USB interface recommendations

[almeriastrings]

... and know you also realise why there is that old saying never to judge a book by its cover, and even more to the point, never judge a mandolin by just a recording!

For stereo, to start I'd get a pair of SDC's. You can play with different setups, X/Y, spaced pairs, etc., and they are very versatile. Also good quality ones around at very good prices these days. Check the new Rode M5's.... looking very attractive at that price point. Just got a very good review in Sound on Sound.

The 2i4 has a pair of dual Jack/XLR inputs on the front. Beneath each is little switch that you can slide from 'Line' to 'Instrument'. The 'Instrument' position is really intended for electric guitars, but it does have a 1M input impedance which is (just about) enough for some passive piezo transducers, and the gain is adequate. In other words, it should work, but you might get better performance by using a separate very high impedance external preamp (>5M+) and going in with the input set to 'Line'. Obviously, if you have an 'active' transducer it would be fine anyway. Prime caveat is that recording from transducers is not generally going to produce very natural sounding results, but can be used as an "effect".

[shortymack]

IMO a DAW/XLR setup is the way to go for a number of reasons. It does depend however what you will be using it for and how its used. Just like playing there is an art to recording as well and YMMV. Personally I have gotten by with the dreaded USB mic and adobe audition but would like to have a 'real' setup sometime but it gets the job done for me and what I need so far. Have never had any negative comments or criticism on my recordings, as a matter of fact a couple years ago a couple people on the UMGF (unoffical martin guitar forum) said one of my tracks was one of the best sounding representation of an adi topped guitar they ever heard on a soundbite. {bearclawed is the title of it if you are interested in listening on my link}

[jasona]

And don't forget to experiment with mic placement.

I have done some placement experimentation, using the information here as a general first guide. Of course I am open to additional suggestions! Right now I have the slightly below and pointing at the lower F hole about 6-8 inches away.

[foldedpath]

If you want to do stereo recording with 2 mics, would you get 2 small condensers (AKG Perception 170), or a small condenser and a large condenser?

Ditto what Almeriastrings said: I'd get two small diaphragm condensers, of the same make and model.

Ideally, they should be bought as a "matched pair" (tested and certified as such by the manufacturer), but you won't find low cost mics sold this way. When you're starting out, it's enough to just buy from a reputable brand that sells a low-cost line, like AKG and Audio-Technica. I would avoid cheap Chinese off-brand mics when you're looking for a stereo pair, because those are liable to be more inconsistent in sound off the assembly line.

A pair of small diaphragm condenser mics will let you experiment with two of the classic stereo techniques used to mic solo instruments -- "X/Y"and "Spaced Pair" (which is sometimes called "A-B"). You can also try "ORTF," but that's usually used for more distant recording of larger sources like quartets, choirs, and orchestras.

If you branch out later to other types of mics like ribbon mics, large diaphragm mics, or vacuum tube varieties of any of these types, it's still nice to have a pair of small condensers handy for things like room mics for capturing ambient sound. It's a good basic starter set of mics in your tool kit.

I would only recommend getting a large diaphragm mic as your second purchase if you'll be recording vocals, as well as acoustic instruments. You can certainly record great vocals with a small diaphragm condenser. It's actually one of the classic mics used for opera singers. But generally speaking, people use large diaphragm mics for recording vocals in most Pop music and related genres, That's because some of the drawbacks for recording acoustic instruments, like slightly smeared transients and less accurate off-axis response, are actually what people like to hear for vocals. Large diaphragm mics are also often tuned for a "big" sound for vocals, which may not be appropriate for instruments.

A large diaphragm mic can work well in Spaced Pair stereo recording with a small diaphragm condenser, because the mics are capturing different parts of the instrument's response (this can be especially helpful with guitars). But it's not so great for coincident techniques like X/Y, due to the tone mismatch between the two mics. So, you can use it as one side of a stereo pair, it's just more limiting than starting out with two small diaphragm mics.

There is another technique where large diaphragm mics are used for stereo called M/S (Mid-Side), but that's getting into more advanced stuff, and more expensive mics, because it has to be a multi-pattern design. Don't worry about M/S for now.

[mandroid]

FWIW, Rode has NT5 packaged matched SD condensers , sequential serial numbers ..

http://www.rodemic.com/mics/nt5-mp and in singles

Only have those as the 'decent' Mic ..

since then their line has really expanded

I see now those M5 a lower priced paired ones, I suppose ..

[jasona]

OK so for various reasons I have been away from this project. but today I started creating podcasts to replace in class lectures. However, despite making the OS changes and good sounding direct monitoring I could get no playback sound other than a terrible crackling hiss. Check site for updated drivers, download the latest packaged software, install, no go. So I put a call into tech support and made my pod cast with a cheap headset mic.

Get a call back and apparently the two software updates I have done since installing the interface did not include the correct file. Correct file (a USB driver of all things) installation later, and it is working like a dream. I literally cannot believe how good the sound quality this combination of hardware is providing!

And then I broke my clamshell headset. Any recommendations for a reasonably inexpensive yet high audio sound set?

[almeriastrings]

And then I broke my clamshell headset. Any recommendations for a reasonably inexpensive yet high audio sound set?

For a semi-open design at a silly cheap price the Superlux HD-681 are outstanding:

http://www.amazon.com/Superlux-681-D.../dp/B002GHIPYI

Being-semi open you will get a bit of leakage if using for over-dubbing, however. For that, look instead at a closed design.

The HD-662 is more suitable for that. Worth shopping around as prices vary a lot.

Of the 'cheap' headphones, these are certainly among the best in my experience. If you up the budget to $100-$300 there are certainly superior headphones, but I have seen both of these for at low as $25 each - and for that money, they are actually pretty incredible.

[AW Meyer]

Jason, a few years ago I picked up a set of Sennheiser HD 477 phones. I got them at Future Shop for around $100. They are excellent phones for not a lot of money. The 477's don't seem to be around anymore, but I would check Future Shop for some comparably-priced Sennheiser phones, like these, perhaps:
http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/produ...f094d840a1en02

[jasona]

Thanks for these suggestions. I checked out the Superlux link and saw that with shipping to Canada I was in the $50-70 range. On a lark over lunch I stopped in at the new Long and McQuade near my morning work site just to see what they had. I was very pleased to see they have a podium set up with 30-40 different headsets plugged into an MP3 player. Nothing, and I mean nothing, beats trying everything on and testing them out. Some models just do not fit my head. Others I was able to reject on one listen for lacking either top or bottom end. I tried to restrict myself to models between $33 and $175 and whereas there is generally an increase in quality of sound the more you spend, there were a few models in the midrange that really shone for me. All brands were well represented here except for Sony which uses their own distribution system here. All were tested listening to Rufus Wainwright's Jericho which has great dynamic range.


Biggest surprise was how well their house brand Apex performed. Their base level hard clam shell headset was perfectly acceptable to my ear, until I listened to some of the more expensive models. I almost walked out with a M100 (a Sony rip off) which had outstanding tone separation and thus the music was very up front and present, but in the end I decided the bottom end was just a shade lacking giving a tinny sound.

In the end I decided on the audio-technica ATH-M35. Whereas they lacked the top end crispness of more expensive headset monitors, they really performed well all around I thought, and at $70 seemed the best bang for the buck of the lot.

[almeriastrings]

Yes, those will be fine. A good solid little headset.

For tracking purposes you do not need deadly accuracy, just good isolation and resistance to leaking. Mixing on 'phones is a whole different ballgame. Often the most 'impressive' sounding models turn out to be the worst for that. You don't want anything over-emphasizing or suppressing. Just as much neutrality as possible. Open and semi-open designs tend to score well here.

For tracking, my own preference is the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro (closed). Very comfortable, and sound fine. For mixing (monitors are still preferable), I like the Sennheiser HD600's (open).

[jasona]

Giving this headset some listening time, and the DGQ 20 year retrospective sounds outstanding!

I have read that headsets need a "burn in" time before they sound their best. Is this real?

[wildpikr]

A couple of audio engineer types have strongly advised against a USB mic and instead get an interface/preamp and a Sure KM-57 or 58. I would like to entertain recommendations for which interface you all recommend. Looking for a sweet spot in terms of cost and quality, as I will not be recording masters or anything, but I would like better sound quality than the built in mic on my laptop

Just curious, why did they advise against a USB mic?

[jasona]

Sound quality, bang per buck, future expandability based on what I saw myself doing. Probably a bit of snobbishness too considering they both recommended a $400 mic for a "starter"

[bayAreaDude]

I see you got the Focusrite, but if anyone else is still in the market, I really recommend the Roland Quad Capture. What sets it apart in this class is the quality of the preamps. They're the same models as they use in their pro level mixers that cost a couple g's. It does some other cool things most alternatives in this price range don't such as regenerate it's own power, high Z, has a handy feature to help you set levels, and a very mature ASIO driver for windows, but the preamps just rock. Loud and QUIET. Case is metal and it feels like a real piece of studio equipment. Oh, and it's got a compressor/limiter built into the driver which works really well and can be really convenient. It's big brother (just more inputs) got a great review in TapeOp - http://tapeop.com/reviews/gear/82/oc...dio-interface/ .

A really good affordable small diaphragm condenser I like is an AKG C1000s. Common to find these used for around $100. I have a drawer full of mics, some more expensive than these, but the 2 of this model I have get the most use.

Another vote for Reaper. I run it on an ancient laptop with 1G of ram and it's never slow.

[jasona]

Been away from the mandolin for various reasons (a concussion being a major one) but I am starting my practice routine again and will be posting some sound files in the next week or two as I get my coordination back. I'm particularly interested in your thoughts about mic placement and how it affects tone--specifically how to punch up the woody tones I hear live but can't seem to get quite to my liking.

This set up is continuing to work gangbusters for podcasts, although I need to experiment with mixing a pseudo stereo sound for voice overs.

[mandroid]

Further surfing, I see This one .. http://www.rodemic.com/microphones/nt-usb

[almeriastrings]

Like most USB mics, it has limitations:

"A/D converter 16bit 48kHz"

[John L]

Alesis i03 - 4 channels in and USB out

Make that Alesis i04 - sorry - I think this interface works great