Heyy,need a little bit of help

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J-Cee

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Hey everyone,
I just purchased an MXL 770 mic and it needs phantom power.
I've spoke to a few people who have said to get a Preamp but said that not all of them will plug into your computer and others have said to buy a mixer as provides more levels and options.
To start i'm looking to spend 100$ or under on the preamp/mixer.
Was wondering if i buy a preamp or mixer that doesnt plug into the computer what sort of cable would i need to plug the preamp/mixer to my computer and i think i need just a regular mic cable to plug from my mic to the preamp/mixer

And also the mic needs 48v phantom power,if a preamp or mixer says it has phantom power is that enough or it needs to specify that it provides 48v of phantom power?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Hmmm how are you plugging the mic into your computer now???

If I were you, I'd just look around for an audio interface and record that way. Most of them come with phantom power too, so you would be good to go.
 
nah It's not plugged in,i have to buy a cable for it the ones with 3 pins (male and female) and i am thinking the mic would plug into the mixer/preamp(via cable) as it needs phantom power,then the preamp/mixer if its not usb would use some sort of cable to connect to the computer..?
 
Yep, you're correct.

Like I said, if I were you I'd look around for an audio interface.
 
cheers,sorry for the stupid question but what you mean by audio interface? lol.I thought an audio interface meant a preamp/mixer,like what the mic would plug into..

and if it helps i'm only using vocals so not using guitars,keyboards or anything like that.
 
There are two stages in getting the output of a microphone into a computer.

First, the very quiet signals that a microphone output have to be amplified to a usable level. This is what a pre-amp does.

Second that amplified signal has to be converted from analogue (varying voltages) to digital (a series of 0s and 1s that a computer can use). This is called an "analogue to digital converter or "A to D" for short.

An audio interface is a device that does both these things for you and gives you an output (usually USB these days) that you can plug directly into your computer.

The microphone socket your computer has connects to a very rudimentary form of audio interface, probably just a chip on your computer motherboard. However, this is designed for only very low quality results...just plugging in a simple mic for use on Skype or whatever. It doesn't provide phantom power either.

The trouble with a basic pre amp is that, while it may provide phantom, it doesn't give a digital output for the computer--the same thing is the case with most mixers though there are some that also do the A-D conversion, i.e. they have an inbuilt audio interface.

So, the best suggestion is indeed to get an "audio interface" that provides phantom power, contains a mic pre amp and does the A to D for you.

Finally, to answer your question, if a spec says "phantom power" the 48 volts is implied.

Bob
 
Thanks Bob,well i'll look at some "audio interfaces" on ebay

Someone pointed me to these two products,would i need an audio interface with these?

ALESIS MULTIMIX 4 USB MIXER (seen on ebay for $189 au)

or
M-AUDIO - MobilePre or M-Audio Fast Track II 2 Fasttrack USB

can you let me know if either of these would suffice,or getting an audio interface is still recommended and if not if its not to much trouble could someone direct me to some audio interfaces that i could purchase,under the 150$ price mark
 
Yup. All those are exactly the things you need. All three are forms of audio interface...or small mixer with built in interface.

I've personally used the Mobile Pre and can recommend it highly...and I know somebody else who recently bought the Alesis Multimix 4 USB and is pleased with it.

Cheers,

Bob
 
beautiful,yeah the MobilePre was actually what was looking to get,well that seems to solve my problems.thanks for all the help.:)
 
am looking for an audio interface for around 100 dollars or less to buy today or tomorrow,can anyone recommend one to use with my mic and computer that i mentioned in this thread.
thanks
 
i'm making some assumptions here but i'm guessing that you're planning on recording at least vocals, maybe some guitar, but not things like drums etc so would only really need 1 or 2 inputs. i'm also assuming your planning on USB rather than firewire. I'm also assuming you're windows based rather than mac. Also, what software (DAW) are you recording in to?

with all that in mind and within your budget, there are a couple of solid and very versatile interfaces that'll do the job.

The Maudio fast track is about £80 and is a very simple, very effective interface.

The Alesis io2 is the same price and offers two mic inputs with phantom power, although i know there has been some issues with drivers for some users.

The Presonus audio box is a bit more expensive at £120 but it a great little box

the little ART unit you linked to would work but the one's others and i have mentioned have a bit more to them.
 
yeah just vocals and yes to all those,at the moment ive got 2 programs was thinking of using,either adobe audition or Mixcraft..?
and yeh i need 48v phantom power for the mic to work.
thanks for those recommendations i appreciate it.
 
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