Members nuke_diver Posted November 10, 2009 Members Share Posted November 10, 2009 I noticed that a number of you have vocals and guitar at the same time but (from youtube vids) there only seems to be one mic. What's the trick? When I record you can only hear the louder instrument which is always the guitar or the recording level would be far too low. My equipment is a Mbox Mini with an SM57 (I know not the best for vocals or acoustic but works fine for micing my amp and is all I really need 90% of the time) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members seagullplayer77 Posted November 10, 2009 Members Share Posted November 10, 2009 An SM57 isn't a great mic for recording, unless you're recording a guitar amp. It's a dynamic mic, so it's very limited in what it'll pick up. If you've got it aimed at your guitar, it's going to pick up primarily the guitar. If you've got it pointed at your mouth, it's going to pick up mostly vocals. If you really want to record with just one mic, you'll probably need to go out and get a condenser. I'd probably recommend a large diaphragm mic, because they're better for vocals, but that's definitely not a must. The condenser is going to be more apt to pick up the guitar because it's louder, but if you mess around with the positioning for a while, you'll find a sweet spot where the vocals and guitars balance out to a nice mix. If you're looking for a cheap, decent condenser, keep an eye on Musician's Friend Stupid Deal of the Day. Once every couple of weeks, they'll have a special on an MXL condenser of some sort. They're not top of the line, but they're certainly not junk either. You could probably get one for $50 or $60. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Melodeous Posted November 10, 2009 Members Share Posted November 10, 2009 This is a good question. When I recorded through an interface I used 2 mikes, 1 an SM57 for voice and 1 SM 58 for the guitar. That was for the YouTube stuff. Never really got a great recording but it was better than the iMac built in mike. Now I use a Zoom H4 with 2 small condensers mounted to it in an X-Y pattern. This confirms sgp77's statement about condensers. If I go back to making YouTube stuff I will get a couple condenser mikes and run them into the Zoom's XLR inputs with it set up as an interface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scodiddly Posted November 10, 2009 Members Share Posted November 10, 2009 I use condenser mics pretty much all the time, though there's not one particular one I've used for every recording here (I'm kind of a mic junkie, and also build my own). Getting the mic in the right spot is the most important thing. Worth spending some time experimenting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarist21 Posted November 10, 2009 Members Share Posted November 10, 2009 It's all about placement and experimentation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stackabones Posted November 10, 2009 Members Share Posted November 10, 2009 I don't have much on youtube, but I just try to point the mic in the general hoped-for right direction of my voice and guitar -- though I try to get the mic closer (or more directed at) my vox than the guitar. When I record with my Zoom, I do the same thing. fyi ... VOM, Virtual Open Mic, an event VOM1T, Virtual Open Mic 1-Take, not an event but an often followed philosophy of the event Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted November 10, 2009 Members Share Posted November 10, 2009 I usually just use a digital camera. The stock mic is {censored} but it does the job. I'm not looking to make money off my youtube clips anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlackHatHunter Posted November 10, 2009 Members Share Posted November 10, 2009 Same here, I use an old Sony mini DV camera hooked up to a PC that runs Windows Movie Maker... that's it. I really should look into a better set up, but it's worked for me so far for what I need, so that's what it is www.MojoTwanger.com for tons of videos with this simple setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted November 10, 2009 Members Share Posted November 10, 2009 Yeah, but my problem is that I'm lazy. I have a few mics and a pickup in my guitar but setting up the signal chain is just a hassle with all those damned cables. That's part of the reason why I don't play so much electric anymore. With the camera, I just plop it down, hit the button and ham it up. FWIW, I'm putting a Zoom H2 on my Xmas list but also have a Studio Projects B-1 large condenser microphone that was made in China and cost me $99 through amazon.com. It does a good job but I have to hook it up to a mixer for phantom power and that damned thing has some kind of hiss to it that I can't work around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garthman Posted November 10, 2009 Members Share Posted November 10, 2009 I just use my little computer microphone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jersey Jack Posted November 10, 2009 Members Share Posted November 10, 2009 This is a good question. When I recorded through an interface I used 2 mikes, 1 an SM57 for voice and 1 SM 58 for the guitar. That was for the YouTube stuff. Never really got a great recording but it was better than the iMac built in mike. Now I use a Zoom H4 with 2 small condensers mounted to it in an X-Y pattern. This confirms sgp77's statement about condensers. If I go back to making YouTube stuff I will get a couple condenser mikes and run them into the Zoom's XLR inputs with it set up as an interface.Not to hikack the thread, but this model implies that you have a way to join the audio from your zoom to a video. How do you do this? I've been trying to work this problem out (albeit slowly) for months. How do you join (and sync) the separate audio and video files? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rhancox Posted November 10, 2009 Members Share Posted November 10, 2009 Not to hikack the thread, but this model implies that you have a way to join the audio from your zoom to a video. How do you do this? I've been trying to work this problem out (albeit slowly) for months. How do you join (and sync) the separate audio and video files? In a word, MovieMaker. For starters.I record all my audio and during one of the audio tracks I video myself. In MovieMaker, I import the video and then mute it's sound. I import the audio file (usually as a high quality .wav) and then sync them up by moving the starting point of the sound track to match the video.I'd like to try two videos interlaced but I know it will be a major pain in MovieMaker because you can only trim the front and back ends of a video clip. You can't splice in a video clip, like one would think you could, you have to trim the end of the original clip, add in your second clip, trim it's end, then add the original clip to the end and trim it's front end. Simple right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted November 10, 2009 Members Share Posted November 10, 2009 Yup. MS MovieMaker. It's not the best for syncing audio and video but it came pre-installed with Windoze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nuke_diver Posted November 10, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 10, 2009 Well I'm not looking to do youtube videos...those folks can be abusive and besides I don't have a video camera.I'll try the mic placement thing to see but there isn't likely to be a condenser mic anytime in the near future so if it doesn't work oh well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Melodeous Posted November 10, 2009 Members Share Posted November 10, 2009 Not to hikack the thread, but this model implies that you have a way to join the audio from your zoom to a video. How do you do this? I've been trying to work this problem out (albeit slowly) for months. How do you join (and sync) the separate audio and video files? Assuming you have a Mac: Go to iMovie and change your audio input device to what you want to use. It will have to be hooked up before it resides in your options list. You can also do it from System Preferences. That's all I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.