Need mic help starting cheap home acoustic guitar recording

[ecc83]

"I tried a dynamic. I never find that they have enough detail for my tastes."
Well, son is 42 and finds the SDC gives TOO much detail! Have you had the lugs checked lately Bob?!
(I am 20dB+ down at 2 kHz yes TWO, not a typo, so I am buggered now).

I can talk the 'tronics but don't ask me to listen to FA!

Dave.

 

[ecc83]

"The Alesis-IO2-Express and other interfaces I checked (Focusrite, M-Audio) are USB powered. IS USB power really adequate for 1 or 2 x phantom power + line out + processing?

Do all audio interfaces let you hear what you will be recording onto (I.E. the mix saved on the PC) and also monitor what you're playing, both in the headphones?"

In a word, err...Yes! You have however brought up a sore point! Phantom power delivery IS compromised on some AIs (and not a few mixers). If the NI KA6 has a flaw it is a rather wimpy spook juice capability tho' it run my two P150s fine.

Very few budget capacitors AFAIK are all that fussy about phantom volts? I have certainly not read of any issues but I doubt that many AIs in the sub £200 bracket could meet the 10mA specification, especially those that are completely bus powered. Fortunately, as I said.it rarely seems to matter.

I did in fact buy two, 2 chan' phantom power boxes some months ago and was incensed to find that they were WELL short on V.I delivery. I have complained bitterly to both the company and the vendor but have heard nothing back. Fortunately, although they are nowhere near specc' they serve in my situation. Caveat Emptor!!

Monitoring? You will have no problems with any of the AIs mentioned thus far. Note, things can need sorting a bit in software.

Dave.

 

[Bobbsy]

"I tried a dynamic. I never find that they have enough detail for my tastes."
Well, son is 42 and finds the SDC gives TOO much detail! Have you had the lugs checked lately Bob?!
(I am 20dB+ down at 2 kHz yes TWO, not a typo, so I am buggered now).

I can talk the 'tronics but don't ask me to listen to FA!

Dave.

I know it was asked in jest but, by coincidence, I have had my hearing checked lately. I'm about 3dB down at 15k and it rolls off steeply after that.

Worryingly, I did better than my 32 year old son and his mates from the earbud generation.

Seriously, the sound you want from an acoustic is down to preference. I've always opted for detail and clarity (even back in my 20s) while others like "smooth warmth". There's no right or wrong.

 

[gecko zzed]

The Alesis-IO2-Express and other interfaces I checked (Focusrite, M-Audio) are USB powered. IS USB power really adequate for 1 or 2 x phantom power + line out + processing?

Yes. That's what they are designed to do.

Do all audio interfaces let you hear what you will be recording onto (I.E. the mix saved on the PC) and also monitor what you're playing, both in the headphones?

'Audio interface' is pretty much a fancier 'sound card'. Indeed, there are still sound cards about that function as interfaces. The important difference is that an interface is designed specifically for duplex audio, i.e. it is capable of dealing with sound going in and out at the same time.

When you get an interface and hook it up, you are essentially replacing your on-board sound card. That means you plug all your mikes, guitars or whatever into the inputs, and your headphones and speakers into the outputs.

You record stuff, the you can play it back and record more stuff simultaneously, while listening to both through headphones.

 

[Bobbsy]

The Alesis-IO2-Express and other interfaces I checked (Focusrite, M-Audio) are USB powered. IS USB power really adequate for 1 or 2 x phantom power + line out + processing?

I've yet to find a condenser mic it couldn't power and I own quite a few different makes and models. My initial purchase was for live sound playback where USB power was an actual advantage since it eliminates one possible source of ground loop problems. However, I was impressed enough that I now use it for lots of my smaller jobs where I don't need/want to set up my full multitrack-with-mixer arrangements.

Do all audio interfaces let you hear what you will be recording onto (I.E. the mix saved on the PC) and also monitor what you're playing, both in the headphones?[/QUOTE]

Many (including the IO2 do...but not all. Some don't have the feature at all and others only let you switch between the input and output. Check specs carefully and look for a knob like the one labelled Direct at one end and USB at the other on the Alesis. This lets you set a mix between the direct input and what's coming off your computer.

 

[gecko zzed]

Many (including the IO2 do...but not all. Some don't have the feature at all and others only let you switch between the input and output. Check specs carefully and look for a knob like the one labelled Direct at one end and USB at the other on the Alesis. This lets you set a mix between the direct input and what's coming off your computer.

I haven't come across any that don't.

Oh . . . hang on . . . I guess you are referring to devices such as the Behringer UCA 202 and such like. I guess that they are interfases (and they advertise themselves as such), but essentially they are simply A/D and D/A converter with no effective interface functionality. I discounted them. Maybe I shouldn't have.

 

[Bobbsy]

Well, there's various shades of direct monitoring too. For example the Scarlett 2i2 direct monitor switch routes your input back to your monitors/headphones but to adjust the balance you need to go into software which, while doable, is less convenient.

 

[ecc83]

"Well, there's various shades of direct monitoring too. For example the Scarlett 2i2 direct monitor switch routes your input back to your monitors/headphones but to adjust the balance you need to go into software which, while doable, is less convenient."

Aha! Something ELSE I don't like about the 2i2 then!

Dave.