Mics

An admission: I know next to nothing about microphones. For years I've used a cheap dynamic mic that I picked up while living in Taiwan.

But then, a couple weeks ago I saw a recommendation for a $40 condenser mic on the Cakewalk forums, and I thought, "Wow, even I can afford that!" (Barely.) So I went ahead and ordered it.

So it arrived last week, and what a difference it makes!!! I don't know if my old dynamic mic is just too old, but I'd have to turn the trim and gain on my mixer way up to get a signal loud enough to use. Unfortunately, doing this introduced a ton of noise, since my little Behringer UB802 mixer doesn't have the greatest quality.

But when I plugged in the MCA SP-1, I didn't have that problem at all. It recorded at a great level, and my voice actually sounded halfway decent with it (halfway decent is about as good as my voice gets...). I'm going to play around with it a lot more in the next few weeks, especially with vocals and my acoustic guitar. Who knows, I might even dig out my trumpet and see how that records.

A couple basic things to keep in mind for condenser mics:

1. Condenser mics, unlike dynamic mics, require phantom power. My mixer has the required 48k phantom power, and it seems to work just fine.
2. Condenser mics are more susceptible to plosives (like the "p" sound), so it makes sense to either buy or make a pop filter. They're easy to make: Just take a nylon stocking and stretch it over a wire hanger shaped into a circle. I made it with about an 8" diameter, and have it set up about 3" from the mic; I then stand about 3" from the pop filter, so that it's about halfway between me and the mic. Using a pop filter is also recommended to prevent excess moisture in the mic from the vocalist's breath (and spittle in some cases).

By the way, I'd really like to hear your comments on anything I've written about. Please drop me a note and tell me what you think!