General Vocal Recording Question

[Taiyed]

First off, this is not a joke. This is a serious question.

I've been recording vocals lately. I'm a good singer, but the results are pretty bad. I'm currently using and SM57 and a sound blaster sound card into Cakewalk Sonar. Now, obviously the SM57 and sound blaster are not good for recording vocals. I have upgrades for both of them in mind. My question is, what do you guys think is more of a problem for the bad vocal sounds? Is it the SM57 or the terrible sound card?

Thanks a lot.

 

[Red Dog Studios]

I'd start with the mic. the 57 is a good mic but i dont really like usin it on vocals, you can get a decent Condenser mic for around $60 and they even have a new condenser mic out that has a USB cable on it, so u can plug it right into your computers' usb port it's made by Samson. it also depends on what kinda of sound card you got. are u just using the sound card that came on the computer?

 

[bcains]

The orignal posted said he has a sound blaster. Now personally i'd be upgrading both as you've said,
but i'd upgrade the soundcard before the mic. Link to another thread about soundcards.

 

[shiatzu]

it's very possible to get excellent results out of an sm57. definitely ditch the soundcard and get something designed for what you're doing.

 

[Chris Shaeffer]

Looks like and accidental double post.

 

[Sirnothingness]

double poster double poster

 

[JosephCampbell]

An sm-57 will do a great job recording vocals but ONLY if you use a pop-filter. The pops into a 57 will ruin your sound. If you can not afford a pop filter use a hanger and some panty-hoes.