Best mike for speech recording?

[Mike Rophone]

Hi there, everyone, from Manchester, England! Just found your forum - it looks great! I wonder if anyone could advise me. I'm looking for a simple set-up to record quality speech onto minidisc. I have a Sony R55 (but could move up to Hi-MD) and am not sure if I can use a Shure SM58 with it. Would I need an impedance transformer or a pre-amp or just an XLR-to-3.5mm connector? If not the Shure, is there a broadcast-type quality mike that would do the job, please? I've seen little internet tutorials where they seem to just plug a mike in direct. Johnny

[Richard]

* Moved to Live Recording

[ratbagradio]

I've seen little internet tutorials where they seem to just plug a mike in direct. Johnny

Check out Visivox & Giant Squid for plug in power mics. Sony make em too.

[A440]

Your R55 will not upload its recordings to a computer. You would have to make the recording and then record it in realtime out of the headphone jack into your computer.

The big change with Hi-MD was that it WILL upload to computer, as well as hold a lot more material per disc. Get any Hi-MD you can find and afford that has a mic input, which is most of them. Cheapest (but excellent) is the MZ-NH700 if you can find it; fanciest and most convenient is MZ-RH1, which is the only unit that uploads recordings made on old MD units (like the R55).

http://www.minidisc.org/equipment_browser.html

Note that NH710 and NH600 only have line inputs, not mic--they need an amplified signal. Anything with a D in the model name is only a player (D for downloading).

If you can bear to wait until August, you might also consider the Zoom H2 when it appears and people have had a chance to review it. Getting recordings off minidisc still takes an extra step--uploading to SonicStage and then converting to a more useful unencrypted format--and sooner or later an inexpensive flash recorder will combine high-quality recording, level control and track marking (like MD) with drag-and-drop uploading. Might be the Zoom H2, might not.

Look at this thread about the SM58. It's a mono mic for stage use, and you'd need at least an adapter (XLR to stereo miniplug) and probably some kind of preamp or mixer.

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=19054

For MD recording, you want an electret condenser mic--stereo, or mono wired to a stereo plug--that runs on Plug-in power that is supplied at the mic jack. (NOT Phantom Power, a lot more juice.) A style of mic called M/S will give you a stereo recording or a true mono signal, if that's what you want for a voice recording you can mix into a radio broadcast.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller...&sku=150435

There are many, many mics that can give you a good voice recording.

Along with Giant Squid and Visivox, you can look at http://www.soundprofessionals.com and http://www.microphonemadness.com for mic choices.

Think about how you'll be using it. Do you want a lapel mic or a mic to put on a stand? Do you need a directional (cardioid) mic that shuts out background noise, or do you want an omnidirectional (also called binaural) mic that picks up the ambience of the room? For "broadcast quality," compare signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios in mic specifications--the higher the number, the less noise added by the mic.

You may see photos online of little mics (like Sony DS70P) with no cord plugged directly into a minidisc mic jack, sitting right on the recorder. In real life, that setup picks up the noise and vibration of the minidisc motor and sounds awful. Get a mic on a cord.

Edited June 6, 2007 by A440