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

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.