Microphone/Mixer advice needed please

Vlad · Microphone/Mixer advice needed please

Hey Everyone!

I am looking to upgrade my kit so that I can sing at a better quality level in SL. I will be singing with a mic and using backing tracks stored on my Macbook.

Currently I just have a bog standard mic and use Nicecast to stream into SL. I have Macbook Pro with Intel Dual Core 2, 2.2 GHz and 2GB ram.

Now...I am fairly technical and savvy and have done some research but am now unsure of what setup to go for.

You see I was thinking of getting a Mixer and Microphone but now I have spoken to people and researched it, it seems like it might be just as good to use a USB mic and forget about a Mixer as I can use the effects in Nicecast. I wont be plugging anything else in...so it seems like this is a good idea? Although I think using a non-usb mic through a mixer will take the processing power off my macbook?

The mixer I was going to go for also has low-latency built-in effects and it also appeals as I believe that is especially useful for SL and I think it can be said that the quality of non-usb mics are far better, thus a better sound? If this is the case then perhaps I will go for this setup.

I am aware of USB mics such as the:

Non-USB mics Im considering include the Rode NT1-A...

The soundcard/mixer I'm considering is the Novation Nio 2/4...which as I said has low-latency effects...

I guess I'm hoping someone can tell me from a technical point of view what is the best thing to do (or just any advice from Mac users Smile

as I want the sound to be good...the key things for me are to be able to have a good sound, use effects such as reverb, echo etc..which i do have with Nicecast and to be able to monitor myself...right now I just sing but who knows one day I may even get an acoustic guitar and so i guess if I had a mixer that could be plugged in to a mixer...(but i could always get a mixer if that happened)..hmmm...i'm lost....please help and thankyou for reading all of this!

EricSteffensen

I don't know much about USB mics so can't give you guidance there...my gut feeling is that you'll get better sound and results from that Rode Condenser.

Generally speaking, you'll get better sound if all of the components in the chain (ie microphone, preamp and converter) are better quality. When I bought my external audio interface my top criteria for selecting it was quality preamps...and at least in my mind it has made a world of difference compared to other setups I've used in the past.

One question, you're thinking about using the effects in Nicecast...is there a way within Nicecast to apply the effects to just one of your channels? I'd imagine that if you're adding reverb, echo, compression etc that you'd want to just be adding that to your voice and NOT to your backing tracks which probably already have effects applied.

Vlad

EricSteffensen

I mix my sound in Garageband which allows me to put effects individually on different tracks and then port that over to Nicecast, although I don't use backing tracks so I'm not sure whether or not it's a good set up for that. I also have some latency issues with my setup when GB, Nicecast is streaming and SL are all running at the same time(see my thread below) which might make a performance with backing tracks difficult.

I know a common setup that works well for some is to have backing tracks on an iPod, and then run that and the vox through an outboard mixer.

Silas Scarborough

My setup is similar to Eric's as GarageBand is a huge part of what I do. I also don't use any effects in Nicecast as GB.

You'll get a whole lot more flexibility if you use an audio interface to get your kit connected to your computer. That way you don't need a USB mike and my problem with them is that you can't do anything else with them. For example, maybe I want to plug a mike into the sampler. If it's USB, I'm screwed and need another one with an XLR connector.

You can get a two-channel audio interface from TASCAM for about $100 or so and you can get a Firewire interface with eight or more channels for about $500.

Sanity Inn

Hi Vlad

Based on some of the brand names you thru around, seems you have a decent budget , could you share that with us, this will help point towards more alternative choices..

Gain is your friend, as Eric stated, good pres, better sound ,

I have a saying , gear is like perfume, it all smells same in the bottle, but differently on who uses it ,,,

If you care to IM me inworld please do so and I'll toss in a few more pennies worth of info

Regards

Sanityinn Wind ( my forced SL name ) lol

Sanity Inn

" Logic rules, emotion wins"

Vlad

Great! Thanks again Eric Smile

Vlad

Thanks Silas,

You're right more flex with a non-usb mic...firewire is worth considering ur right...its just a little expensive lol and would be good to have some effects built-in...still have seen some options...

thanks Smile

Vlad

Hey Sanity,

The mic and mixer I saw were about £130-50 each so a budget total of £300 for a mic and mixer/audio interface...but less would obviously be great...a friend recommended a behringer 1002fx mixer that is around £60/70 but not heard good things about em...so I guess prefer quality kit at a reasonable price or within my budget rather than getting substandard low quality kit...I've since seen more options...but yes any suggestions or recomms would be great Smile

Also be good to know how much difference it really makes having a firewire mixer/interface - low latency yes...guess I will keep researching and listening to you guys...

Did anyone know where that NICECAST WIKI GUIDE is?????

Thanks again Sanity and to all Smile

DjaiSkjellerup

I've got a behringer 1202fx mixer and it is excellent. I find Behringer kit astonishingly cheap and still easily a match for more expensive options. I dont use a condesning mic but instead a trusty Shure SM53 (although I notice Behringer also do a £30 condensing mic called the C1 which has been reviewed well at DolphinMusic..if you trust reviews...I have no personal experience of it) and no compression and my gig sound quality is first class. In short, I operate on a budget and produce a top quality live sound.

If you've got spare cash burning a hole in your pocket then yes buy the best you can afford but if you have not been a gigging musician and have no other need for the kit than to start performing in SL then personally I'd recommend buying at a "throwaway" price and then upgrading once you find you are hooked on performing in SL. Your old kit will always prove useful as a backup if you do upgrade.

I only say this because while there are alot of performers in SL who love it and have been playing for ages there are also alot who try it and decide its not for them and are never seen again so I didn't want you to get carried away with the excitement and lash out money on kit that ends up not being used. That being said...I hope it works out for you and you have a long and successful time playing in Sl. Good luck to you Smile

Silas Scarborough

I don't get any latency at all. I run my monitors off the audio interface and I hear the audio as soon as I crack it. This isn't because I'm running the super-killer computer as it remains true when I hang the interface off a MacBook Pro.

Yes, ZERO latency.

I'm pretty sure Nad is running a similar configuration and he has also reported zero latency.

There was a note about effects in relation to Firewire and I didn't really get that. The audio interface won't provide any effects at all. I use a Presonus Firestudio Project but there are many from which to choose.

The Digidesign 003r is ostensibly the Cadillac of audio interfaces but know that ProTools will take over your computer and make it pretty much useless for any tasks other than ProTools. If you have a single machine, give it a lot of thought before I opted for a Digidesign solution.

Nad

If I follow you correctly, what you are talking about is hardware that you will plug into your Mac. I'd steer clear of computer connections like USB and Firewire. The audio ports on puters these days are more than capable. Perhaps approach your acquisitions from the perspective they may be plugged into a Mac, PC, or a non-computer PA system.

My mic and mixer will plug into anything. Plugging into my mac gives me access to effects and stuff I like.

The latency issue for me comes down to simply where i feed the headphones.When listening to the mixer, and the mixer feeds the puter exactly what you are hearing - there is no latency.

Its a journey thru the system that is to be considered. Sound out from the puter goes into the mixer. Sound in to the puter comes from the mixer. Then any effects you blend in, say with Garungeband, arrive in your mixer, and you are listening thru headphones thru the mixer. So when you add your voice and/or instrument to the mixer everything is together.

That mixed signal is going back into your computer to be streamed out.

The only Garungeband effect I have encountered that adds a latency issue is the Vocal Transformer. I assume this is because the puter must first sample a sound and then calculate a transform, and then inject it back into the signal.

Running other applications at the same time (SL of course - perhaps Photoshop, Safari (multiple tabs), Mail (checked every 5 minutes), and misc programs I may have forgotten to shut down, does not generate any latency at all for me.

This may very well be because i have an M-Audio card, and that handles everything more or less separately, but that is just a guess. I do not know, I've had the card in there before I started doing streaming.

hexx

If only I owned a MacIntosh computer, man, I would tell ya about those ropes. Hell yeah. But alas. Ain't got no MacIntosh computer. All I've got is one of dem iPhones.

Do have me a drum pad thingie on it, though. I just feed it all through the same Behringer mixer that brother Djai has. Throw in some particles while I'm at it.

Shocked

Vlad

Guys n Gals,

Thanks very much for all your help and advice...its been very useful.

This SLMC forum is great!

Am considering my options now...

V