TopicPosted on 10/23/2008 at 05:03:04PC Studio microphone?
Hi folks,
I'm looking to get a decent mike to plug into my PC, so I can
sing into Band-in-a-box. What should I get?
I have a generic laptop soundcard on Vista PC.
thanks Michael
Psycom
87
Honorific member
Member 22 years ago
2Posted on 10/23/2008 at 08:00:28
Hi Michael,
Any "sound engineer" would avoid using the internal card because the sound quality is bad (as a sound engineer point of view). So there are two options :
You just want to record your voice for fun but don't want to use it in any "professional" use (or semi-professional), then you can choose any cheap microphone with a mini jack plug.
You want to record your voice but more than personal use. Then you need a real soundcard with good preamps like a RME fireface 400. And then maybe a 100-200$ microphone. You can also choose a USB condenser microphone (I have no advice on which one to buy) and then avoid buying a "big" soundcard, but I would consider the pro soundcard option... (similar discussion here)
I've been looking at a few USB Microphones myself just to use for writing songs. My first choice in USB mics was the Blue Snowball USB Microphone. It has a 3 pattern switch so you can set it up to record different sources. My second choice was the CAD U37 USB Condenser Microphone. It's about 10 - 20 dollars cheaper but, seems to be of good quality. I like the overload protection and bass noise reduction that this mic offers.