Best large diaphragm condenser under 500
- Thread starter Th3RadMan
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John Willett
Veteran
500 what?
Pounds, €uros, US Dollars, Australian Dollars, Rupees, Yen, etc.............. ?
Pounds, €uros, US Dollars, Australian Dollars, Rupees, Yen, etc.............. ?
Steve House
Veteran
What sort of vocals? Dialog, voice-over and narration, commercials, ADR, podcasting, stage singing...?
Okay, next question: what kind of recording space are you using?
A large-diaphragm condenser may not be the best choice unless you are in a well-treated, quiet room. If you're in a spare bedroom with not-so-great acoustics, perhaps a large dynamic mic such as the Shure SM7 or ElectroVoice RE20 or RØDE Procaster would be better.
And a few more: you said you'd be willing to invest in a mixer, but what other system components are you using? Are you using a dedicated audio recorder, or are you recording straight into a computer? If it's the latter, do you have a proper i/o interface? If you have an interface, which one? The thing is, a mixer may not be what you need, but a decent pre-amp certainly is.
I wasnt sure what the best way to go for the recording part, i can invest a bit more and go for a dedicated audio recorder instead of my pc. I was looking around except I never found out exactly what I would need for inputs on my pc, i do have creative titanium hd which does have optical in
In a studio-like environment, recording straight to the computer is a better idea. While dedicated recorders are great, they're more suited in the field. With computer recording, everything is "in the box" from input to recording to editing and mixing and monitoring. No need to transfer files from a memory card.
So, since you are starting from scratch, you need to get an interface, and USB-based is going to be a good place to start. On the budget-minded end you can get some very effective interfaces that do not have the best pre-amps, so you'll need to invest in a good pre-amp. The AKAI EIE Pro (silver) is a great bargain, and offers real VU meters (very hard to find on low-end interfaces). On the higher end (more expensive) you can get things that have great pre-amps, like the SoundDevices USBPre 2 or the Apogee Quartet.
If you go with a less expensive interface, there are some pre-amps that are decent for a budget (ART Pro MPA II or Voce Channel, or Presonus TubePre v2), or you can go all-out and get something very good and very clean (low self-noise) like Grace Designs m101. The pre-amp can make or break your signal chain, especially for cheaper units with lots of self-noise where more amplification means more crud in the recorded signal. The pre-amps in the AKAI EIE Pro aren't the worst I've heard, but pushed past about 70% the noise isn't good.
And all of this brings up the question of monitoring. Do you have decent monitor speakers? Good headphones? (Side note: a treated room is also crucial for monitoring from speakers, and monitoring from speakers is crucial for sound mixing and processing.)
You still have not answered my question about your recording space. Treated? Untreated? Spare room? Hard floors?
Thanks.i am using headphones for monitoring. My recording area isn't what i would even consider a "room"because it is about the size of a decent sized stretched living room. It's not treated and had carpet around the area with my setup. I have my TV directly in front of me and most of the wall behind our is concrete, but because of my TV I'm not sure how badly the wall effects the audio. In about a year and a half or so I am found to go to college and I will then customize my room a bit for my recording.
Noiz2
Sound Ninja
Honestly for you I would probably recommend one of the USB mics. People are talking to you like you know something about sound but the line
The reasoning is simple. Any other route is going to cost more and have you back trying to figure out all the details of the chain of devices and the ton ov things that can go wrong. A USB mic bipasses almost all of that including your noisy sound card (maybe it's not so bad but I have never heard a sound card in a PC that wasn't noisy). You bypass all the gain staging and get right into your computer.
And you can get a decent mic in your budget. Going the discrete route is the better way to go IF you are building up your gear toward a career in sound, that is not what your post sounded like.
Plus if you do decide to "go more pro" the USB mic will come in handy from time to time. I have had one on my "to buy" list for some time just because I can toss it in my laptop bag and say yes when the odd need arrises. I do a fair amount of theatre and there have been many occasions where I wish I had one instead of setting up my full portable rig just to record say the pre show announcement that nobody bothered to mention was needed the day before opening.
The alternative is getting an interface with a decent mic preamp and phantom power (could easily be $500) a mic cable (figure $20) and then a mic for ? (again $300 - $3,000), and a stand (and probably some kind of poperstopper).
A "podcast kit" is going to maybe need a stand, though many have a desk stand that may work for you.
kind of says it all.
The reasoning is simple. Any other route is going to cost more and have you back trying to figure out all the details of the chain of devices and the ton ov things that can go wrong. A USB mic bipasses almost all of that including your noisy sound card (maybe it's not so bad but I have never heard a sound card in a PC that wasn't noisy). You bypass all the gain staging and get right into your computer.
And you can get a decent mic in your budget. Going the discrete route is the better way to go IF you are building up your gear toward a career in sound, that is not what your post sounded like.
Plus if you do decide to "go more pro" the USB mic will come in handy from time to time. I have had one on my "to buy" list for some time just because I can toss it in my laptop bag and say yes when the odd need arrises. I do a fair amount of theatre and there have been many occasions where I wish I had one instead of setting up my full portable rig just to record say the pre show announcement that nobody bothered to mention was needed the day before opening.
The alternative is getting an interface with a decent mic preamp and phantom power (could easily be $500) a mic cable (figure $20) and then a mic for ? (again $300 - $3,000), and a stand (and probably some kind of poperstopper).
A "podcast kit" is going to maybe need a stand, though many have a desk stand that may work for you.
I was kind of using this as an educational piece. The question of "which mic should I get" is so often thrown out by newbies, neglecting all the other stuff that has to go with it.
Considering the room, I'd lean toward dynamic over condenser. Considering the skill level, keeping it simple is probably best.
Totally forgot about podcaster kits. BSW has a few that may be good starters:
Podcast Veteran (condenser mic included)
Internet Radio Package (dynamic mic included)
And then there's the RØDE Podcaster, which is dynamic with a USB interface. As Scott said, this can be the easiest route for you (you'll need a stand and a pop screen as well). However, coming back to figure out how all the other stuff works amy well be a good learning experience.
Considering the room, I'd lean toward dynamic over condenser. Considering the skill level, keeping it simple is probably best.
Totally forgot about podcaster kits. BSW has a few that may be good starters:
Podcast Veteran (condenser mic included)
Internet Radio Package (dynamic mic included)
And then there's the RØDE Podcaster, which is dynamic with a USB interface. As Scott said, this can be the easiest route for you (you'll need a stand and a pop screen as well). However, coming back to figure out how all the other stuff works amy well be a good learning experience.
David W. Jones
Veteran
Where do you feel your current Blue Snowball microphone falls short?
30 years ago I probably would have said…. Dude get microphone X, it's great!
But knowing what I do now after spending 35 years doing voice over work, my suggestion is not what you are going to want to hear.
Spend the $500 on making the room sound better, not on a new microphone/Preamp.