Topic: Rank Newbie Needs Help

[Johnhardy1]

Thanks in advance!

Where I stand: I already have a Zoom H5 studio. The main reason I bought it was to record myself and my wife playing acoustic guitar and mandolin and singing. The 2nd reason was to record live shows which Ive done twice now. I’ve been basically satisfied with the quality though both recordings suffer a bit in spots with a small amount of clipping and wind noise. Both issues i think I’ll be able to solve with lower gain levels and a windscreen. Both shows were moderately loud (jamband & jamgrass stuff).
My main issue is too much crowd noise. I was able to output decent files in audacity but still too much crowd noise.

So my newbie brain tells me …new mics and a new, taller mic stand. From what I’ve been able to gather from here and google searches I should be looking at supercardoid or hypercardoid mics. I can see how this could get expensive!
Do you think it’s possible that $500 - $600 can get me what I need? ….2 mics, stereo bar, mic stand, cables etc? Is that realistic?

Whatever suggestions or newbie info I can get from y’all will be greatly appreciated.

John

[kliked]

You didn't mention the environment you are recording in, but I'm guessing Super/Hyper cards probably aren't the answer.  Where those do well is recording from a good distance inside arenas. Because they are so directional, they reject a lot of reverberant noise, which probably isn't your problem.

Getting above the crowd will help, and windscreens are a must outside, but if you have a chatty crowd, there is only so much you can do. If you want to invest in mics, just buy a good pair of cardioids. A long time ago a friend told "90% of the time cards are the right choice and they are never the wrong choice." You can get a pair of Line Audio CM4s for around $600, and if you are patient and watch the yard sale, you can find other good deals.

[Melanie]

Tall lighting stand is a must if recording in open situations very much, hat trick for all else.