New Microphone, Looking for Cable

  • Thread starter Thread starter dyl
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dyl

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Hey everyone, I just picked up a Shure PG 48 microphone, now looking for a cable that is compatible with a computer microphone port. I have a samsung chromebook (if that makes a difference). The microphone has the male prongs, so I was looking at a Digiflex Neutrik NC3FXX Female XLR to NP2X 1/4" Mono Cable (N15-XFP) . Is this a good brand? I was going to go with it simply because of the price and the location of the product (local). I am not sure if the 1/4" mono cable is a one-size-fits-all for computer microphone ports. Help?

Thanks!
 
Hi.
Computer I/O is usually 1/8" (think consumer headphones).
Pro audio jacks are usually 1/4".
Adapters between the two are cheap and common.

I know what you mean when you say 1/4" mono, but in this context it's 1/4" unbalanced.
Tip Ring Sleeve 1/4" or 1/8" can carry the balanced signal from your microphone.

Any conversion to Tip Sleeve jacks will make your signal unbalanced.
Ordinarily this isn't good, but there's a good chance your computer input is unbalanced anyway, in which case it makes no odds.

Short story, you can get a cable and adapter and it will work.

If you're looking to do anything more than Skype calls, I'd recommend a little UBS audio interface with XLR input.
They're generally better quality and geared towards recording.
 
On top of that, you're really going to need a preamp of some sort on that thing... Plugging it into the line-level input isn't going to cut it.
 
Most computers these days have a mic level port--many only mic level--to allow for things like Skype calls.

However, I would STRONGLY suggest to the original poster that, instead of an adaptor cable, he gets a basic USB interface with an XLR (that's the "3 prong" connector you mention) input.

Why? On board computer sound cards are generally a single 39 cent chip designed for the aforementioned Skype phone calls, not any kind of serious recording. You will almost certainly find that your recordings are noisy (i.e. a background hiss as soon as you turn up the sound) and prone to distortion/clipping if you use the existing input. This will be especially true of the PG48 which is a mic with a fairly low output level, forcing you to crank things up in the computer thereby making any problems much more noticeable.
 
If you're recording music get a proper audio interface. If you're podcasting get something like a Blue Icicle, or ditch the Shure mic and get a USB mic. If you're doing Skype calls ditch the Shure mic and get a headset.
 
dyl said:
Hey everyone, I just picked up a Shure PG 48 microphone, now looking for a cable that is compatible with a computer microphone port. I have a samsung chromebook (if that makes a difference). The microphone has the male prongs, so I was looking at a Digiflex Neutrik NC3FXX Female XLR to NP2X 1/4" Mono Cable (N15-XFP) . Is this a good brand? I was going to go with it simply because of the price and the location of the product (local). I am not sure if the 1/4" mono cable is a one-size-fits-all for computer microphone ports. Help?
Click to expand...

The computer input will be pretty crappy.

You really need an external sound card - Normally I suggest the CEntrance MicPORT Pro for this, this is a USB microphone pre-amp / sound card which also has a good headphone amp. (but there are others).
 
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rob aylestone said:
Nice interface, but costs 4 times what the mic did?
Click to expand...

If you want to get quality results you have to buy the right equipment. If you want to ride a bike you don't buy a tricycle for riding to work. Things cost money.
 
Yeah, but there's such a thing as balancing the quality of your equipment. To take your analogy, if you have a $150 bike to ride to work, you don't buy a $350 rear shock absorber designed for use on a pro racing bike.

The PG48 is a $50 mic. An expensive interface isn't going to polish the turd.
 
Unbalancing a mic is generally a bad idea. You can use one of these...
Microphone Transformer XLR to 6.35mm Mono Plug | Maplin
If say you are going into a tape machine or other recording device with unbalanced mic inputs (e.g. the Novation Nio I had for a day!) but even if you adapted it to feed the 1/8" computer jack, as has been said, those inputs are pretty noisy.

The PG mic has slightly better sensitivity than its 57/58 stablemates but even so you are going to need a pre amp/AI with good amplifiers for anything other than very close speech, heavy rock vocals or micc'ing up an amp.

Look at the Steinberg UR22. I am not a big fan of the Focusrite 2i2 but it is said to have good preamps.

Dave.
 
Bobbsy said:
Yeah, but there's such a thing as balancing the quality of your equipment. To take your analogy, if you have a $150 bike to ride to work, you don't buy a $350 rear shock absorber designed for use on a pro racing bike.

The PG48 is a $50 mic. An expensive interface isn't going to polish the turd.
Click to expand...

The CEntrance is not an expensive interface - it's a pretty inexpensive one, in fact it's pretty cheap, though it does give exceptional quality for the price.

I did say there were others around, but *any* interface will be more expensive than the microphone.

The Focusrite iTrack Solo may be worth looking at.
 
John Willett said:
The CEntrance is not an expensive interface - it's a pretty inexpensive one, in fact it's pretty cheap, though it does give exceptional quality for the price.

I did say there were others around, but *any* interface will be more expensive than the microphone.

The Focusrite iTrack Solo may be worth looking at.
Click to expand...

The CEentrance is $180 at Sweetwater (which is where I got the $50 price for the PG48).

The Focusrite iTrack solo is still $120.

At the other end, the Lexicon Alpha is a good sounding interface for $60 if he doesn't think he'll ever need phantom. The ART USB mix is $70. If he wants to spend more in preparation for a better mic, there are lots of credible interfaces around the $100 mark...and for the CEntrance price you're talking things like the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 which would last through a lot of upgrades.

Now, maybe the OP want the flexibility to upgrade and expand or maybe the PG48 is just for playing around with. However, a portable, single channel interface with a good pre amp is a pretty poor match for a cheap and cheerful mic.
 
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