Audio recording into computer

S

samuelreich

Active member
Looking for a nice microphone to plug directly into a computer for recording DVD commentary. Under $1000. Any advice would be much appreciated. It's a MAC, so USB would be preferred. Otherwise I guess I'd need a converter...?
 
Get a good mic preamp. A good audio card, perferbably a 24/96 card. Don't get an Audigy type card. M-audio makes some pretty nice stuff. All my systems are fitted with the M-audio audiophille 24/96. It's only 99 bucks and sounds pretty dam good for that price. You might also want to look into audio editing programs like, soundforge, pro tools, nuendo, etc. Under$1000, you plenty of options.
 
BLUESPIDER'S advice sounds good to me, although I'm probably no more experienced at this (probably less so) than you, samuelreich. I was just noticing that my own quest for USB connectivity marks the point where I veered from the video path a few weeks ago.

Audio is a discipline in and of itself and I began wanting to spend more time exploring it while I waited for my new cam to get here. In exploring the various pieces of equipment and the means for using them creatively, I began reading more and more about podcasting and since then I have decided to give it a shot and I've thrown a few pesos at some modest quality equipment:

AT-2020 Condenser Mic, a mic stand, a set of headphones and (here's where I get to the matter of your question) an Alesis MultiMix8 mixer WITH USB INTERFACE.

I have a G-5 iMac and was looking at how to get my voice into the Mac and I tell ya, it seems like EVERYBODY into podcasting is looking for the same things you and I are! The Alesis MultiMix8 is VERY popular for this reason: it provides mixing capability and will perform in a variety of different job situations, it's pretty quiet, has XLR connections, provides signal boost, gives you phantom power for your mics, it's small but not too small, it runs about $150 and it has the USB INTERFACE!

So, when you look into mic pre-amps which have USB connections be sure to consider the Alesis MultiMix8 mixer.

By the way, for what it's worth, I believe the podcasting phenomenon has yet to hit it's peak. Like William Shatner used to say in the Priceline.com commercials when the company was just getting started, "This is gonna be big!"
 
Get an M-Box, a decent mic and some good headphones a stand and a pop filter if you can.

A grand should get you pretty well squared away. The M-Box is cool because its usb, has two mic pre's, and comes with Pro Tools LE, which will be very handy when it comes time to edit the audio.

Lots of mics out there. I am quite fond of the AKG 414, has many versions but they are all great, though it may put you over your budget. The Shure SM7 is a great dynamic mic used for broadcast, might not get you what you want. Neumann has the KMS105 which you can get new for under $500 all day long, its a stage mic, but its a condensor and it sounds great. I could go on and on about mics, I say find a condensor that fits your budget, but don't scrimp on the details, like a mic stand, pop filter, good cables, headphones and such. In fact I demand that you buy a pop filter. If you don't know what it is, its a simple little device that clamps to the stand and sits in front of mic, between mouth and capsule. It is made of a nylon type material that won't color the sound at all, but will drastically reduce Plosives (really loud P sounds). It will save your ass! Headphones, well I like the Sony 7506's but thats just me there are plenty of good cans out there.

So thats my advise! :laugh:
 
Dude, stay aay from M-Audio products if you're on a mac. They make some nice stuff, but their drivers suck latency wise on macs. Stick with MOTU hardware with macs and you'll be very happy, also RME Hammerfall.

Next stay away from USB (sorry Droog) they work, but again, latency issues. You can go firewire, but you're still better off with a direct PCI connection, but firewire will suffice unless you're trying to record 10 channels at a time. If you want to go with a Protools rig, and why not it's good, not my choice, but great nontheless, get a Digi002....

Matt
 
MattC said:
Dude, stay aay from M-Audio products if you're on a mac. They make some nice stuff, but their drivers suck latency wise on macs. Stick with MOTU hardware with macs and you'll be very happy, also RME Hammerfall.

Next stay away from USB (sorry Droog) they work, but again, latency issues. You can go firewire, but you're still better off with a direct PCI connection, but firewire will suffice unless you're trying to record 10 channels at a time. If you want to go with a Protools rig, and why not it's good, not my choice, but great nontheless, get a Digi002....

Matt
Click to expand...

Yeah, latency is deffinately an issue, but sounds like they are just doing VO and have a somewhat tight budget. Definately agree with the MOTU stuff, but $$$ puts is out of the game as is the 002 and RME I would say.

If M-audio and the M-Box is out, then I am not sure what else to recomend. Though I still think the M-Box is the way to go :laugh:
 
Well, I have heard that the M-Box runs well on Macs. I just see it as buying something that will be upgraded in the not so distant future and I'd hate to see him buy something twice, but yes, if $$$ are that tight, the MBox would be cool.

Matt
 
MattC said:
Well, I have heard that the M-Box runs well on Macs. I just see it as buying something that will be upgraded in the not so distant future and I'd hate to see him buy something twice, but yes, if $$$ are that tight, the MBox would be cool.

Matt
Click to expand...

Yeah, ProTools 7.0 is supposed to be a huge step forward. I would imagine the hardware would reflect that. Though I have heard that before and no release is emminent. Indeed, buying obsolesence is frustrating.
 
latency with usb is not an issue if you're talking about 1 or 2 tracks at a time. that's not a lot of bandwidth. the mbox is great and will handle the mic preamp and analog-digital conversion in one place. it uses usb, i've used em a bunch, and they're good.

droog has some good mic recommendations. don't feel obligated to use a condenser because that's what everyone is pushing these days. the fact is, condensers require a lot more care with set up. compared to dynamics, they are much less forgiving of crappy room acoustics, hard drive/fan noise, noise from crt monitors, etc. don't know if your mac is a gangsta-4 or gangsta-5, but if it's a 4, then fan noise is a real issue.

the sm-7 droog mentioned is a great mic, especially with deeper voices. other great, versatile dynamics to consider are the senheisser 421 and the electrovoive re-20. these 3 are broadcasting staples. good luck.

you can do this the easy way, using the "voiceover" tool in fcp, or export your quicktime into something like logic, which will give you more flexibility with editing and mixing. have fun.
 
Do you already have FCP 3 or 4? Then you most likely already have Soundtrack. Upgrade to Soundtrack Pro for $99, get yourself the new Edirol FA-66 $399 ( http://edirol.com/products/info/fa66.html ) and one of the mics mentioned above, I'm partial to Audio Technica's... use the left over dough on some on sound books or classes or voice lessons or sound proofing or maybe a better pair of headphones.
 
I'd like to pursue this further. I just switched from PC to Mac. The old girl just finally died on me. My partner uses a mac and we've had some issues working on stuff in post, so I took one of his G4s off his hands in lieu of rent.

I want to be able to record onto the hardrive for ADR, Foley etc. On my PC i just went directly into the pin jack on my soundcard. The G4 doesn't seem to have that option, which is a good thing because it gives me an excuse to upgrade.

So I am looking for recommendations. I like the portability and convenience of firewire, and I shouldn't be doing more than a couple of tracks at a time, so I am not too worried about latency. But I am not against hardwiring something in, although since I am new to macs that's a little intimidating since it looks like a different type of hardware set-up.

MattC, I've heard the same thing about m-audio for mac. Half the battle is knowing what not to buy.


Thanks guys.
 
Hey, dudes! If your main goal is just to record narration, check out the BLUE Snowball..

I've never used one, I'm just hoping to hear about it. BLUE makes great mics... this one is their first (maybe THE first) good quality direct-to-USB mic. Has some interesting features that make it pretty versatile. Someone, try it!
 
M-Audio doesn't have a great reputation in the audio world...


For two channels, I'd suggest an MBox, reduced to $350 at Sweetwater. Cheap entry into a ProTools system, very nice preamps, USB connection. Solid and reliable system if you don't screw around with your OS for no reason...
 
What about M-Audio Firewire Solo? I don't need more than 1 mic input and it has phantom powered XLR. Plus, it has an input for guitar, which my bro plays and it'd work on both my Mac and my PCs.
 
what about the firewire 410 by M-Audio. That looks like a hot piece of gear, especially if you avod the built in pre's and chain up a RNP or something better....
 
I use the Edirol FA-66 6 channel Firewire soundcard. Very portable, nice pre-amps and works solid with a mac. Support for mac is more solid than M-Audio's. You could go the M-Box route but risk being locked into the Pro-Tools system. Edirol seems to be compatible with any program on the mac that uses Core-Audio. You don't need to install any drivers.

I use this with Soundtrack Pro and it works great. It works great with the original Soundtrack. Works with Audacity (which is free).
 
Get a Digi M-Box with the AT4040 mic. It'll do everything you need for under $1000, assuming you have a good computer. Don't forget about a mic stand, and xlr cable, and maybe a pop filter.

-Dave
 
The products made by Lynx Studio Technology are about the best that I have used. These are all PCI internal devices, so they don't have the convenience of a USB connected device, but they are great performers.

The Lynx Two would be one to consider:

http://www.lynxstudio.com/lynxtwo.html

If you want to run a large number of channels, then you could consider their AES-16 with external converters:

http://www.lynxstudio.com/aes16.html

All of their products support both PC and MAC platforms and they have well tested drivers for both platforms.
 
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