Two options: good mic or decent mic with room treatment

  • Thread starter Thread starter kasim
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kasim

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I am about to set up my room where I will be recording and I have two options as of now. I am considering buying a Shure SM7B, which will be useful to me because it will not pick up outside noises, you can hear a lot of noise from outside. On the other hand, I can buy either a cheaper condensor or a dynamic with acoustic treatment. Now I know a lot of you are going to say the choice is obvious, however, the room is VERY small. By very small I mean about 3 metres wide and 2 metres front to back. I already know this room choice for recording is unnecessary, but it is the only room I can use right now. I have been told all sorts of views on this subject, some say the room treatment will be worthwile, some say otherwise.

Let me know what you think, my budget is about £350 (about $550). Thanks.

p.s I already have an interface which is the m-audio fast track c400. It is just the mic I need and/or room treatment.
 
Get the mic AND make some bass traps that you can move into a larger place when you get it. A room that small is going to sound boxy no matter what mic you use.
 
mjbphotos said:
Get the mic AND make some bass traps that you can move into a larger place when you get it. A room that small is going to sound boxy no matter what mic you use.
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Agreed. To treat that room with enough to possibly make it sound good, you will barely have enough room to stand in it. SM7B.
 
jimmys69 said:
Agreed. To treat that room with enough to possibly make it sound good, you will barely have enough room to stand in it. SM7B.
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Then why would the SM7B be the better option? Because if the room will sound bad anyway, so will the SM7B
 
You're right; If the room sucks, it sucks.
The mic which hears that the least is the one you're closest to though, so I'd get a 58 and stay real close to it.
 
And in the end you always want enough money left over for some Chinese take out.
 
Are you ordering? I'll buy if you fly.

Some Szechuan double cooked hot sliced port, a side of fried dumplings, and two spring rolls for me. :)
 
I think, before the guys got off on the Chinese tangent, they were trying to say that you will outgrow that cruddy little room, but you will never outgrow an SM7b. And it *will* pick up noise. It's a mic. That's what it does. Buy the mic, save your money to treat *a better room*. You'll find one, if you look hard enough.
 
I don't think OP mentioned what this was going to be used for, but I assume it's vocals.

arcaxis said:
Any thoughts to if his M-Audio Fast Track C400 will have enough gain to deliver the goods from an SM7b without added help?
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If the budget is $550, if it IS primarily vocals, you can always just get close to the mic and the room won't be as big of a concern. My vote is an SM7b with a cloudlifter so that you have enough gain to properly drive that mic.

Cloud Microphones Cloudlifter CL-1 | Sweetwater.com

Getting the cheap one puts you in at $500, but it you wanted to stretch the budget a wee bit...

Cloud Microphones Cloudlifter CL-Z | Sweetwater.com

Those are always a nifty little treat.
 
Thank you for the input everybody. Even you chinese food lovers, made me laugh.
 
kasim said:
I've seen that page on a blog before. I remember reading that the Fast Track C400 should be OK without the cloudlifter.
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If you have the budget I'd still suggest it just because it adds so much clean gain. My Focusrite 56 can handle an SM7b but it starts getting hissy, especially if there's a quieter vocalist. Cloud lifter just makes it CLEAN.
 
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