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https://www.akg.com/Microphones/Condenser%20Microphones/C516ML.html
https://www.akg.com/Microphones/Dynamic%20Microphones/3100H00150.html
The guy selling me a Leslie has offered me them for 150£. They’re part of his kit for micing the tweeter and woofer.
They're a bit specialised, and not particularly cheap (C516 is 88.20 new on Amazon, P2 is £74.11). I'd pass.
I'd get an SM57 (they're very versatile) and see how you go. Maybe get one or two (for stereo) small-diaphragm condenser mics if funds stretch to it.
I can make you cables . (A 5m XLR with Neutrik plugs and VanDamme cable is around £19 + delivery).
R.
Eqd Speaker Cranker clone
Monte Allums TR-2 Plus mod kit
Trading feedback: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/60602/
I wonder why GarageBand isn’t included on my Mac. I’ll see if I can download a copy. It makes sense using software at least one of us is familiar with; next stop, Reaper.
The Rode M3, and the matched pair of M5 should set you back about £200 for the 3, along with your Sm58, that would cover a lot of stuff.
Mics can get very expensive, and you are probably looking at a couple of hundred each for the next step up in quality.
A matched pair of 414s will cost you 2 grand, and the Rode Nt, which are what the M5 are based on, are about twice the price of the M5.
A big part of this is being versatile, and working to limitations, in my case budget. I wanted to record my band, at gigs and rehearsals and got a Zoom R16 for the job, I know it isnt the best quality peice of gear, but for the £200 it cost me it has been very useful, 8 mic inputs-2 with phantom power, 2 built in stereo condensers, works off batteries, records at high quality and sample rates- for its price, ALSO works as an 8 input interface, and control surface.
Our drummer has a cheap set of drum mics, but I used my matched pair to get used to them for recording live, all other inputs were used for 2 guitars-via Sm57s, vocals via SM58, and bass Di. It works a charm, its not the best gear out there-but you would have to spend a lot more than £200 to get much of an improvement in gear, standard for a while has been the Behringer X18 I think, which is about double the cost.
Say for example you meet a drummer and want to get some ideas down, thats not easy if you only have a 2 input interface, so I think it helps to have options available, as early as possible, at a reasonable price--if only for the experience you will gain from doing as much recording, in as many ways as possible.
Band Stuff: https://navigationofficial.bandcamp.com/album/silhouette-ep
also I spent some time over Christmas resurrecting my old MBP early 2008 non unibody. There is a guy who has worked tirelessly to make an easy install of Later Apple Operating systems on to old unsupported Macs.
that era probably does not support any browsers anymore and lots of software is starting grumble. I used the Dosdude patcher to put High Sierra or Mojave onto the machine as a clean install and it was like getting a new machine everything seemed to get a performance bump even the graphics and screen rendering looked way better. Well worth the time I even donated to his tip jar well worth 20 dollars to get a 12 year old dead end Mac singing like a well oiled machine
I have one, it works fine, and has a lot of features for the money. Nice preamps and general sound quality too, but not sure I'd recommend it to someone new to the world of recording, as it's a little bit complicated and not always totally intuitive to use.
I've cleaned up the mac (I just need to figure out how to keep photos stored on an external disc as 90GB is taking up space) by transferring all non-essentials to external discs. Once I've got my translation work done, I'll get the mac updated with some extra RAM, a clean re-install, and substitute the broken dvd-drive for an extra ssd drive.
There is also a tempting option of getting an iMac. However, I think there will always be a tempting option at any future date so best to wait until this mac is on its last legs. Yes, the ports don't give many options (I assume Universal Audio Apollo is out of the question).
@stuckfast has reminded me that I have a tendency to go with the best when just fine is fine enough. I love the look and options offered by UA Apollo or Audiofuse though they provide more than I probably need.
@andy_k also reminded me that I'm doing this to record and not necessarily mix or compose. Perhaps a zoom r16 or Behringer or the like would provide a more permanent and comfortable recording interface (it will always be ready to record). I assume the raw tracks will be easily transferable on a memory card or the like to my Mac and the DAW.
What is the recording quality of such a portable recording suite vs recording directly to a mac?
If good money was spent on a mid-quality mic and a pre amp, would it be wasted plugging into a zoom?
The Zoom L8 looks interesting. I like its application for creating podcasts and it would allow me to set up a mini studio for voice over work.
Any thoughts on this option and any recommendations for hardware?
These days, most people work at 24bit 48khz, which just gives more headroom when mixing, and most MP3 bounces I do are 320k, which is considered equal to CD quality. Pro studios are using 96k and upwards-but our consumer hardware is not really up to the task.
I know Zoom released an updated version-which has its pros and cons-con 1 being it is around twice the price, but the original R16, and R24 were, and still are highly rated for bang for buck-and can be got for around £200 if you are lucky.
The manual is freely available, and would answer all you questions.
cheers
andy k
8 mic inputs is enough for getting ideas down, I think the L12 adds more inputs and loses some of the features from the R16, but they are all really easy to get into, like I said-bang for buck.
The maximum inputs at any time will be Stereo (organ or piano) or a double mic'd amp. So, @robinbowes offer of the firestudio should work (do you have a 600-800 firewire cable?). If there's no problem using it with Garageband or Reaper, this could well be the way to go.
The sm58 is a regular 1/4" jack. Is XLR better? Vandamme certainly sounds a good solution.
I have a single mic stand so that should do for now.
I'll need to get decent headphones and then I'll be up and running.
If it is a TS (mono) jack, then an XLR will be better as it will be a balanced connection (lower noise). If it's a TRS jack, then it should work OK, assuming it's good quality cable and well-built.
FYI, the Firestudio has just two mic/instrument inputs on the front, but has 6 line inputs on the back.
R.
Eqd Speaker Cranker clone
Monte Allums TR-2 Plus mod kit
Trading feedback: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/60602/
Then I'd consider getting a Native instruments Komplete Audio 6 Mk II interface - not only a brilliant bit of kit, but it comes bundled with a shedload of good software, including Komplete Essentials.
Thanks @Snap I’ll try it when I upgrade mentally from the work flow of garage.