Condenser mic for Intel Mac

[hens000]

Hello,

I am looking to purchase a condenser microphone to use on an Intel Mac, but I know that there are limited mics which have drivers that are compatible.

Does anyone have any recommendations as to which microphones will work? Im looking for a condenser microphone for under £100/$150.

Henry

 

[beatsme]

Hello,

I am looking to purchase a condenser microphone to use on an Intel Mac, but I know that there are limited mics which have drivers that are compatible.

Does anyone have any recommendations as to which microphones will work? Im looking for a condenser microphone for under £100/$150.

Henry

for a condenser mic to work, you're going to need a phantom power supply for it, and that means you need either a pre-amp or a mixer. May I ask, what do you plan to do? You can probably get by with something less expensive...

 

[Kernow]

Like beatsme says, for a decent condenser, you will need phantom power, but if you are not after top of the range, there are now USB condenser mics, like the Samson one here.

I haven't personally used it, but it got a reasonable review in the most recent Sound on Sound magazine. It costs around £60.

 

[baleensavage]

I like Shure's mics, though I'm not certain they offer a condenser mic for under $100. Either way, like the people above mentioned, you're going to need an audio interface and those aren't that cheap either ($100+ for a good one), you can get an iMic by Griffin ($40±), but they're not that good (I have one now and desparately want to upgrade to an Eidorol or MAudio). Samedaymusic.com is a great place to find all this sort of music production stuff. They're owned by Amazon now, but they have really quick turnaround and and extensive inventory.

 

[e-clipse]

NOW: Buy the Samson USB first. It is very portable and great for laying down quick things on the fly. And, the usb mic is great for using with Garage Band.

Later on, get some NEUMANNS, AKG's and a few Shure 57's and 58's and decent mic pres. A lot of audio interfaces have built in mic pres.


DOWN THA ROAD: I would save up for a couple MOTU 896's and chain them together. They have built in mic pres. That will give you 16 mic pre-amps, 36 inputs and 44 outputs. Oh yeah, Apple Logic Pro.

 

[e-clipse]

Also, the Mackie Universal Controller is makes a pretty good automated mixing console. I am probably telling you stuff you already know. Oh well...hope some of this helps.

 

[steelphantom]

Check out the Blue Snowball. I haven't personally used it, but if it's even near the quality of their other mics, it can't be bad. It's a USB mic, so you just plug it in your Mac and go. Plus, it will look awesome with your Mac, especially if it's white!

 

[zimv20]

I am looking to purchase a condenser microphone to use on an Intel Mac, but I know that there are limited mics which have drivers that are compatible.

not to be rude, but if you don't know enough about phantom, mic pre's and "drivers", how do you know you want a condenser?

 

[macbodock]

Check out the Blue Snowball. I haven't personally used it, but if it's even near the quality of there other mics, it can't be bad. It's a USB mic, so you just plug it in your Mac and go. Plus, it will look awesome with your Mac, especially if it's white!

I second this.. I own a BLUE SnowBall and it is very good...check out the blue website!

Kindest Regards,

 

[Sesshi]

Sorry for perhaps taking this thread off topic a little but I need to buy a Skype mic. Would a Snowball work with Skype if it's the input device and an external soundcard (specifically in my case the RME Fireface) is the output device? It could be quite nice to lug the Snowball around without the bulk of carrying my other audio interfaces around to supply phantom power.

The problem is Skype doesn't behave the way I expect it to. The internal mic for example doesn't work even if specified in the settings if an external soundcard is plugged in - which in my case it usually is.

I'm not a pro or anything and my only use for a Mic is audio/video conferencing (but I would like it very high quality). I bought the Fireface as it was generally reckoned to be the best add-on card and I'm a bit of a stickler for sound quality.

 

[beatsme]

Sorry for perhaps taking this thread off topic a little but I need to buy a Skype mic. Would a Snowball work with Skype if it's the input device and an external soundcard (specifically in my case the RME Fireface) is the output device? It could be quite nice to lug the Snowball around without the bulk of carrying my other audio interfaces around to supply phantom power.

The problem is Skype doesn't behave the way I expect it to. The internal mic for example doesn't work even if specified in the settings if an external soundcard is plugged in - which in my case it usually is.

I'm not a pro or anything and my only use for a Mic is audio/video conferencing (but I would like it very high quality). I bought the Fireface as it was generally reckoned to be the best add-on card and I'm a bit of a stickler for sound quality.

you should probably re-post this as it's very own thread, not because of subject but rather because this particular thread has been idle for some time...

just a thought

 

[CanadaRAM]

Hold your horses on the MOTU controllers and Mackie control surfaces, guys. The OP wanted.... a mic. Under $200-$300

hens000
It would help if we know what you wanted to accomplish with the microphone.

In general: A microphone will need a pre-amplifier - that starts with a Griffin iMic and goes up from there with USB and Firewire digital audio interfaces. A condenser microphone will probably need 48V phantom power to operate. The Griffin iMic and the lowest priced interfaces do NOT provide this. You can either get a more sophisticated interface ($200 and up roughly) or you can use a mixer that has moc preams and phantom power.

There are a couple of microphones that have USB connections built in -- that is, they have their own preamplifier and A/D convertor, and run on 5V power from the USB buss. These are adequate,but there are several problems. The sound is never going to be as good as a dedicated preamp or interface with its own mains supply. The USB microphone will be utterly useless away from the computer (no analog output) and you likely can run one, and only one, of these microphones on one computer (no micing the voice and guitar at the same time, or drumset, or 2 voices...)

Anyway: Please use the Search function of this forum, we have covered this subject many times.

And: Do your homework before deciding. Hot the newsstand or library and read Sound on Sound, Computer Music, Recording, Electronic Musician, Future Music and Keyboard magazines. They have many articles on just these subjects, and Sound on Sound's current issue is all about recording vocals.

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com

 

[Sesshi]

you should probably re-post this as it's very own thread, not because of subject but rather because this particular thread has been idle for some time...

just a thought

No reply to own thread. Guess people dont know. What the heck I'll buy a Snowball and see how I get on.