best way to record?

liverlipsyyz

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 10, 2008
Messages
119
Reaction score
0
Location
Toronto
i'm thinking of purchasing a mic so i can record some of my uke tunes and singing. does anyone have a recommended set-up? i have a video camera and will be using a PC. any software i should get? should i just record with the video camera sound or should i get a mic? thanks!
 
There are many options. It depends on your budget and the results you're after.

I use a small Alesis mixer and one or two Shure mics. The mixer goes into my laptop's line-in. Sometimes I just play and "sing" (ahem...) into one mic, but quite often I'll use a condenser for the instrument and a dynamic for the vocal.

For software I used to use Cubase 4.5, but never really liked it. These days I either just use Audacity or Goldwave for simple "live" recordings where instrument and vocal are laid down at the same time, or Magix Music Maker 15 for multi track arranging and mixing down.

Music Maker is great. Easy and cheap, but with plenty of features for home recording. I prefer it over Cubase.

If you don't want to use a mixer or other add-on interface then many here use USB mics such as the Snowball and get great results.
 
I am a big advocate of using a stand-alone digital recorder, preferably one that has some sort of removable storage media that can then be inserted into a desktop computer or laptop. In the computer, you can do the final mix and also burn CDs. The advantage of that method is that stand-alone recording units are much quieter than PCs or Mac computers, either one, and you can avoid issues with latency or signal-to-noise ratio problems on many soiund cards and motherboard inputs.

Digital recorders are now getting to be the sort of quality where you can come close to the sound that old analog gear used to produce.

Either way, though, a good mic pre-amp and high-quality mics are a big asset. Condensers are best for acoustic instruments and vocals.
 
This is really low tech, but I use a mic from a skype stand that has a mini jack (like the popular head/earphone size) which I simply plug into the "mic" jack on my laptop. Then I use a free application called Audacity, which seems to work fine for me. Here's a link to some of my MP3's. I hope they sound OK to you.

http://www.4shared.com/file/118553383/e5d52e6c/SUPA.html

click on my email address next to my profile picture to access more MP3's and song files.
 
The zoom h4 is great. Its a portable digital recorder with 4 tracks(infinite if you bounce the tracks onto a new project), has some great effects, 2 1/4" line ins for guitars or mics, but the onboard stereo condenser mics are really great quality. And at 230 bucks, you can't beat it for the price, been usin it for close to a year now and I'm super happy with it. I don't need any mixers or audio software unless I wanna create something super complex.
 
i'm thinking of purchasing a mic so i can record some of my uke tunes and singing. does anyone have a recommended set-up? i have a video camera and will be using a PC. any software i should get? should i just record with the video camera sound or should i get a mic? thanks!
I have 2 condenser mics which plug into a Behringer mixer with optional phantom power which I plug into the computer. I picked it up at Guitar Center for $60I also use Magix Music Maker 15 for audio editing. Like others mentioned, you can also get Audacity which is free.
 
I went to school for recording in Boston. It's definitely not the cheapest option, but for my home setup I use Pro Tools with a Digi003 interface. I find that a pencil condenser sounds great on my uke and a large condenser works great for my vocals. I'm currently using an AKG C451 (for the uke) and a Blue Blueberry (for the vocals).
 
Last edited:
I record with Zoom H2. Fairly Cheap solution, records mp3 or wave format, directionnal, stereo or surround recording directly on flash SD card, and the quality is very good... It is very portable thus i also use it for concert recording in addition to my camcorder.
 
does all this work with video? i want to post to youtube. i'm thinking maybe i just buy a mic for my video camera (to get better sound) or do i need to record on to my pc and then sinc up the video? i want to make this easy.
 
does all this work with video? i want to post to youtube. i'm thinking maybe i just buy a mic for my video camera (to get better sound) or do i need to record on to my pc and then sinc up the video? i want to make this easy.

Most of the solutions presented here will require you to synchronize audio and video together. It's not as hard as you might think, but if you don't want to do it, don't do it.

I don't know anything about good microphones for camcorders. Sorry I can't help you there.
 
Im shopping for a new mic at the moment but the Blue Blueberry is about £750!!!!:eek:

I tempted to buy the Shure 55SH2 vintage for gigging, any thoughts please, anybody use one?
http://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/shop/view_product.php?product=shu55sh2

Or any cheaper decent alternatives would be much appreciated

I haven't used this mic but haven't heard great things about it either. For cheaper, great "bang-for-your-buck" mics I like Rode and Audio Technica. You might want to look at the Rode NT1A (large diaphragm), Rode NT5 (pencil condenser), or the Audio Technica AT2020 (medium diaphragm).

As far as the Blueberry, I got mine from eBay for about $650 US. New, they run about $1000 US. I've done shootouts between the Blueberry and the Neumann U87 and, even though the U87 usually wins, the Blueberry always comes close and is 1/3 the price.
 
does all this work with video? i want to post to youtube. i'm thinking maybe i just buy a mic for my video camera (to get better sound) or do i need to record on to my pc and then sinc up the video? i want to make this easy.

First, pros don't use on-camera mics when it comes to music videos... The best solution is to follow their example. You play the tune on some sound system that you can hear well. You play along with it and sing with it while running the video camera. Start the video editing software and drag and drop the audio track into the software and move it around until you are perfectly in sync. Since you played to the music while video taping, it is easy to get the timing right. This is how videos made in various locations are pieced together easily for big-time performers.

Second, if you must use an on-camera microphone, there are vibration dampening mounts that can be purchased. Check BHPhoto in NYC. http://www.bhphoto.com
 
With my Comfortably Numb video I used a Blue Snowball mic and Mixcraft software. Both are so incredibly easy to use. I need to position the mic better for my next video, but I think it still sounds okay considering my lack of talent.

Might as well get used to the idea of syncing the audio and video if you want good audio.
 
This is really low tech, but I use a mic from a skype stand that has a mini jack (like the popular head/earphone size) which I simply plug into the "mic" jack on my laptop. Then I use a free application called Audacity, which seems to work fine for me. Here's a link to some of my MP3's. I hope they sound OK to you.

http://www.4shared.com/file/118553383/e5d52e6c/SUPA.html

click on my email address next to my profile picture to access more MP3's and song files.

i do it the same way^^
skype headsets have a really good recording quality :)
and if you cant afford a really good microphone, its the only way x)
 
Well the best way to record is through ProTools 8 on a Mac computer. But that costs a lot of money. lol.

A cheap way, would be to just get a usb-1/4" input cord and get another usb mic, shouldn't cost too much money. Might have some latency though.
 
I am a big advocate of using a stand-alone digital recorder, preferably one that has some sort of removable storage media that can then be inserted into a desktop computer or laptop. In the computer, you can do the final mix and also burn CDs. The advantage of that method is that stand-alone recording units are much quieter than PCs or Mac computers, either one, and you can avoid issues with latency or signal-to-noise ratio problems on many soiund cards and motherboard inputs.

Digital recorders are now getting to be the sort of quality where you can come close to the sound that old analog gear used to produce.

Either way, though, a good mic pre-amp and high-quality mics are a big asset. Condensers are best for acoustic instruments and vocals.

This sounds like a great idea; I've been getting a little down on my computer fan noise coming through, plus a little portability would be nice.

I'm thinking of taking a briefcase and mounting mics inside, with a digital recorder of some sort. Open it up and start recording.

Cueing is the problem I have now, to add more parts, you have to listen to the original.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom