I need a decent microphone to record my voice, to use it in a short animated film I’m making.
The sound quality has to be clear enough so that I can manipulate it afterwards (pitch shifting, noise reduction, etc) and not lose vital information. I have reasonable software for the recording and editing, but the only microphone I have is cheap plastic rubbish, definitely not up to the task, if my experimentation is anything to go by.
I don’t want to spend $400 on something high end, it’s not quite that level of important, but neither do I want something that won’t do more than the bare minimum. Budget under AU$100, I guess.
Anyone know what I should be looking for? I want specs and brands, rather than locations to source from, as I will be buying it locally here in Melbourne.
You don’t say whether you will be talking or singing. If you are using it for narration, the ElectroVoice 635 is a good, inexpensive choice. It’s rugged and used in a lot of news-gathering applications.
For your purposes, you’re not going to do better than the Blue Snowball. With any other microphone, you’re going to need a preamp or audio interface to run the mic through, but the Snowball actually has a USB cable that plugs right into your computer. Blue is a company that makes some seriously high-end boutique microphones (we used their $5,000 “Bottle” on our last record), and that’s trickled down to their budget line.
I was looking for a good microphone (I played in a 5 piece band) and asked my brother-in-law’s advice. I told him I had $400 to spend.
“Get the SM58,” he said. “You can’t go wrong. You can beat the hell out of it and it will still love you. Then go out with the rest of your money and splurge on something for you.”
Sure enough, Guitar Center had the SM58 on sale for $68.00. That was in 1996 and I’m still using that SM58. Incredible mic. Simple, and sounds great.
In looking around, seems like everyone has it at $99.00. Still a great deal. Snap one up and enjoy the natural sound it produces.
I only own two microphones. One is a Shure SM58 and the other is a Shure SM57. They enjoy a stellar reputation in the sound industry and have for decades.
Can you tell us where to get a good U47 for less than AU$100? I checked on ebay and there’s one for $US1250.
For just over the budget in the OP, there is one thing you could get, the:
Microphone Storage Box for Neumann U47/ U48 Short Body
Luxurious cherry wood Box for Neumann U47/ U48 Short
eta: Looks like other people pointed this out as well.
If you spent $400, you’re probably feel ripped off. It takes a well trained ear to tell the difference between a $100 mic and anything more expensive. Anything less is truly rubbish.
That one’s a CAD and not a Neumann. A lot of manufacturers like to compare their expensive mics to a Neumann, but none of them sound like one. Last year I did an A-B test with a U87 freshly retuned by the factory, and six other mics, worth over a grand each, including that CAD. None was even close.
A decent large diaphragm condenser is going to give a response that is dramatically different than an SM57/8. I don’t think the difference is only discernable to a well-trained ear.
I’m with Eonwe. The SM58 is ok for general recording and great for live, but for speaking I would look at a large diaphram condenser mic. There are a ton out there that would do the trick at a fairly low cost (but you might need to power it).
Good point. Your ‘infrastructure’ requirements are going to be higher with a condenser (need phantom power), though since every cheap two bit whore of a mixer seems to have it these days, you’re probably all right.
Eh. We’re in IMHO, that was MHO. IMHO $400 isn’t going to get you any more decent of an LDC than $100. At the same price point, the biggest difference between a decent dynamic and a decent condenser is lower output and less background noise rejection.
He’s doing speech, at $400 he could get a Sennheiser MD421 which would do a much better job than a condenser.
