USB/room mics

armanHammer

I go to my friends apartment to jam with him (he plays drums). We've been recording with just a tape recorder placed on the ground, and the results are acceptable but not fantastic. You know what I'm talking about, uber tape compression, no low end, noise noise noise, etc

SO, originally my idea was to buy a multitrack recorder, some drum mics, and a guitar cab mic and be done with it, but I realized now that would cost an incredible amount of money compared to just using one mic to mic the room (considering that using the tape machine's built in mic gave me decent results, i figure that buying an actual mic should give a relatively awesome sound).

I stumbled across a few 'USB mics':

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MXL-MXL-V63MBP-Computer-Desktop-Recording-Kit?sku=273102
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MXL-.006-USB-Powered-Condenser-Microphone?sku=273175
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Blue-Snowball-USB-Microphone?sku=279015

and thought, 'hey', there's a computer in my friends aparment, so why bother buying a multitrack recorder. Instead, I can buy one of these mics, send it to audacity and BAM!

So, does anyone here have any advice or experience with USB mics? These are the only three I found, and it would be helpful if you guys could help me out, give me advice on what to buy, if this is a good idea or not, etc.

Thanks!

lucylespian

Let me know how you go with this, cos I want to start doing a littel recording, and this sounds easy.

armanHammer

bump

come on, I know there are some experienced recording engineers in this forum..

harrisonmerwin

armanHammer wrote:

bump

come on, I know there are some experienced recording engineers in this forum..

sorry for the late response...holidays...

anyways, With a USB microphone your going to need software and maybe some effects as well. What i woudl suggest is getting a small USB/Firewire interface. one with one or two channels. most of these come with 'watered' down versions of professional software, and you would have more options to record (two tracks instead of one, unbalanced 1/4, XLR, and possibly Midi). I would suggest this way over just a USB mic, but it will cost a little more...whats your budget?