Clip on mic for high quality home audio recording

willi...@aol.com

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Oct 2, 2011, 11:41:24 PM10/2/11

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What would be a good clip on mic for high quality home audio recording
using a home computer? The Audio-Technica AT2020 turns up a good deal
on Google searches, but it is a desk microphone not a clip on that you
can wear while taking video clips.

BTW, does the audio quality depend much on the sound card as well?

Thank you in advance ...

Frank

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Oct 3, 2011, 8:03:44 AM10/3/11

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On Sun, 2 Oct 2011 20:41:24 -0700 (PDT), in 'rec.video.production',
in article <Clip on mic for high quality home audio recording>,

"willi...@aol.com" <willi...@aol.com> wrote:

>What would be a good clip on mic for high quality home audio recording
>using a home computer? The Audio-Technica AT2020 turns up a good deal
>on Google searches, but it is a desk microphone not a clip on that you
>can wear while taking video clips.

It seems that you're looking for a wired or wireless (you didn't
specify which) lavalier (lav) microphone that you can connect to a
computer's USB port for recording spoken-word audio on the computer.

If so, here are two choices, out of many available choices, one with
an omnidirectional pickup pattern and one with a cardioid polar
pattern. Both are wired, not wireless.

Shure MX183 Omni Lav Condenser Mic
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/126754-REG/

Shure MX185 Cardioid Lav Mic
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/126756-REG/

With either of the above microphone choices, you'll need an XLR to USB
microphone adapter of some sort. Since I've suggested Shure mics, I
may as well suggest a Shure adapter.

Shure X2u - XLR to USB Microphone Signal Adapter
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/598406-REG/

>BTW, does the audio quality depend much on the sound card as well?

If you're using a USB connection to the computer, the computer's
internal sound card (or external audio interface) has no effect on the
recorded sound quality whatsoever as it plays no role in the recording
process.

Connecting a microphone directly to a computer's internal sound card
or external audio interface, however, is a completely different
situation and the quality of the sound card or audio interface will
affect the recorded sound quality.

The biggest impact, though, will come from the acoustics of the
recording space. Proper sound treatment will go a long way toward
helping to produce high quality results.

Next is the specific microphone chosen, it's placement related to the
sound source, the skill of the speaker to "work a mic", etc.

Next would be the quality of the mic preamp, audio interface or sound
card, cables, connectors, etc.

It's also, regardless of the hardware hookup, very important to record
without any clipped peaks.

>Thank you in advance ...

HTH.

--
Frank, Independent Consultant, New York, NY
[Please remove 'nojunkmail.' from address to reply via e-mail.]
Read Frank's thoughts on HDV at http://www.humanvalues.net/hdv/
[also covers AVCHD (including AVCCAM & NXCAM) and XDCAM EX].

Ty Ford

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Oct 3, 2011, 3:15:28 PM10/3/11

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On Sun, 2 Oct 2011 23:41:24 -0400, willi...@aol.com wrote
(in article
<d281947b-118b-454e...@g29g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>):

clip on what?

plugged into what?

Regards,

Ty Ford

--Audio Equipment Reviews Audio Production Services
Acting and Voiceover Demos http://www.tyford.com
Guitar player?:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWaPRHMGhGA