Basic, first-time studio set-up - recommendations, tips?

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Mr. Heretic

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Greetings!
I'm looking to build a fairly basic recording set-up, primarily for amateur vocals.
What are the essentials if I want professional~ sounding audio quality?
E.g. can I get away with running something like an SM58 straight into my desktop PC's sound card, or would I definitely need something like a preamp, audio interface or mixer?
In which case, which one and why? And what sort of cables/adaptors might I need to get my hands on?

As you can see I have a lot of questions, but really those are the most important. Second to them, more specific recommendations for mics or other necessities would be appreciated. The problem is that I'd originally decided to go for the aforementioned SM58 (or 57), but neither Musician's Friend nor Amazon seem to ship any Shure mics to my country (New Zealand) and all the local ones are quite expensive. So I could do with ideas on a mic of comparable (preferably better) quality/capability in a similar price range, or on online shops that ship Shure mics cheaply to NZ.
 
I use a lower end Behringer mixer that has phantom power, then run that into the line-in on my sound card. Does a good enough job. I also run my bass/guitar through the same mixer (nearly all of my effects are virtual/VSTs now), so it only has to pass a clean signal and software does the rest.
 
Mr. Heretic said:
Greetings!
but neither Musician's Friend nor Amazon seem to ship any Shure mics to my country (New Zealand) and all the local ones are quite expensive.
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I'm in Melbourne and I've got the same problem, we have a really high mark up in Australia and New Zealand, Ive been looking for a work around but have yet to find anything.
 
Houda said:
I'm in Melbourne and I've got the same problem, we have a really high mark up in Australia and New Zealand, Ive been looking for a work around but have yet to find anything.
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Agreed - Its never more evident that Australia is an island than when comparing the cost of gear sold here to overseas prices ;p
 
Mr. Heretic said:
Greetings!
I'm looking to build a fairly basic recording set-up, primarily for amateur vocals.
What are the essentials if I want professional~ sounding audio quality?
Click to expand...

Hiya
The ubiquitous SM58 is a good choice for when you have a room that is untreated and 'echoey' as the mic doesn't pick up all those room reflections (to the same degree as a condenser mic) when you're using it for close up vocal recordings.
But it lacks that top end 'clarity' and transient response of condenser mics that make these mics much more suited for clean vocal recording. However if you're doing hip hop or rap then the SM58 is going to be fine - these vocals aren't meant to be 'nice' sounding.

If you're looking for a condenser mic, then you're also going to need to have a reflection filter and some gobos or treatment on the walls to minimise slap echoes and pinging. As for mics, the Rode NT1a is a nice, (relatively) cheap and good choice for tracking vox. Use with a pop screen or slightly off-axis setup to minimise plosives when singing, and will also suit other instruments should you need a 'one mic to rule them all' approach (have used for acoustic guitar, sax, drum overhead, kick mic, bongos, guit amp, etc)

Yes, you'll need a mixer or preamp (with phantom power for use with any condenser mic) to raise the level of the signal to bring into your recording environment. A mixer also allows you to add keys or other inputs to the songs easily, and acts as your monitoring environment as well (using headphones or speakers). Yes, there are a lot of people doing everything with just interfaces, but I like the flexibility a mixer affords me for monitoring, inserting dynamics processors, routing through effects, sending to samplers, etc

Each to their own. Hope you can find some gear that doesn't require a loan!

Cheers!
Dags
 
Yeah, all the pros are using SM-58's into crappy OEM soundcards these day. Sounds just like a U-87!
 
c7sus said:
Yeah, all the pros are using SM-58's into crappy OEM soundcards these day. Sounds just like a U-87!
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LOL :)
Hey remember that program released about 10 years ago that was supposed to make the audio recorded using your low-budget mic sound like another top-end mic? You'd select the type of mic you recorded with (eg, SM58) and told the program what you wanted it to sound like (eg; U-87) and it would tweak the recorded audio to empart the 'characteristics' of the selected mic onto the audio.
The crazy thing is that you supposedly could make your U-87 recorded vocal sound like it was done through an SM-57 :D
 
Cheers for all the informative replies so far, especially Dags'. :]
For those who were having similar problems: unless I'm missing something, a reputable store called Adorama does seem to ship Shure mics to NZ and Aus at a good price!

As for cardioid vs. condenser, I don't think messing with the walls of my rented living-space is an option unless the material doesn't need to cover a large portion of them and can be easily removed at will without damage. I rather suspect both of those is too much to hope for.
So I guess I'll end up going with a cardioid like the SM58, though I much prefer the idea of clarity at the top end...
Now that I think about it, my vocal range is quite limited at said top end - maybe it won't make much of a difference?
Distancing myself from that last statement a little, one of my friends is an excellent violinist and I'd love to record her some time. I suppose the difference in this example would be massive.

Now for a pre-amp. What to get? I have little clue; prices range extraordinarily, and paying again as much as I would for the mic makes this very expensive for me. Would a budget model like the "Rolls MP13 Mini" (at 62 USD) for example make my recordings sound like crap? Noisy? Not loud enough?
 
Forget a separate preamp for now - get an audio interface (which will have preamps anyway!) That way you can stop using your computer's soundcard.
 
Mr. Heretic said:
Cheers for all the informative replies so far, especially Dags'. :]

As for cardioid vs. condenser, I don't think messing with the walls of my rented living-space is an option unless the material doesn't need to cover a large portion of them and can be easily removed at will without damage. I rather suspect both of those is too much to hope for.

So I guess I'll end up going with a cardioid like the SM58, though I much prefer the idea of clarity at the top end...
Now that I think about it, my vocal range is quite limited at said top end - maybe it won't make much of a difference?
Distancing myself from that last statement a little, one of my friends is an excellent violinist and I'd love to record her some time. I suppose the difference in this example would be massive.
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Don't know how 'crafty' you are, but you could knock together some frames, lay some insulation in them and cover them in material to stop any breakaway particles from leaking out and effectively create some baffles for yourself. They can then be leaned against the walls to help soak up some of the sound that would otherwise be reflected around the room and used to create a semi 'dead' area for tracking your vocals.

The 'top end' in the condenser mics is referring more the very high frequencies (think tinnitus) ;) which are lost in the slower response unpowered dynamic mics. Dynamic mics will capture all the useful frequencies for vocal delivery but won't have that 'crispness' usually associated with high quality studio mics.

Now for a pre-amp. What to get? I have little clue; prices range extraordinarily, and paying again as much as I would for the mic makes this very expensive for me. Would a budget model like the "Rolls MP13 Mini" (at 62 USD) for example make my recordings sound like crap? Noisy? Not loud enough?
Click to expand...

mjbphotos has a good point - there are a lot of audio interfaces that have built-in preamps nowdays so all you need to do is plug your mic in, set the right level and hit record. But you might want to spend a little extra and get a powered interface (ie, doesn't rely solely on USB power) as I have found that USB powered interfaces add a lot of electrical noise to the audio signal.

Dags
 
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