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Portable studio

T

Talkingradiodude

Guest
Hi to all of you accross the radio nation,

I'm a young radio student and I would like to built a small portable radio studio...in fact, I would like to be able to tape VO and news report from anywhere with a laptop and with the best voice quality possible AT the best cost possible. I'm not very familiar with all the technologie necessary to achieve my goal. Is there a better laptot to buy? And is it necessary to have a external sound card or the integrated one is correct if I have a product like this one : http://mxlmics.com/Comp_Recording/comprecord_index.html
In the description they say that we can plug the mic in the laptot and it's gonna sounds good, so I don't need an M-audio card or something like that?

Thank you very much for your help, it's gonna be very useful!
 
I would seriously look into a USB mic, which bypasses the sound card entirely. For news and most VO purposes, the MXL USB mics do a very credible job. Check them out here.

There's no noise from the sound card or computer internals (Hard drive whine, for example). There are three input settings - Low-Med-High - that allow you to work in both very clean and relatively noisey environments depending on your proximity to the mic. There is noticeable proximity effect from about 6" in which means that you need to find the "sweet spot" for your voice. Working it close will definitely boost the base.
 
It really depends on what level you're at and how much money you want to spend. I travel with my laptop, my presonus firebox and my mic. It works well. There are lots of options. I'm still not completely sold on USB mics, but they do seem to be a very economical option.

Don't forget about the acoustics. Sometimes you have a suitable closet you can use, sometimes not. The talented Steve Stone and some partners have made this wonderful box. It's pricey.

I'm a cheap ass and made my own portable booth based off something I read in a Harlan Hogan book. I travel with it whenever I can. Granted mine is ugly, but it works and it cost me less than $20 to make, not couting the Auralex which I got for free.
 
I went to my local audio shop today and they suggest that product too...the Podcast factory from M-Audio including a mic, an external sound card,...for 110$.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/PodcastFactory-main.html

Of course the Mic looks less professionnal than the MXL, but at the shop they said to me that the sound quality would be better with the external sound card of that specific package than the sound quality of the USB mic, what's your opinion on that. Is the USB mic of MXL sounds good enough for broadcast purpose?

thanks to all of you, your comments are very useful!
 
I use a Samson USB mic, C03U, for travelling. It sounds better than
the RE-20's most radio stations use. Clean and full. It's pretty quiet,
too. (Better than their cheaper C01U)

The mic itself sounds good and it bypasses potentially noisy, inexpensive
preamps and soundcards. Sometimes the straightest route is better.

I recommend it. Have not used the MXL.
 
USB Mics

Either way, you've got an A/D conversion. The sound card in the laptop, the external box, or the mic does it.

The advantage to an M-audio or other external sound processor is that it usual has multiple inputs for devices other than microphones. If you need that, it's a consideration. You also have greater flexibility in mic choices, but the price of the M-audio external equals the price of a USB mic, and you still have to buy a mic.

The production guys who have heard my MXL USB mic are very impressed with the capabilities and sound of that mic. Is it the right mic for every voice, in every situation? No, but no mic is universal. The advantage to the USB mic is that there is no added sound card noise. The A/D converter in the mic seems to work very well unless seriously overdriven. Installation is painless since the mic is seen as a HID (Human Interface Device) - just like a mouse or keyboard. You can still use the on-board sound card, or even an external sound device if you wish.
 
Bought them all..tried them all..looking for the holy grail. I may have been one of the first to use a laptop and a Sound Devices USB-Pre interface with a Sennheiser MD421. Bulky, but it sounded okay with a little Cool Edit Pro EQ.

I tried the various Samson USB mics..not bad, but not great (IMHO) I tried the BLUE "Snowball" mic, a little better, but impossible to use without thier proprietary "ring style" elastic mount, and a "special" mic stand. I tried the RODE USB Podcast mic..terrible. Then I used an MXL 006 USB mic..very good..used it a lot until the MXL 008 version..THAT'S the money for this type of thing. Larger element, and better A/D converter..It is goood! It is really good!

HOWEVER..be advised that Adobe Audition does NOT (always) play well with a lot of USB devices, and you (may) have to go into the "system" section and muck around with the number of buffers, etc to get it to stop dropouts, and glitches. I finally got mine right using a Gateway AMD64 laptop. I had to change the settings for what seems like forever to get it just right..Now it hums along with that MXL mic. We just finished a trip to Denver and back and never had to even mention that we were on the road..it was that good. Not a complaint from any client..including national automotive agencies, and TV clients. Good job MXL. Where did they come from? Seems like they make a truly decent product for incredibly reasonable money! I plug a pair of cheap Sony headphones into the mini plug, and that provides the playback. FYI: On a lot of systems you have to remember to "tell" Adobe Audition that you want the playback to come from the laptop..or it will try and playback through the mic.
 
Cheap, but Effective

Just a note...

MXL mics work very nicely - and painlessly - with Cool Edit Pro 2.0 or with Audacity. Audacity is free from http://audacity.sourceforge.net. The Ver. 1.3.3 beta has worked flawlessly for me, and has a LOT of features.

If you're looking to do decent VO audio without spending a lot of money, you could do a lot worse.
 
Jeff Laurence said:
Good job MXL. Where did they come from? Seems like they make a truly decent product for incredibly reasonable money! I
Click to expand...

MXL is Marshall Electronics, based in El Segundo, CA. They have been around for about 25 years in various aspects of the audio-video business. They are the same folks who bring you Mogami cable in the USA as well as some Ikegami video products . They seem to be quality oriented and have been a personal favorite for some time. When I used to sell this kind of stuff, they were a great source, and one of the first reliable suppliers of large diaphragm Chinese condenser mics. I've never been disappointed with their products, especially if price is a consideration.
 
(Just my opinion)

The problem I have with MXL, is that quality control seems to be very low. For the price, would you really expect any more?

Don't get me wrong, it's very possible to get an ultra-fantastic MXL mic. It's also possible to get the next one off the line that sounds like garbage and craps out after 6 months of use. And even if neither one is garbage, it's hard to find two that sound the same and behave the same.

That is fairly typical of all low-cost condensers. Some are better than others. The Studio Projects line, the M-Audio Nova and the Audio-Technica AT2020 all behave better than most, in terms of consistency.

Of course, I can't speak for all models of low-cost condensers..Haven't tried all of them. But in my experience, the lowest cost MXL mics are pretty rough. This may not be the case with those in the $200-300 price range. This also may be something they have improved since my experience.

As for the USB mics, the MXL's are the best that I've heard. I'm not blown away, but they seem to be the company that's doing it better than anyone else. I'd love to see a slightly higher priced model appear. One with great A/D, realtime monitoring, full frequency response, etc. Nobody has rolled it all into one, yet. I'm thinking the $400 range. I think the technology is there, and I think there's a demand. It's just that no one has gotten that far.

Emmett
 
You could also consider something like the Zoom H4 (or the more expensive versions from Roland or Nagra) to make the recordings and then transfer to your laptop for editing.
 
Well I went through TWO AKG mics that had issues..One had a mis-mounted capsule that rattled, and the other had solder joints give up..One had NO solder at all on it. It was just threaded through the terminal, and fogotten about. This is Austrian precision?

I bought an expensive BLUE mic that had wiring that came loose from the joints..so i suppose that is gonna happen..so for the difference in money I'll try these things out.

Also I read that many of the Chinese plants employ workers who are trained in microphone production in East Germany at the old Georg Neumann factory...and at Microtek-Geffel so they may have a better handle on this than i would have thought. Now that I think it over MXL made that V12 that I liked so much..It had a capsule cage "ring" or vibration..I figured out how to relieve that..and I brought it up with the place I bought it from.
 
Brian Hart said:
It really depends on what level you're at and how much money you want to spend. I travel with my laptop, my presonus firebox and my mic. It works well. There are lots of options. I'm still not completely sold on USB mics, but they do seem to be a very economical option.

Don't forget about the acoustics. Sometimes you have a suitable closet you can use, sometimes not. The talented Steve Stone and some partners have made this wonderful box. It's pricey.

I'm a cheap ass and made my own portable booth based off something I read in a Harlan Hogan book. I travel with it whenever I can. Granted mine is ugly, but it works and it cost me less than $20 to make, not couting the Auralex which I got for free.
Click to expand...

I bought the very same box that Harlan has. Lined it with Auralex, etc.... sounded like crap!! Way too boomy. I got rid of it and built a 4x4x7 foot booth in a spare room. Three sided, with a curtain on one side, lined with egg crate and/or Auralex. Works great!

Cost... $87.00 for the wood.
Auralex/egg crate about $160.00
 
Mine's not boomy, but it's also bigger than the folding box you're talking about.

I ended up building a booth at home and spent way too much on it, but it's dead and pretty well isolated. My wife hated the building process (mainly all the sheetrock dust) and is trying to talk me into buying a prebuilt next time. I think next time to heck with a booth. I wanna build a separate studio space away from the house. Nothing too fancy, maybe just two or three rooms. ;D
 
Emmett said:
As for the USB mics, the MXL's are the best that I've heard. I'm not blown away, but they seem to be the company that's doing it better than anyone else. I'd love to see a slightly higher priced model appear.
Emmett
Click to expand...

Have you seen this one yet? http://www.seelectronics.com/USB2200a.html
Saw it in a review, and it's supposed to be a "higher end" type model.
I guess the big sell on it is the USB AND XLR connectors.
 
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