New to Mac recording - need advice.

Hello, I am just getting into live recording with my macbook pro - I have used Garageband for a few years and am very happy with it.

The advice I need is what are some good equipment setups to record live music. Not live shows of bands, but something I can hook up 3 or 4 mics and record small jam sessions of friends, usually in a living room or around a campfire. Also I want to record nature and misc. sounds for podcasts or imovie.

I am looking for a piece of equipment to hook the mics or midi instruments into my mac. Also some good picks for mics as well. Am trying to keep this small and portable. Not too expensive, but not cheap either, I know you get what you pay for.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks people!!

for nature recordings, you will want an omni directional mic: one that picks up all around. on more expensive mics, they have switches, meaning you can toggle between uni directional, bi directional and so on. this would be great, and could probably be used for your podcasting. something like the AKG C414 would be great, if money allowed it....

for recording 3-4 mics, you will want to grab a USB/FW audio interface, Focusrite and M Audio do some great ones, be sure to check them out. make sure it is bus powered, to keep it portable.

btw do you want advice on what mics to buy for setting up different instruments?

MIDI wise most controllers today support USB MIDI, so you wouldnt need an interface.

Yes, I would love advice on mics. Here are a few scenarios I will be doing.

1) Very intimate drumming. Djembes, ashikas, dumbecks, udus, and various other noise makers, but played pretty quietly and in a tight circle. Mics could be on each drum or in the center.

2)Small living room jams, with acoustic guitars, banjo, upright bass, and hand drums. Would prefer each instrument to be mic'd, or at least in pairs.

3)Spoken word, lectures, or interviews in classrooms or meeting halls.

Again, any advice is appreciated. And thanks for taking your time to help a newbie.

some very interesting scenarios!

ill just put the basics here:

Dynamic microphone: cheaper, can take higher SPL levels
Capacitor/Condensor Microphone : slightly more expensive, less durable, but have better high freq. response, and a more even bass response. can be broken by higher SPL. these require phantom power to operate, which is taken from your interface. the button will say "+48v".

for the djembe, something like a Shure SM57 pointed at where the player is hitting the skin, though you could use a capacitor similar to the C414 for bringing out that little "thwack" it has when it is hit.

is there a hole on the bottom of dumbecks that brings out that ringing sound? if so I would try and capture that, you could try recording the back of it, but for a basic start i would record with a capacitor mic similar to how i would record the djembes.

again, a capacitor for udus, they have quite a nice high frequency too them.

popular mics for basses low frequency instruments tend to be the AKG D112:



this goes for stuff like kick drums aswell, it can take SPL levels (essentially, a very loud signal). Shure and Sennheiser do models like this too, and they generally look like this one.

acoustic guitars / banjos sound great with capacitor mics. experiment on where to place the mic on the fret board. generally, higher up the fretboard gives a more "stringy" sound, while lower near the sound hole gives a more bassy response.

hand drums: again a dynamic, like a 57, or a capacitor.

as for spoken word: lecture wise a dictaphone or something similar, that is battery powered. you dont wanna go carrying around all this gear just to record that

podcasts/interviews, for professional results, go for a capacitor mic with a pop shield. i use A Rhode NT-1A for this stuff. you can get away with a Zoom mic or something if you need to be on the go.



to get the best results, do alot of experimenting with positionings, and different mics on different instruments.

portability wise, it is going to be quite hard to get the right separation and quality without quite alot of gear. you could go for a few omni directional mics for your campfire sessions and play around that, you would get a nice organic feel, but not necessarily the best sound you could get. it would definitely be alot cheaper.

anyway, hopefully thats enough for you to get through!

Need to spread more love robduckyworth.... so more virtual reps for you brother!

6string said:

Need to spread more love robduckyworth.... so more virtual reps for you brother!

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haha appreciate the gesture man

Thanks alot robducky... that will point me in a good direction for sure. Lot to learn - very exciting.

To add, the Shure SM57 is a great mic, as is the Shure SM58.
Both are very reasonably priced, and really pack a punch as far as versatility and quality goes.
The SM58 is a great vocal mic, as well as great for micing up amps.... a great all rounder, where as the SM57 really is a better as an instrument mic, even though still being good for vocals.

Shure Americas | SM57 Instrument Microphone | Instrument Mic, Rugged, Touring

Shure Americas | SM58 Vocal Microphone | Stage, Rugged, Touring

All in all, definitely 2 mics that should be part of your collection, but if I could only afford 1 mic to start with, I wouldn't go past the SM58.

More often than not when at a gig, you will see the SM58 dangling over an Amp, as well as the singer using one.
When it comes to micing up a guitar amp for recording, you are likely to have a mix of something like the SM57 and SM58, and even another good large diaphragm condenser mic like that NT-1A

the SM58 is actually just a SM57 with a shield, if you unscrew the shield, they are practically the same!

Not quite, but they are very similar in many aspects.

SM57


SM 58

I love these graphs.

there would be no audible difference between either of them really. If you had run out of 57's, whacking one of these on the Amp would be the best substitute

I used SM58s for yrs with studio recordings and live performance.... singing, micing up amps, drums, acoustic guitars.... always been a solid mic.
I agree, there really would be no tangible audio difference other than the the SM57 seeming a little smoother (less punchy).

As I said earlier, they are very similar, and are both really great all rounders, and even though the difference is minimal, they are both worth having for different scenarios.

As for what to plug those mics INTO, you might want to look at this:
http://apogeedigital.com/products/duet2.php

chas_m said:

As for what to plug those mics INTO, you might want to look at this:
http://apogeedigital.com/products/duet2.php

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From what i have heard Apogee interfaces work great with Apple computers.

that would be good for small, 2 Mic sessions, if you are looking for a session with even more microphones, Focusrite do some lovely ones.

OctoPre MkII Mic Pres

I used to be a "taper" who was into live recording. The forum you might find a world of info from is

Taperssection.com - Index

the site is mainly dedicated to field recording but there are many offshoots and much info on microphones and the software and cables to hook everything up. Check them out. You'll get a more informative forum if you register, but you can still browse as a guest.