Microphones

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guitarboi89

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Hi, i am going to be recording a couple of local bands ep's this summer and i think i need some equiptment upgrades, this is what ive been using (dont laugh it doesnt work out too badly):

My 1.8ghz Athalon with 512mb ddr ram
The stock soundcard :eek:
Some pretty bog standard mics (~£20)
A guitar practice amp as a preamp (thorugh the headphone socket!)
Cubase SE
Kenwood amp
Mission Speakers (not monitors, jst hifi stuff)

Well i dont have much money.. probably about 200 to spend on this little project so what should i do... from what ive heard the priorities are the soundcard, the mics and the preamp. can anyone recommend a combination of stuff to do that.

also i need to be able to record a drum kit..
 
I think you're going to struggle with your budget.

A 4 input soundcard will cost you around £120 for a start, and I'd say you need at least one condensor mic for cymbals, vocals, acoustic instruments etc.

OK I'd go for an M Audio audiophile 2496 soundcard (£60) and a yamaha MG10/2 mixer (£70), this will give you 4 mic preamps and headphone monitoring. The card has only two inputs so you'd either record the drums with two mics (doable but a tall order, particularly with a limited choice of mics and in a crappy sounding room), or mic the kit through the mixer and go from the stereo outs to the inputs of the card. Doing it the second way you'd be recording one stereo drum track into cubase and so you'd have to get levels and panning right before you recorded. This isn't ideal but a 4 input soundcard would take too much of your budget as far as I see it.

Then a studio projects B1 would cost you another £64 and it's a decent, fairly versatile large diaphragm condensor mic. You'd have to play around with the other mics you have (dynamics?) on kick, snare, toms etc. and use the B1 as a single overhead. It should also be fairly well suited to vocals and acoustic guitar

So that would be a few quid less than £200.

If you wanted to take things fairly seriously in the future you'd have to think about acoustically treating your live recording and mixing areas and a decent monitoring set up. Then you'd probably want to build up the mic collection, get some decent preamps and expand on the number of simultaneous inputs.

Good luck with it anyway, hopefully someone else will have a few other ideas.
 
Yep, that pretty much covers it. Except you will have a little bit of trouble monitoring and using all four pres at once with the MG10/2, because there are only two inserts you can tap for direct outs. The other option is a Behringer UB1204 ... but I sold mine when I got an MG10/2 because the sound quality was noticably lower.

Audiophile 2496 and SP B1 is good though ...
 
Is used equiptment an idea? or maybe ebaying stuff? ive got a condenser mic (probably not great - it cost £20 and doesnt use phantom power) and could get my hands on maybe 2 x shure 58's?
mixerwise i have been looking at the behringer ub1002 and ub1202, they look like probably 2 inputs (ub1002) or 4 inputs (ub1202) are genuinely useful, but i can track the guitar, bass and vocals seperately and i can probably manage with the drums with a good bit of work.
but ill probably just take your advice!
 
Yeah, used gear is great just so long as you have some come back. Ebay's good because of the seller rating thing but of course that's no guarantee. But in general there's nothing wrong with using second hand gear at all.

The behri mixers are a bit cheaper but they don't have a good rep in terms of sound quality and reliability although I must say I haven't used a Behringer mixer myself. The Yamaha MG series are really excellent for what they cost. I've used the MG16/4 for some live stuff and it was excellent for the money, not the best preamps you'll ever hear but not bad at all, like I say for the money.

You could use dynamic mics for micing drums and guitar amps etc. (SM57's are more commonly used for micing instruments rather than 58's but there are no hard and fast rules) you'll really need a condensor for the things I mentioned earlier though. If you're not happy with the one you have the B1 would be a pretty smart (and cheap) choice.

Enjoy!
 
No condenser mics work without phantom power ... some electrets use 9V batteries ... see my idiots guide to mics (for idiots like me) here:
http://www.pmiaudio.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=159

IMHO, you will get more versatility from an SP B1 rather than an SM58, especially with cheapo preamps. The B1 is £64 from www.dv247.com, they will be cheapest or thereabouts for your Audiophile card too.

If you are going to get a Behringer mixer, get the UB1204 because you have a headphone source matrix that will allow you to use all four at once and still monitor the soundcard outputs. With the Yamaha MG10/2 you can't do that whilst using all four seperately. If you're only using two though, which you might be, the MG10/2 represents the most sensible buy! :)

There is also the MG12/4 of course ....
 
my condenser uses batteries.. i was just saying it didnt use the phantom power format, which probably meant it wasnt good.
ill have to check with the bands that i should be recording what they want to do.
thanks for all the advice :)
 
Don't check with them too closely ... because if you're 16 and they're 16 then the chances are you'll all just end up buying the cheapest Behringer mixer, a Creative sound card and an SM58. Don't make that mistake! :)
 
:D Yo Dude of NOise: :D

The "verse" to "STARDUST" is quite extraordinary.

Verses were not used in many earlier recordings because of the time factor decided by DECCA, RCA, and many other illuminaries whose stars have faded.

Most of the verses for standard songs I've used are to be found in "Fake Books." Love those things. Learned so many songs from them.

There are many other standard songs that have wonderful verses.

Thus, your blue-lined quip below your message does not lixiviate with the masses of musicians. :p

Green Hornet :D :cool: :D ;)
 
Hello Horndog!

It was just a funny quote - certainly not intended to offend the Vert Hornetto's musical sensibilities!! :D:D Noel Gallagher is some kinda musical rent-a-quote ... always has something a little bit dense to say in a deceptively intelligent way. :D:D
 
:D Yo Dude:

Nice to hear from you over from "way" over there.

Now, a quote from a Thomas Hardy novel would be more up my alley. Used to teach his work when I was teaching. Nothing like THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE to boggle the minds of my students.

Hope you're having a nice summer. I'm off to the links to try and take some money from one of the best jazz keyboard players around these parts.

Cheers,
GH :D
 
Summer is going well, have my income sorted out and doing lots of sleeping in and watching films. This is, as they say, the life! :D

Hope you make plenty of money - jazz and keyboards are both good things. :)
 
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