Which type of microphone for this environment?

S

soundnoob

New member
Hello everyone,

I should start off by saying I am a novice when it comes to home audio recording.

I am wondering which kind of microphone I should be looking for. My situation/environment is as follows:

If it is relevant the room is small (10x10) and has normal drywall. The floors are carpet. There is a window which occasionally lets in light traffic sounds which are not a huge concern.

I would like to have the microphone set up in front of a couch to record conversations (at normal speaking volume) for 2-3 people at any one time. The ideal microphone distance would be about 2-3 feet from the center of the couch. This will be audio only recording so the visual elements of the the microphone will not be any kind of issue.

If it is possible I would like to somehow set up this microphone to cancel background noise as much as possible (street traffic, pets barking etc.)

It would seem that most microphones need the speakers to be much closer than the earlier mentioned 2-3 feet which is my main concern. I don't know which "spec" on a mic determines the distance that a speaker needs to be from the mic so I am having a bit of a hard time finding suitable microphones.

Thank you all for the consideration!
 
the problem you have is that no microphone no matter how expensive can remove the traffic noise, I'll be honest with you I personally wouldn't even bother unless it's a quiet environment, you are wasting your time.
 
The room is usually quiet, the traffic is not a huge concern really. I can just re-do bits and pieces if a loud siren goes by or something like that. Any other background noise is just a minor side concern as well since it wont really be important for the purposes of the recordings. It isn't meant to be a extremely professional quality thing, just some personal use like practicing the reading of scripts then listening back for possible improvement . I would like to make it as high quality as I can, but its okay that it wont be perfect.

The real thing would be capturing decent voice audio from the desired distance (2-3 feet away) for 2-3 separate actors/actresses practicing the script reading. The couch is mostly just necessary because of the length of some readings.
 
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Hi,
You won't find a spec on distance because there is no distance that you 'need' to be.
You chose to put a mic close to, or far away from, something to capture the desired result, see?

With background noise or room ambience the easiest defence is just getting very close to the mic, which makes your situation a bit tricky.

If you can have the people take turns moving close to the mic, or can buy enough sm58s to cover the number of people, that'd help a lot.
Even without the possibility of outside noise, speech recording at 2-3 feet with any mic in any untreated room is going to sound surprisingly bad. :(

If you're not concerned about that at all, pretty much any mic will do the job. What do you plan to plug it into?
 
I was thinking about having it hooked up to my PC by a M-audio MobilePre. So far the only thing I have considered was an Oktava MK-319 hooked up to the MobilePre by XLR cable. This was kind of just speculation based on reviews/information I read online and I'm not sure how well it would actually work out.
 
You could get an interface with 4 inputs, 3-4 SM58's (or something similar in a dynamic for lower cost). Mic each person close, each having a track going into a DAW, some light mixing and you should get a pretty decent mix.

If you already have a computer, the whole outfit would set up back about $500. If that sounds like you thing, just post back and people can help you through picking out what would work best. You could also look for used to bring the cost down.
 
That'll work just fine. It's a USB interface, right?
Honestly, it'd be hard to go wrong if you're sticking with one room mic. Any budget condenser mic will do the job just fine.
Those oktavas are pretty nice mics, but you could certainly get away with less.

For the same or less money, I'd get a pair of sm58s and place them strategically.

If you haven't bought the mobilepre already, I'd recommend an interface with four mic pres, and four 58s, or cheaper equivalents. ;)
 
Great, do you have any specific mic suggestions other than the Oktava? The reason I mentioned that mic specifically was because I saw a review of the mic where the tester used the mic at a similar distance that I was looking for and the audio was still crisp. I am definitely open to suggestion.

You are correct the mobilpre is USB interface and I already had it lying around. If its worth it I could buy another one with more inputs, but a single microphone would be extremely convenient. I do understand if thats not plausible though.
 
soundnoob said:
Great, do you have any specific mic suggestions other than the Oktava? The reason I mentioned that mic specifically was because I saw a review of the mic where the tester used the mic at a similar distance that I was looking for and the audio was still crisp. I am definitely open to suggestion.

You are correct the mobilpre is USB interface and I already had it lying around. If its worth it I could buy another one with more inputs, but a single microphone would be extremely convenient. I do understand if thats not plausible though.
Click to expand...

Honestly, either way will work. It's just whether you're happy with the room ambience. (reverb - not noise)
Do you have a smartphone? Use it to record some speech in your room from 2-4 feet then from, say, 6 inches.
That should give you a fair idea of how pronounced the room ambience will be at distance.

If it doesn't bother you then that's cool. A 319/219 will do just fine as would anything else you can find. NT1a, MXL 990...whatever's going. :)
If it does bother you, the 58s up close is a better plan.
 
No problem. :)
If you've any questions just come back and ask and, if you think a few sound recordings would help you decide I could certainly do that for you.
 
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