering:
1. Selling the AKG mic and buying a new USB mic. (If so, which one?)
2. Keeping the AKG mic and buying some kind of USB adaptor thingy. (If so, which one?)
3. Whatever else you might suggest!

What would you recommend?

Thanks

 

[antichef]

how cheap is cheap? In your case, I think the most prudent thing would be to get an interface, try it with the mic, and if it sounds bad, get another mic (basically your #2).

You won't find much love for that mic on these forums, but it might be fine for what you want to do with it. [edit: I was thinking of the C1000 -- I don't know anything about the Perception 100]

As for the interface, I don't want to go off on a tangent, because this is the microphone forum, but do you might find a lot of good info in the "rack" forum and a few others here and elsewhere. One early factor is whether you can (or should) use firewire or USB. The times they are a-changin', but even now I think you have better choices with firewire.

 

[Richard Monroe]

First, antichef, Perception 100 is a perfectly good mic in its pricerange. Pretty similar to SP B-1.

OK- here's a cheap way to do it that will work just fine:

http://www.8thstreet.com/product.asp?ProductCode=44712&Category=Audio_Interfaces

Of course, the more you pay, the better the preamps are likely to be, but I've used this thing, and it works rather well for cheap.-Richie

 

[darrin_h2000]

Shure has a usb thing that works...since you are doing a talk show thing...somebody has to get some good use out of those perception mics.

 

[Mixteco]

I own a Perception 100 and its quite tha mic for tha $70 bucks I paid for it from some kid who tried rapping but didnt know wut to do with tha mic.

In my opinion I guess you could buy a USB mic...if youre planning on doing voice overs.

 

[dgatwood]

In my opinion I guess you could buy a USB mic...if youre planning on doing voice overs.

If the goal is "Ensure that the voice is really pleasant to listen to for an hour or more, i.e. warm, clear vocals with no annoying noises," then I think USB mics are out. They are anything but warm, clear, or pleasant to listen to.

 

[Finley]

If the goal is "Ensure that the voice is really pleasant to listen to for an hour or more, i.e. warm, clear vocals with no annoying noises," then I think USB mics are out. They are anything but warm, clear, or pleasant to listen to.

Interesting... First time I've heard anyone say that. Please tell me more...

My other half is pressuring me really hard (for some odd reason) to sell my Perception 100 and just buy a USB mic. I don't want to do that until I'm sure that a USB mic really is a better solution than the Perception + USB adaptor - i.e. that I will not just be exchanging one problem for another.

 

[dgatwood]

My other half is pressuring me really hard (for some odd reason) to sell my Perception 100 and just buy a USB mic. I don't want to do that until I'm sure that a USB mic really is a better solution than the Perception + USB adaptor - i.e. that I will not just be exchanging one problem for another.

USB mics almost universally have several characteristics:

• A cheap Chinese LDC capsule (with a rather harsh, brittle high end)
• A fairly old 44/48 kHz audio chip whose sound quality leaves much to be desired, but is dirt cheap in large quantities.
• Electrolytic and tantalum capacitors throughout the audio path
• Limited ability to monitor what you are recording.

The use of cheap commodity parts has a significant impact on the sound from these mics. The clumsiness of only being able to monitor the recording (without a huge delay) by plugging headphones into the microphone (and not all USB mics even provide that option) makes USB mics even more of a pain.

 

[Finley]

Do these kinds of USB interfaces suffer from the same problems you mention, or will one of them plus the Perception give a better result than a USB mic? http://www.mxlmics.com/products/USB/MicMate_Pro/MicMate_Pro.html

Or, how else can I affordably interface my Perception with my computer and get a warm, clean vocal result?

Alternatively, any opinions about these? http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--SAMGM1U

Thanks!

 

[Finley]

...or, another option is:

Buy an ART Studio MP Mic Preamp (the older model, not the V3) to power up and warm up my AKG Perception. Will that plug into a USB socket on my computer, and Bob's my uncle, or will I need additional cables/adaptors/widgets?

(Sorry, probably dumb questions, but I'm totally new to this!)

Many thanks

 

[Richard Monroe]

...or, another option is:

Buy an ART Studio MP Mic Preamp (the older model, not the V3) to power up and warm up my AKG Perception. Will that plug into a USB socket on my computer, and Bob's my uncle, or will I need additional cables/adaptors/widgets?

(Sorry, probably dumb questions, but I'm totally new to this!)

Many thanks

No Finley, the ART Studio MP is not a USB interface.(I don't know about the V3) It is a preamp with 1/4" line output, and is a pretty cruddy preamp to boot. A note on the term "warmth". Warmth is selective, hopefully subtle distortion, like airbrushing a photograph to cover up the stretch marks on a centerfold. It is not generally a feature of cheap preamps. When we like it, we call it "warm", when we don't, it is called "muddy", and cheap preamps that try for warmth with "toobs" are lots more likely to produce mud than warmth. Don't worry about warming up the Perception. The best you can hope for on a shoestring budget is as honestly as possible to translate the sound of the mic to a digital signal. Do cheap preamps suffer from the problems of using cheap components? Of course. There is a reason why preamps and A-D convertors survive on the market with price tags in the thousands of dollars. If you could get top level recorded sound out of cheap components, the world's high-end gear manufacturers would be out of business.

No matter how many ways you look at it, to get your mic into the computer, in some form, you need a mic preamp, and analog to digital conversion, and neither one of them will be particularly good. The price of your perception wouldn't pay the sales tax on a high end version of either one. I agree that most USB mics suck. That is why I would recommend using some form of USB interface, so at least you can plug whatever kind of mics you have into it. So- you can get a better sound card (so the sound card does the A-D conversion, and you still need a preamp) or you can buy an interface (preamp and A-D conversion combined) and plug into the USB. In the price range that you are dealing in, the amount of real differences in sound are damned little. So stop worrying about it, buy a cheap interface, and start recording something.-Richie

 

[dgatwood]

Do these kinds of USB interfaces suffer from the same problems you mention, or will one of them plus the Perception give a better result than a USB mic?

Look for an interface that does at least 96 kHz. Although the sampling rate doesn't matter much, the current crop of interfaces that only support 48 kHz are using really cheap, old parts for the analog to digital conversion, and you can generally assume that if they cut corners on that part, they cut corners throughout the design.

Major thumbs down on anything built by Samson.