To make sure you finally put together the basics of your home recording studio. You have your company's audio interface, your monitors or headphones and your DAW.
Unless you’re making your music exclusively with song packs or VST synths, you’ll need one more thing so you can get sounds into your DAW: a microphone.
Buying your first mic is a big moment. It’s your first step into the world of harvesting sound. But there’s a huge range of microphones out there, and a lot to understand mic’ing.
What are the best microphones? What are the main microphone variations? How do you choose the right mic to get started with?
Ask yourself these nearly four important questions and you’ll be able to narrow your choices off a lot and find the right mic for your sound–and most importantly, don something you don’t need…
So to help you find the mic you’ll like, here’s everything you need to make the right mic line.
1 . Decide on your budget
Your microphone budget is a substantial factor when it comes to buying your first mic.
Figure out your budget prior to getting too far into shopping. That way you’ll get the most for your money.
In that guide I’ll offer suggestions for beginner, intermediate and guru budgets. Now that you’ve figured out your budget, let’s get started!
credit card Figure out what you’ll be recording most often
Decide what you deserve to record. You need to take advantage of the strengths of the earliest mic you add to your collection and make sure it fits any needs.
You need to take advantage of the strengths of the first microphone you add to your collection.
So think about what you’re planning to log the most. The good news is that there are some common microphone choices for certain practice tasks.
Here’s some go-to mic choices for common creating situations:
Electric guitar
Electric guitarists are lucky when it comes to tracking. One of the all time classics for mic’ing up amps certainly is the essential Shure SM57 We’ve said a lot about this microphone stand before, but it’s worth repeating that it’s a suitable choice for electric guitar.
While you can certainly spend a lot more money at guitar amp mics, don’t think for a second the fact that the SM57 isn’t a pro choice—you might find it’s all you need!
Learner Budget: Shure SM57
Intermediate Budget: Heil PR30
Guru Budget: Royer R-121
Acoustic instruments
If you’re looking to get realistic recordings of acoustic instruments or a live string quartet playing, small diaphragm condenser microphones might be the right choice.
It could be bending the rules a tiny bit, but small diaphragm refermers are often sold in matched pairs specifically meant for stereo filming.
A pair of small diaphragm condensers is perfect for capturing a realistic awareness of a space and intimate acoustic performances.