Newb Student on a tight budget

[Krispy101]

Hello guys, I've been wanting to setup my own little studio for the past year or so, but not had the funds to do so, now I've finally managed to scrape together a little bit, and want a mini recording studio just for recording some acoustic guitar+vocals tracks and/or Synth tracks.

I've come up with the following, but will need advice on the mics, and if the cost can be made any lower then it will be GREATLY appreciated!

M-Audio 2496
Behringer XENYX 1204USB 12-Channel Mixer with USB

And then all I'd require would be the mics, which I would love for you guys to advise me on. As I said, as long as they were very cheap I'm not all too fussed, I'm not looking for TOP NOTCH at all, just budget (A shoestring one at that!)

Thanking you all, in anticipation, Kris

 

[moresound]

Hello guys, I've been wanting to setup my own little studio for the past year or so, but not had the funds to do so, now I've finally managed to scrape together a little bit, and want a mini recording studio just for recording some acoustic guitar+vocals tracks and/or Synth tracks.

I've come up with the following, but will need advice on the mics, and if the cost can be made any lower then it will be GREATLY appreciated!

M-Audio 2496
Behringer XENYX 1204USB 12-Channel Mixer with USB

And then all I'd require would be the mics, which I would love for you guys to advise me on. As I said, as long as they were very cheap I'm not all too fussed, I'm not looking for TOP NOTCH at all, just budget (A shoestring one at that!)

Thanking you all, in anticipation, Kris

Howdy Kris and welcome....seems like your on the right track.As for a microphone just read up n the microphone forum and you'll get a good idea what you'll need if it's just for you most any microphone will do as a beginner set up then when you get more serious then you can up grade.

 

[Krispy101]

Brill, thanks for the swift reply, I'll be purchasing a couple of mics, so I'll take a look on eBay for a couple and then see where I go from there!

Thanks again, Kris

 

[moresound]

Brill, thanks for the swift reply, I'll be purchasing a couple of mics, so I'll take a look on eBay for a couple and then see where I go from there!

Thanks again, Kris

No problem just be sure to do your homework read up on the microphone forum like the ones by Harvey Gerst.
You may want to start with microphones that will not require phantom power if your mic pres don't have it.

 

[Krispy101]

Was looking at a couple of these just to get me started:

Behringer C-1

Seems ok for the applications, but thought I'd be best posting/asking about it here

Cheers again, Kris

 

[moresound]

Was looking at a couple of these just to get me started:

Behringer C-1

Seems ok for the applications, but thought I'd be best posting/asking about it here

Cheers again, Kris

Check out the MXL V67g it's a great mic for about $88.

 

[Krispy101]

Awesome, will take a look at prices in the UK And get back to you.

**EDIT**

In the UK it's prices at around £115 and I'd prefer them to be under £100

 

[Chibi Nappa]

Like I say in all of these threads, spend most of your money on monitor speakers. You can make a way better recording with good speakers and a crap mic/preamp/interface than you can with crap speakers and a good mic/preamp/interface.

Get the best speakers you can, use the sound card you already have in your computer with free software like Audacity and Reaper, and if you only have $20 left over for a mic just buy a $20 mic.

 

[moresound]

Awesome, will take a look at prices in the UK And get back to you.

**EDIT**

In the UK it's prices at around £115 and I'd prefer them to be under £100

Sorry put your location in your personal info.
MXL are not cheap in the UK and wouldn't have refereed had I known.

 

[Chibi Nappa]

I'm also wondering why you would need the USB mixer and the M-Audio interface? On a tight budget, you don't need one if you have the other. Especially for accoustic guitar and vocals (only two channels, no need for an external mixer) and synth (you can use soft-synths and bypass the need for an interface altogether).

And really, like I said above, you don't need either of those things. You will get no improvement in sound quality over your computer sound card until you have good speakers and experiance.

 

[Krispy101]

Yeah, sorry

**EDIT**

Well, how else can I plug an XLR mic into an M-Audio interface?

 

[Disease8]

Hi Krispy! I am an expert at the low end mics through much trial and error and I live in the UK. I would recommend a Studio Projects B1 (£80) and have heard great things about some of the T.Bone mics on sc400 ... The sc400 got great review on dancetech.com . .

And just the mixer is needed alone as it has a built in USB interface.

There are surprisingly a few really nice mics for under £100 . .

Happy hunting..

 

[Seidy]

or if you need only two inputs you could get m-audio fast track pro

 

[gecko zzed]

Like I say in all of these threads, spend most of your money on monitor speakers. You can make a way better recording with good speakers and a crap mic/preamp/interface than you can with crap speakers and a good mic/preamp/interface.

Get the best speakers you can, use the sound card you already have in your computer with free software like Audacity and Reaper, and if you only have $20 left over for a mic just buy a $20 mic.

I kind of agree with this in principle . . . but . . . there's every possibility that the soundcard in the computer is not going to be up to the task of recording in the first place, which makes it all a bit academic. There's not a lot of joy to be had listening to artifacts of latency and assorted audio glitches on beautiful speakers.

So I would reverse the order of purchases: get a reasonable interface first (either a USB mixer or the M-audio), then save for good monitors.

 

[Krispy101]

Well, if I get the Mixer, then I'll be wanting the T.Bones, but the issue is, it requires phantom power or USB. I'm guessing the phantom power is the way to go, and just get two Phantom Power PSUs?

 

[cjacek]

Are you at all married to the idea of getting a condenser microphone? I would suggest a good, budget dynamic like the GLS Audio ES-57. You can get one for peanuts, under 30 bucks and getting the sound you want is more about mic positioning anyway.

 

[Krispy101]

Of course I'm not solid on getting a condenser, just that's the only type I've been reading about! If dynamics are equal in the home-made market, then one of them would be fine

 

[cjacek]

Of course I'm not solid on getting a condenser, just that's the only type I've been reading about! If dynamics are equal in the home-made market, then one of them would be fine

Condensers are cool, some like 'em, some don't. Opinions vary, as do the mics themselves. Many great records have been made with all kinds, condensers, dynamics, ribbon but there's really nothing magical about a particular mic (my opinion only) and how they're used is far more important.

Dynamics do differ in tone, technology and price but if you get one, which will give you a reasonably good sound, no matter the price, then everything after that is recording technique dependent, up to you and your skills as an audio engineer and musician.

I always recommend people start out with the very basics, to get from point A to point B and not get caught up in the hype over gear.

Sorry can't help your farther down the line, with the other stuff 'cause I'm mostly analogue based.

 

[cjacek]

Kris, have you thought of going with something like this:
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Tascam-DP02CF-Digital-Portastudio?sku=241796

 

[Chibi Nappa]

I kind of agree with this in principle . . . but . . . there's every possibility that the soundcard in the computer is not going to be up to the task of recording in the first place, which makes it all a bit academic. There's not a lot of joy to be had listening to artifacts of latency and assorted audio glitches on beautiful speakers.

So I would reverse the order of purchases: get a reasonable interface first (either a USB mixer or the M-audio), then save for good monitors.

Nobody ever believes me! :lol:

The sound card isn't going to glitch for the majority of the time. They just don't do that.
I swear on my grandmother's grave that you get a better recording with good speakers and a stock sound card than you do with stock speakers and a good interface.

The analogy I always use:
Two equal guys make a digital painting.

One has a modern LCD properly calibrated but is stuck with MS paint and a mouse.
The other has a 1970's television with rabbit ears picking up the computer video signal broadcast over the air. It is full of snow and static, but he has Photoshop and a Wacom tablet.

Who makes the most accurate digital painting?




The point is that microphones are not point n' shoot, and interfaces are not plug n' play. A $20 microphone set and aimed correctly will sound better than a $3000 microphone set and aimed incorrectly...especially in the hands of a novice.

It's not like you can just point and hope to "pick up everything" and then Eq out the bad stuff later. If you missed the good stuff, it's not there. And there is no way of knowing if you are pointing at the good stuff if you can't hear in crazy detail. There is no way of even knowing if the instrument is making the sound that the microphone is "asking" for.

As for the interface, yeah a better one captures sound better. But if the mic is getting the wrong sound, you just have a better capture of "wrong".