cheap mic to play around with vocals

Performance & Techniques Music Production
1

cheap mic to play around with vocals

hey guys. i got myself a stage mic lately to record some vocal samples to put them on my productions just to find out that i would need an amp in between to actually use it. so i brought it back to the store.

i either want a lower budget studio mic with amplification which could be used for actual voice recording (so the voice still sounds clean when played at 120db).

or i want a real cheap like 3,5mm or usb mic to just play around and then record the actual samples somehwere else on a good mic.

if you have any suggestions for either category i would be very grateful!

2

Hi, I’m not sure if you’re on mac or PC but for mac this mic /sounds/ good.. O'Reilly Media - Technology and Business Training
Maybe you want to read some other reviews (I don’t have this one so I can’t tell you) but it looks good..
Or is this too pricey? I’m not really sure what you mean with ‘low budget’

3

sounds good. thank you! how do i know wheter a mic needs an amplifier or not? i’d figure all usb mics dont?

4

No usb mic i’ve seen so far needs a pre-amp but it’s always wise to check.. You can tell by the description. Google is your friend :wink:
found this on the Samson website (manufacturer of the mic I posted earlier):

Just look for the ‘no preamp’ or similar text :wink:

EDIT: good to know that condenser microphones need a power supply (possibly through USB) and dynamic mics don’t need power

5

All usb mics have an inbuilt pre-amp :slight_smile:

6

Best comparisons for mics can be found on http://www.humanbeatbox.net

Cool thing is, it also rates cheaper mics for ‘best bang for buck’ value.

7

Nice one Tekki, I’m in need af a mic as well :slight_smile:

8

Thanks, still thinking to get one too and get back to my old hobby. (What’s in that URL again? :wink: )

9

do you have guitar hero or rockband? you can use the microphone from that its what i use in AB live,works fine spesh if you just wanna mess around

10

I use the Rode Podcaster mic myself. I guess it not that cheap but it sounds good and its is USB ready.

11

Rode has an amazing lineup of mics.

You’ll definitely get what you paid for! (Good thing!)

12

Yah, Over the years I try to buy equipment that will last and do double duty because when I not dabbling in the music thing I also providing my clients with other services in the areas of multimedia production.

I also do vdeo production and believe it or not I also bought a zoom H4 as a off camera mic. So like I said I by items that will last and can do double duty . So I also use this mic for multi track recording. This recorder has a nice mic built in but you can also plug in 2 XLR mics directly into it. Did I mention it also records to sd card in hign res .mp3 as well as cd quality .wav format. I have used this mic/recorder to record live sets for my friends as well as myself. I also used this same portable mic/recorder to record on site nature sounds.

you can probably find this mic/recorder for about 180.00 USD I don’t think you will be unhappy withthe qulity of this mic or the recording.

note

zoom came out with a Zoom H2 and a Zoom H4n after the one I have but I am still happy with the one I got and see no reason for upgrading right now.