USB Mics

Well i figure i have enough instruments to start a band but only one person so its time for a mic lol Im looking into inexpensive (no more than fifty bucks, i know its not much) usb mics. Im leaning towards a blue snowball, seems to receive pretty decent reviews! Any advice or experiences with this or other brands? Also what is your go to free recording/mixing program thats fairly user friendly?

I've been looking into this too.

Audacity is the software of choice, or you can use GarageBand if you have a mac.

From what I've read, it's better to buy a portable recorder than a USB mic. Zoom and Tascam seem popular, many allow multi track recording, etc. The Tascam DR-40 is what I've been eyeing off, with adjustable inbuilt mics and plugs to connect better microphones down the track.

That said, you're looking at more than fifty bucks at that point. With the Australia Tax bumping prices up, I'm probably looking at $100+ either way, so no keeping it below budget here. :/

I have no experience with that microphone. it seemed fine from my investigations on youtube for a vocal mic but i think it might not pick up sound from a ukulele a couple feet away(could be wrong but seemed to not have much gain.) I would love to find out otherwise though. It does have the cardoid setting you desire.

I saved up an extra month and bought a blue yeti for a hundred bucks shipped. I am very satisfied with it and it is somewhat plug and play(expect to eventually buy monitor earphones for playback without unplugging your mic all the time between takes.) The gain is so sensitive on the yeti that i have it turned down the entire way and usually have it a couple feet away, only to come closer with quieter strumming and singing.

free audio manipulation tools are fine from what I understand whether you have a mac or pc. I have a pc and use audacity to my satisfaction. I also like the added utility called "video to audio converter" that does what it says(audacity doesn't let you manipulate video files.) On top of these, I use another free program in windows called "movie maker" to edit the final video.