Background hiss noise in a professional mic. Do i need a pre amp?

  • Thread starter Thread starter atifkt
  • Start date Start date
Steenamaroo said:
I'll make a note.....:p

Cheers man. Looking forward to it.
Just remember, I might have heard the early stages in that "what are you working on thread".
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Naw, that was fun stuff I did with friends. I keep my paid/professional (did I just type that?) stuff a bit more discrete. I don't really share product that I get paid to do, that I haven't played on. Not really appropriate for the forum IMO.
 
jimmys69 said:
Naw, that was fun stuff I did with friends. I keep my paid/professional (did I just type that?) stuff a bit more discrete. I don't really share product that I get paid to do, that I haven't played on. Not really appropriate for the forum IMO.
Click to expand...

Ah yeah, I'm with you.
I do the same to be honest, but partly for that reason, and partly because most of it is community/youth work.
More of an experience for them than a 'commercial' product; Hardly worth sharing really.
 
atifkt said:
So with the interface the hiss will be gone and i'll get louder recordings. Right?
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We're all hedging a bit on saying "yes, it will fix all your problems" because, at least in my case, we've never heard of (or heard) that microphone. Back at the beginning, you mentioned a $70 mic and I assumed it would be some kind of known brand name. Since we didn't know you were in India, I didn't think of the extremely high duty payable on imported electronics.

However, what we can say is that the M Audio interface will get the best out of the mic you already have. Any problem with noise or levels after you get it (and hook it up with the M to F XLR mentioned) will be the fault of the mic.

The other thing I can say is that when I connect even fairly expensive professional mics to the built in socket on my laptop, the built in sound card adds hiss and noise, none of which is there when I use one of my M Audio interfaces.

Hope this helps.
 
So true i see the shure sm58 for 100$ on amazon and when i went on a local website it was for 200$. The import charges kill me.

I asked question to a person who did a review of the fastrack kpII on youtube.

He replied " You should probably watch the video on Audio Interfaces in my channel. A few people are buying the fast tracks and realising it's only a single channel Audio Interface. And becoming disapointed. To answer your question there will always be a pre-amp stage built into a mic input. This need to happen to raise the mic level to a level that can be useful. Jack and XLR have really nothing to do with quality. The standard way to connect microphones to devices is via XLR connections. "

What does he mean here please explain and especially the single channel part?
And does the fastrack kpII have pre amp built in and phantom power if i buy condenser mic in the fututre?
 
Many interfaces (indeed the majority) have two or more microphone (XLR) inputs so you can record more than one thing at a time--for example one mic on your voice and one on an acoustic guitar. Or, with two mics, you could record an acoustic guitar in stereo.

So long as you don't need to record two mics at a time, it's not a problem for you--just something to consider for the future. Outside India, the next model, the M Audio Mobile Pre has two mic inputs and is only $30 more so many buy it. For you, I suppost that $30 difference could be $60 more or worse.

As for the rest, he's just explaining what I (and several others) have tried to do before. Basically, the mic inputs (XLR inputs) on interfaces go into a thing called a microphone pre amplifier to raise the level before the signal is converted to digital for your computer. Although it claims to be a two channel device, the Fast Track II only has one pre-amplifier; the second input is for things like electric guitars which don't need the pre amp.

Finally, yes, the Fast Track II provides phantom power (48 vollts) if you decide to buy a condenser mic in the future.
 
So the fast track II usb version has the pre amp to raise the microphone input level..
THan its the best choice for me as i dont want to use more than 1 mic.

And are u talking abou tthis interface? MAudio MobilePre USB Portable Audio Interface - Studio/Recording - Buy online at the guaranteed lowest price in India - BAJAAO - Buy and Review Musical Instruments, Pro Audio, Studio, P.A. Audio Equipment in India

or this

http://www.bajaao.com/shop/74-studi...d-pro-tools-9-mp--ilok--maudio-mobilepre.html
 
It was the second one I was mentioning, the one with 2 XLR connectors on the front panel and a basic grey finish. The other one is the first generation of the device and was discontinued a couple of years ago. It works fine but is no longer supported.
 
The whole bundle package original price is 440$ and i'm getting it for 170$. It's 5$ more expensive than the fastrack kpII.
So i should buy this interface then. But how will i connect it to my pc the mobile pre is not an usb interface?
 
Yes, the MobilePre IS a USB interface--I use one for field recording because it it powered from the USB bus on my laptop and doesn't need a mains supply. (The Fast Track II is the same but with only one mic.) HERE'S the full spec on the M Audio site.

Since your supplier seems to have a special on making the Mobile Pre less than the Fast Track, I'd go for it.
 
With that special price (assuming it's accurate) then the deal on the Mobile Pre seems better to me but either will do what you want initially.

Of others on the site, the only other ones in your budget I could see were the Alesis iO2 and the Focusrite Saffire 2i2. Both are also good interfaces but no better or worse than the M Audio ones. However, I should say I started getting database errors after page 4 and didn't see what they had on the later pages.

A MIDI interface is for feeding MIDI commands into your computer, for example from a MIDI keyboard. Some audio interfaces can handle MIDI as well but it's not part of the spec you've given us so far.
 
I would go with the mobile pr because they are giving pro tools too.
And what is an ilok?
 
The two xlr ports on mobile pre look so different than that on Fastrack interface?
 
Yeah, that alternative would be fine. It's XLR male to XLR female and a bit longer than the other.

The XLRs on the Moble pre are what's known as "dual connectors". They have two standard XLRs (with mic pre amps) on the outer part of the connector but can take a quarter inch jack (bypassing the mic pre) for instruments or line sources in the centre. However, they'd be fine for your mic. It's just a way of cramming more connectors into a small box--FYI, space for connectors is often the limiting factor for manufacturers in terms of what they can fit in.
 
The output of your mic should be XLR male (you should see three pins inside the end of the mic) so you plug that into the female end of the cable. The other end of the cable will be male (again, you see three pins inside) and those pins go into the female connector on the interface.

FYI, that's normal convention for XLR. Sound sources have male connectors and the destination (the thing you plug into will be female.
 
Yeah i have 3 pins in my microphone..

So ur saying that i can put the xlr male to xlr female cable's xlr female part in my microphone and the xlr male in the interface?
 
Exactly that. It's the absolutely standard way of plugging microphones.
 
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