Radio presenter & home studio noob, looking for a building-block mic!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Eddzz!!
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Eddzz!!

New member
Hello everyone, I'm new here and have to confess, I've only joined to ask a few questions! (But knowing me, I'll end up addicted to this forum like I do all the others!:D)

I'm quite new to this so cut me some slack ;)

I do a lot of radio work. Voice overs, jingles and advertisements. I've been looking into getting my own out-of-studio mic for when I'm at home. Just something inexpensive but of decent quality (I have quite a limited budget!) Obviously the primary use of the mic will be for vocals, but I should like to think it be capable of recording a variety of sounds. I occasionally make my own sfx depending on the advert/jingle. The production mic I've been using in our studio is a Sennheiser dynamic I believe. It's plugged into a mixer and then into the PC but not sure if it requires phantom power. It produces fairly decent results, so something similar (if not a bit better) would be great!

From what I've read, condenser mics produce overall better results than those produced from dynamic mics. Please correct me if you think otherwise!

Anyways, with condenser mics, I'm led to believe that quite a lot of them require a poweramp or mixer with phantom power. Could anyone recommend a phantom power unit for someone on a budget? A mixer with phantom power built in would be even better! :)

Currently, I'm quite drawn towards USB plug-&-play mics, simply for their simplicity and low price. Thoughts on USB mics?

Cheers,

Eddy :drunk:
 
What's a realistic price?

If you buy an re20, you'll never buy another mic (if voice over is what your's doing)

Think of it as the stainless steel exhaust of the mic world.
 
The forums isn't letting me post URLs :o, but the MXL 990 (Google it if you will) seems to have been getting a lot of praise across the interwebs. It's reasonably priced as well. Only issue is, I know nothing about phantom power amps/mixers! I don't want to end up spending ridiculous amounts :(

[EDIT] @moresound @Steenamaroo - On the price front, I guess I should mention, I'm a student!
 
So something that won't bite into the budget to hard then.

5 post will let you post links.
 
What is your budget? $5.00

EV RE-20 is about as good as it gets on the cheap end (< $500). Or EV RE-27. I'm assuming all these voice over deals pay you in real money? And not just some non-profit charity work. Not that it'd be enough money to live on, but it should be able to buy you an EV RE-20 IMO (budgeted over a year or so). Which doesn't need phantom power, so there's some savings there.

Otherwise Sm57 / Sm58 might do you for a starter mic option. Used for about $50-ish. Closer to $100-ish new. Hopefully that's not outside of the budget. Or get a Zoom H1 or something. But that's still $100-ish.
 
I generally use an AT3035 for any voice work (more like play). $100-ish used. With an sE reflexion filter to help isolate the room. But it requires phantom power. Which pretty much all of my preamps supply, so not really an issue for me. But for you, you'll probably need a pop filter ($50), and a phantom power supply ($50), and the mic ($100). Is that EV RE-20 looking too pricey still?
 
Shadow_7 said:
What is your budget? $5.00

EV RE-20 is about as good as it gets on the cheap end (< $500). Or EV RE-27. I'm assuming all these voice over deals pay you in real money? And not just some non-profit charity work. Not that it'd be enough money to live on, but it should be able to buy you an EV RE-20 IMO (budgeted over a year or so). Which doesn't need phantom power, so there's some savings there.
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As it happens, I currently work for a student radio station which is a non-profit oganisation and thus makes what I do voluntary. I am an aspiring professional Presenter/Producer in search of a 'building-block' microphone. That's a fairly simple analogy to understand, so give the title a better read next time and retain your douche-baggery! :rolleyes:

Shadow_7 said:
Otherwise Sm57 / Sm58 might do you for a starter mic option. Used for about $50-ish. Closer to $100-ish new. Hopefully that's not outside of the budget. Or get a Zoom H1 or something. But that's still $100-ish.
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The Shure Sm58 has been recommended to me before, so it seems like it may be worth some further investigation! Can you recommend a preamp for such mic?
 
What is with all of these new guys lately?

"That's a fairly simple analogy to understand, so give the title a better read next time and retain your douche-baggery!"
 
moresound said:
What is with all of these new guys lately?

"That's a fairly simple analogy to understand, so give the title a better read next time and retain your douche-baggery!"
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I don't appreciate ivory-tower sarcasm :D
 
Wow, I guess I missed the douche baggery. Chill out nobody was trying to be rude. Moreesound recommends the re20 to everyone for everything. Plus it's an industry standard for radio and is real supposedly really good for a lot of music recording too. So chill out if you want some help.

Re-20, sm7b, sm58/57. This stuff isn't cheap. $500 for a versatile and lifelong mic is a deal.
 
aaronmcoleman said:
Wow, I guess I missed the douche baggery. Chill out nobody was trying to be rude. Moreesound recommends the re20 to everyone for everything. Plus it's an industry standard for radio and is real supposedly really good for a lot of music recording too. So chill out if you want some help.

Re-20, sm7b, sm58/57. This stuff isn't cheap. $500 for a versatile and lifelong mic is a deal.
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I didn't have a problem with moresound's advice - he's been very helpful!

I think I may have dived in at the deep end with joining this forum, as the majority of the mics suggested are simply way too far out of my price range! Investment or not, I don't just have £500 to splash on a microphone :/ Note I said I am an aspiring Producer, so I need to start somewhere, even if that mic is only costing me £50!
 
Eddzz!! said:
I didn't have a problem with moresound's advice - he's been very helpful!

I think I may have dived in at the deep end with joining this forum, as the majority of the mics suggested are simply way too far out of my price range! Investment or not, I don't just have £500 to splash on a microphone :/ Note I said I am an aspiring Producer, so I need to start somewhere, even if that mic is only costing me £50!
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Now you see, you needed to put your location in your info, for had we known that you weren't in the US we would have had different suggestion for you per your location in the world.


That location thing should become mandatory ..... for this kind of thing happens all of the time. ~:(~ with hugely different prices per country.
 
SM58 or 57 they're the same, just he 58 has a wind screen dome over it and the 57 does not. For your price range and applications, a dynamic mic would probably be the best first place to start. So yeah, if you don't want something you're going to throw away next week that's what I'd recommend.

FYI, you don't appreciate ivory tower snobbery (of which I didn't see much if any, perhaps the $5 budget)...most of us don't appreciate being called douche bags by people we are trying to help (I know you weren't referring to me, but to Shadow, but your reaction seems a little much, and won't get you too far around here).
 
Mmmm... Salt + Vinegar chips...

To retain my Douche-ness. WHAT IS YOUR BUDGET? (squiggly) L 5?

By all means use the mic in your iPhone. But the competition will be using an EV RE-20. If you ever get a guest spot on someone else's radio show, you'll likely be using the EV RE-20 or SM7b. No this stuff isn't cheap. But it depends on how you do the math. If you buy it for $500 and sell it for $480 some 5+ years later, did it really cost $500?

For you L types, check out the Senn e835. The L equiv of SM57/SM58. Which are not really the same mic. The ball on the 58 gives a high end bump of sorts. Even though everything else is for all intents the same.

If money is really that big of an issue, you can always rent. Or buy used, and sell it for what you paid later.
 
moresound said:
had we known that you weren't in the US we would have had different suggestion for you per your location in the world.
[/B]
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Speak for yourself moresound...

i don't know where OP is doing his shopping, but £500 is taking the piss for any of the mentioned mics, even at retail.


get on ebay and look for a bargain....My re20 was £80...my 421s were 53.50 each..

ok, so i got immense bargains, but they are there to be had.



If you're really broke and life is hard and blah blah blah, then buy an EV 635a on ebay for £30. great quality mic.
 
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