Hello tapers,
As one of the members of our small choir (20+ members), I want to make recordings of rehearsals and concerts. We sing mostly a capella, baroque, standing in a semi-circle, in a small church.
Soon I'll get m-audio Microtrack II. I intend to buy some cardioids along, probably a SE Electronics 3A stereo-pair.
I have some questions:
- does anyone have comments on these microphones? Any alternative in this budget? (400 E).
- do I need a pre-amp, and why?
- what setup do you recommend for the mics ?
Thank you for your suggestions,
Marko
I'm sorry, i should have introduced myself first.
I'm a newbie from the Netherlands. I was trying to find an alternative for my MD to make some live recordings, and your forum made me yearn for more... ;)
OKTAVA MK-012 MSP6 is a set of 2 mic bodies and 3 matched pairs of capsules; omni, cardioid and hypercardioid. Great value, not much over 400€, and you can arrange almost all stereo pairs from these (excluding MS and Bluemlein of course).
Would getting a ProTools LE with Mbox2 be a better choice than the Microtrack II for this kind of recording? The price is about the same, but you get a professional caliber editing/HDD recording system for about the same price. Of course you would need a laptop to run it.
Thank you for your suggestions, Petrus! I read good reviews on the MK-012, so maybe I will buy these!
The MTII might also be used for stealth recordings, or for catching some outdoor sounds on one of my trips with the binaurals I once bought from Sound Professionals (SP-TFB-2). Furthermore: I don't have a laptop, alas.
Does anyone have any experience with the new SE Electronics SE 4 matched pair? They have the same price as the MK-12 MSP6, and the same characteristics as the SE3, and have also matched pairs of capsules for omni, cardioid and hypercardioid. I don't know if I would ever use the hyper-cardioid ones, but it would be nice to experiment with omni's and cardioids.
How about just using the new Sony PCM-D50 (http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/digitalmedia/2008/01/10/sony-pcm-d50-recorder-review.html?page=1)?
I have had good luck recording choral groups using boundary mics. you may want to think about this option if you don't have any intention of recording anything else.
thank you all for your suggestions
i'll look into the mics soon
for this moment i'm a little confused about what to do about the MT2:
i read that there's a serious flaw with the 1/4" input recording
and that was my first intention of using this recorder:
that i could plug 2 reasonably priced condensers (like the OKTAVA MK-012 MSP6) into the gem. would an additional small 2-channel preamp make any difference?
or should i cancel my order and go for another recorder?
what solution with condenser mics for a amateur on a budget is te be recommended?
if you can you should rent some gear until you find what's suitable.
thank you all for your input
i've bought me a pair of oktava mk012 mics along with my microtrack ii recorder
my tests at home so far were very satisfying
tomorrow i'll start taping choir rehearsals :)