Just looking for something cheap and cheerful but with reasonable quality for around £20. The mic on my headset isn't good enough.
[url= http://www.pmtonline.co.uk/index.php/recording/microphones/shure-pg57-xlr.html ]Shure PG57[/url] ?
Like an SM58 but cheaper
but you'll also want a reasonable external soundcard...
and before you know it you'll be all Pro-Tools'd up 😉
what john_drummer said...
only if you've got sense you'll get Logic not Pro Tools! 😉
Sadly "decent" and "for around £20" doesn't compute though, as you'll probably also need to spend £100 or so on a USB/Firewire soundcard on top of the Mic too.
If you're anywhere near me, you're welcome to borrow my Sennheiser E840 mic (better dynamic range than an SM58, just not as robust or well known for stage use) and Tascam US-144 soundcard for a day or so to record yourself though. As long as it comes back as it was found obviously!
The Behringer SM58 copy is meant to be great for the money and is about £20. Clearly not as good as the realt thing or alternatives, but for the pound you aren't going to find a lot better I'd say.
and if you are looking at soundcards (or external USB inputs) then it is worth seeing if they come bundled with Cubase AI. It's a cut down version of the full Cubase software but it's pretty good.
If you can borrow a mic/usb sound card to try then it is worth it as it may convince you to spend more. mboy probably has it about right
The Behringer SM58 copy is meant to be great for the money and is about £20.
If you go down this route, just be careful... Anything with the name "Behringer" on it usually performs pretty well... For about 10 minutes!
VERY shoddy build quality. Behringer as a brand are always cheap for a reason... Brilliant specs on paper, and good enough performance when brand spanking new out the box. But they do not last very long at all.
If it's just the one off you want to do it, borrow someone's kit and buy them a couple of beers for the privilege. If you're planning on doing it properly, I don't think £200(ish) is a huge amount to have to invest in the right kit to do it to be honest.
FWIW I've got a Behringer UCG-1 USB soundcard, available from Maplin for about £50, comes bundled with some recording software (can't remember exactly which one) and Native Instruments virtual guitar amp. Not brilliant but it does the trick for now. I have had to reinstall the drivers a few times so what's said above definitely goes...
For drums on t'puter I use "DrumSite" but you need to know what you're doing, as (a) it's not in traditional notation and (b) there aren't many samples
I use all this with Sonar from Cakewalks, and I've also got a copy of Ableton Live 8 which I think I got from their own website. Haven't tried using it yet though.
some samples on our website, www.chasingglass.co.uk/music.html (embedded from Reverbnation)
[b]nb I don't know where the volume control is on that![/b]
You can get USB mics now that are apparently OK but I've not used them - £20 is very small budget though.
Bit more could buy you this - no need for a separate audio interface. I've not used this one but I've used a T Bone mic before (I think it's Thomann's own brand) and it was surprisingly good for the money.
http://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tbone_sc440_usb.htm
There is this as well which is nearly in budget but wouldn't be as good, especially for recording guitar.
http://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tbone_mb88u_dual.htm
I share mboy's experience of Behringer btw.
If you buy a 2nd hand sm58 from ebay you should be able to sell it again when you are finished with it, without too much loss...
you'll need a mic stand too
What would you guys say is the best mic for around £100 second hand? There's bugger all in the way of vocal samples around so figured I'd do my own.
schrickvr6, no need to spend that money for vocal samples. Just get a Shure SM58, or an equivalent Sennheiser (usually better quality, but not "industry standard" like the Shure's).
You only need to start spending proper money on Mic's for proper Vocal recordings, and then you'll want an expensive Condenser Mic rather than a rugged Dynamic Mic.
But for vocal samples to lay over the tracks you produce right now, you'd not notice the difference between an SM58 or equivalent and a Condenser Mic costing many thousands of £'s to be honest!
Dynamic mics don't sound very good for acoustics (if that's what you're recording) imo, and the SM58 is more of a live mic.. Generally I find Behringer stuff pretty good for the money, I had a V-Amp 2 for years and I'm still using their cheap EQ pedal for lead boosts! Heard some great clips from the C1, but you'll need an audio interface with phantom power to use it unless it's battery powered. You definitely want a condenser for vocals and guitar I reckon.
Heeeey... I've got a PG57 here which I've not used for a long time, used to use it for recording guitar. I guess I could sell it for £20 + P&P, that's on the low side but it's just gathering dust.
Thanks folks I'll look at those options. Before i used a really cheap and rubbishy mic that was on my headphones (not great quality but did the job) but with my new headphones I can't get the recording volume high enough.
I will also be wanting to use it in conjunction with a webcam so want to avoid problems of sound and image being out of time.
I will also be wanting to use it in conjunction with a webcam so want to avoid problems of sound and image being out of time
that's a whole other can of worms. don't go there