usb mics

[lejaz]

I'm looking to purchase a usb mic. Samson, mxl/marshall, blue snowball, etc., are all fairly inexpensive conderser mics available on e-bay for around 100 bucks. does anyone have any experience with these? I own a sennheiser dynamic mic and was considering getting the emu 0202 usb interface and using this mic, but I figured I'd get a better sound with a usb condenser mic going directly into my laptop. Any advice?

thanks

[Ricky52]

Hey lejaz,

Saw your question about the USB mic's and thought I would give you my 2 cents on them since I own the Samson CO1U. I do not know what kind of recording you are doing which will affect the type of mic you may really need, but here goes.

If you are just doing simple home recordings (family history or kids, etc.) and your not too concerned about the quality the USB is easy to use and hook up. The quality will be better than any standard computer mic. If you also have audio editing sofftware, you can clean it up even more. Generally, condenser mic's use 48V phantom power to boost its power. USB will not do that.

If you are going to do some fairly serious recording, go for some that isn't USB... I did within a day or two of buying the Samson. I bought the MXL 990 and 991 and a Lamda Lexicon usb interface that supplied the phantom power and it works great. The 990 turned out to be too sensitive for where I live so I now own a Shure PG48 which works well for me.

If you can give us all a little more info (what other equipment and what you will be doing) that would be great. These senior guys can then really zero in for you.

Ricky 52

[lejaz]

Thanks much for your reply! I should have mentioned that I have no line input on my laptop. That's why I want to go usb. With the emu 0202 usb interface I think I would have phantom power for a condenser mic, but I would probably first try my sennheiser dynamic mic. You can hear the sound I'm getting with the sennheiser 835(I think) on "In the Ghetto" or "Teary Eyes" on my SoundClick site http://www.soundclick.com/lejaz (click 'music' in the navigation bar) I used Acid pro 4.0 software for most of my songs on SClick.

[brandondrury]

You may want to read one of my previous blogs:

Why I Don't Recommend USB Microphones

Almost all the problems of USB are in the latency department. If you are just capturing an event and do not need to overdub, USB may be fine.

Brandon

[lejaz]

Thanks Brandon. That pretty much settles the issue...excellent article. I almost got suckered in by reading a couple of good reviews...what they probably left out were all the bad reviews!

[brandondrury]

Well, I don't want to make it sound like a USB mic is a bad thing. It is not. However, if your needs involve overdubbing or monitoring through headphones, the USB mics aren't going to cut it.

If you just wanted to record a live performance of a band with a single mic, the USB mic is a solid choice.

Brandon

[lejaz]

I think your article mentioned the pre-amps and A/D converters as being 'iffy' in the usb mics. I imagine I would get much better quality of those with a decent usb interface, plus I may want to overdub vocal harmonies and record midi, so I'm looking at the emu 0404 usb interface at the moment, since it's under 200 bucks new on e-bay. Are you familiar with that one? http://www.myspace.com/lejaz

[brandondrury]

The Emu 0404 is a popular audio interface.

Try using my Home Recording Soundcard Wizard. It'll help you find the best audio interface for your needs. Look in my signature.

Brandon

[Lance Lawson]

I considered a USB M-Audio mic but being a USB you're limited to only using it on the computer. Since I'm using both computer and a stand alone digital recorder I've decided that it makes more sense to get conventional condenser mics.