Could someone recommend a microphone for recording singing?

Lynn

Hi Everyone,

I am a newbie so my apologies if this subject is covered elsewhere if you would be so kind as to please direct me to the proper thread, I did not see it. I'd like to be able to record my singing lessons so I can tell if I'm performing Ken's instructions properly, and I'm having difficulty deciphering the best device for that purpose. I'm unsure of the difference between a digital voice recorder (such as the Zoom) versus a microphone (such as Sony or Olympus). I think what I want is something with a USB connector to my computer and a headphone audio jack so I can hear myself in real time. I can find those things but beyond that the reviews I'm reading tend to say things like good for interviews and podcasts or good for big concert events or studio recording. I'm not clear what would be a good choice to capture singing tone, range, pitch etc. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!

highmtn

That'a a broad question, but a good one. We can tell a lot just by a webcam mic, as long as you listen to what you're recording and judge by the playback whether you need to adjust the mic level or your distance from the mic.

Otherwise, you might buy a small mic mixer with an adapter to go into the mic input jack on your computer. Plug a decent mic into that mixer and plug your headphones into the headphone jack on the mixer. Plug your mp3 or CD player into the mixer and hear your voice and the playback from the mp3 at the same time, and adjust to taste.

I'm sure others have simple ways of doing this as well.

All the Best.

Bob

Lynn

Thanks for your help!

highmtn

If you want a good all-around microphone, the Shure SM58 is probably one of the most used mics you'll ever find. It's not ready to plug into a USB, though. It's a standard Professional mic for live performance, to be plugged into a mic mixer and sound system, and they cost about a hundred dollars. You can go up in quality or down in quality from there, but that's a good starting mic, and lots of people use them for their entire singing career.

Bob

NeilS

Late to the party - hopefully not resurrecting a zombie thread here.

There's lots of choices for USB mics which plug right into your computer. Like Samson's Go Portable or Meteorite for $40 to $50, Blue makes the Yeti for $150 - same price as the Audio Technica AT 2020, Shure has the retro looking MV51 for $200, same price as the Blue Spark, Sennheiser has one at $400. The more you spend the more it will do - but personally I wouldn't go more than $200 for a USB mic.

If you think you might want to do real recording look at a USB input such as the Presonus AudioBox USB or Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 for $99 and then get something like a condenser mic.

There is also a deal on for the Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 with mic and headphones (and cables) for $220 USD. That would do you for recording for a long time. It comes with some basic but decent software to get you going. Count on some time learning the software to get reasonable recordings though.