Topic: Mic & firewire interface/ADC at $500, newbie in town

[tuco]

Hello forum, nice going really!

I'm pretty new to this as you can see, I'm supposed to record a friend's low-budget animation short film and you can only imagine how confused I am.

So, the machine/s that I'm looking is voiceover ones, should costs and not exceed (all-togather) 500ish USD.

• Mic:

First mic I stumbled upon was Shure PG42, liked what they claim, "Large diaphragm capsule provides wider dynamic range for clear highs and strong lows", 2nd mic was THE T.BONE SC440 USB, refereed by a friend.

• Interface:

Pretty clueless right here too, had (Mackie Onyx Satellite FireWire Recording System) as a first choice, (Onyx Blackjack) the second one.

You may ask, based on what I'm showing these specific models to purchase, well, some sounded good, others have been recommended by tapers...

If these are bad setups, or either won't go/aren't friendly togather, please advice and guide me to the right brand, model for each, and other accessories that I should be purchasing, e.g. special cables, stage stand, pops screen filters...

For that budget, is it hard to find decent, high quality stuff? I surely hope so..

Much appreciated.

Cheers.

[admkrk]

what other uses to intend for your set up? or is this a one time deal?

if you're only going to record one track speech for a low budget animation, $500 sounds like a lot of overkill if you're never going to use it for anything else.

[tuco]

what other uses to intend for your set up? or is this a one time deal?

if you're only going to record one track speech for a low budget animation, $500 sounds like a lot of overkill if you're never going to use it for anything else.

Hi admkrk, thanks for stepping by...

I actually going to use it for video tutorials, more animated projects and perhaps a podcast in the future, there's probably going to be a light music recording.

I'm in a terrible confusion (and you can only imagine) on which machines that goes together without a hitch.

Thank you, I appreciate the help.

[admkrk]

ok, first off if you plan to record music, you'd probly be better off get a pair of mics. you'll only need one for the voices but track down a match later might be more of an issue than getting a pair to begin with. about all i have experience with in your price range is  Rode nt5s. i sold my pair for ~$200 several years ago so finding a 2nd hand pair for that of less shouldn't be much of a problem. i'm sure there are other options but that's all i can think of atm.

there are a couple ua-5s for sale in the yard sale for ~$200 also. there are other similar units and ones that have a fire wire interface that can be found in the same price range.

that will pretty much much cover you for the vocal recordings. add a laptop and you can be mobile for music recordings.

mics should come with clips at the least and shock mounts shouldn't be needed for your vocals. just keep in mind that you don't want to be talking directly into them. clamp the mic 4 or 5 feet away from you and turn off the ac and you should get a clear pick up. experiment with it to find what works best tho.

i never had a clamp and i make my own cables so i have no idea what the prices on those might be but it still should be under your budget. plus have you just about set up for hitting a show or two.

[tuco]

Thanks a bunch admkrk, I was hopping to get a new stuff as I'll probably face some very hard time getting 2nd hands machines where I am, I have felt that you were more into music when recommending than voice, I will mainly use the mic for a voiceover jobs, like %80 of the use if not even more, the music for me wouldn't be very important to focus on at this stage I'm afraid.

If you have anything more to add please feel free.

I aslo would love for the rest of the forum member to participate in the discussion to help me getting more recommendations and for me to pick from or to rate my first picks and admkrk's too.

Thank you.

[admkrk]

yes, i am more into the music.    but then most people here are the same.

i am pretty clueless when it comes to straight vocal mics. my only experience with them was a shure mic years ago plugged into a guitar amp that was used as a pa.

for simply recording into your computer tho you can bypass the preamp. for example, something like this might be all you need and only a little over $100. altho it sounds like the noise floor is kinda high with that mic. 

or for around $300 something like this with this.

i'm not endorsing any of that since i know nothing about them, just took a quick look at possible options at B&H.

the noise floor is probly gonna be your biggest consideration since you're going to want that as low as possible especially for the animations. take a trip to your local music store and try out a few is the best advise i can give. you don't have to buy anything from them but you'll be able to hear for yourself what you're looking at.