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Hello everyone.

I have bought an mxl studio 1 about a year ago. My results where not that good. i Had some noises in the background the actual recordings where great but they had a "shhhhhhhhhhh" in the background all the time. If someone can help me great!

Ok now to the second part.
I am farly new in this whole recodring world. I simply want to record trumpet, piano, guitar. maby some vocals. Can anyone suggest me a "really" low budget equipment that will do the job? I am 14 years old and i can play all these instruments so well that i now want to record this but my studio 1 dident help allot.

I would really appretiate some help!

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gehauser Sun, 03/13/2011 - 07:58

Get a real audio interface and mic, not a USB mic. But if the hiss is coming from the fan in your nearby computer, you will need to take steps to get the computer noise down (put computer in a closet, build gobos). If it is coming from the combo of your USB mic, cable, and computer sound card, you should probably get an audio interface and a real mic.

Audio interfaces:
Echo Audiofire, Emu 0404 USB, Focusrite Saffire Pro

I really like my Emu 0404 USB - it has quiet preamps and great converters.

Mics for untreated room:
Shure SM57 or SM58

Emu 0404 USB and Shure SM57 would be about $300. Add cable $20 and mic stand $30. Total $350.

If that is beyond your budget, you might just try a Zoom H2 recorder for $140. It has a good sound, and tracks at 24-bit quality - easy to use and get good recordings and transfer the .wav files to a PC for further processing.

seife96 Sun, 03/13/2011 - 08:27

man thanks allot. I like the sm57 and there are used ones out there 2 for like 64 bugs. Emu 0404 USB, Echo Audiofire, and Focusrite Saffire Pro are a little too expensive for me! do you know some other audio interfaces? maby something like [="http://cgi.ebay.com/M-Audio-Fast-Track-Pro-USB-Recording-Interface-/160556148214?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item2561e465f6#ht_500wt_1156"]this [/]="http://cgi.ebay.com…"]this [/]
or [[url=http://="http://cgi.ebay.com…"]this [/]="http://cgi.ebay.com…"]this [/]??? I have no experience so maby you can tell me whats bad with these "farly cheep" ones!

I need 2 inputs for two mics! What do you think would be good?

gehauser Sun, 03/13/2011 - 10:06

The problem with cheap interfaces is cheap preamps and cheap AD/DA converters. I suspect you will still be in hiss-land trying to bring a sm57 up to a decent recording level. May as well stick with your MXL Studio 1 until you save enough to afford a good interface, like those I mentioned.

You may want to search and read reviews on the cheap interfaces. Definitely ask owners of the interfaces you are considering about the quality of the preamps.

Preamps should give you 60+ db gain, enough for the sm57. Dynamic range is important for the AD/DA converters (higher the better). Emu interfaces have highest dynamic range of the 3 interfaces I mentioned (110db or higher). My old Fostex portastudio only has 93db. Make sure you get an interface with "hardware monitoring", so you can send the audio input direct to your headphones while overdubbing a new track, without latency.

Be careful buying a used sm57 from other than authorized dealer - some very striking counterfeit sm57s are going around out there, but they sound bad compared to the real ones.