Decent mike for recording classical guitar?

Mucman

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
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I feel the need to write some sad songs due to the loss of my loved one pcitured here. I am tired of my ghetto recording setup (record into portable mp3 player, and the play it into the computer). I am looking for something less than $100cdn though. If anyone can point me in the right direction, that would be great!
 

ThePresence

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
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Well a good studio condenser mike will cost you anywhere from $800 USD to $1400 USD. I'm talking the good stuff, I'm sure there are cheapos available too. You might just want to get an accoustic pickup though. Sorry about your loss. I guess this is now taking over your free time instead of riding.
 

Harvey

Administrator<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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There are good mics in a number of price catagories. For acousitc guitar, several electret condenser mics have a nice, open sound.

As important as the mic, itself, is the quality of the mic preamp, which is a specialized low noise circuit that must take a lot of gain (up to 60 - 70 dB) while retaining bandwidth. For example, the output impedance of a typical mic is around 150 - 200 ohms. The theoretical noise of an ideal 150 ohm resistor is -131.5 dBm at room temperature. I have built mic preamps with in equivalent input noise of around 6 dB (input shorted), which means that most mics are noiser than my preamp. This design is also flat to around 400 kHz.

Can you hear the difference? You can if the rest of your recording chain is good enough. :) In professional recording environments, I have heard the differences between various mics, through the same preamp, and the same mic through various preamps, all of which had at least 100 - 200 kHz bandwidth.

Could you hear the difference when recording to MP-3, or even CD (uncompressed 44 kHz x 16 bits)? Probably not. :disgust:
 

Mucman

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
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Anything is better than recording into a portable mp3 player :). When I move out I will be setting aside a room for recording... right now anything will do though.
 

Mucman

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
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Harvey - Umm, thanks for the technical details :) What differences should I expect to hear with a cheap mike? Keep in mind I am used to my mp3 player recorder :) If you want to hear how bad it is PM me :p
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
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Mar 20, 2000
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dude somebody stole your bike?!? that is suck!