How affordable can decent sound recording equipment be?

Cafe Society
1

Of course, YMMV as far as what “decent” means here. But right now, using my laptop and headset’s microphones, the best I was able to achieve is this:

The strings sound a lot tinnier than they did IRL and there’s some kind of strange distortion I don’t know how to describe, like the whole recording of the string instrument track sounds like it’s got kind of a wave washing through it.

I’m just wondering if there are cheap microphones I could buy that might give me at least better results. I’m not even looking for “good.”

2

That doesn’t sound so bad. A little reverb might help.

3

I’m not going to download a program to listen to your clip, but I can offer a few suggestions.

Record as a .wav file at least 44K.

Record “flat” with no enhancement or equalization. You can tinker with that on playback.

How “cheap” are you looking for? A cheap voice microphone can cost you $19.95. An Electro-Voice EV-635 (it was good enough for Elvis!) lists at $139. If all you want is to pick up violin strings, it looks like you can do that for$36.

4

It really depends on what you are trying to do. What are you recording? Instruments? Vocals? A group together, or you by yourself?

You can get a cheap USB audio interface for under $100, with inputs for microphones, instruments, MIDI devices, etc. I use a focusRight 2i2 audio interface that I paid $149 for, and I use that for guitar and vocals. A cheap DAW will allow you to multitrack if that’s what you want to do. I also have a condenser microphone and a Shure SM58 clone dynamic microphone. The whole setup was about $300.

5

If you’re doing solo guitar and vocals you can just get a usb mic.

6

I have a Zoom H2N that I like pretty well. Surprisingly good direct in recording, also does live recording pretty well. I’m not an audiophile so take that with a grain or two of salt.

7

Out of curiosity, what program was it asking you to download? For me and others who have listened it just autoplayed.

8

I don’t mess w/ any of the electronics, but I play w/ several folk who do, and have often been impressed w/ the quality of sound they’ve been able to get w/ what they say is relatively inexpensive gear.

I play in a 3-5-piece string band. We occasionally record in a living room w/ a nice mic plugged into a computer. I could ask how much the mic cost, but I assume under $150. Not sure what program she uses. The most important thing is figuring out where to place the mic w/ which settings, and where to place the instruments. But with a single mic, we are able to get very good sound and definition of 5 separate acoustic instruments, and pretty faithful vocal reproduction.

Even inexpensive digital recorders can give decent (not great) results if you tweak adjustments, mic placement, playing volume, etc.

9

Yeah, almost anything will get you better quality than the computer mic.

The Blue Yeti USB mic is a good piece of kit at $100, and a pretty reliable/widely used brand in this space.

If you think you want multiple mics and such, then an audio interface plus mics like Sam Stone recommended would be the way to go. But, for simplicity and ease of use, a single usb mic plugged into the laptop is going to deliver what you need.

10

I can only give you a few suggestions based on my (long-ago) experience with both home and studio recording in the non-digital age.

Use the best mics you can afford, which will probably mean non-USB mics and a USB audio interface (perhaps FocusRite or Behringer). Don’t skimp on the mic stands/mounting hardware, either. Having a boom stand makes it a lot easier to find the sweet spot(s). And you might be surprised at how cheaply you can pick up good, used mics. Musicians are always moving up to better equipment and passing on their old stuff to finance the new.

Use monitor headphones and buy the best you can afford. Plus, use a monitor quality headphone amp. Makes all the difference in the world when you’re locating your mic(s). (Am I repeating myself? Moving a mic several inches can change EVERYTHING.)

After you’ve positioned everything and checked it out with your headphones, just record to WAV files. In my (limited) experience, there’s nothing at this stage that will have a significant impact on sound quality. If the analog to digital conversion is decently designed, you’ve done everything you can.

11

If you are recording the guitar into the laptop mic and the vocals into the headset mic simultaneously (singing and playing guitar at the same time), you are most likely getting some phasing and/or time delay on the recording, especially if they are recording to a single mono track. That might account for the funny sound you mentioned.

Also, if possible, try recording the guitar part with the headset mic and vocals with the laptop mic. You won’t be able to hear yourself while recording since you’ll probably have to remove the headset to do it and place it near the guitar, but if you can, you’ll see how much better your guitar will sound, I think. You might have to cover the ear cups to prevent feedback. If you’re using only the headset mic for both voice and guitar, then never mind…