buying a mic
 

Help me out.

I wanna pay less than 100 USD. A plug n play would be ideal. Don't want to also buy an interface.

I'm overwhelmed at my options and some guidance would be appriciated.

define "mic"

for podcasting? guitar? drums? vocals? phone calls?

what do you want to record?

what kind of instruments/stuff would you record with it?

ha ha man pause time for everyone eh ;)

ha ha yes-- rendering

Fidelity and where it's going to be plugged into are the other questions - if you don't care and just want a general use mic, you can probably pick up the second-cheapest one and it'll do the job you want. What do you mean by 'don't want to buy an interface'?

I'm just tired of hiss showing up in all the music recordings I make on my computer, vocal tracks or other.

Is a headphone jack imput better than USB, or vice versa?

I just want to pull something out of the box, plug it into my computer, and not have a hissy recording.

no hissy fits eh? ha ha. that's the job of a good preamp. the preamp brings the mic level to line level and sucky ones will add noise. which is why you want a good interface (or mixer).

the input is going to be a line or mic input in your computer. the headphone is OUT. some holes go both ways though, in some machines.

pluggin a mic to a mic input should be okay (though your audio card likely sucks), plugging a mic to a line-in will require amplification that usually can be done by the computer if you tell it you've got a mic in line-in (same case as above), so it would be best if you had preamps.

this is an unfinished answer cuz i have no more time but for $100 you could probably buy a used zoom recorder and use the onboard mics instead of recording to computer.

if you're unhappy with my answer, pray for the return of terminal pharmacy to this shithole of a board.

^ this (especially the Terminal Pharmacy comment... or even Hevusa, moron that he is)

A big part of the reason I don't record myself is because of the masses of complexities in the chain. Mic>cable>mixer>usb>computer or mic>cable>computer all have elements that could be causing hiss. I'm not suggesting audiophile-grade stuff, but unfortunately it's difficult to know where in the chain the hiss is coming from. Could be how the software renders things, could be at the 'in' stage. I'd wager it's the soundcard, but it could be iffy USB port or anything else in the chain I'm thinking that the mic itself won't be the problem - you can get 'hissless' recordings with (shit) laptop mics (not recommended as those speakers aren't adequate for anything).

Best bet - find a mate who knows what they're doing, and ask them. Or PM Terminal Pharmacy, he may lurk still (he was not that long ago...)

Just buy a shure sm58 for vocals. Make sure you know which you are recording first.

http://www.shure.com/americas/produc...cal-microphone

no man, no. that's a dynamic mic with xlr connectors. dynamic is great for the stage and it needs to run on xlr cables but it's not a studio mic (unless, i think, for drums). still needs a preamp, so even if he gets an xlr to miniplug adapter cable he ends up with the same problem he began with-- a shitty preamp adding noise. shure makes an xlr to usb adapter but that's more $$.

at this point i'd recommend either of 2 things for his budget:

1) a zoom recorder. easy to use and does a great job for the money.

2) a podcasting type mic that's specced for plugging directly into the computer, either through line-in or usb.

i'd go for the zoom recorder because in time it could be part of a larger recording setup. it has its own stereo mics to start but also has a couple of xlr connectors (with preamps and phantom power) for adding mics or connecting a mixer-- it can potentially get complicated like this:

mics->preamps->mixer->recorder->import to software

but you can start with the device itself.

i was recording room audio on a zoom recorder the other day and it was pretty good sound, considering-- no hiss, nothing.

You'll get what you pay for - why not just process out the hiss with audacity or something?

budget noise reduction makes audio sound like shit

ps you could get started with the zoom h1 ($90 on amazon) but it doesn't have xlr inputs:

http://www.samsontech.com/zoom/produ...-recorders/h1/

it does have miniplug mic in and stereo line in though. so you can expand a bit.

i use the h4n and it's pretty fucking great with and without mics---and with a field mixer it's fucking brilliant for video because the mixer provides good preamps, limiters, monitoring, etc (not the same as a studio mixer tho).

Shure SM57's are the best and works for almost everything.

those are stage mics. but i guess if you just want 1 mic for vocals the 58 would be it (has pop filter), but i think hooking up to computer with a miniplug adapter would still be fucked in the end.

i just bought a samson g track this week..
it has a built in interface that doesn't require a mixer or additional soundcard..
hook it to the USB port and you're good to go..
it also has a "line in" - allowing you to record an instrument along with vocals..

the amazondotcom user comments are impressive, if you want to check them out...

the price should be in the 100 USD range.. (taxes kill me over here, i ended up paying 200+ USD)

have fun.

That sampson looks sweet.

I've been checking out other boards and sources of info. Don't worry. No one else seems to have any clue, either.

Giving a shrugging "What the fuck?" I plopped down some cash for this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details . Just as hissy as the mic that came free with the computer.

Because I get lousy sound on three different computers, I'm not sure it's the sound card, unless all 3 computers suck. I guess that's possible.

My only hesitation in getting the ZOOM is I can't figure out if/how it can be used as a live mic. Or will I have to record a few tracks on that and then dump them to Audacity or whatever?

Anyway, all this is bullshit. Soundcloud, Bandcamp, even Myspace is LOADED with idiot kids who've seemed to have figured all this out. I feel like there's this really cool party I am welcome to join if only I could find the fucking directions, and no one I ask for assistance can do better than, "I think it's down that road."

It's not really bullshit - plenty of people in this thread have said 'it could be anywhere on the chain', plenty of people have said there isn't a simple answer. Talk to someone whose recordings you like. Do you not know anyone who home records? The reason I don't home record is because the problems you're having are deeply irritating and I can't be fucked with sorting them out. I do most of my recordings on a 'you do this, I'll do this for you' basis, which usually works out that I agree to play violin on something in exchange for them sticking their expensive and well thought-out gear in front of me for an afternoon.

Talking to people has been (part of) the problem. I've sought information from various sources and I've ended up with conflicting opinions and extremely expensive answers.

Man, back in the day I was a four-track cassette wizard. Now I'm a digital dope. Humbling.