Sm58 help

  • Thread starter Thread starter scope
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scope

New member
Hi guys,

I'm no expert with audio recording (as you're about to find out!)

The equipment i've got, is an m-audio Audiophile 2496 - 4-In/4-Out audio card and a pair of m-audio studio monitors.
I got my equipment a few years ago when i mainly used it for midi synth recording, which it worked great for. I haven't used it much for the last year or two.

However, I've decided to add an sm58 in to the mix, and for some reason i thought my sound card had xlr connectors, which it obviously doesn't (they're spdifs, silly me)
So really my question is, how should i attach an sm58 to my rig, and will i need to buy more hardware. It'll be mainly used for harmonica and vocal recordings.

Any help would be great!

Thanks
 
mark1971a said:
Fray the cord end. Strip the 2 wires . Solder the XLR's 2 and 3 pin wires to the 1/4" or 1/8th male connector tabs. One for each.
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This is a forum meant for new members. If you think this is funny, it is not.

Please refrain from giving extremely poor advice (or what I hope was humor) in this forum.

Bad form again mark1971a. May be time to give you a different description....

BTW, you still haven't responded to my PM.....
 
Maybe you might want to consider this if you want portability and all that stuff.
 
Dogbreath said:
keep it up and I'll mix your eyeball in with the dog food. :mad:
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Um, okay DogFoodinBowl.webp

:facepalm:

:rolleyes:

:D
 
Okay, just in case the original poster is completely befuddled by discussions of soldering, eyeballs and dogfood, I'll try to give some details.

The 2496 cannot handle microphones (not just the SM58) at all. Have a look at the bottom of page eleven of the user manual which says that (for a bunch of excuses that don't really hold water) they haven't included any microphone pre amps on the unit.

Mic pre amps? There are two basic "levels" used in audio: microphone level and line level. Line level tends to be signals from devices that are powered in some way and, because of this, is orders of magnitude higher level (level=volume in the vernacular) than microphones. A mic tends to be around 50dB less than line level (but with variations). 50dB is a lot.

So...what this means is that, even if you could adapt from XLR to the phono/RCA jacks on your interface, the signal is way too low for the 2496 to use. (And this is before we get into a discussion of balanced vs. unbalanced signals.)

Anyhow, your options have already been given. You can either buy a mic pre amp to put between your SM58 and the 2496 or you can replace the 2496 with a new USB interface. My suggestion would be the USB interface--the 2496 is no spring chicken in terms of available drivers and support for new operating systems and you'll still need an adaptor cable of some sort since very few pre amps have phono/RCA outs. However, the choice is yours since either could work.
 
"-the 2496 is no spring chicken in terms of available drivers and support for new operating systems "

Getting on certainly Bobbs, but never bettered for stability and reliability IMO and I bet M-A have sold more Delta cards than all others together! I have 3 and 2 of them have never missed a beat in 7 years on a variety of computers including WMCEd which is not supposed to be supported!

I have one in a Win7/64bit HP desktop, bootiful. There are Win 8.1 drivers, can't say how good they are, don't have that ***t but if past experience is anything to go by they will be excellent. You will also search long and hard to find an external interface to equal, leave alone beat a 2496 for latency. The only AI I know of to do it at under ~$400 is the NI KA6.

Oh! The mic problem! Simples! Buy a mixer. We (son and I) ran a Behringer Xenyx 802 into 2496 for some years. Only recently upgraded to an Allen and Heath ZED10. A mixer is vastly more flexible and useful than a mic pre and unless you pay a deal of dosh, the performance is just as good.

Do not! I implore you, go for the very cheapest option of a single mic input (the 502) you WILL regret it!

Dave.
 
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