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Zitro View Drop Down
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Points: 1321 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: USB microphone for music recording? is this good?
    Posted: June 17 2008 at 09:02
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EZKZMY/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
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moderan View Drop Down
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Points: 25 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2008 at 09:10
That one looks all right, though not appreciably better than this one:http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Nady-USB24M-USB-microphone?sku=272015
I've used that for recording acoustic guitar and vocals with good results. The Nady is sixty bucks cheaper.
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Points: 1324 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2008 at 10:08
I use the Samson C01U mic which provides excellent quality even when used with a program as simple as Audacity, presubably the C03U which you've linked to is an improvement on my one.
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Points: 1321 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2008 at 11:58
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That one looks all right, though not appreciably better than this one:http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Nady-USB24M-USB-microphone?sku=272015 I've used that for recording acoustic guitar and vocals with good results. The Nady is sixty bucks cheaper.


Is it good for heavier recording? (heavy piano, synthesizers, church organs, electric guitars, etc) I tend to record instrumental prog as a hobby.
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Points: 20592 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2008 at 12:16
^ you usually only need a microphone for analog instruments ... and for electric guitars I'd use an amp modeller, it's much easier to get professional results than using a microphone. Piano ... should be really difficult to get good results without really professional equipment, a sampler should sound much better. Acoustic guitars ... also quite difficult to mike, and you'll need more than one microphone. 
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Points: 1321 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2008 at 12:21
mmm, that seems too pricey Mike. Remember that I have no commercial interests in music, I just like to 'write' music every now and then.

As for piano sounds, this is as good as I could do with a crappy $5 desktop mic. www.myspace.com/hernysmusica (the song that automatically starts when you click the link)
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Points: 20592 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2008 at 13:32
^ which instruments are we talking about exactly?
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Points: 1321 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2008 at 14:33
Yamaha DGX-500: a keyboard which I use for many different types of sounds and has especially a nice piano and church organ sound. It's probably in the $500 range now, but I think it sounds better than most keyboards of that price.

Acoustic/electric guitars too, but I don't use them that frequently.
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Points: 25 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2008 at 17:23
The DHX-500 you can probably jack right into the line-in on your computer. The a/e guitars too. I use a mic pre and/or a mixer on almost. everything to enhance the sonic quality. ART's MP Studio is a good mic pre and usually about forty bucks. You can get decent mixers for the same price point.
Here's an url to some freeware/shareware amp modelers:http://guitarfx.info/index_1.html
That piano sound isn't bad for what you used...the Nady usb mic would give you somewhat better quality recordings. That company also runs a special where you can get three dynamic mics for the price of one. They're fairly good and I've used them for years. You can put together a decent-sounding budget studio for 150-200 bucks. It won't be absolutely pro-quality but it'll do what you want. Hunting for the software is kinda fun;)
 
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Points: 20592 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 18 2008 at 03:07
^ for recording electric guitar I would recommend the Line6 GuitarPort. It's not only an audio interface, but it also comes with fully fledged amp modelling.
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Points: 7559 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 18 2008 at 04:39
^I'd recommend the Line6 TonePort, as it models bass and vocal amps too, and doesn't cost that much more than the GuitarPort.
 
I've used the vocal amps to record keyboards (without microphones, just directly into the instrument interface), and the results are pretty good.
 
I'd also recommend a Shure SM-58 as your microphone - it's a great workhorse that you can use to record anything and get great results.
 
Combined with an amp modeller (there are alternatives to Line6 Wink), you've got a full, professional sounding studio for less than £200 - which is a bargain in my books.
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Points: 67382 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 18 2008 at 05:17
^ Which TonePort model would you recommend? Toneport GX seems to be the cheapest, is it any good? What about M-Audio Fast Track USB?
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Points: 20592 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 18 2008 at 05:32
^ I checked the Line6 pages and found this interesting device: http://line6.com/toneportkb37/

Maybe I'll get one of those ... I currently don't have a midi keyboard. It also comes with a licence for Ableton Live Lite ... Smile


Edited by MikeEnRegalia - June 18 2008 at 05:33
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Points: 7559 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 18 2008 at 08:23
I have a UX2, and it's fantastic, as I can do guide vocals and guitar or keyboard simultaneously - or jam and record with a friend playing bass/keys/vox/live instrument.
 
The main drawback is that you can't use it to do simultaneous multitracking - it all goes to one track because it's a single I/O device with multiple inputs - but that's as not important to me as getting improvised ideas recorded quickly.
 
If you want multiple inputs that you can record from , then the UX8 is a multi-I/O box with plenty of throughputs.
 
The GX is a really cool little widget that does more or less the same thing as the UX1 - except it doesn't have an XLR like the UX1 does, which is an important consideration if you want to plug a decent mike like a Shure into it.
 
I've found the VST plug-in a really useful widget too - although it costs extra. Once you've been playing with one of these things for a while, you find you can't have too many amp models or effects - and how many effects can you buy for £200? Amps? Speakers?
 
I like the support for GuitarPort, so you can noodle along to downloadable jam tracks, but my favourite feature is the Tone Locker, where you can download customised presets. The "Wherever I May Roam" preset is startlingly like the real thing - a monster tone.
 
As I said, there are other modelling solutions - this is the one I've used, and, after two years or so, have not yet managed to explore all the possibilities.
 
All the bass and guitar tones on the tracks on my MySpace site are produced using a Line6:
 
(BTW, Andy's vocals aren't - he uses an AKG condenser that feeds through an Antares box).
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
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