In the market for a new microphone (need advice)

[Goldwell]

Hey I don't know how many of you guys are audio pros (i'm a complete newbie when it comes to this sort of stuff) but basically I am looking to put a couple of hundred dollars into getting a nicer sound.

 

I have talked with a friend of mine and he recommended the following which look great and I was wondering if anyone had any input or understanding on the matter.

 

I am looking basically for a microphone that can capture the bass and has pretty much no/minimum background noise. At the moment I have to use Audacity to edit out my background noise and I find that the audio quality suffers a little bit because of that.

 

 

Here are the two products I had in mind.

 

Shure SM58S microphone - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001I2DB14/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A16TJW7X82VNF

TASCAM US-200 2-in/4-out USB 2.0 Audio Interface - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004OA6JV6/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

Thanks!

[Mortem Desino]

Background noise-wise, it's only as good as the room you record in.

 

Self-noise-wise, It's only as good as the interface you record with. I've used Shure's X2U interface for over a year now, and it's pretty robust. It even made for great foley field recording. Shure even sells it bundled with some of their microphones. I've never used that particular interface. TASCAM is mostly budget equipment, but that looks fine to me. A hobbyist musician friend of mine has used the TASCAM US-1800, and it's good enough, which is all he asked for, and all he needs.

 

And the Shure SM58 mic has been an industry standard for decades. It's specifically engineered for vocals, so nobody can complain about that choice.

[Obsttorte]

I recently bought a microphone for 8€. You can her the result in the last youtube video of mine.

 

I know, not helpful

[PranQster]

Check out the USB "Snowball Microphone", by Blue. I tested one for a customer on my linux laptop, and was impressed by the quality & clarity. Granted I only tested it for a minute or two in audacity. It has a 3-way switch on the back for input level.

Obviously, you can't plug it straight into a mixer, since it's usb, but it is a rather good quality, clear mic.

[Mortem Desino]

Check out the USB "Snowball Microphone", by Blue. I tested one for a customer on my linux laptop, and was impressed by the quality & clarity. Granted I only tested it for a minute or two in audacity. It has a 3-way switch on the back for input level.

Obviously, you can't plug it straight into a mixer, since it's usb, but it is a rather good quality, clear mic.

+1 for the Blue Snowball. I believe a large chunk of vocals for The Nameless Mod was recorded on one of those.

 

I'm a big fan of almost all of the microphones made by BLUE -- particularly the Yeti Pro for mobile recording (For a swiss-army-knife microphone, it actually sounds pretty fair), the enCORE series of handhelds, and the Bluebird.

 

I've also heard that their brand new Blue Nessie is a great-sounding idiot-proof USB mic.