I’m interested in hearing what is considered a good microphone, for vocals and spoken word, in the lower price range. Any recommendations?

I currently use the stereo microphones on my Zoom H4n digital recorder, but I’ve been thinking about buying a Shure SM58 (cardiod); my husband has an old Realistic Highball 7 (unidirectional), which I believe came off the same assembly line as Shure.
Any tips or mic recording samples that can help me decide what to do?

Thanks, debbizo

Maybe this can help
vocal mics
audio files

FAQ

recording on a computer

I had an old highball. They aren’t the same quality as an SM-58. The SM-58 is an excellent mike for its price, and will work really well with a portable recorder. I record all the Juke Joint ep voiceovers on a portable recorder with an SM-58, in exactly the scenario you’re planning.

Here’s a cheaper ‘version’ of the SM58 (comparable) that I’m considering.

http://www.jaycar.com.au/pr...

Let me first say that I am by no means a gear junkie, so my experience is limited.

If you’re primarily going to be recording in your home or otherwise dedicated location (i.e. - you’re not going to move the mic a lot) I would recommend going with a condenser mic instead of a dynamic one. You’ll get better sound quality. The tradeoff is that condensers are more fragile pieces of equipment.

Just last year I bought the Blue Yeti USB condenser mic, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. I found it on amazon.com brand new for only about $100. When I first got it I did some test recordings to compare the Blue Yeti and my old mic (a super-cheap $20 mic from an electronics shop). I expected it to be better but I was really blown away by the difference it made. Easily one of the best $100 I ever spent.

Another great part about it is that it’s a USB mic so it plugs straight into my computer without needing any phantom power, extra cables, or fancy audio interface boxes.

It’s also multi-mode, so it can record in stereo, cardioid, omnidirectional, or bidirectional modes.

If you’d like I can e-mail you the test recordings I made to show you the difference. You can also check out my ccMixter promo that I recorded entirely with the Blue Yeti:

http://ccmixter.org/files/c...