I Have A Good Mic..... Where Do I Go From Here?

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LemonBlues

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I have a good mic, which has been used but not for recording. I have absolutely ZERO clue where to start. My computer has a Mic slot, its a pretty good soundcard too, could go from there.

What would the very basics of home recording be? Through a computer?

I have a few songs written and would like to get a good quality recording.

Of course, if there is a thread already going through this, feel free to point me in the right direction instead of retyping what has probably been typed plenty of times :rolleyes:.

Thanks a ton guys. Look forward to everyones help.
 
"Good sounding mic" and "computer sound card" are rarely ever seen in the same paragraph (as the two generally cannot be connected). Can you elaborate a bit?
 
Have you thought about recording software? There are lots of "trial" versions available on line, try a few and see which you like best before buying. The factory installed sound card on most computers are rarely good for recording music, they will work but the sound quality leaves a lot to be desired. Good mics rarely have a 1/8 inch plug to go into a soundcard. Buy a good book on home recording before you buy anything else, read it carefully and you will discover there is a lot more involved than a mic and a computer. I don't mean to put a damper on your enthusiasm, we all started off pretty similar to you and learned we needed more. Any way, welcome aboard, it's a long journey from where you are to the top of the recording heap. Hang on and enjoy the ride. Be warned, home recording is addicting. Get one decent recording and you'll be hooked.
 
Cheers guys.

Massive Master, I had a converter that converts the mic plug into the computer size.

Dani, I have Audacity, I started recording stuff on a voice recorder and realized it just wasnt doing. Ill take your advice mate thanks.
 
Again, much more specific. A digital converter to go into a S/PDIF? A 1/4" to 1/8" TRS? Or (God help us all...) a XLR to 1/8"?

Where's the preamp?
 
Audacity is a good program to use and learn the basics of computer recording. The simplicity of Audacity is what makes it a good learning program, it has it's limits but with a little imagination and cerative thinking you should be able to get around most of them.

Massive Master mentioned "preamp," do you have one? Audacity is pretty "user friendly" and will work with practically any preamp, just use the line in instead of the mic input and you should get much better quality sounding recordings. If I understand correctly, using the line in will bypass the soundcard preamp and gives you much more control over the input signal. A small 2 chanel USB preamp/mixer will be much better than just using the soundcard. I've even used a 4 track cassette deck as a preamp/mixer with Audacity and got surprisingly good results.

Depending on your RAM you may experience some latency (not hearing all tracks in real time) issues when adding tracks to prerecorded tracks. If you do, lower the playback volume in Audacity and this should help synchronize what you are hearing.

I think the best advice anyone could give you is... Take your time, relax, and enjoy what you are doing. Don't panic when something turns out wrong, we all have made our share of mistakes, the "undo" button can be your friend.
 
LemonBlues said:
I have a good mic, which has been used but not for recording. I have absolutely ZERO clue where to start. My computer has a Mic slot, its a pretty good soundcard too, could go from there.

What would the very basics of home recording be? Through a computer?

I have a few songs written and would like to get a good quality recording.

Of course, if there is a thread already going through this, feel free to point me in the right direction instead of retyping what has probably been typed plenty of times :rolleyes:.

Thanks a ton guys. Look forward to everyones help.
Click to expand...
Hey there, just get a little digital handheld recorder like the zoom HD-4 or H-4 I can't remember what it's called. It has an excellent mic build in but also boast two XLR inputs inclusive of Phantom Power. They're about £200 her in the UK and there's a cheaper version for £150 without XLR. To be honest the build in Mic is so good I used it instead of my professional studio mics. Good luck, and by the way what's your mic called?
 
Massive Master said:
Or (God help us all...) a XLR to 1/8"?
Click to expand...

whats wrong with an xlr to 1/8.. on the back of my behringer mixer it has L/R xlr outs, and i have a cable that goes to 1/8th inch (so i guess that's stereo?) and then into my current interface (fasttrack usb:( , or guitar port ) using a 1/8' to a 1/4 adapter.

i wish i just had a motu interface...:rolleyes:
 
No, it's not stereo - The 1/8" input is stereo - The XLR outputs are balanced. Going from the XLR balanced to 1/8" TRS is unbalancing the signal. There are worse things that can happen though -

Like trying to feed a mic level signal into a line level input...
 
how does that unbalance the signal? and does it really matter for me because it's going like a distance of 1 foot to get into my fast track.

maybe i should just buy my friends mbox mini...
 
The key point I was trying to make was:
Like trying to feed a mic level signal into a line level input...
Click to expand...
You're going to be sending a mic level signal into a line level input.

Yes, you should buy some sort of interface with a microphone preamplifier in it.
 
So "too quiet" that it'll be mic level and not line level - if it works at all.
 
PC stands for poor cousin

If you have a Mac and $500 buy an Apogee Duet(type in on YouTube.)interface.Use GarageBand,plug in your mike and record your
beautiful music.
 
Noisy soundcard input + too quiet = lots of gain (+ lots of noise)
 
Do a little reading mate. Lots of beginners on here - myself included BUT I've not, at any time, gone mic -> comp soundcard or instrument -> comp card. At my most basic level I used the preamps in my 4 track cassette recorder and the line out from the 4 track into the stereo line in of the comp card.
These gave me a decent signal level from the mic by using the pres (& they still sound rather nice after all these years) and a good line level from the stereo mix out of the machine into recording software.
You'd be better served spending a little money to get some sort of purpose built interface - even a cheapie USB jobbie with some sort of pre, and poss. phantom power, - to do what you want. There're a lot of home/comsumer level/priced things out there & cheap on ebay too.
Mac? Isn't that another word for buddy, guy, hey you or Mr?
Stay a Poor Cousin and enjoy the vast array of options and compatibility.
Just joking!
Massive is someone to pay heed to, really!
Wheelema as well.
If you ask: be prepared to be told!
 
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i've finally got a mac, but i won't be dropping $500 on a 2 channel interface. I'd rather get a motu ultratlite which are said to have great pres and tons of analog i/o
 
rayc said:
Do a little reading mate
Click to expand...


You need to understand the fundamentals beneath sound before attempting to record anything. A good mic, uh? For what? For snares? To record vocals? Is it Hypercadiod? Or maybe a ribbon? Big condenser? There's a lot of reading about mic types and its uses. What you call a good mic maybe is the worst mic for the task you want to be accomplished.

I won't recommend a PC soundcard beacuse of the low quality preamp (Just in case, an state-of-the-art preamp like the Avalon M5 will cost you 1 600 bucks). It's better to go with an interface or a mixing desk . It doesn't have to be huge one man! A Mackie will do the job (Avoid Behringer at all costs). But, once again, have some lectures before you mess it out. Karl Coryat has a nice book for newbies called Guerrilla Home Recording. I think it explains the basic of audio with a clear language and it's straight to the point.

Good luck!
 
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