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How Important Is A "Good" Microphone?
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Author:  planet_bill [ Wed Aug 16, 2006 3:04 pm ]
Post subject:  How Important Is A "Good" Microphone?
How important is a good microphone for making your voice sound good, natural, correct? What types / brands are recommended? Right now I am using the mic that came with my $70 MTV karaoke player. Are you going to shoot me now?
Author:  planet_bill [ Wed Aug 16, 2006 3:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How Important Is A "Good" Microphone?
Looks like someone in another thread recommended Shure SM58. Thoughts?
Author:  Guest [ Wed Aug 16, 2006 3:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How Important Is A "Good" Microphone?
In your vast travels, stop in some music stores and sing into them.  They should have PA systems set up to listen to.    See what you prefer.   Play with the settings on the mixer to get the sound you want.    There are many different configurations.   As far as where you can put your mouth to be heard.    Directional and omnidirectional.   They also have different sensativities.     You want to be able to sing your song, not scream it out.    Most of the time when I sing, you would hardly know, I'm actually singing.   The volume of my voice leaving my mouth, is that low.     I said most of the time.    I have a mike that I prefer over all of my others.  I have had many different mikes.  The sound coming from my SM58 is good, I just don't like it for my voice.   It's going to be a matter of personal taste and money.   If I had your money, I'd burn mine.   LMAO
Author:  Lonman [ Wed Aug 16, 2006 3:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How Important Is A "Good" Microphone?
planet_bill @ Wed Aug 16, 2006 3:04 pm wrote:
How important is a good microphone for making your voice sound good, natural, correct? What types / brands are recommended? Right now I am using the mic that came with my $70 MTV karaoke player. Are you going to shoot me now?


Also depends on the equipment you plan to hook it up to.  An SM58 may not work with the MTV system properly to make it sound worth anything.  Some of those cheaper systems work better with the cheaper mics (not always but most of the time).
Author:  Odie [ Wed Aug 16, 2006 5:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How Important Is A "Good" Microphone?
Lonman @ Wed Aug 16, 2006 3:53 pm wrote:
planet_bill @ Wed Aug 16, 2006 3:04 pm wrote:
How important is a good microphone for making your voice sound good, natural, correct? What types / brands are recommended? Right now I am using the mic that came with my $70 MTV karaoke player. Are you going to shoot me now?


Also depends on the equipment you plan to hook it up to.  An SM58 may not work with the MTV system properly to make it sound worth anything.  Some of those cheaper systems work better with the cheaper mics (not always but most of the time).


Lonman, why would a cheaper mic work better?  Because of impedance matching or output signal level?
Author:  Lonman [ Thu Aug 17, 2006 12:36 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How Important Is A "Good" Microphone?
Odie @ Wed Aug 16, 2006 5:27 pm wrote:
Lonman @ Wed Aug 16, 2006 3:53 pm wrote:
planet_bill @ Wed Aug 16, 2006 3:04 pm wrote:
How important is a good microphone for making your voice sound good, natural, correct? What types / brands are recommended? Right now I am using the mic that came with my $70 MTV karaoke player. Are you going to shoot me now?


Also depends on the equipment you plan to hook it up to.  An SM58 may not work with the MTV system properly to make it sound worth anything.  Some of those cheaper systems work better with the cheaper mics (not always but most of the time).


Lonman, why would a cheaper mic work better?  Because of impedance matching or output signal level?


Impedence match would be correct.  Most of the cheap systems are designed to work with the high Z mics.  Hook a low Z (such as the SM58) & they may/may not sound any better & in some cases may sound worse.  
Just like most of the players that have mic inputs - example, my JVC I had tried my SM58 into it & it sounded muddy - I hooked up a POS $15 Rat Shack special & it was much crisper.  Now on the flip side, just out of curiosity I hooked that mic up to my main system & it was piercing/tinny, NOTHING could be done even altering the eq.
Author:  TopherM [ Thu Aug 17, 2006 7:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How Important Is A "Good" Microphone?
Bill, you could upgrade your sound by getting a new mic, but like everyone else has said, something like a Shure S58M is not what you should be looking for for your home MTV system.

Think of it as cooking a beef tenderloin well done. With that nice, expensive mic, you'll start out with great sonic quality but then after you run it through that inexpensive system you're still going to get the same old crap coming out of the other end and you should have just saved your $$ and gotten the steak skillet at Dennys.

Seriously, though, with the inexpensive circuitry and other components on your machine, your output is only going to be as good as the machine itself, and you are not going to be able to improve the sound a great deal no matter what you do to it.

That said, you should actually be able to get a PERCEIVABLE better vocal sound by getting a new mic, but again you don't have to spend $100 if you are going to be running it through your home system.

The honest techies on this site will tell you (and you can find this is many other threads), that when it really comes down to it, no matter how mathmatically superior a mic may be sonically on paper, microphones more than any other component are VERY subjective when it comes to how good they "sound" to the user. In fact, I read stories in sound engineering mags all the time about famous musicians who have been using the same $50 wired mic for 20 years because they think it just plain sounds better than the $2500 wireless systems everyone else uses these days.

That said, I think you will be pleased with a less expensive mic that is more suited to your system. A few of us on this site, including me, swear by the SAMSON R21 mics. They have a very "hot" gain pattern that just seems to have a particular frequency range that places vocals in a very unique place in the mix that makes it stand out nicely without being too overwhelming to the mix. These mics are $20 each or $50 for three (and the 3-pack comes with a nifty mic case). I also run Shure S58M mics and I can tell the difference sonically, but find over and over again that most of my patrons still perfer the sound of the Samson mics.

Either way, you should go out and buy a $15-20 mic to improve upon the one that came with your system (which are typically worth about $3-4). If you have a local music warehouse in your town, like Sam Ash or Guitar Center, they will be more than happy to let you bring your karaoke system into the store and demo mics on it to see which one you like the best.

Happy singing!!
Author:  planet_bill [ Thu Aug 17, 2006 2:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How Important Is A "Good" Microphone?
Interesting points folks - thanks. Currently I am going through the MTV cheapo mic/system but that is plugged into a higher fidelity system. Surprisingly it has a pretty good sound even though cheap. Jeffieoke is always amazed at the sound. I think that is because there isn't much to it. It is only a player and it is my amp that actually takes the output signal and does something with it. Still the mic may not benefit me, because I am first plugged into the MTV set.

I'm thinking of hooking the MTV to my computer though and trying multitrack or even the mic directly to the computer (I have the adaptor). The sound is pretty good although it is built on the motherboard. I forget the brand but it supports 5.1 and subwoofer, etc. Amazing sound on my pc.

Folks, what is the optimum way to go here to get the overall best fidelity in a final song output? Right now I am MTV karaoke player to Yamaha Amplifier to Dvd recorder - I take the input to the Dvd recorder as monitor out I believe from the Yamaha. Option 2 is MTV machine to computer, or Option 3 is mic to computer for vocals with import/rip from CDG to multi-track like Audacity then combine vocals. Would a good choice be to get a new higher end karaoke player?

I may try the different combos and see what I get. May post some results for comparison.

Thanks for the comments so far.

Bill
Author:  Jian [ Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How Important Is A "Good" Microphone?
Go for option 3. The shorter the audio chain the batter, Adding more things bettween the audio source and the recorder only add more noise.
Later you may want to get a better soundcard and a recording mic.

Thus:

Vox > Mic > Soundcard ( mic in input) > PC

Vox > Mic > Pre amp > Soundcard (line in input) > PC : a better set up

Vox > USB mic > usb port > PC.

If you se a condenser mic then a phantom power is need.
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