Mic and preamp for female vocals for $350?

  • Thread starter Thread starter KrypticMind
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Don't you have a male version + microphone?

(yes, it was sarcastic :P)
 
dickiefunk said:
Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP is proving to be the most stable interface I've owned. Totally rock solid with no glitches or crashes!!
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Just to be clear, I didn't say it didn't work for anyone. It just doesn't work for a significant number of people. :)
 
It doesn't have firewire, so the only option seems to be USB.
 
dgatwood said:
And, IIRC, a substandard phantom supply voltage.
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Probably but for a lot of mics, that's not of much consequence. And it has TRS inputs so you can always use an external pre without having to upgrade everything.

It's enough to get you by until you figure out where you're headed. USB is probably the least attractive audio option, second to a laptops onboard soundcard anyway. And for $80 from craigslist, not a bad deal. 3.5mm (1/8") inputs, XLR inputs, TRS inputs, 1/8" output (x2), TRS outputs, and other interfacing options that would cost you extra on most gear. Factor in a cheap preamp being $40 and you get two of those from a certain POV. It's a step up from a laptops soundcard in either case.
 
Is there a better USB interface for $150 than the Saffire 6? She's pretty close to jumping on one.
 
KrypticMind said:
Is there a better USB interface for $150 than the Saffire 6? She's pretty close to jumping on one.
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I face a similar situation as your and I too have been looking for gear in a similar price range.

I think your solution may pose problems. (Keep in mind that a laptop fan adds noise.)

I'm currently looking at a Rode NT1A and a recorder with XLR input such as the H4n - and a mic stand, shockmount and pop filter. I would record the accompaniment separately and play it through an iPod while recording the vocals. I could sync everything while mixing it all in post.
 
Let me add this note (as much to myself as anyone else who may read this thread). I am also looking at a Fostex FR-2 LE recorder (rather than the Zoom H4n) and perhaps the CAD M177/179 or even the Behringer B-1 as a mic. (Like this thread's opening post, I am trying to do this for less than about $500.)

IMV, the Zoom offers more features and is a good standalone. The Fostex offers better sound but is basic. I can play around with the Zoom, its internal mics and the XLR mic and choose the best arrangement. With the Fostex, it seems that it's a set piece. This becomes more important when recording an instrument (piano/guitar/sax etc) which usually accompanies a singing voice.

To record either, I wouldn't go the route of using a USB mic and a laptop, or XLR mics and PC interface. My point above about the noise of a laptop fan is only part of the story. Do you want extra connections, hard drives, equipment in the room wher you record? USB mics are in their infancy and while they may be excellent for podcasting, they are not good for recording music.

In the same sense, it seems to me that beyond gear, it is important to have a soundproof (non-echo) room, to place the mic well (shockmount and stand), singer standing. IOW, the singer must feel good to sing well.

BTW, the female singing voice ranges (at extreme) from about 180Hz to perhaps 1500Hz so the frequency range is not the issue.
 
In case anyone is following this, or checks in later, I went for the Fostex. Its recorded sound is superior to the Zoom H4n. (I checked the high volume silence as one test. The Fostex is astonishing; the Zoom has alot of background noise.)

Thankfully, I got a good deal on a used Fostex FR-2 LE (portable model) and I chose an SM Pro Audio MC01 condensor mic, but I have back up mic options.

I am still working on piano accompaniement. This is a work in progress.
 
Once again, I'll post about this experience. Wow!

I guess I'm in post-production now. (What is Post? Me playing with files on my laptop). When I have time, I'll provide links to the final mixed (mp3) product as well as the raw wav files. (I recorded them in 24 bit 96KHz which I think is overkill. Memory is cheap now.)

Three more points, so far, about this process.

First, it's nice to have good gear. I am impressed with the quality of the Fostex sound, and the intelligence of its controls. The manual is very precise. You need a good condensor mic for recording voice. I'm even happy to have had a good spider mount.

Second, Glenn Gould would have loved digital recording. You can make several takes and then easily choose which parts are best. I'm using Sony Vegas and Sound Forge for editing and mixing.

Third, and perhaps key. Coming from a technical perspective, I am humbled working with "talent". My singer has a wonderful but untrained voice. It requires an entirely different set of skills to get a singer to feel comfortable and excel than to know about dB levels and audio envelopes. At one point, after about 20 minutes of recording, she said, "I'm tired, and I don't like this song." I decided, rather than to waste anyone's time, to let her decide the agenda. We took a break.
 
Does the Fostex allow multi-tracking? Recording WHILE playing unrelated sounds. Plus audio through so they can hear themselves in the mix. I opted for the Korg MR-1000 which is also nice, but it definitely DOESN'T have multi-tracking abilities. i.e. NOT full duplex. Although I can always track continuously and edit out the takes into a timeline. It's just a lot more work and a lot more error prone. The zooms allow multi-tracking and double as audio interfaces. Which is why they're the more common mention.
 
Shadow_7 said:
Does the Fostex allow multi-tracking? Recording WHILE playing unrelated sounds. Plus audio through so they can hear themselves in the mix. I opted for the Korg MR-1000 which is also nice, but it definitely DOESN'T have multi-tracking abilities. i.e. NOT full duplex. Although I can always track continuously and edit out the takes into a timeline. It's just a lot more work and a lot more error prone. The zooms allow multi-tracking and double as audio interfaces. Which is why they're the more common mention.
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You ask a good question. To my knowledge, the Fostex does not offer simultaneous playback while recording on a separate channel. At most, you can monitor the incoming channels.

I recorded mono but the Fostex has two XLR powered inputs so you can record in stereo. The portable Fostex FR2 LE that I used does not offer "time stamping" which I think is your point. In a digital world (and I was once in an analog world so I understand well your concern), time stamping just doesn't matter that much - particularly in audio. For 5 minute digital audio files, synching is not a problem.

In my case, my singer used an iPod with an mp3 file while I recorded her mono in a completely separate, unconnected file. As an amateur, she put in one earplug and as I told her, tightly, she held the other in her hand. I didn't want any noise leakage. Yes, with the Fostex and a good mic, sound leakage is a problem.

I had offered her inexpensive but good Sennheiser HD201 closed headphones (I did this on the cheap) to hear the mp3 files but she didn't like them. As she said, "I can't sing if I can't hear myself." So, she went with one earbud. Thinking back on this, I would choose headphones with a flip up/turn off side. Sound quality doesn't matter much. The singer only needs cues.

I had no problem matching up later her Fostex wav voice recording and a voice-stripped version of the stereo mp3 file on a Sony Vegas timeline. The two files were not out of synch. If anything, it was my singer who missed her cues some times. I solved this through choosing different takes, or stretching/shrinking. Hence, my remark about Glenn Gould.
 
That just seems like a lot of extra work to me. At a minimum pipe the output of the field recorder into a full duplex soundcard. If only to get a baseline. Maybe even add a click track that route. Not that it's that much work if you're only mixing ONE track to an existing backing track. But if you need to do anything complex (like drums), that's not an ideal way to go.

Not that my current setup is any different than yours. With a Korg MR-1000 + 2 external preamps (MM-1's). I have 4 decent mic preamps to feed into a Delta 44 (4 in / 4 out) full duplex sound card. An HP4 headphone preamp to run to the headphone(s). I guess it depends on your recording philosophy. The field recorder route lets you take the computer out of the room and therefor any electrical interference and fan noise (plus a few other noises). Without breaking the bank in the process. Plus a few other freedoms that you can't do with a traditional computer.
 
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