I'm after a good quality microphone for home PC usage. I can afford a Shure SM58- it'll definitely just plug straight into my PC and be usable, correct? Or do I need certain cables? [edited by - SA-Magic on November 24, 2002 10:55:30 AM]

that''s a good vocal mic. you may need to pre-amp it unless your sound card has a built in pre-amp. It''s an industry standard mic and pretty robust.

I have a Rodes NT3 myself.. Capacitor Mic very crisp!

I bought a Creative labs Live! 6.1 (Ack, or so, I forget the exact specs) exactly one year ago and the speakers with it are still in good condition. Does that sound (Pardon the pun) correct?
Define pre-amp exactly for me, please. I have an idea, but I''d like it crystal clear.

A pre-amp for a non-amplified mic such as the Shure58''s is required for use with studio equipment. Most Mixing Desks have a mic-pre-amp to boost the mic signal.

I think ... most sound cards will do this too. It should be fine as your stock standard tandy multimedia mic requires a pre-amp too if you were to use it with studio equipment.

The other sort of mic is a capacitor mic (ie like my RodeNT3). IT doesn''t require a pre-amp as it has a capacitor which is driven by a power source (Batteries or phantom power - external power source). I don''t know a lot about mics .. so I could be wrong here.

I think you should be fine with your sound card. IF you are going to buy a shure58, just ask in a music shop before you buy one A good shop will know if you wil be able to use it by just plugging it into your sound card.


Audio Artist
www.GroovyAudio.com

Can anyone recommend decent electronic stores in the UK for buying one?

I would not recommend going straight into your soundcard with ANY microphone. Any soundcard that has a pre-amp in it will most likely not sound that good due to all of the noise and artifacts you are introducing into the sound signal. If your looking for a clean signal you without a doubt need to have an external pre-amp or a microphone that requires a phantom power source. Also if your looking for a vocal mic and are not concerned with the additional cost of powering it I would recommend a condenser mic rather than a dynamic one.

So a shure sm58 is a dynamic mic? What are the best condensor ones then?

Anyone?

Heres my suggestion to you.

Unless you are doing this for professional production, which I doubt since you''re on gamedev forums asking people like me , running it straight to your sound card would be fine. i have the same shure as you want, and it works fine for me.

Granted, im not boosting it to high volumes, and i do have to be a little careful. i dont swallow the mic, i back off a little and talk louder, as well as work in a quiet environment. actually, i do most of the recording at 2am because i feel weird yelling things in weird accents in the middle of the day.

this works fine on my computer (sound card included in the mainboard) and my friends (an actual sound card).

one more thing - the sm58 is a great mic all around, especially for vocals. if you are, however, needing an instrument mic, i would suggest the sm57. if you go at a good sale, you can get the mic (either) and a boom stand for $99 US. dont ask about pounds.

you can get some free software that will sample the background noise and edit it out. goldwave is a good option for basic needs, although it has its limitations. i dont think you''ll need this, but just in case.

oh, one more thing. yes, you do need a cord. just an everyday mic cord - itll have three prongs on one end and a single male output at the other. it may be 1/4 inch or 1/8 inch, so just compare it to the input hole on your sound card and buy an adapter if you have to (get one that is stereo to stereo, as opposed to anything mono)

for recording software, goldwave is an option, but even window''s sound recorder is just fine.

you can always do like i did and buy a thousand dollars worth of hardware and software, but never get around to installing it. if you choose this route, i like cooledit pro for the recording (logic audio ISIS is also good; i have both) and an external amp, new sound card, and external input. but i really wouldnt suggest this.

anyways, good luck!



-geo
r e d e y e g a m e s

Thanks very much indeed for that, Redeye, that''s very reassuring and exactly what I was looking to hear.

I use Goldwave, Sound Forge and Cool Edit 2000. Since I may get professionally into this (Right now it''s all free, fan work I do), I may *cough* register them. Cool Edit is perfect with it''s noise reduction

Funnily enough, I was just doing some recording (Lich for a WC3 campaign) and it''s 1:51am. ^_^

Thanks again.