Mic direct into interface?

[Stu_Hig]

If I bought a battery powered condenser mic could I get a decent tone if I put straight into my PC through an audio interface? Or would I need a preamp to make it sound good?

Thanks in advance.

 

[thane1200]

Which interface?

 

[Stu_Hig]

It's an M-Audio Fast Track. It has a line input and an XLR input.

 

[reshp1]

It has a built in preamp. It'll probably a usable one considering it's M-Audio, so you'll be able to get decent sound with a battery mic. You will probably notice an improvement moving up to something like the DMP3, but most importantly you'll get the ability to provide Phantom power, which it doesn't look like the fast track has. That'll let you get away from battery powered mics, which generally will sound a little better.