JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Microphone and Vocalist Forum Studio Microphone with great Amplification

I posted about a month ago and got some great advice and I can't seem to find the post anymore. If I can ask this question one more time, because now I am actually ready to buy something.
I have an MXL 990 and find the amplification is very bad. Some mics, you can whisper and it comes through so loud and crystal clear. Yet mine, I have to sing loud to get the vocals even heard slightly and the music always overpowers the voice. I think I remember the Behringer was recommended and the Shure. My price allowance is no more than $500.00 and it is only for a simple home studio. If you can please suggest a make and model of a couple mics that may already have great amplification and clarity, but if you think I need an amplifier too, please suggest a good one with a reasonable price. Thanks. I got that stimulus check, so now I have something to put towards a good microphone.
Michelle

Looking at the MXL 990 in a catalog it says it is a Condenser Mic of which means you need either a preamp, if you don't already have one, or what is known as phantom power.

I will let someone else recommend a preamp that shouldn't cost more than a hundred dollars. You might go to a local music store for what you need. I see a unit that may work in a Musician's Catalog listed as TUBE MP PROJECT SERIES PREAMP. You can go to their Web Site to see if it or something simular is avaliable.

I just looked at your Mic on Musicians Friend Web Site. If you go and look at your Mic you will see Recommended Accessories on down the page. You will see ART TUBE MP STUDIO MIC PREAMP for about 30 dollars. You will need that for your Mic as it states you will need Phantom Power on the Web Site. Get the Pre Amp and you will be set. See we here at JP Folks aim to please!

Well things get a bit complex. There are 2 postings on the Web Site for the MXL 990 Mic.

One Shows a package of two Mics with Audio Buddy.
The other one shows the Mic with a Shock Mount.
If you have the Audio Buddy it is a Pre Amp. If you don't have it you need a Pre Amp of which is listed on the one with the Shock Mount. The one with the Shock Mount lists the Pre Amp you will need.

Hi Michelle!

Tell us a little bit about your recording setup?
And, when you record, are you playing & singing at the same time?

I've learned some "stuff" about mikes from the ground up since I joined JPF a while back. Right now, I'm very pleased with my Shure Beta 87A, which is a *condenser* mic. That's an important word - write it down and take it with you when you go shopping. The Shure (and others similar to it) is well within your price range, and if you can find a great sale, you may be able to pick it up for around $250. Reg. $$ is around $350 I think.
Here's a link:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Shure-Beta-87A-Supercardioid-Condenser-Mic?sku=270168


For my setup - what I had to go to was an M-Audio input box which has several "line-in" channels, to get a *pre-amp* to go with the *condenser* microphone. I'll explain what this means in a second. Here's a visual & link for you - this is the one I have, and it runs about $200:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/prod...bile-USB-Audio-MIDI-Interface?sku=241710


You'll also need a mike cable, and it's important to get decent ones. I like Mogami.

OK. Look at the box up there. The mike plugs in with a *standard mike cable* to the front of box. The box plugs into your PC with a USB cable (should be included). The M-Audio box has a pre-amp *built in* but you have to flip the button to "on" (it's on the back).

The front of the box there will accept both mike and guitar (1/4") cables. So - to record your voice and your guitar at the same time, you really need two mikes - one to point at your mouth and one to point at your guitar. This box will let you do that. Your software also *should* be able to record both mikes (line 1 & line 2) as separate "tracks," simultaneously, and from there you can adjust volume levels so the music is no longer "drowning out" your voice. (I hope I'm making sense.) You can get a lot fancier than that if you want. For example, there's a MIDI input on the back of the box, so you could add a MIDI piano track too.

But keeping it simple - what I learned, from other threads here on the boards, is that for vocal *recording* a *condenser mic* is necessary to get the right sort of sound input. I don't remember the tecchie electronic theory behind it. But a standard mic (usually called "dynamic") is what you need for LIVE performance... these don't feed back live like a condenser mic will (due to the different electronics).

The trick is ALL condenser mics are going to need what's called "phantom power" or a preamp (like the M-Audio box) in order to work. They need that little extra boost or they won't function *at all.*

Another big thing is, on that M-Audio box you have a button called "GAIN." Your "gain" is how much sound the mike will pick up. If it's turned up, you can speak at a whisper and it'll pick up. If it's too high, you'll get distortion (so turn it down, or step back from the mike a few inches).

Soooooo.... if you don't get a box, you *could* still get a dynamic mic and a special cable that will plug directly into your PC... but you'll lose a lot of control. But I guarantee you'll be happier with both pieces of equipment - and both together are still in your price range.

I goofed and bought a dynamic mic by accident the first time, and had to go back, fetch the condenser, & sell the other one. You can hear the vocal sound quality of the Shure on my MySpace if you like: www.myspace.com/lindaadamssings

I got confused between the terms "cardiod," "supercardiod," and "hypercardiod" when I was shopping - which refer to the range of the pickup sound pattern of the mic (either dynamic or condenser) and NOT the type of input. Which is how I came home with a "dynamic supercardiod" mike and not the one I needed. Urgh.

Hope this isn't too long - or stuff you already know - and that it's helpful information!

Linda

PS: I see Ray looked up your mic and found that it's a condenser mic. (We posted at the same time. Hi Ray!) If that's the case, and you don't have a preamp or M-Audio box, that could be why it's not picking up any sound.

So... invest in one of those FIRST, before you buy a second mic. Your mic might be OK after all.

Condensers *need* that "phantom power" source to function properly. Think of it like having the right batteries.

Make sense?

Linda

Hi Michelle there have been many posts here about mics and recording gear. Most of these questions are posted on the two forums "studio and recording gear" and "microphone and vocalist."
I am sure you will come up with answers if you look back.

It would help if you tell us what you have already and exactly what you want to record....whether it is acoustic and vocals or electric and vocals and how many instruments and chanels you will need. It may be of benefit to buy a pickup for your acoustic guitar. It may be better just to put a mic in front of it. You will need a pre amp or mixer and probably some form of interface. It is always better to buy everything together to match rather than piecemeal. I do not think your budget is of any concern you will get all you need for that kind of money but you need to buy the correct stuff to do the job. I would suggest the bulk goes on a good mic.

Hey Michelle!

Before you start spending on new gear, there are a couple of simple things you should consider about your current setup:

1. Do you record in 24-bit? If your audio interface supports 24-bit recording, you should enable it. You get considerably more "headroom" in a 24-bit recording (as opposed to the standard 16-bit), which in turn enables you to record with more gain. This means you can create a bigger difference between the signal (i.e. your voice) and the noise floor... ergo, you get more clarity in your recordings.

2. What can you do to lower the noise level in your room? If you have wooden floors, a rug under the microphone stand can do wonders. Drapes help too. Computers can be terribly noise. I had great success reducing the noise of my external hard drive by "floating" it on a block of styrofoam.

3. Try your gear in a different room (if possible). I used to have my stuff in a tiny room at the back of the house, but finally moved it into the living room... if I were to record the exact same performance in both rooms, the one made in the living room would easily sound 10 times as good, just because of the acoustics in the room. A bigger space also means less equipment noise bouncing back to your microphone...

Now, if you do want to spend money on new gear, I can highly recommend the AKG Perception 200 microphone for vocals and acoustic guitar. I have two in my studio and I use them for just about everything. What I like most is that they are very transparent - they do not add to or subtract from what you are trying to record. They're also fairly inexpensive, going for around $160 a piece.

I personally don't use much gear beyond those mics and a decent audio interface (like the one Linda suggested).

Hope this helps!
Jim.

The MXL 990 is a pretty hot mic so if you're not getting anything out of it seems as if you may not be running phantom power, or if you are, it's not enough, 12 or 15 volts won't do it. Also, if you're trying to run direct via an adapter it's probably not going to work.
Now, the MXL 990 is the worst MXL mic I own, out of 5. It needs a darned good preamp to get it sounding anything other than brittle on the top end.
MXL mics do have some pretty decent mics, check out the 67 series and the 2000 series. Take a hard look at the V67i dual capsule mic.A good friend of mine, who has a very critical ear, gave it good reports in a test report and it's had very good reviews elsewhere as well.
Also, look at AKG and Samson.

Your mic is fine. Save $400 and get one of these:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/PreSonus-TUBEPre-Microphone-Preamp?sku=184125

Jim, I don't know if it's only your explanation that is flawed, or if it's also your understanding, but this is simply untrue - more bits does not equate to more headroom or gain at all. The number of bits has to do with resolution (how fine you can slice the gain), not gain itself.

It can be confusing since once you switch to 24-bits, you can generally record at a LOWER volume and therefore not worry as much about keeping the signal level high above the noise floor. The apparancy is that you then have more headroom because you're recording at a lower level. [lower level = greater peaks = apparent increased headroom]

All digital systems max their gain when the signal becomes all 1's, but 24 1's is not louder than 16 1's. They both represent Zero db in a digital system. You can't go over "zero db" in any digital system.

You ARE right in that there are very few instances where recording in 16 bits is preferable to recording at 24 bits, so switching to 24-bits is almost always a good idea, it's just not for more gain or headroom.

Michelle,

Have you checked in on this thread? It seems that the mic should be fine, but it would help if you gave more details on your system - what you're plugging the mic into and recording with...

That's what I was getting at. I didn't mean to imply that your recordings would get louder if you record in 24-bit. Sorry for the confusion...