Regarding the shure 57

C

Canis

Member
Apr 1, 2003
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Okay, after I'd scanned the internet all over and read your helpful advice in my previous thread, I finally got myself a 57. I now have it at home and it's time to consider buying some other mandatory accesories.

From my understanding, mics like 57s haven't got enough gain to be plugged directly into the soundcard and need to go through a mic preamp of some sort. Since I don't want to spend major money on a dedicated preamp, I'm leaning towards buying a small mixer with a built-in mic preamp. The brand I see recommended the most is Behringer - their basic models, like Eurorack UB802, to be precise - but I'd also like to hear your opinion about it.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong:
After I get the mixer, I'm supposed to plug the mic into it via the XRL (or whatever) cable, and plug the mixer into the line-in input on the soundcard, no? Is that all, or are some other obscure ceremonies needed to get the darn thing to function properly?

Sorry for the n00b questions, but every aspiring producer has to start at the bottom I guess ;)
 
Well, I'm inclined to believe 57 doesn't need any battery, seeing as there is no mention of it in the manual, nor anywhere else on the web...? Besides, I always thought that only condenser mics need their own internal power supply.

As for the phantom power, I heard somewhere on the net that it's definitely not required for the 57. Some folks even said it could actually be harmful.

Dunno what to think now, I'm a little bit confused. Sheesh, I never figured that such a simple recording rig could be such a chore to get right. Now I really need your help :D
 
Canis,

I needed a small (and cheap) mixer for doing some scratch work at home and basically having a volume knob for my monitors and headphones right in front of me and I ended up going with a Soundcraft Compact 4:

http://www.soundcraft.com/product_sheet.asp?product_id=121

It was $130 and had the most recording friendly features BY FAR out of anything in it's price range. Class A mic pres (take that for what it's worth at $130 though), phantom power, high/low-z switch for direct instrument input (for using amplitube or whatever), great monitoring/routing options, and it's well... compact. The literature says that it was basically designed for recording at home on a computer.

I haven't used it too extensively yet, but it sounds good to me, especially for the money. Three thumbs up.


Bryan


Edit: My only gripe right off the bat is that it doesn't have a power switch! You have to either get a cheap surge protector or just live with plugging/unplugging it. I went the surge protector route since I use one for my monitors anyway.

Edit 2: Oh, and the meters are a joke. I certainly wouldn't count on them, but if you're recording on a computer, you'll be using the meters in your software anyway.

And while I'm here, I agree with Andy below. If you can afford it, try and find a Mackie 1202 VLZ Pro on Ebay. Best mic pres and most headroom of any mixer you could get for the money. And the four XLR channels will be nice (for starters) if you decide to move on to demoing live drums.
 
try and find a second hand mackie 1202 if you can afford it, Behringer will work (on a good day) but it's the same with all these things, you get what you pay for. You won't damage the 57 with phantom power, an old ribbon mic you may, but 57's are pretty robust. The little soundcraft compact 4 sounds an ok option.
 
Well, I'll be damned if I expected such a flood of replies, thanks a whole lot :)

As for that

http://www.soundcraft.com/product_s...?product_id=121

It was $130 and had the most recording friendly features BY FAR out of anything in it's price range. Class A mic pres (take that for what it's worth at $130 though), phantom power, high/low-z switch for direct instrument input (for using amplitube or whatever), great monitoring/routing options, and it's well... compact. The literature says that it was basically designed for recording at home on a computer.

I haven't used it too extensively yet, but it sounds good to me, especially for the money. Three thumbs up.
Click to expand...

This sounds great indeed, but I dunno if I'd shell out a 130 bucks fo it, not that it ain't worth it, but I've seen that Behringer for 50 euro, which is, like, 60 bucks or so, and it would serve me just as well. I don't need multiple XLR inputs either, because I only want to record guitar. I haven't got drums at home. Besides, my bandmate has a mixer with 4 mic inputs, should a need arise.

try and find a second hand mackie 1202 if you can afford it, Behringer will work (on a good day) but it's the same with all these things, you get what you pay for. You won't damage the 57 with phantom power, an old ribbon mic you may, but 57's are pretty robust. The little soundcraft compact 4 sounds an ok option.
Click to expand...

Whoa, the man himself! :) Thanks for the advice, I've seen one of those being sold real cheap somewhere, but I really don't think I need so many channels and different functions. Besides, I'm planning to upgrade my computer so I'm on a limited budget. Still, this one looks really cool. If only I had more money :( And about phantom power, what exactly is it used for?
 
Behringer sucks, plain and simple. You might get lucky, but don't be a bit surprised if you get it home and it doesn't work in some way. It's happened to me, and loads of other people.
Click to expand...

Well, that certainly is strange, that friend of mine has never had any problems with it... And besides, if you had brought it home only to find it wouldn't work, my guess is that you'd have been able to use the warranty anyway...
 
Behringer is cheap, and so you shouldn't expect to get something good with it... At least you can have something that's merely ok... Like Andy says, you get what you pay for (this is really true in the audio pro, much more than if you buy shoes or clothes), and in the case of Behringer, you don't get much... I have two products from them (a compressor and a multi-fx) that I bought years ago and I won't buy anything else from them, ever. Even if I were on a low budget, I'd try something else... The only thing I could possibly get is a headphone amplifier, or something like that (I mean, something that won't have any role in the recorded sound), because I really don't trust these products. Just my opinion :)
 
Behringer is hit or miss. Mostly miss, but they do have the occasional gem just because their stuff is so cheap. When it comes down to it, it's really all about bang for the buck (or effectiveness for the euro) for 99% of aspiring recordists out there, and whatever works for you is the bottom line.

Just because I recently did some research on the cheap mixer question (cheaporeal mixore quandary, if you will), I'm gonna throw another option out here:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/630048/

Lots of good reviews on this one, but it looks like Barney the Purple Mixer. I mean, I'm secure in my mixer sexuality and all, but it's a bit much to have it staring you in the face all day.


Bryan
 
I've taken the safe way and borrowed the mixer from my friend. At first nothing worked as it should, and then, after 3 hours of scratching our heads, my friend and I found out that one of the cables was to blame. The funny thing is, we had two identical cables, and both of them were fucked. We tried the first one and when it didn't work, we naively assumed that the second definitely would. You get the idea, huh.

The mixer itself seems to work fine, it's the MX802A model. The only thing I don't really understand is not in any way connected to the mixer. Although my line-in input on the soundcard is set to about one-sixth of it's total volume, it completely fills up the input meter in all of my recording software. When I record something, it records okay, although the meter is constantly on the verge of red. The recording itself is relatively noise-free, the quality of reproduction is very good. I dunno what to think...
 
Canis said:
Okay, after I'd scanned the internet all over and read your helpful advice in my previous thread, I finally got myself a 57. I now have it at home and it's time to consider buying some other mandatory accesories.

From my understanding, mics like 57s haven't got enough gain to be plugged directly into the soundcard and need to go through a mic preamp of some sort. Since I don't want to spend major money on a dedicated preamp, I'm leaning towards buying a small mixer with a built-in mic preamp. The brand I see recommended the most is Behringer - their basic models, like Eurorack UB802, to be precise - but I'd also like to hear your opinion about it.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong:
After I get the mixer, I'm supposed to plug the mic into it via the XRL (or whatever) cable, and plug the mixer into the line-in input on the soundcard, no? Is that all, or are some other obscure ceremonies needed to get the darn thing to function properly?

Sorry for the n00b questions, but every aspiring producer has to start at the bottom I guess ;)
Click to expand...

The UB802 is alright...I've used a laptop, UB802 and SM57 to record a demo before (guitars only) and it turned out quite good.
 
"The mixer itself seems to work fine, it's the MX802A model. The only thing I don't really understand is not in any way connected to the mixer. Although my line-in input on the soundcard is set to about one-sixth of it's total volume, it completely fills up the input meter in all of my recording software. When I record something, it records okay, although the meter is constantly on the verge of red. The recording itself is relatively noise-free, the quality of reproduction is very good. I dunno what to think..."

Hi!
You need to calibrate you stuff!
The mixer, with the soundcard, and wathever you going to use for playing/recording (like a MDisk, CD recorder, Dat, etc.
 
Hi!
You need to calibrate you stuff!
The mixer, with the soundcard, and wathever you going to use for playing/recording (like a MDisk, CD recorder, Dat, etc.
Click to expand...

I'm afraid I'm not following you.. What calibration? I mean, how is it done? Not a word about it in the manual of either the mixer or the motherboard ( audio chip is nVidia Soundstorm integrated)...
 
Brett - K A L I S I A said:
Behringer is cheap, and so you shouldn't expect to get something good with it... At least you can have something that's merely ok... Like Andy says, you get what you pay for (this is really true in the audio pro, much more than if you buy shoes or clothes), and in the case of Behringer, you don't get much... I have two products from them (a compressor and a multi-fx) that I bought years ago and I won't buy anything else from them, ever. Even if I were on a low budget, I'd try something else... The only thing I could possibly get is a headphone amplifier, or something like that (I mean, something that won't have any role in the recorded sound), because I really don't trust these products. Just my opinion :)
Click to expand...

I don't know what the hell you guys are talking about don't all the pros use Behringer Truths as their main monitors. OK OK bad joke ha ha

But seriously the Analog to Digital mic pre they make is decent if you onl yhave like 200.00 bucks, need 8 more XLR ins and have a soundcard or mixing board that takes an ADAT signal the Behringer Ultra Gain 8 is a good choice http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/182483/
honestly it sounds really really good basically transparent.
 
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