Microphone input question

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Toby.

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Hi everybody.

A friend of mine is turning 18 in a little over a month and I've decided to purchase her a microphone and the things that go with it. However, before I go and buy it, I've got a bit of a question to ask.

The microphone i'm looking at getting is:

pro-audio.musiciansfriend[DOT]com/product/MXL-990-Condenser-Microphone-with-Shock-Mount?sku=273156

(You'll have to replace "dot" with ".", as i'd need to post 4 other times to be allowed to post a direct link.)

I'm curious: How/what does it actually plug in to? I know you can purchase USB-ended ones, but as far as I can tell the less-digitalised versions seem to be the way to go. Can you plug it into a computer/laptop, or do you need an appliance other than the microphone cable and phantom power supply pack?

Admittedly, I've no idea about how it all works. I'm much more of an instrument playing person, than a technical person!

Thanks in advance for all of your advice (although i'm sure i'll be saying 'thank you' numerous times again).
 
If it's standard XLR you need a computer interface if you want to record into a computer. Read the sticky in this forum. (An interface will cost more than your mic)
 
You'll definitely want to get a interface. What kind of recording do you intend on doing?
 
Thanks for the replies.

Just general vocal and guitar recording.

What is an "interface" in this sense? How does it work?
 
Toby. said:
Thanks for the replies.

Just general vocal and guitar recording.

What is an "interface" in this sense? How does it work?
Click to expand...

Arcadeko's excellent FAQ that's been linked to a couple of times explains all this. However, to try and give a quick summary to whet your appetite:

A microphone is a device that converts the energy of sound waves in the air to electrical energy. There are various ways they can do this but the resulting electrical energy is ridiculously low--the output of something like a CD player to your amp at home is something near a volt; the output of a microphone is 50 or 60dB less than a volt--say less than 1/10,000th of a volt.

So, a sound interface has to do two or three main things.

First, many microphones (including the MXL you linked to) require something called phantom power. This travels down your mic cable and charges the components that are needed to convert sound to electricity. (Other types of mic known as "dynamic" microphones don't need phantom power--but tend to have a less "detailed" sound). Your interface provides phantom power to the mic.

Second, as noted above, mic signals are extremely low level and need to be amplified to a more useful level. It's good to do this conversion as soon as possible because very low level signals are easy to interfere with. Most interfaces contain a circuit known as a microphone pre amplifier which raises the mic level to something more useful, generally similar to the sort of level output by electronic devices like a CD player. This is known as line level.

Third, all the signals talked about so far are "analogue". The transmit sound by varying the electrical energy in a circuit. However, computers are digital devices and your analogue signal has to be sampled and converted to a string of 0's and 1's that a computer can process. This is known as analogue to digital "A to D" conversion and is the third thing an interface can do.

The interface then feeds the digital signal into the computer, usually via a USB or Firewire connection. From then on, the computer can do all its magic trickery to your music.

Obviously, you can now buy "USB microphones" which try to do all this inside the mic. Some people have okay results from these but many are unhappy with the quality and/or have problems getting their computers to recognise the devices since they normally have a pretty scaled down version of software known as drivers. The general consensus (with which I totally agree) is that USB mics are more trouble than they're worth. Just look at the number of threads along the lines of "I bought a USB mic and am really unhappy...what should I do?".

It's worth noting that interfaces generally do the same thing in reverse: take the digital computer signal and convert it back to an analogue signal that can be fed to headphones, speakers or mixers depending on your need.

Obviously, this can be a second failing of USB mics. Most either don't provide outputs at all or only have the simplest, lowest quality monitoring.

Anyhow...that's the short summary--but do have a read of the FAQS at the top of the page. They go through all the things you need to know in a lot more detail.

Bob
 
My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad so this is just a paste (I don't want to re-type this all the time):

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15
Amazon.com: Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies (9780470385425): Jeff Strong: Books
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)
You can also pick up this book in most any Borders or Barnes&Noble in the Music Books section!

Another good one is: Recording Guitar and Bass by Huw Price
Amazon.com: Recording Guitar and Bass: Getting a Great Sound Every Time You Record (9780879307301): Huw Price: Books
(I got my copy at a place called Half-Price Books for $6!!)

And you can get a FREE subscription to TapeOp magazine at Tape Op Magazine

Barnes&Noble or Borders are great places to start --- they have recording books and you can go get a snack or coffee and read them for FREE! Don't pass by a good recording book --- this is a VERY technical hobby and you REALLY want to start a reference library!!!

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics and have good tips:
Tweak's Guide to the Home and Project Studio
Free beginner PDFs | Computer Music | MusicRadar.com
The #1 online community for musicians | Harmony Central
Tips & Techniques - Gearslutz.com

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig: How to Configure a Recording Studio Rig

Also Good Info: Directory - The Project Studio Handbook - Digital Audio, Compression, Mixing, Monitoring, Microphones

Other recording books: Music Books Plus - Home Recording

Still using a built-in soundcard?? Unfortunately, those are made with less than $1 worth of chips for beeps, boops and light gaming (not to mention cheapness for the manufacturer) and NOT quality music production. Even the cheapest $50 usb asio card will be a huge improvement.
#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the built-in soundcard.
Here's a good guide and user-tested suggestions that work: The Best Audio Interfaces for your Home Studio by TweakHeadz Lab
(you'll want to bookmark and read through all of Tweak's Guide while you're there...)
Another good article: Choosing an audio interface - Choosing An Audio Interface


Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:

Sony ACID Express (free 10-track sequencer): ACIDplanet.com: Free Downloads: ACID Xpress
Audacity: Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder (multi-track with VST support)
Wavosaur: Wavosaur free audio editor with VST and ASIO support (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)\
Kristal: KRISTAL Audio Engine
Other freebies and shareware: Music Software - Computer Music Resources - Shareware Music Machine

Another great option is REAPER at REAPER | Audio Production Without Limits (It's $50 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)
I use Reaper and highly reccomend it...

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($25) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - Myriad: Music Notation Software and much more... / Myriad : logiciels de musique, et bien plus...
Demo you can try on the website.

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full FREE studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they gave away SamplitudeV9SE and July 2009 issue they put out Samplitude10SE, November 2010 SamplitudeSilver. FREE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)

'Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll eat forever...'
 
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