Newbie mic questions - which mic and phantom pwr question...

  • Thread starter Thread starter axehead
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axehead

New member
Hey,

I'm slowly building up my little home studio set-up, and the next weak link that needs serious attention is my mic. I'm currently using a cheap crappy one. And it sounds it. I've only recently started to use it, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise that it is the weakest link - goodbye!

So, here's the deal. I've got about £120 to spend on a new one (that's about $150ish). I want to use it for vocals, and maybe acoustic guitar. I'm not interested in mic'ing up amps or anything, cause I'm using a POD for guitar/bass, and I'm happy with that. Which condensor mic should I go for? I'm looking at the Rode NT1 and the MXL 1006 at the moment. These seem to be the best ones in my price range. I know a lot of people rave about the Shure SM-57, but although I'm sure I'll get one down the line, I don't think it's the purely-vocal mic I'm looking for.

Next question is about phantom power. I record into my PC, and I've currently got a Tascam Porta 02 as a mixer, which is then plugged into my soundcard. I don't have anything that could provide phantom power to a mic without buying a mic preamp (which I want to, but it'll have to wait). Can the two mics I've suggested above be powered by battery? Would this overcome this problem?

Last, I'm just wondering if anyone has had any experience of putting a mic into a POD. Can you just plug it straight into the input and go? I want to ultimately get a ART Tube mic pre-amp, but would the tube preamp sim on the POD do for the time being?

Thanks!

Alex
 
I don't know about the 1006, but two mics that have gotten the thumbs up from Harvey Gerst and others around here are the Marshall V-67 ($170?) and the Studio Projects C-1 ($220).
 
I dont think those mics can be battery powered but you could get(or build)a phantom supply.
Instead of the Art Tube MP check out the M-Audio Audio Buddy,its two channel and it sounds MUCH cleaner than the Art(I have both,and IMO the Art sucks).
I think Marshall has announced a cheap battery powered condenser at namm.I've heard that some of their mics are pretty good(not the 2001p though,I have one and it bites).
 
the Marshall MXLv67 and the Audio Buddy is about the cheapest way to go ($169 + $79 US) without kicking yourself in a few weeks...i would wait a few weeks to see what came out of the NAMM show....i think the long awaited B line of Studio Projects will be out that may be as good/better than the cheaper Marshall's......

for the phantom power the Audio buddy is 2 channels of PP and preamp...you could make your own battery powered PP unit but eventually youll go broke buying batteries....
 
btw you can use the Pod as a preamp but youd still need phantom power for condensers....expect sound quality as good as plugging a mic into a guitar amp, take that for what its worth.....

i see you are struggling with bad gear...my advice is to stay with what you have until you can afford something decent....dont waste $$$ just to satisfy yourself for a few weeks and then be stuck with garbage...at least with a sm57 you have a great mic with excellent resale value...when you decide to get better, you can sell the sm57 and get alot of it back, more if you sell it on Ebay:D
 
Microphone selection

The 57 is junk it has a midrange peaky thing that can be eq'd out The Rode will do both well it is good at vocals as well as acoustic guitar, but for miking my guitar amp loud it has a high end weird thing that is ify.
 
Oops

I forgot to say the sm57 is decent on snare drum and not to bad on a high hat those are the only 2 places I would use it.
 
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