budget (usb) mic for classical guitar recording needed

[steve]

22. Export
Separate Conditions of Supply apply to export transactions and are available on request from the Company’s export department.

http://cpc.farnell.com/terms-and-conditions

[bgravato]

I've been searching CPC for some of the components I need to buy and the price difference is marginal... Since I already have an account at farnell and I know they will ship to portugal without getting into more trouble I think I'll stick to it... but thanks anyway for your suggestion Steve, appreciated!

While I don't build my own preamp (which might take a while... like all DIY projects) I'm seriously thinking about getting the Art USB Dual Pre

[steve]

While this will probably be redundant for you bgravato when you get your new pre-amp, I've finished the new version of the Noise Gate.

@ Koz, since you have experience with noise gates I'd be particularly interested in how you get on with this one - it's even got a gizmo for measuring the noise level

noisegate_v2-1.ny.zip

Requires Audacity 1.3.x - preferably a recent version such as 1.3.11 or later.

(2.83 KiB) Downloaded 8341 times

[kozikowski]

My cup runneth over. We woke up Chris and it turns out he has a noise suppression component for his tools as well.

I'm going to need to lie down for a while.

Koz

[bgravato]

I was doing some more tests today... and I must give kudos to Steve... I tried different positions and distances for the mic, but at the end it was the 30cm in front of 12th fret that seemed to give a more balanced and less bass boomy kind of sound...

Tomorrow I shall receive the Art amp and I'll post some samples once I get my hands on it

[steve]

at the end it was the 30cm in front of 12th fret that seemed to give a more balanced and less bass boomy kind of sound.

That's the classic position.

Tomorrow I shall receive the Art amp and I'll post some samples once I get my hands on it

Ooh I can't wait

[bgravato]

Got my Art USB Dual Pre today

I only had half hour to play with it and I probably won't have much time till sunday to get back to it, but here is the first sample recorded on linux: 31-art-usb-dual-pre-sample1.flac

I'll post some more when I have more time... Still need to try it on the mac, but should work fine too.

Enjoy!

[kozikowski]

Someone will correct me, but we appear to be done. Can you think of any way to improve that?

I'm out.

It would be good if more different samples were posted. You know. Just in case we missed something....

Koz

[steve]

So what's that - 200% over budget? Oops - but not a penny wasted
Very nice indeed. If I was going to be hyper critical, you may need a new chair - is that sound at 31.7 seconds a wooden chair creaking?

It's pretty late here, but I've had a little play with the recording (hopefully you won't find it too distasteful) http://audacity.easyspacepro.com/exampl ... ple1b.flac (I've left the creek at the end, but removed the sniff at the beginning, and then just twiddled a bit )

[bgravato]

Pretty late here too (I think we're in the same timezone) and I should be sleeping 'cause I have a wedding tomorrow morning (it's not mine no worries ), but I guess I'm still too excited about the ART to be able to sleep

Not sure what the cracking sound might be... surely not a wooden chair, because the one I was sitting on is made of metal and plastic and it's new... Maybe it was the foot rest, which is also metallic but quite old so might produce some cracking noises... I didn't even notice that sound until you mentioned it... I must be careful now... looks like this mic capture everything! (I hope I didn't fart )

Your sample is in stereo and it sounds a bit like large room echo kind of sound... may I ask how you did it?

I've found a nice spot in my appartment where I can get a similar large hall echo effect "naturally". I'll try to record something there whenever I get a chance.

As for the budget... yeah like 250% over the initial expectations hehe but I think it was worth it.

One thing I've learn through time... if you get the cheapest... you'll probably regret and end up getting the better one (did happen with the micplug). Also getting the most expensive doesn't mean you're getting the best one or, at least, not by a wide margin... I think the trick is always in trying to find that sweet spot between cost and quality... before entering the range where you need to pay 3 times more to get 5% more quality and above the range where you feel "damn this is crappy what a waste of money, I need better".

Soon I'll update the first post in this thread with my findings, conclusions and advices to those who might come next... and save them some work