Good Microphone. . .

Hi All,

Just wanted some input on a good microphone. I have the Griffin iMic unit. I recently bought their new lapel mic. But the silly thing after a while stops capturing sound on the right channel (I have tried out 2 units and both have the same problem!)

So wanted to know it there is a decent mic that is stereo and uses a 1/8 jack that would work with the iMic. My uses with be to add some dialog to my movies and make some voice files. Also maybe to record some music.

Thanks!

-Scott

The problem may not be the microphone. The iMic is a pretty terrible digitizer. Many people buy it and discover how unstable it is and leave it in a desk drawer.

Mine is in the garage.

The usual failure is you can hear the computer disk drive starting and stopping--clicking and popping in addition to your voice.

Search the forum for "iMic" to find a number of other ways to do this. They're not cheap, but they work.

Koz

> So wanted to know it there is a decent mic that is stereo and uses a 1/8 jack
> that would work with the iMic. My uses with be to add some dialog to my
> movies and make some voice files. Also maybe to record some music.

If you're trying to record music, you probably should get an audio interface. I have a Tascam US-122 USB interface plus Audio-Technica AT3035 condenser mike that work quite well. $400 total -- pay more and you'll get even better results.

scott, you're never going to get good quality audio with a simple 1/8" mini plug or usb microphone.

you really need to get a good condensor microphone, preamp and audio interface.
as derek says you can get going for right around and maybe even less than $400.

call sweetwater (www.sweetwater.com) tell them what youre doing and what your budget is and they'll set you right up.

Acutally these days, there are lots of nice mics out there for *much* less than $400. Look at ADK or Studio Projects (both chinese) mics you can get a pretty damn good large diaphram mic for right around $100. The Chinese mics are mot as good as a Nuemann but IMO as good or better than the audio technica 3035.

Also I have a little tiny audio technica stereo mic which from your post I am guessing is more like what you had in mind, that sounds pretty good and cost me about $70. Of course it is not the highest quality mic you can get but it is very acceptible and (the reason I bought it) very small, and it is stereo.

You forgot the audio interface. The functional ones run at least $50. Like Wayne, I also use a microphone preamp (ART TubeMP OPL tube preamp) and that cost around $60, $70 as well. You can't skimp if you want good, multi-dimensional sound. And the equipment we've been talking about is pretty low-end compared to what real engineers and producers use -- valve and ribbon mikes that run anywhere from $800 to $2000, with ribbon mikes requiring some serious preamp action to get a loud signal. When I test-run the Audio-Technica AT3035, I used a studio setup and tested it against an MXL ($80) and a Shure ($150). The Audio-Technica beat the pants off the other two. You really get your money's worth.

Derek Mok wrote:

> You forgot the audio interface.

Forgot?

Naw. My facility is mainly a music studio, my main work is as musician and I am a complete gearslut geek who pours over music gear related sites like the healthier among you slobber over porn.

But Scott did not really specify what his requirements were and from what he wrote I kind of got the impression that he was looking for something better than what he had but still modest.

If he is talking about something to go into the front end of an iPod it would be a totally pointless excersize to spend much at all because I forget whether the deal is those things only record at 22.05 khz sample rate and 16bit or it is the other way around and they record at 44.1 khz but only 8 bit, but at any rate unless something has changed in the most recent versions you cannot record full 16bit 44.1k quality audio with an iPod regardless of what you plug into it. Which is why I never bought one and got an iRiver instead.


The functional ones run at
> least $50. Like Wayne, I also use a microphone preamp (ART
> TubeMP OPL tube preamp) and that cost around $60, $70 as well.
> You can't skimp if you want good, multi-dimensional sound.

Actually I love the Tube MP and they are pretty skimpy in the price dept. So I guess maybe you can skimp...

> the equipment we've been talking about is pretty low-end
> compared to what real engineers and producers use -- valve and
> ribbon mikes that run anywhere from $800 to $2000,

or 4~5 grand for a nice AKG or 5~8 grand for one of those fancy looking Sony things or sometimes more for a vintage Nuemann U-47 but though it is a thrill to go into a nice studio and use that nice stuff ultimately I have stopped believing it usually matters much.

Ray Charles recorded his last album with those cheapo ADKs I mentioned

[studioforums.com]

and an engineer musician that I know has used those cheapo Studio Projects mics to record Whitney Houston, Burt Bacharach, Elton John and others.

[www.prorec.com]

If a cheap ADK was good enough for Ray Charles it's good enough for me.

BUT

I am still wondering if any of that is relevent to Scott's needs.

One of the neatest looking things I have seen recently is this:

[www.edirol.com]

Or the recently released M~Audio alternative:

[www.m-audio.com]

<<<geek who pours over music gear related sites like the healthier among you slobber over porn.>>>

And we can't do both because........


<<<he was looking for something better than what he had but still modest.>>>

Exactly. Most people are horrified how rapidly expensive this stuff gets just to do a good, not even excellent, job with one audio track.

The iMic really is a terrible device, even more because it sets the price point for the person who buys it. What do you mean the next best way to do this costs *10* times more?

There is also the dimishing returns problem. Is someone just getting used to using an iMic going to have any idea how to run a Neumann--any vintage?

That's why I'm still very firm that Johnny's First "external" mic needs to be that Radio Shack Lavalier. It will tell you your room is too noisy for sound every bit as well as a top quality mic will.

Koz

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the great replies.

I took Wayne's advice and talked with Tim Henderson at Sweetwater. Spent about $600 and am getting:

Edirol UA-25 interface.

[www.edirol.com]

and two Audio Technica AT2020 microphones.

[www.sweetwater.com]

Finished it off with some mic stands and cables.

Should be able handle anything I need to do. I'm just a hobbyist, so should be more than enough. Really just wanted to do some simple voice recordings, but just decided to go the extra mile. The Edirol does up to 24bit/96KHz. Tim was very knowledgeable and talked with me for about hour and a half. He asked lots of questions and gave me the best options for what I wanted to spend. All the people there have experience in the recording business, so was helpful to talk with them. So would recommend them!

Thank you all for the great input.

-Scott

By the way, Wayne, did anybody ever tell Sweetwater they have a crappy search engine? I typed in "Audio-Technica AT" just to check their prices and got 85 items. When I used the "Narrow Down" function and chose "Microphones" or "Studio Microphones", it gave me a couple of Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster guitars, a Gretsch, a bunch of acoustic guitars...

nope. im just a happy customer, not their database guy.

i just did the same search and got the mic at the top of the list. maybe they were doing maintenance that day?

I predict (holding fingers dramatically to forehead) that your next post is going to be, "How do I get rid of traffic/echoes/air conditioning noise from my tracks?

--or--

I bought Sound Soap to get rid of, etc. etc, and it didn't work.

One of the problems with piling up all the bux in one place, is that sound tends to be an ensemble affair. The best microphone in the world will be hard pressed to deliver good sound in a noisy room.

But, given the high quality of the stuff you bought, you'll figure that out soon enough.

Koz