Mics for recording

Want to ask about strings, maintenance, amps, mics, or comparisons of different guitars or any music equipment? This is for all threads related to music equipment.

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Hindu Hitman
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Mics for recording

Unread post by Hindu Hitman » Mon Dec 30, 2002 6:08 pm

I'm new here, but I've been looking in for a while. I use cool edit 2000 to record my tracks, but i record through my computer's mic. It sounds really bad to me, especially vocals. If i purchase a real microphone and hook it up to my PC and run cool edit, will the sound quality change drastically (will it improve a lot?)? i want to be able to record tracks and hear them how I play them, but that isn't happening with my PC mic. I don't think I sound bad when I'm playing, but it doesn't sound great when I listen. And I'm not that bad...i hope...Thanks

Chris_Newman
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Unread post by Chris_Newman » Mon Dec 30, 2002 6:16 pm

Hey,

I'm having a similar problem right now, because I can't get the proper cables to hook my amp up to my computer.

One thing you might try is to play through an amp and mic that. If you can make your sound very soft through the amp, it might help with the poor quality. Right now, I'm using a set of earphones as a mic and just jimmying it to my amp. It's recording at a very low volume, but I can generally improv the sound through Cool Edit and boosting the volume is no problem.

If you're having problems with a lot of cracks and pops, then the easiest thing to do is just use the "Remove cracks and pops" feature in Cool Edit. If you can't find that feature, let me know and I'll see if I can remember where it is.

Good luck.
Chris

AnandPatel
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Unread post by AnandPatel » Mon Dec 30, 2002 6:28 pm

Those PC mics are crapy - in most cases. I would read this http://www.harmony-central.com/Features ... ousticGtr/ .That should give you a general overview of how you should mic your acoustic.

Im not saying you should spend outrageous amounts on microphones unless your just that damn good, but i would get ones around the 30~35 dollar range. Hook that up to your computer

I have rigged a many a systems but what I found that has worked the best is..this may be odd....but it works well for me.

Split the line in (you will need to amplify this if your soundcard can't do it through software) into the left and right channels using a cheap radioshack splitter. Then hook mic 1 up to the left, and mic 2 to the right. place the mics at the correct places. and then your set. start recording.

If you must use the mic-in, you do not need to do that, since its mono only. So your best bet would be to use one mic places at the right place.

Hope that helps....
Yes, I am Indian and I play the guitar. Believe It.

Hindu Hitman
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Unread post by Hindu Hitman » Mon Dec 30, 2002 10:44 pm

thanks guys

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Brock
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Unread post by Brock » Thu Jan 02, 2003 4:51 pm

or you could just fork out the dough for a digidesign mbox :)
http://www.digidesign.com/
i'm getting one in a couple of weeks...
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Xoosh
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Unread post by Xoosh » Thu Jan 02, 2003 5:39 pm

I've linked these before but check these out:

http://www.eastofbeautiful.com/files/Anna.mp3

http://www.eastofbeautiful.com/files/da ... breeze.mp3

http://www.eastofbeautiful.com/files/fireandrain.mp3

http://www.eastofbeautiful.com/files/missingyou1.mp3

http://www.eastofbeautiful.com/files/soulsearching.mp3

those were done with my Oktava microphones. They are condensor microphones especially designed for the acoustic instrument (guitar, bass, cello, etc...). I bought 2 to stereo mic my guitar. 1 mic at the 12th fret, one at the sound hole. then i record into my mixer. The mixer (to get stereo sound) has an RCA connection (the red and white things) that goes to 1/4" then that goes to 1/8" which goes into my line in to my computer. Which i use to record with cooledit.

That's my setup.

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x
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Dead Dawg
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Unread post by Dead Dawg » Thu Jan 02, 2003 5:57 pm

if yall get just a good condenser mic and go to radio shack you can buy an adapter for the XLR cable to make it fit to your cpus imput or they have them at music stores too.
Dave

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Brock
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Unread post by Brock » Thu Jan 02, 2003 6:01 pm

xoosh, if i get a martin d-15, should i get it with the fishman electronics builtin, should i use a pickup, or should i mic it like you have it?
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Unread post by fraggle » Thu Jan 02, 2003 6:43 pm

TrippnBill686 wrote:xoosh, if i get a martin d-15, should i get it with the fishman electronics builtin, should i use a pickup, or should i mic it like you have it?
Depends on the sound you want, but if you are going for the sound that YOUR guitar naturally puts out, mic it.

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