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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Best Microphone for Home studio, Professional and Personal Practice

If you are singer-songwriter, it is a strong requirement you should have your own microphone. You will be using this microphone for home studio recording (if you are fond of recording your songs in a computer with your guitar tracks and vocals), professional performance and personal practice.

It is important to take note that since you own this microphone, you should protect it from any damage. This means it is ok to be greedy to your friends, brothers and sisters if you are having this “personal” and high quality microphone. The primary reason is that these type of electronic equipments are very fragile and will be easily damage due to mishandling or misuse. A single drop of the microphone to the floor can render it useless. So make sure that once you have this microphone, take care of it and use it for your own self.

But what is the best microphone for you? There are different types of microphones with varying prices (from extremely cheap to extremely expensive) to varying applications (very specific to general).

If you are a singer-songwriter, the best type of microphone will fit the following requirements:

1.) A Dynamic microphone – a detailed explanation can be found in this article: http://www.audiorecording.me/best-microphone-for-vocal-recording-tips-and-guides.html (Best Microphone for Vocal Recording)

This is the most common type microphone. And does not need any external power. Once you plug it to your sound system, you can immediately sing.

2.) Great frequency response – this is why you should buy a more expensive type of micrphones, they are capable of replicating your voice as accurate as possible without introducing any artifacts or audio biases.

3.) Includes the microphone pack – to save some money and more convenient for you, it is much better you will buy a complete micrphone package. This package should include at least:

a. The microphone

b. A Windscreen
- helps to make your vocal as clear as possible.
c. Microphone Stand – very important if your recording and performing

d. Lo-z Cable – these depends on the length , but this cable should be long enough in order to carry your microphone to some performing stage where the amplifiers location could be far.

Final Recommendation: Based on my experience, the best dynamic microphone that fits the above criteria is Shure SM58 Classic Mic Pack:

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Another type of great Shure microphone is Shure C606N Vocal Mic with 1/4 Connector, which is 5 times as cheaper as SM 58. This is a perfect entry level microphone for professional and personal use. Although, SM 58 is more an industry standard and has much better quality though its more expensive than C606N. It all now depends on your budget.

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1 comments:

SPWS said...

A microphone is really important in a home recording studio. You should look for the one with good quality to produce good sound quality.