Hello, I am a new member and a newbie to recording.
I've spent some time looking through this great website and came to the conclusion that this can be a bewildering topic and the level of expertise here is quite impressive.
I am looking to create a simple, transportable set up to record live rock/jam band concerts from the audience without access to the soundboard. Mostly I want to record my son's garage band who play at bars and very small venues. At this time, I don't see myself going to the tapers section at a big show (yet).
I purchased a Tascam Portacapture X8 and I have been learning the ins and outs. My first attempt for microphones were these low-cost pencil mics from amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002D0KBE I used them and found that the sound was pretty awful, even for a novice. They were very thin sounding and lacked bass. I did end up mixing these external Samson pencil mics with the built-in mics of the X8 but it still seemed like mixing two bad mics to try to get good sound.
I am not ready to embark on advanced topics such as stereophonic zoom etc, but I did point the pencils to the left and right PA's and I think that is enough sophistication for me at this stage haha.
I am looking to this group for a recommendation on a pair of mics that would be more suitable for this purpose (loud concerts recorded from the audience). I think they should be directional, but I don't know. I am not wedded to pencil or booms, unless the folks here think those are the right solutions. My budget is about $200 per mic but happy to spend less or could stretch a bit if necessary.
I did look at the Sennheiser MKE 440 as the sound seemed really good. But it doesn't seem quite like the right solution. I didn't like that it needs its own batteries. I would prefer something that could use the phantom power of the Tascam (or no power if dynamic) or USB powered, but I think XLR would be the way to go. I also don’t love the idea of the built in cable as others have noted. I should mention that I use a big USB power pack to power the Tascam X8 and it has lots of USB ports to power other gear as necessary so I'm hoping to use this for any power needs I might have (and avoid a separate battery box etc).
I have been spending untold hours on youtube listening to microphone comparisons (with my headphones) and one mic that sorta captured my interest was the AT2035. It seemed to have a good price and sound combination. But I wonder should I get two of these or would I be better off with one of these, two pencils/booms and mix them in post? I've also read that for good bass sound, an omni is better than a directional, but I would prefer to minimize (not eliminate) crowd audio.
Can anyone recommend a pair of mics that sound good, can use either no power or power from the Tascam or a USB-C power connector and XLR if possible.
Ok, enough from me. Thank in advance for your thoughts. I am psyched to have found this website.
Eugene