Will this setup be ok?

[Heal Nations]

ok I've been playing the guitar for a while and I have been writing songs. When I shared my songs with my friends I had to export the tab to midi and have them listen to the bad sounding midi file. I recently found a program that supports multi-track recording so I wanted to make a good demo to give to my friends and the people I will probably be in a band with. Will someone who has experience in the field of recording tell me what quality of sound I will get from this setup.

$25 dynamic omnidirectional microphone from radio shack

cord that comes with mike

adapter that will convert the 1/4 inch cable to 1/8 computer jack

computer (not sure what sound card I have, just the one that came with computer)

Kristal Audio Engine


I'm not looking for the most proffesional sound but i want it to be decent. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks! :thumb:

[10571z]

if u want a better sound... you should get...

mixer
sm 58

and itll sound alot better

[Heal Nations]

bout how much would a decen't mixer be?

[airborne50caliber]

Yeah the first thing you should do is forget the idea of running a mic straight into your soundcard. You need something to convert the mic level signal into line level: a mixer, standalone preamp or audio interface. If you get a little two-channel usb interface the sound will be much better than if you run into your soundcard, so if you can. do that. Otherwise get a little mixer and run the outputs into your soundcard line-in.

A little mixer that will serve your current purpose well could be 40$ to 100$. This is an example:

http://www.mercadolivre.com.br/jm/img?s=MLB&f=31106112_5747.jpg&v=P

An interface would be a bit more. A good one is the Tascam US-122

http://www.comeon.co.jp/shop/audio_if/images/us-122.jpg

Remember the interface will sound better, because you are bypassing the soundcard that came with your computer.

After you are doing things for a while with the cheap dynamic, the best thing would be to upgrade to something like a shure sm57 or sm58. (About 100$)

[airborne50caliber]

Yeah the first thing you should do is forget the idea of running a mic straight into your soundcard. You need something to convert the mic level signal into line level: a mixer, standalone preamp or audio interface. If you get a little two-channel usb interface the sound will be much better than if you run into your soundcard, so if you can. do that. Otherwise get a little mixer and run the outputs into your soundcard line-in.

A little mixer that will serve your current purpose well could be 40$ to 100$. This is an example:

http://www.mercadolivre.com.br/jm/img?s=MLB&f=31106112_5747.jpg&v=P

An interface would be a bit more. A good one is the Tascam US-122

http://www.comeon.co.jp/shop/audio_if/images/us-122.jpg

Remember the interface will sound better, because you are bypassing the soundcard that came with your computer.

After you are doing things for a while with the cheap dynamic, the best thing would be to upgrade to something like a shure sm57 or sm58. (About 100$)

[Heal Nations]

someone plz show me a decent mixer that doesn't exceed $100 dollars... not ready to spend over that yet.... last night recorded a bit of this song with this cheap $5 mic and I really do need this stuff. by the way I need all of this to work with kristal audio. excuse me I'm a noob at this stuff.

[fuzzyhair]

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/241104/
This could work. Because it uses ASIO and so does kristal. Just put your mic in where the guitar line goes and mic the amp like that. Thats about as cheap as you can get. The quality should be okay if not great.

[fuzzyhair]

oh...
this is the thing i just linked you to: Frequency response: 20Hz to 20kHz, +/-0.1dB @ 48kHz sample rate

and this is for a sm-57: Frequency response: 40Hz-15kHz

can someone more experienced tell him if this will work?

[Heal Nations]

I wan't to mic the amp though, not the way without the amp. Any decent mixers? I don' mean get the cheapest thing in the world but I don't want to go over $100.

[fuzzyhair]

I wan't to mic the amp though, not the way without the amp. Any decent mixers? I don' mean get the cheapest thing in the world but I don't want to go over $100.
No just plug the mic into it with an adapter. It costs like $15 and turns the mic end into a 1/4" jack. They sell em at radio shack. Then you can use that little diddy and it should work fine for micing an amp.

[Heal Nations]

ok but I could just convert the 1/4 inch line with an 1/8 inch converter and plug it straight into my computer

[fuzzyhair]

ok but I could just convert the 1/4 inch line with an 1/8 inch converter and plug it straight into my computer
It buzzes a lot. Wait it might work. Try it but make sure its in your line in, not mic in. If that works then you are set.

[10571z]

get a behringer 2 track mixer.... there like 80 bucks australian... so like 50 american...there quite good

[Heal Nations]

2 track means u can record 2 things at once right. (I said I was a noob)

[fuzzyhair]

2 track means u can record 2 things at once right. (I said I was a noob)
I believe so. Also you may want to check out the alesis 6 track usb mixer. Its rather nice. Did you try the line in with the mic?

[Heal Nations]

haven't gotten the good mic yet... I wanna know what I'm buying first before I spend the money and end up dissapointed

[fuzzyhair]

haven't gotten the good mic yet... I wanna know what I'm buying first before I spend the money and end up dissapointed
Well i would buy the mic and send it in the computer line in style. Does your soundcard have a line in?

[Heal Nations]

Well i would buy the mic and send it in the computer line in style. Does your soundcard have a line in?

if you mean a place to plug in a mic... then yes, but it takes 1/8 inch mics so I would use an adapter on the 1/4 plug in.

[TheJarve]

2 track means u can record 2 things at once right. (I said I was a noob)
not necessarily. the recorder i'm getting is an eight track, but it can only record two of them simultaneously. however, on a two track i would expect it to be able to record both of them at once

[Heal Nations]

thnks for the help dudes :chug: . so far this is what I'm thinking about doing. gonna go to radio shack and buy the $25 dollar mic and a small mixer... the mixer plugs into a usb port right.

[TheJarve]

give us a link to the mixer

[Heal Nations]

well this is the only mixer in my price range, doesn't look good though. might have to go to the city to get a good mixer.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102920&cp=2032060&f=Taxonomy%2FRSK%2F2032060&categoryId=2032060&kwCatId=2032060&kw=mixers&parentPage=search

[fuzzyhair]

well this is the only mixer in my price range, doesn't look good though. might have to go to the city to get a good mixer.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102920&cp=2032060&f=Taxonomy%2FRSK%2F2032060&categoryId=2032060&kwCatId=2032060&kw=mixers&parentPage=search
Okay this mixer doesn't have usb, so you are going to have to run it line in, and possibly loose quality. Why not save up a little bit more and buy the alesis 6 track usb. Your quality will be soo much better.

[fuzzyhair]

if you mean a place to plug in a mic... then yes, but it takes 1/8 inch mics so I would use an adapter on the 1/4 plug in.
no, it should have a line in AND a mic in. If you dont have a line in that mixer is pretty useless. If you are on a laptop, and if its anything like mine, it proboably didn't come with a line in.

[Heal Nations]

ok I have one plug in that is definetly a mic in that I have been thinking about using the whole time. it has a pic of a mic under it. another plug I use for headphones. there's one that's labeled composite. the last one has some sort of sound waves with a arrow pointing to the center. I think that is the line in. They are all 1/8 of an inch except for composite.

[fuzzyhair]

ok I have one plug in that is definetly a mic in that I have been thinking about using the whole time. it has a pic of a mic under it. another plug I use for headphones. there's one that's labeled composite. the last one has some sort of sound waves with a arrow pointing to the center. I think that is the line in. They are all 1/8 of an inch except for composite.
the one with the sound waves looking things is the line in. use that for recording. It boosts quality. Try running something into it if you can just to make sure it works, unless you are sure it will work. That mixer should work great for you now!

[Heal Nations]

I'll run my cruddy $2 mic into it

[Heal Nations]

ok I didn't pick up any sound at all. going to check my help thing so I can see what that plug is

[fuzzyhair]

ok I didn't pick up any sound at all. going to check my help thing so I can see what that plug is
are you sure microsoft sound doesnt have it muted?

[Heal Nations]

Not at home right now but I think that's the problem. I remember it was muted on the sound control thing. when I get home I'll try it.

thnks for the help dude

[airborne50caliber]

To whatever was posted above:

--> DON'T buy that dj mixer. Buy a behringer UB series mixer, one of the small ones.

--> Make sure you are plugging your mic into the mixer using a lead with XLR (3 pins) on each end.

--> Make sure you are running from the mixer outputs into the soundcard line-in.

And let's not confuse recorders (Tracks) with mixers (Channels) otherwise we will get some people muddled up for life here.

[fuzzyhair]

To whatever was posted above:

--> DON'T buy that dj mixer. Buy a behringer UB series mixer, one of the small ones.

--> Make sure you are plugging your mic into the mixer using a lead with XLR (3 pins) on each end.

--> Make sure you are running from the mixer outputs into the soundcard line-in.

And let's not confuse recorders (Tracks) with mixers (Channels) otherwise we will get some people muddled up for life here.
Trust this man.

[Heal Nations]

:angry: I unmuted line in and turned up it's volume, then pluged in my cruddy mic and still got no sound, nothing got picked up by Kristal or sound recorder

edit: checked the back of my computer and I found a plug in labeled line in so I'll try that

[Heal Nations]

no didn't work either

[fuzzyhair]

no didn't work either
sorry don't really know what to tell you. Wait for airborne.

[airborne50caliber]

:angry: I unmuted line in and turned up it's volume, then pluged in my cruddy mic and still got no sound, nothing got picked up by Kristal or sound recorder

edit: checked the back of my computer and I found a plug in labeled line in so I'll try that

So wait, are you running a mic directly into line in?

[Heal Nations]

ok found line in. ran a mic into it and it didn't work. no idea what I'm doing.

[airborne50caliber]

ok found line in. ran a mic into it and it didn't work. no idea what I'm doing.

So what happened to the fact that you NEED A PREAMPIFLYING DEVICE?

Anyway, you should be getting a signal, albeit a very weak one. Try and plug your mic into mic in socket. If it doesen't work there is a problem somewhere in the mic or cable connection. Even if it does work, however, we already discussed why you should buy a preamplying device, in the form of a mixer or standalone unit, and plugging its output into the line in.

[Heal Nations]

how small of a signal? and will u show me a link or something of how a preamp device works. I wan't to make sure everything will work out before I buy. Thnks