Want to record with mics...

pyoo323 · Unread post by **pyoo323** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 6:43 pm

Question for you guys, sorry if its a repeating topic.

So I want to record my acoustic playing onto my laptop. I have a crappy little sony mic that's used to record to an MD player, and I've been trying to record with that directly connected to the hole in my laptop with the little microphone picture next to it. It sounds real nasty. So how should I go about doing this? I don't want to spend a lot of money.

How does this sound?

I just plan on getting a Shure SM57 Mic, and plug it into the laptop and record it that way. Will that work? I have a laptop so I don't have a real nice soundcard or anything. I just want to get some decent sound. How would I connect the mic to the computer, what cables do I need seeing that the plug in my laptop is 1/8''.

MWR · Unread post by **MWR** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 6:51 pm

Buy a USB recording interface for about a $100. There are tons of them out there and each is pretty much as good as the next. I'm partial to M-Audio.
If you can't spend $100 bucks to get decent sound than I can't help you.

i-am-me · Unread post by **i-am-me** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 7:27 pm

mike...to keep going with that, after buying an interface, what kind of mics would you suggest? and is it worth it to go for that 100 bucks for the interface if you're not THAT serious, just want to post some stuff here? is there a way to get a decent mic (for vocals mainly) and just go directly to the soundcard?

pyoo323 · Unread post by **pyoo323** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 7:44 pm

MWR wrote:Buy a USB recording interface for about a $100. There are tons of them out there and each is pretty much as good as the next. I'm partial to M-Audio.
If you can't spend $100 bucks to get decent sound than I can't help you.

How would this help me? And what's it do...?

Sorry, I'm completely new to all of this. So if I get the SM57, and then this USB recording thing, how will it all be plugged into my laptop?

You_Enjoy_Myself · Unread post by **You_Enjoy_Myself** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 7:56 pm

pyoo323 wrote:
MWR wrote:Buy a USB recording interface for about a $100. There are tons of them out there and each is pretty much as good as the next. I'm partial to M-Audio.
If you can't spend $100 bucks to get decent sound than I can't help you.
How would this help me? And what's it do...?

Sorry, I'm completely new to all of this. So if I get the SM57, and then this USB recording thing, how will it all be plugged into my laptop?

Your mic gets plugged into your audio interface, then your interface is plugged into your usb port on your computer.

MWR · Unread post by **MWR** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 9:05 pm

You_Enjoy_Myself wrote:
pyoo323 wrote:
MWR wrote:Buy a USB recording interface for about a $100. There are tons of them out there and each is pretty much as good as the next. I'm partial to M-Audio.
If you can't spend $100 bucks to get decent sound than I can't help you.
How would this help me? And what's it do...?

Sorry, I'm completely new to all of this. So if I get the SM57, and then this USB recording thing, how will it all be plugged into my laptop?
Your mic gets plugged into your audio interface, then your interface is plugged into your usb port on your computer.

Thanks for fielding that one.

Sorry if I was short before but there really isn't a way to spend less than that and still maintain a good sound IMO.
You have to understand that a real microphone like an SM-57 needs plenty of clean gain in order to sound good. This is even more important with a large diaphrgm condenser mic like a Studio Projects B1 or M-Audio Nova.
The reason why I suggested a USB interface is because he's using a laptop and that really is the way to go with a laptop. For desktop recording you could get a decent pre-amp and plug that into your soundcard but if you have a crappy soundcard it's gonna sound crappy.
Basically the mic inputs and soundcards included on consumer computers are not designed to record music. They're there for playback and convieniance(sp?).
Is $150 really that much?

i-am-me · Unread post by **i-am-me** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 9:21 pm

its not really the money, (well for me, don't know about him). its more that i'm not THAT serious about it. i just wanna put up some recordings now and then. just trying to see if there's a simpler way.

but if its not gonna sound good without a preamp...then i'll look into those.

sacdeez · Unread post by **sacdeez** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 9:44 pm

you can go to radio shack and get the neccesary adapters and use the shure mic your planning on getting. i do that except with a vocal mic and no other interface and use adobe audition and i get a pretty good sound for what i've invested in it.

trippinants13 · Unread post by **trippinants13** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 10:24 pm

Tweak says it best! Really good stuff here for beginners and intermediates to home recording and equipment.

http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

pyoo323 · Unread post by **pyoo323** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 11:43 pm

Great, thanks for all the help guys. Could you lead me too some USB interfaces? Anything that'll help me sound good, about 100 bucks. Thanks.

mangold · Unread post by **mangold** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 11:46 pm

Brock · Unread post by **Brock** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 11:50 pm

praisedave wrote:mbox

pyoo323 wrote:about 100 bucks.

Tranman66 · Unread post by **Tranman66** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 11:51 pm

the two cheap and good deals are.. here http://dmbtabs.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=18741

DMBTabs.com

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