Topic: Mics for beginner?

[Aladar]

Hi, I was wondering, what mics would you reccomend to a beginning taper?
They should be small-ish (well, at least "normal" size), and not cost more than $100 batt box included.. the less, the better..
Thanks!

[su6oxone]

Hi, I was wondering, what mics would you reccomend to a beginning taper?
They should be small-ish (well, at least "normal" size), and not cost more than $100 batt box included.. the less, the better..
Thanks!

Check out some of the starter mics at Sound Pro (www.soundprofessionals.com) like the SP BMC-2.  I've heard some nice recordings made with those mics.  You can get a small battery box from them too. 

[Aladar]

Hi, I was wondering, what mics would you reccomend to a beginning taper?
They should be small-ish (well, at least "normal" size), and not cost more than $100 batt box included.. the less, the better..
Thanks!

Check out some of the starter mics at Sound Pro (www.soundprofessionals.com) like the SP BMC-2.  I've heard some nice recordings made with those mics.  You can get a small battery box from them too.

Thanks, I'll look into it.
Few questions, tho..
-What's the bass roll-off? Is it needed, or can I go with cheaper batt boxes that don't have it?
-Should I look into binaurals or cardioids?

Edit: What about Low Cost Binaurals from Core Sound? How do they compare with SP-BMC-2?

[stevetoney]

Hi, I was wondering, what mics would you reccomend to a beginning taper?
They should be small-ish (well, at least "normal" size), and not cost more than $100 batt box included.. the less, the better..
Thanks!

Buy something used in the Yard Sale. 

Since price is a paramount concern for you, you're gonna get a better mic in the used market than you'd get new and at that price point you can range from not-good sound to pretty good sound with a mic that, when new, would have cost incrementally $50 to $100 more.

To answer your specific question though, look for used Church Audio CA-11 coupled with a low cost battery box.  That should run you right around $100 for both.

[Aladar]

Hi, I was wondering, what mics would you reccomend to a beginning taper?
They should be small-ish (well, at least "normal" size), and not cost more than $100 batt box included.. the less, the better..
Thanks!

Buy something used in the Yard Sale. 

Since price is a paramount concern for you, you're gonna get a better mic in the used market than you'd get new and at that price point you can range from not-good sound to pretty good sound with a mic that, when new, would have cost incrementally $50 to $100 more.

To answer your specific question though, look for used Church Audio CA-11 coupled with a low cost battery box.  That should run you right around $100 for both.

I was actually looking for CA-11s, but noone is selling them.. And any other acceptable mics in Yard Sale are only low cost binaurals and the soundpro ones, both without battery box..

[illconditioned]

Hi, I was wondering, what mics would you reccomend to a beginning taper?
They should be small-ish (well, at least "normal" size), and not cost more than $100 batt box included.. the less, the better..
Thanks!

Buy something used in the Yard Sale. 

Since price is a paramount concern for you, you're gonna get a better mic in the used market than you'd get new and at that price point you can range from not-good sound to pretty good sound with a mic that, when new, would have cost incrementally $50 to $100 more.

To answer your specific question though, look for used Church Audio CA-11 coupled with a low cost battery box.  That should run you right around $100 for both.

I was actually looking for CA-11s, but noone is selling them.. And any other acceptable mics in Yard Sale are only low cost binaurals and the soundpro ones, both without battery box..

I highly recommend the CA-11.  These are great sounding mics, and, unlike most of the Soundpros, they will not overload at high volume.

Put an ISO in the Yardsale.  If that doesn't work, buy new from Chris Church.  Maybe he can cut you a deal on a set if you're hard up for cash.

What is your recorder?

  Richard

[stevetoney]

Hi, I was wondering, what mics would you reccomend to a beginning taper?
They should be small-ish (well, at least "normal" size), and not cost more than $100 batt box included.. the less, the better..
Thanks!

Check out some of the starter mics at Sound Pro (www.soundprofessionals.com) like the SP BMC-2.  I've heard some nice recordings made with those mics.  You can get a small battery box from them too.

Thanks, I'll look into it.
Few questions, tho..
-What's the bass roll-off? Is it needed, or can I go with cheaper batt boxes that don't have it?
-Should I look into binaurals or cardioids?

Edit: What about Low Cost Binaurals from Core Sound? How do they compare with SP-BMC-2?

Sometimes mics can be boomy and the bass roll-off electronically reduces the lowest bass frequencies by some number of decibels.  It can be a handy option, but lots of tapers don't like using roll-off, opting to use their software to do the same thing.  The concept is that if you remove it before it goes on tape, you can't get it back.  If it's there to start, you can always back off.

Regarding your qeustions on specific mics, you'd best go to www.archive.org and do a search on the specific model you're inquiring about, listen and reach your own conclusions if that sound will satisfy your needs.

From the experience of almost everyone on TS.com, you'll find that the entry level mics don't satisfy you and within a short time, you'll figure out a way to free up funds to buy something more!  LOL.  (We've all been where you are now, my friend.)

[Giant_Rick]

Thanks, I'll look into it.
Few questions, tho..
-What's the bass roll-off? Is it needed, or can I go with cheaper batt boxes that don't have it?
-Should I look into binaurals or cardioids?

As far as I know..

Bass roll-off starts cutting some frequencies; you set the limit (for example 100 Hz) and the amount of 'cutting' (examples: 6 dB). Then it double the 'cutting' (in dB) every octave, so you cut 12 dB at 50 Hz and 24 dB at 25 Hz.
A lot of people warn that it's best to cut the frequencies after taping, because if you cut too much, you can 'recover' the lost data; you just need some experience with some PC programmes.

As you're a beginner you should look into binaurals; I'm a beginner too, and with bin. as they are easier to use.
And they are cheaper than cardioid, generally speaking.

If you can solder you should buy some Panasonic WM61-A capsules (digikey and radioshack may sell those) and solder to a earphone cable.. this way you do a nice work with a few money.
There are some tutorials on the net.

[stevetoney]

Put an ISO in the Yardsale.  If that doesn't work, buy new from Chris Church.  Maybe he can cut you a deal on a set if you're hard up for cash.

I second this suggestion.

[Aladar]

Thanks, but new ones are really out of the question - they are going for like.. 120$(?) new, plus at least $20 shipping, and $39 battery box.. which is way out of my budget.. And with this being Chris' job, I would feel bad to ask him for price reduction. Same with the ISO idea, I would feel like an ass for replying people with "sorry, but that's too much"..

As for the upgrade.. yeah, I expect I will upgrade to better mics sooner or later, but I'm going to shows like once per two months, so it's not really worth it now..

I'll be recording on iRiver HP120, by the way. And no, sadly, I can't solder.

[stevetoney]

FWIW, I think that 'binaural' and 'cardioid' are apples and oranges technical terms, although I suppose that's the model description on the soundpros website.  I'm thinking that a binaural is a low cost omni-directional microphone that's placed on either side of your head.  In other words, all microphones have directional patterns and one of those patterns is not 'binaural'.  On the other hand, cardioid is a directional pattern for a microphone.  So, in one case the term 'binaural' refers to a method for hanging the mics (on each of your ears) and in the other case, the term refers to the directional pattern of the mic

This is probably confusing to you since you're a just starting out and frankly is not all that relevant to the purchase of your first set of mics.  LOL.

[illconditioned]

Thanks, but new ones are really out of the question - they are going for like.. 120$(?) new, plus at least $20 shipping, and $39 battery box.. which is way out of my budget.. And with this being Chris' job, I would feel bad to ask him for price reduction. Same with the ISO idea, I would feel like an ass for replying people with "sorry, but that's too much"..

As for the upgrade.. yeah, I expect I will upgrade to better mics sooner or later, but I'm going to shows like once per two months, so it's not really worth it now..

I'll be recording on iRiver HP120, by the way. And no, sadly, I can't solder.

If you don't ask, you won't know.  Prices in the YS are usually pretty good.

That said, if you can't afford something like $100 for mics, you won't be happy with the results.  Put it in perspective, it is easy to spend that money on other stuff, right?  Anyway, good luck with your project...

  Richard

[stevetoney]

Do the ISO, man.  Look in the YS now...there's no less than what...20 ISO's on the first two pages alone?  What do you have to lose?  NOBODY and I mean NOBODY will consider you an ass. 

All you do is say...'ISO CA-11 and battery box, max I can pay is $100'.  Anyone that responds knows your terms.  FWIW, I've seen plenty of CA-11 with power for less than $100 on the YS.  If you don't believe me, just do a search and prove it to yourself!

[Aladar]

OK, thanks, I'll try.

[darktrain]

Thanks, but new ones are really out of the question - they are going for like.. 120$(?) new, plus at least $20 shipping, and $39 battery box.. which is way out of my budget.. And with this being Chris' job, I would feel bad to ask him for price reduction. Same with the ISO idea, I would feel like an ass for replying people with "sorry, but that's too much"..

As for the upgrade.. yeah, I expect I will upgrade to better mics sooner or later, but I'm going to shows like once per two months, so it's not really worth it now..

I'll be recording on iRiver HP120, by the way. And no, sadly, I can't solder.

And if a 50.00 bucks is a deal breaker i would highly consider saving up and if money is that tight how will you go to shows? You will only be disapointed if you go the cheap route, put out a ISO and see what happens.