Recording microphone recommendations!

[Michan]

Hi everybody!

 

I'm recently doing vocal recordings at home for projects with some people in this forum, and one of them noticed I have some pop-in sounds in the recordings I send. That's because I was not planning to do "high quality" home-recordings and I'm using my live-stage AKG microphone without pop-filter for it. Since I can't normally sing loud at home, I have to push up the gain a bit sometimes and the pops come in. 

 

I would like you to recommend me some decent recording microphones for home. I would be ok to spend about 100-150 usd/euro on it. I don't plan to upgrade it soon, so I want it to be good enough for a long ride!

 

Thanks so much!

[geographyhorse]

I'm having luck with the at2020 from audio technica. It requires phantom power so it gets plenty loud. However, it also has an annoying habit of picking up boom and tin bouncing around the room. Below was the solution I came up with. 

[Michan]

Thanks @geographyhorse for the feedback, in my place the background noise that the micro would probably pick up are the meows of my cats annoyed to listen to me singing and ignoring them. Sometimes they do quite cool back singing though. My AKG is also cardioid (well, "super-cardioid") and it's quite cool avoiding the background noises. Is that this one is very bad, or is it that you use a lot of gain? I'm worried about that, because feel like, if you require building up that cover, maybe you are also affecting somehow the direct sound that enters after the pop filter? Because you have that gray thing also over the sensitive part of the micro, right?

 

I've heard very good reviews of the audio-technica gear. I've checked the product in amazon and the price is quite reasonable, doesn't seem to come with the holder, right? I'm going to check more reviews, but I'll definitely have this one in my list!

 

 

 

 

[geographyhorse]

7 hours ago, Michan said:

Thanks @geographyhorse for the feedback, in my place the background noise that the micro would probably pick up are the meows of my cats annoyed to listen to me singing and ignoring them. Sometimes they do quite cool back singing though. My AKG is also cardioid (well, "super-cardioid") and it's quite cool avoiding the background noises. Is that this one is very bad, or is it that you use a lot of gain? I'm worried about that, because feel like, if you require building up that cover, maybe you are also affecting somehow the direct sound that enters after the pop filter? Because you have that gray thing also over the sensitive part of the micro, right?

 

I've heard very good reviews of the audio-technica gear. I've checked the product in amazon and the price is quite reasonable, doesn't seem to come with the holder, right? I'm going to check more reviews, but I'll definitely have this one in my list!

 

 

 

 

I think it's a combination of me not finding the sweet spot gain wise, and the fact the room it's in might as well be concrete as far as sound reflection. Actually, the floor is concrete and non -carpeted. 😜I've been meaning to build a booth, but laziness and space have slowed things up. The foam was a quick fix. 

[Michan]

Just now, geographyhorse said:

I think it's a combination of me not finding the sweet spot gain wise, and the fact the room it's in might as well be concrete as far as sound reflection. Actually, the floor is concrete and non -carpeted. 😜I've been meaning to build a booth, but laziness and space have slowed things up. The foam was a quick fix. 

Hey! You can do unique reverbs without special effects and post-production! That's cool!

[ImKeN]

I've only ever used a RODE NT1A and have been using it for nearly 10 years now - I believe it still comes with the filter and holder. Its a little bit pricier than what you're going for.

 

Also, I once worked with a vocalist who used a Shure SM58 for her vocals and it sounded very clean to me.

 

Good luck finding your new mic!

 

Ken

[john]

Röde NT2 for me. A great vocal mic, but then there are a lot of good budget vocal microphones now.

[Michan]

On 4/5/2019 at 4:33 AM, Steve Mueske said:

The popping noise might be from not having your buffer set high enough in your A/D interface. You might also look into a used vocal preamp. As far as pop filters, I've heard you can also use a pair of nylons stretched around a coat hanger. 

 

Good luck!

 

Hey Steve! Thanks!

 

I followed the recommendations to set up the buffering in the Ableton, and apparently should be fine. I will re-check anyways, but it happens only in the pop consonants, so I would think it's the microphone itself! Also I'm used to be "eating" the micro, like I have to do during rehearsals, and it's hard to not doing the same when I record at home! haha Will try a home-made coat-hanger pop-filter before placing the order anyways!!

[Michan]

Finally I went for @ImKeN's suggestion and got the RODE NT1A. It came with pop filter and mic support, and cable.

 

It sounds really great, compared to the live stage mic I was using. It's super powerful, good dynamic range, and quite clean in terms of background noise (since I'm used to sing in rehearsal, my volume is strong enough to not needing to put a lot of gain, so I don't really record background noise).

 

The only thing is that I had to buy a good mic stand, and it was half the price of the mic... so at the end the investment was a bit higher than expected. Just for your possible other's users interest, as stand I got the TAMA MS756BK (studio version). It's super stable and I can use it both standing and sit.

 

@geographyhorse I have also seen that there are a lot of quite OK sound shields that you can attach to the stand so you release background noise. Maybe you can consider taking one, to get rid of the background you mentioned in the post. for me it's not necessary so far, but I might get one eventually.

 

Thanks everybody for the feedback!!

[ImKeN]

3 hours ago, Michan said:

It came with pop filter and mic support, and cable.

 

Sweet deal, they even threw in a cable! Can't wait to hear the recordings you make with it. 👍 

[Mahesh]

I use the RODE NT1A as well for recording. Great suggestion by @ImKeN and choice by @Michan

 

Good luck and have fun!