I have a 2011 HP laptop with Win7 and the latest Audacity. I’ve been through a long string of additions to my recording equipment as follows: Neewer condenser mic with 3.5mm audio jack, XLR cables, and a phantom power supply. I still can’t get the mic to register any sound input on Audacity when plugged in, and I’ve tried every combination of mono and stereo and stereo mix and such.
I recognized after reading other topics that the audio port on a laptop doesn’t work for these high-powered mics. Assuming that’s true, I’m ready to buy an XLR to USB cord so I can plug the power supply to the laptop’s USB port and the mic to the power supply. I don’t have any other equipment with me. Before I buy the XLR to USB cord, I’d like to know if that setup will work after all of these failed attempts. Any advice is appreciated. I also would like to know if the audio port is entirely useless to me as other topics here have suggested. Thank you in advance.
I don’t know that I would go to a lot of effort to get the computer Mic-In (pink?) to work. That’s intended for business Skype meetings and other voice work. There’s lots of reasons it’s not particularly good for music.
It’s not that it’s a high powered microphone, it’s just wired different. XLR microphones are three-wire Broadcast/Recording devices and are similar to all other upper-end microphones. None of them like to plug directly into a computer.
I’m not particularly excited about XLR to USB leads. Those things take so many shortcuts, the chances of a successful recording are just not that great.
I have a Behringer UM2 and so far I like it very much.
It has a good, quiet microphone amplifier and has Phantom Power built-in, so you won’t need your other adapter. You can plug any XLR microphone in, phantom power or not, and it also has connections for an instrument cable such as from a guitar.
I recently certified it for Overdubbing/Sound-On-Sound. So if you want to try playing with yourself (to to speak), this may be a good way to start.
It is mono (so is the computer Mc-In). So you will be doing production one blue wave at a time.
Thank you for the reply. That does help a lot. However, I notice that the link you gave me expects a long shipping time, and I would like to get any equipment I need quickly. I’m in a rap contest that takes votes to qualify for the finals and I don’t have much time. I have amazon prime, so are there any comparable products from it or other sites I could order for a quick ship? I’d prefer not to spend too much either but whatever works.
I think I’m not the only one who found it worked pretty well.
That was the problem. I have other products like it and they’re pretty awful. I have Shure X2U which was not cheap. I’ve never used it for a job. It doesn’t get loud enough even set to full volume and that’s just the way it is.
It’s just too easy to take shortcuts with little interface devices like this.
If somebody writes me a check to record something, I use a full-on (small) sound mixer and digital interface.
That’s getting seriously away from what you want.
Try a XLR/USB lead. It’s one-size-fitz-all and if your music happens to fit, you win. If it doesn’t work for you, make sure you can send it back.
Is the lead much different from the cable variety or are they the same thing? My search results aren’t telling me anything. Also, are there any of the Behringer products like that that will ship earlier? I love how good the discount on that one is but it isn’t in stock.
Most reports that I’ve read about XLR to USB cords (cables / leads) is that they’re very poor unless you happen to be recording from something with a very high signal level (such as a mixing desk) but then you have to be careful to avoid clipping. From what I’ve read I would not buy one.
A Behringer U-Phoria sounds like a much better option. If you can’t get the UM2, there’s also a very similar UMC22.
Do you have a local store that sells musical instruments and recording/PA equipment? You might end-up spending more money but you could bring in your mic & laptop and they could probably get you setup with something that works and you wouldn’t have to wait for delivery.
Or, I’m sure that Musician’s Friend or Sweetwater has something that would work for you.
Neewer condenser mic with 3.5mm audio jack, XLR cables
Do you have a link to the microphone specs? I’ve never seen a mic with an XLR connection and a 3.5mm connection, unless it’s a USB mic and the 3.5mm jack is for headphones.
and a phantom power supply.
You have a stand-alone phantom power supply? You might need that with an cheap XLR to USB “cable-type” interface, but otherwise phantom power is usually built into the interface, mixer, or preamp. And, that’s usually a more economical & practical way to get phantom power unless you’ve got a particular preamp or mixer without phantom power that you want to use.
"I need one microphone to work really well and I can’t spend a bunch of bux."
Have you tried recording with the personal recorder on your cellphone? Several people have posted about doing that when their other microphone adventures didn’t work out so well.
“My cell voice recording came out much better and clearer than my other microphone…”
As I posted, I know people who split-record video sound like this. They combine all the sound tracks and video in the master video edit later. Even if the sound tracks don’t perfectly line up, that can be fixed in Audacity and it’s far better than no sound.
Sound without the video is a radio show. Picture without the sound is a rehearsal.
The mic is a condenser one that came with an XLR-to-audio jack cable (If 3.5mm is the wrong description it fits in the audio port of a laptop). I got a standalone power supply, yes, and it came with an XLR-to-XLR cable to connect to the mic. I tried the XLR-to-audio cable from the supply to the computer and it failed. I just tested the XLR-to-USB cable this morning and it got sound but too quiet as was predicted.
I want the Behringer - power supply and preamp together, I take it - but it’s hard to find in stock. The UMC22 is on some sites for $40 but none of them give shipping estimates. I also don’t know what cable the Behringer models use to connect to the laptop, since the Behringers don’t come with one.
Otherwise, I literally have the laptop’s internal mic to use and nothing else. I do plan to use the split-record method though.
Are you sure about that? It’s a USB-A to USB-B, also known as a printer cable.
It’s scary these are getting hard to find. USB split off into about a million different variations.
Koz
And just to keep from getting too obsessive about this Behringer thing, you’re still replacing a sound mixer with a shortcut. These two happen to be particularly good shortcuts.
My tiny mixer has three different places to adjust microphone volume, not one. Each one is adjusted differently for different recording jobs.
That’s the one I’ve been trying to identify. None of the product descriptions for any available Behringer models I’ve found specify that they will come with one of these USB cables or which one they require.
I’m in a rap contest that takes votes to qualify for the finals and I don’t have much time.
Maybe not any more? Two things pros have to put up with which come as a shock to newbies are reshoots because you messed something up and outright fail. They both happen on a regular basis.
I understand. I’ve been doing this for years and I always have to do retakes.
I found a UMC22 and ordered it, so we should be good in a few days, but I did my best with a phone recording for now. I felt rushed mostly because the votes must be in by a deadline and I want as much time for those as possible.
