condensers and 4 tracks, bad idea?

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dennnis

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Pretty much a noob at everything, i just recently bought a used tascam 424mkii, and am now looking at mics to buy.

Just wondering, how do condenser mics go with 4 tracks? there are noise issues and i know theres no phantom power supply, but besides that, is it a bad idea to think that i could use them instead?/or with dynamic mics?
and in general would signals be loud enough or would i need a preamp or somesort..

this forum is amazing, thanks so much already.
cheers

ps. Im more for the live sound of things.
 
Last edited:
dennnis said:
Pretty much a noob at everything, i just recently bought a used tascam 424mkii, and am now looking at mics to buy.

Just wondering, how do condenser mics go with 4 tracks? i know theres no phantom power supply but besides that, is it a bad idea to think that i could use them instead?/or with dynamic mics?
and in general would signals be loud enough or would i need a preamp or somesort..

this forum is amazing, thanks so much already.
cheers

ps. Im more for the live sound of things.
Click to expand...

All condensor mics need phantom power. Most use +48 Volts but some use batteries. If your mic needs phantom power, the easiest way is to buy an external mic preamp. I guess if I were you, I would buy a SM57 dynamic (no phantom power needed) and learn to record. The Tascam porta-studio has less than steller performance and you will probably upgrade rather soon. If you never really care to get serious, you can sell the SM57 and be done with it. Spending $$$$ on an external preamp and a condensor mic will not really up your sound quality that much as the SM57 is a pretty good mic for most purposes.

Good Luck!
 
I used to have a Yamaha 4 track, and while it did not have phantom power, it did have enough gain to let me use a dynamic mic with a 1/4 inch plug type cable.
Eventually I bought a small mixer with phantom power to use it for the preamps so I could use Condensor mics for vocals and acoustic guitars.

By then I was ready to upgrade to a 8 track, and then later to a full blown Work station and then a free standing 1000 sq/ft studio and then......

So you see, you are on the bank of a slippery creek... and you WILL fall in!

You could just buy a simple Mic preamp with Phantom or even just a stand alone Phantom power unit would actually be the cheapest way to introduce Condensors to your set up.
A freestanding Phantom unit can be bought for under $50 easy. Then run it to your 4 track mic input.
 
Also, there are a few decent battery powered condensers out there. I used to run a Shure BG 4.0 into my Tascam 4-track cassette.

A couple of battery powered mics you could check out would be the MXL V63BP, and the AKG C1000. However, the C1000 seems to be universally disliked on this BBS.

The Shure BG 4.o and 4.1 are decent small diaphram battery powered condensers, but they are no longer being made. Check ebay for these, they usually go fairly cheap.
 
thanks guys ill probably just buy one and experiment with it, im bound to upgrade so i would like to get a couple..
 
You might want to check out the m-audio audio buddy for a preamp, it's a two channel preamp with phantom power that also works decent for a DI for bass guitar. Musician's Friend has a package with the audio buddy and two MXL condensor mics (one LD and one SD) for $99. Not bad bang for the buck.
 
Randy Yell said:
You might want to check out the m-audio audio buddy for a preamp, it's a two channel preamp with phantom power that also works decent for a DI for bass guitar. Musician's Friend has a package with the audio buddy and two MXL condensor mics (one LD and one SD) for $99. Not bad bang for the buck.
Click to expand...

It reportedly doesn't provide a full 48V of phantom power, so some mics don't work well with it. Besides, if you already have pres, you should probably consider just buying a phantom supply, e.g. the Art Phantom II.
 
I never had a problem with the audio buddy powering mics and i've used it with quite a few.
 
Randy Yell said:
I never had a problem with the audio buddy powering mics and i've used it with quite a few.
Click to expand...

Many mics, (but not all) will work just fine with less than 48 volts. For somebody just starting out that MXL/Audio Buddy package is a great deal.
 
Let's see now

Hi,

Lets see now. You're typing on a computer. And recording to cassette? What's wrong with this picture?

Your computer is a far better recorder than the Tascam.

Don't get me wrong. In the past I made a lot of good recordings to 4 track cassette. But I wouldn't do it now.

Thanks,

Hairy Larry
 
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