I really need help with this (Recording guitar and vocals)

[Little Recordings]

The ball ring on the 58 acts as a pop filter.

Ou fantastic.

I read about the 58 a little bit, and everything on it is through the roof, when it comes to positive feedback.
See this is why I asked, since I was looking at things and could not make heads or tales here. And I was expecting that stuff will be much more expensive, so this is absolutely fantastic.

Again, I can not stress hard enough, how grateful I am for you taking your time to reply to me!

 

[Tarmack]

I'm going to add to Sco's advice. The ShureSM58 is most likely the microphone used at most concerts you've ever seen by the lead singer. It's nigh indestructible. Throw it across the room and it will still work. The mic has a narrow pickup pattern so it's ideal for noisy environment recording. You won't likely need a popfilter unless you're Axel Rose spitting into the mic. The SM57 is a bit more delicate and has a very "bright" sound for recording. It's ideal for instruments but often you will find you want to mic the guitar/amp with more than one different mic and mix the sound. You can record direct from an amp as well as mic and mix the sound that way.

Don't bother with simple interfaces. Get a mixing board. I use a Behringer with a USB out, 4 XLR inputs and a bunch of quarter inch jacks. Xenyx1024USB to be specific.

 

[Little Recordings]

I'm going to add to Sco's advice. The ShureSM58 is most likely the microphone used at most concerts you've ever seen by the lead singer. It's nigh indestructible. Throw it across the room and it will still work. The mic has a narrow pickup pattern so it's ideal for noisy environment recording. You won't likely need a popfilter unless you're Axel Rose spitting into the mic. The SM57 is a bit more delicate and has a very "bright" sound for recording. It's ideal for instruments but often you will find you want to mic the guitar/amp with more than one different mic and mix the sound. You can record direct from an amp as well as mic and mix the sound that way.

Don't bother with simple interfaces. Get a mixing board. I use a Behringer with a USB out, 4 XLR inputs and a bunch of quarter inch jacks. Xenyx1024USB to be specific.

Well, I am not performing live, its only for recording in a room, but I guess it makes sense, since a room is never perfectly shielded and dampened and so on.
I have heard about mic'ing the amp up, I tried it before, since direct feed is usually worse, in terms of sustain for me.

And I think, my main goal is to get a mic for recording acoustic guitar, so no amp involved, for now. : )

So, if you do not mind me asking, what would be a difference between a mixer and and an interface, considering that, its at most going to be two inputs (guitar and vocals) coming in. Is there a direct benefit of using it, especially, by a person who's an amateur, when it comes to recording....and when I mean amateur, I mean that

 

[Lime Cake Music]

Although the Shure SM58 is a perfectly fine mic and ideal for live situations, I would suggest going for a Large-diaphragm Microphone. In my opinion you get better quality plus the pop filter on the SM58 isn't always enough to leave out all unwanted sounds.

 

[Tarmack]

Well, I am not performing live, its only for recording in a room, but I guess it makes sense, since a room is never perfectly shielded and dampened and so on.
I have heard about mic'ing the amp up, I tried it before, since direct feed is usually worse, in terms of sustain for me.

And I think, my main goal is to get a mic for recording acoustic guitar, so no amp involved, for now. : )

So, if you do not mind me asking, what would be a difference between a mixer and and an interface, considering that, its at most going to be two inputs (guitar and vocals) coming in. Is there a direct benefit of using it, especially, by a person who's an amateur, when it comes to recording....and when I mean amateur, I mean that

You are playing live if you're recording vocals and acoustic at the same time. Not crowd noise, but the less guitar audio on your vocal mic track the better. You'll also often see artists use more than one mic for the acoustic guitar as well. Depends on the sound you want/like.

For the mixer, the reason I suggest it is twofold. First of all it will provide far superior control over audio levels. Sometimes they have effects built in, which are usually meh with the exception of a compressor. Second, you NEVER want to have only exactly the number of inputs that you need. If you're recording with a standard 2 input interface, use both inputs all the time and one of them dies, you're screwed and have to buy a new one. If you have more inputs, then hardware failure is less of an issue. It also will allow you to upgrade to more mics/inputs later on as you get more gear. Right now you might just be doing vocals and 1 guitar mic. Later you might add a second guitar mic, or have someone over to record a second vocal track with you. Versatility is best, IMO.

The Behringer mixer I use is 12 channel (4 XLR and 8 quarter inch) and only set me back about $160. Just make sure the mixer has a USB out, so your computer can use it, otherwise you'll have to go the janky route of using your computer audio card inputs.

 

[Little Recordings]

You are playing live if you're recording vocals and acoustic at the same time. Not crowd noise, but the less guitar audio on your vocal mic track the better. You'll also often see artists use more than one mic for the acoustic guitar as well. Depends on the sound you want/like.

For the mixer, the reason I suggest it is twofold. First of all it will provide far superior control over audio levels. Sometimes they have effects built in, which are usually meh with the exception of a compressor. Second, you NEVER want to have only exactly the number of inputs that you need. If you're recording with a standard 2 input interface, use both inputs all the time and one of them dies, you're screwed and have to buy a new one. If you have more inputs, then hardware failure is less of an issue. It also will allow you to upgrade to more mics/inputs later on as you get more gear. Right now you might just be doing vocals and 1 guitar mic. Later you might add a second guitar mic, or have someone over to record a second vocal track with you. Versatility is best, IMO.

The Behringer mixer I use is 12 channel (4 XLR and 8 quarter inch) and only set me back about $160. Just make sure the mixer has a USB out, so your computer can use it, otherwise you'll have to go the janky route of using your computer audio card inputs.

Thats exactly what I though regarding the "live" thingy. : )
And again, I understand that recording is an art in itself, thats why sound engineering is a profession. The sound I want is just plain acoustic guitar, since I am not trying anything above that : ) I had a look at those, and the difference between an interface and a mixxer like you described is around 70$, which is fine.
But the mixer itself, does it do the same things as the interface recommended previously (the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2), seeing as one, from what I understand, is a dedicated box with a pre amp specifically for this, and the other one is not.
Again sorry if this sounds stupid, I do not have nearly enough knowledge in this, so I am learning as I go along. : )
In the last video you can see, that I have a microphone held by those white strips, which hold wires usually, to a desk lamp fixture, so yeah

Although the Shure SM58 is a perfectly fine mic and ideal for live situations, I would suggest going for a Large-diaphragm Microphone. In my opinion you get better quality plus the pop filter on the SM58 isn't always enough to leave out all unwanted sounds.

So what would be your recommendation as a model or a microphone? : )

 

[Lime Cake Music]

Thats exactly what I though regarding the "live" thingy. : )
And again, I understand that recording is an art in itself, thats why sound engineering is a profession. The sound I want is just plain acoustic guitar, since I am not trying anything above that : ) I had a look at those, and the difference between an interface and a mixxer like you described is around 70$, which is fine.
But the mixer itself, does it do the same things as the interface recommended previously (the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2), seeing as one, from what I understand, is a dedicated box with a pre amp specifically for this, and the other one is not.
Again sorry if this sounds stupid, I do not have nearly enough knowledge in this, so I am learning as I go along. : )
In the last video you can see, that I have a microphone held by those white strips, which hold wires usually, to a desk lamp fixture, so yeah


So what would be your recommendation as a model or a microphone? : )

I tried to link but not sure why it does'nt work, maybe I'm not allowed to or something , but the t.bone SC 600 is cheap and works really well! If you want to know what it sounds like you can check out our videos, we use it all the time

 

[Little Recordings]

I tried to link but not sure why it does'nt work, maybe I'm not allowed to or something , but the t.bone SC 600 is cheap and works really well! If you want to know what it sounds like you can check out our videos, we use it all the time

Yeah I found it! I do not think we have it in our shop here, so I would have to order it if what, but I will have a look at it then, since the more I know the easier it is to find something. : )

 

[Tarmack]

Thats exactly what I though regarding the "live" thingy. : )
And again, I understand that recording is an art in itself, thats why sound engineering is a profession. The sound I want is just plain acoustic guitar, since I am not trying anything above that : ) I had a look at those, and the difference between an interface and a mixxer like you described is around 70$, which is fine.
But the mixer itself, does it do the same things as the interface recommended previously (the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2), seeing as one, from what I understand, is a dedicated box with a pre amp specifically for this, and the other one is not.
Again sorry if this sounds stupid, I do not have nearly enough knowledge in this, so I am learning as I go along. : )
In the last video you can see, that I have a microphone held by those white strips, which hold wires usually, to a desk lamp fixture, so yeah

Yes, the Behringer mixers with USB out do all of the same things. The Xenyx1204USB has windows drivers and can replace your sound card for audio output as well which is how I use it. It's also got a mic preamp and phantom power should you go the powered mic route.

The only thing I'd say is that a dedicated preamp is always a better choice. A proper tube pre will beat out ANY audio interface preamp by a country mile. That doesn't mean the sound is bad without it, but those are the bits and pieces that drive up the cost of your rig and can be added at a later time.

Oddly enough, the reason I went with the mixer wasn't any of that for my own purposes. All of the audio interfaces I've used previous had volume knobs but no hard mute, so if I need to cough or sneeze during a live recording you could always hear it a bit in the background as volume knobs on zero never seem to be 100% off. I've usually got 3 things plugged into it, which is 2 mics and a line in from my guitar amp. It's also nice having a full quarter inch jack for headphones instead of daisy chaining adapters since all the good studio monitor headphones don't come with minijack standard.

Ultimately, my view on everything audio is that the better your sound is before it hits your computer, the better it will be after you process it. Yes you can compress, EQ and such in Audacity or Audition, but if you can do most of that in the mixer then you limit the amount of altering of the digital signal you need to do later. Garbage in, garbage out.

 

[Little Recordings]

Yes, the Behringer mixers with USB out do all of the same things. The Xenyx1204USB has windows drivers and can replace your sound card for audio output as well which is how I use it. It's also got a mic preamp and phantom power should you go the powered mic route.

The only thing I'd say is that a dedicated preamp is always a better choice. A proper tube pre will beat out ANY audio interface preamp by a country mile. That doesn't mean the sound is bad without it, but those are the bits and pieces that drive up the cost of your rig and can be added at a later time.

Oddly enough, the reason I went with the mixer wasn't any of that for my own purposes. All of the audio interfaces I've used previous had volume knobs but no hard mute, so if I need to cough or sneeze during a live recording you could always hear it a bit in the background as volume knobs on zero never seem to be 100% off. I've usually got 3 things plugged into it, which is 2 mics and a line in from my guitar amp. It's also nice having a full quarter inch jack for headphones instead of daisy chaining adapters since all the good studio monitor headphones don't come with minijack standard.

Ultimately, my view on everything audio is that the better your sound is before it hits your computer, the better it will be after you process it. Yes you can compress, EQ and such in Audacity or Audition, but if you can do most of that in the mixer then you limit the amount of altering of the digital signal you need to do later. Garbage in, garbage out.

Oky, what you say does make sense : )

I guess I am going to sit down and start reading about this stuff now : D

The last paragraph you wrote, kinda sold me on what you say. It does make sense![DOUBLEPOST=1394696714,1394695023][/DOUBLEPOST]One more little thing, since the other person brought up condenser based microphones and such, I was reading.
What about a microphone like this:
http://www.4sound.dk/shop/studiemikrofoner/roede/nt1-a-box.html
or
http://www.4sound.dk/shop/studiemikrofoner/se-electronics/x1-vocal-pack.html
Again, seeing as I do everything at home, and I am careful with my stuff, which means I do not throw stuff around.
Is it a better choise than something as the Suhr SM58 or is it money waisted?