USB mic recommendation?

I am simplifing my workstation and moving to a USB mic. What would you recommend?
Best.
Tom

I'd recommend foregoing the USB mic and get a USB audio interface... then you can use whatever mic you like. Really high quality mics? ... ain't gonna be USB. You really can't beat a Shure SM58 (you can... but it would be a matter of opinion.)
If you need to take your show "on the road", I would recommend one of the Zoom mics. I have the H1 and H2 (got the h2 first.) It can be configured as a USB audio interface/mic for your computer. It can be taken on location (without a computer) and used as a recorder. It can use other kinds of mics as the audio input... on location... which means if you have a fancy mic like the Shure, you can take it with you and use it on location just with the H1... awesome (you will need an XLR to 1/8in stereo adapter though.) It's great with lavalier mics. Zoom mics have an outstanding dynamic range (some might say it's too good — they can pick up *everything* – if you're not careful.)
Here are some examples [absolutely NO noise reduction used in any of them]:
This first clip is a recording of a folk guitar, outside, on a breezy day. I used a lavalier mic (with windscreen) clipped to the soundhole connected to the Zoom H1 and set the levels down low enough to cut the ambient noise.
http://sight-creations.com/audio/small_clip3.mov.mp3
... not very impressive by itself (compared to a Tascam PortaStudio 4-track cassette recorder I had in the early nineties... it's bloody amazing!)
and this is what it sounds like after post in Logic:
http://sight-creations.com/audio/small_clip4.mp3
You can really pull a lot of audio out of those lower levels because the recorder is exceptionally quiet (as far as I can tell – and i'm kind of old, so: some hearing loss — it's dead silent... but I can't find any data on the "floor" or the recorder [dead silent is at least -96dB]).
Here's what it can sound like. Again, I mic'd a steel string guitar out in my backyard with a lavalier mic clipped to the sound hole (mic inside the guitar -- you can't tell how windy it was.)
http://ftp.sight-creations.com/audio/improv_030612_03.mp3
If it weren't for my amateurish playing, it sounds as good as a professional studio recording.
If you don't need a fancy mic and all you *really* need is good noise reduction... invest in ScreenFlow. It has the BEST noise reduction of any software I have ever used (including Soundtrack Pro, Audicity, Logic, FCPX, you name it...) and you don't need to be editing video to use it. Just turn it on (default setting) and save! Listen to any of my later tutorials on youtube (channel: fxmah)... and realize I'm sitting 6 feet from a window air conditioner/heater that is ON all the time. You would never believe it. BTW - for those tutorials, I use a cheap GE headphone/boom mic combo (gaming headset?)... it's perfect for the job. Always in the right place and always out of the way. Headphone part is not all that great, but I like what I get from the mic.
HTH

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Both internal and USB mics not working

Hi there, all. Long-time lurker, first-time poster. Starting last night, I have been having issues with microphone use on my iBook G4. Neither the internal mic nor my USB headset mic (Altec Lansing AHS302USB) are accepting input.
The internal mic's failure doesn't surprise me, as I have heard about the delicate nature of the wire connecting the internal mic from its position on the display down to the main computer. It's the USB mic that confuses me, since USB mics are what everyone seems to recommend that people use when the internal mic is on the fritz (thanks to other mics not working with Mac due to the line-in thing). Also there is the fact that I have used this headset with this computer for over a year with no significant issues until now, with both mics simultaneously failing.
There doesn't seem to be a problem with the headset's wires; I am still able to hear audio through the headphones quite well, and when I load my audio recording program (Audio In) and Sound Preferences, I can see the occasional blip of sound recognition when I move the USB adapter portion around in the port. These blips even occur when the pink microphone jack and headphones jack are unplugged from the adapter, so this suggests to me that the problem lies not with the wires, but somewhere in the USB adapter, port, or the computer itself.
I'm leaning toward the computer itself, since it just seems odd that both mics would just happen to stop working at the same time. That and the fact that audio output still works through the headset, and the USB ports work fine for other USB devices such as my external drive and iPod.
I have tried restarting, resetting the PRAM, and repairing permissions with Disk Utility. Nothing's working so far.
Does anyone have any idea what could possibly be wrong?
For reference's sake, I took a recording of the sound that results from jiggling the USB headset adapter in the port. It's very quiet, so you may need to turn up the volume a little bit to hear it. Again, these are the ONLY sounds that the mic is able to pick up currently.
http://animeutahime.com/temp/faultymicrecording.mp3
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.10) 768 MB RAM, 37.7 GB hard disk

Just to chime in here - I wonder if it's down to the software: I've recently updated to 10.4.10, and the internal mic seems to have stopped working.
One positive effect of the change to 10.4.10 is that my Griffin iMic no longer flips to 8-bit, 22khz recording when I plug it in.
Having said that, I really like to get my internal mic back up and running again.
iBook Mac OS X (10.4.10) 1.5gb RAM, 60gb hard disk

USB Mic (static, robot sounds)

Only in the last month or so, I have been having problems with my usb mic(s). When I am using Ventrilo, Skype etc., after a while people say I sound like a robot and or get a ton of static. I have tried using different headsets, different usb ports etc etc., only to have it keep occuring.
Any ideas on what I can do? Is this a sound board going bad? Is it maybe something with 10.5.7?

This likely has to do with USB Clocking. Mac OS 10.5 is actually pretty bad with this. Have a read of this article and follow their recommendation for creating an aggregate audio device. Even if you have only one mic it sometimes seems to fix things:
http://www.macworld.com/article/138535/2009/02/audio_input.html
Message was edited by: CdaveC

VOCAL RECORDING - Mic Recommendations?

Low sound on vocals when using audio plug-in with regular mic (Sony ECM 909A). What are some cost-effective options to improve the sound quality on vocals with GB? I know I need either a pre-amp or USB mic (yes?) but any recommendations on brands and/or where I might get it? I live in Los Angeles. Thx!

Best vocals will be with a nice condenser mic and a good mic pre amp. Tons of options, depending on your budget.

How to record a USB mic and a guitar at the same time?

I have an Audio-Technia AT-2020 USB mic and an Ovation acoustic/electric guitar. I wanted to record both of them at the same time, so i plugged the mic into the USB port (duh!) and the guitar into the 1/8" port on the computer (with a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter and a male/male headphone cable). However, when i went to select the inputs for the diffrent tracks, it was either one or the other. My question is, do you need an audio interface to be able to do multitrack recording? If so, could I use a USB hub, 1/8" to USB adapter, and plug both the guitar and mic to fool the computer into thinking i have an audio interface? I would rather not spend money on an audio interface ($200) and a new mic ($120) when i already have something that could work!
Thanks to anyone who can help!

beberhard14 wrote:
do you need an audio interface to be able to do multitrack recording?
create an aggregate device from the mic and line-IN:
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/Tutorials.html#allaboutaggregatedevices
(Let the page FULLY load. The link to your answer is at the top of your screen)

Using usb mic with logic output stops

using usb mic with logic output stops

Aggregate devices are setup in the Audio/Midi setup of OSX Utilities, (Not in Logic). It gives you a way of having for than one audio i/o device. Once you have set up your aggregated devices in Audio/Midi, when you start Logic you will need to go into Audio preferences and choose the Aggregate device.

IMovie 10.0.5 crashes into millions of colored pixels when I add v/o narrative using Pages to read script from and using a USB mic attached to my iMac. I am running Mavericks OS X10.9.4

Hi, I have been editing a project for a week and over the past 2 days iMovie 10.0.5 has crashed into millions of colored pixels about 6 times. I am working on a 27" iMac running OS X 10.9.4 with 6GB of Ram, plenty of space on start up disc (217 GB's) The crash seems to coincide with any effort to use an external USB mic plugged in to record a narrative. I can record the voice over but a few minutes later I get some awful audio scrubbing sounds and then it pixelates. Why is this happening and how can I work around this to record a voiceover please? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm nervous to continue if my work is going to ultimately be lost. My project is currently about seventeen mins and includes, video clips from 2 different cameras (both Canon) a music track from iTunes and some still images (jpegs.)

Thanks Erik,
If nothing else, this huge list of updates and fixes, shows clearly that the Logic Dev team is working hard on fixing and improving LPX to a major degree.... and from the list of fixes done.. show they do read the bug reports submitted!
As an aside....
I recall how all the 'naysayers' prior to LPX (and in some cases, since...) were proclaiming how Logic was dead, the team was being disbanded, we won't see any further development, the Dev team doesn't listen or care... and so on....... I wonder where those people are now?

Output sound distortion when USB Mic Connected

Hi everyone,
Really appreciate anyone’s help on this sound distortion problem.
I have been using the new 2014 iMac 27' for last 8 Months, bought Brand New, and recently updated to Yosemite. Everything worked fine including recording, until this update.
I'm using Blue Yeti USB Mic for recording, and few days after the update I was trying to record in GarageBand and the output sound (via headphone connected to USB MIc) started to distort and then suddenly dropped the bitrate/ sound and I could only hear some clicks. I reinstalled the GargeBand, still its the same distortion happens. The sound gets back to normal, only for few seconds, after I unplug the USB cable from the Mic device. And I tried changing the bit rate and again sounds starts to drop after few sec. This happens only when I connect the Blue Yeti USB Mic and sound output from the Mic itself. Same thing happens with iTunes as well. Output sound from Internal mic and speakers are working fine as normal.
I tried connecting the USB Mic to my Windows laptop and its working fine with the Cubase 5 without any problem. So the problem is with the output sound, when external Mic connected.
I don’t know the solution for this. Have checked on every single blog/ thread, sill couldn’t find the answer I’m looking for, to fix this.
It would be great if you have any kind of a solution for the same.
Info : FYI
Mac
OS X Yosemite: Version 10.10.2
iMac (27-inch, Late 2013)
Processor : 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5
Hard-drive : 1 TB SATA Disk
Ram: 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M 1024 MB
Built-in Output:
Default System Output Device:       Yes
Manufacturer:                                  Apple Inc.
Output Channels:                             2
Current SampleRate:                      48000
Transport:                                        Built-in
Yeti Stereo Microphone:
Default Input Device:                      Yes
Default Output Device:                    Yes
Input Channels:                               2
Manufacturer:                                 Blue Microphones
Output Channels:                            2
Current SampleRate:                      48000
Transport:

Nope. The larger buffer didn't work. What did work was running a cord out of the 1/4-inch jack from the direct box to a 1/4-to-1/8-inch adapter and then into the mic/line-in jack on my computer. I set GarageBand to use the built-in line-in and had no static problems. It's a stopgap until this gets fixed.
A post by LinuxMercedes on Oct. 3 at http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8158914 may provide a solution.

USB Mic won't show up in Drivers Menu

I just bought an Audio Technica 2020 USB microphone, and I can't get it to work with Logic Pro 7.2.3.
When I open up the audio/midi setup it is listed there, and it works with other programs, but it doesn't show up in the Driver drop-down list on the Drivers tab in Audio Preferences in Logic Pro.
I even tried setting up various aggregate devices, but none of these show up in Logic Pro. The only 2 things that show up are Built-in Input and Built-in Mic.
I've tried restarting Logic, restarting the computer, and nothing seems to help.
Does it make a difference if this is the academic version?
Please someone help!!!
Thanks,
Justin

In the Audio / Midi settings under the Audio menu, create an aggregate device one for the usb mic and one for the output. Then in your Logic pro settings in the core audio set the aggregate device as the default device.
Well that works LP 8 w/10.5.3
Message was edited by: Mac Pro 8core - x86

Cannot switch back to built-in output after connecting USB mic

I cannot get playback unless I plug back in my USB mic (Blue Yeti) on Mac OS X.
I get this notice:
"The selected audio device has no output channels."
I select Default Output to be "built in output" then go to Audio Channel Mapping tab and my output device is saying Yeti stereo microphone (not working).
It is obviously not working because it isn't plugged in. My question is why isnt it using my built in output when the mic is unplugged. Even through the Sound tab in system preferences my output is set to "built in"
I get playback through the mic when it's plugged in, but I need to be able to get playback through my built in output when the mic is not plugged in. Any ideas on this greatly appreciated.

Start out with these ! Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) - Apple Support How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support if issue still persists look inside the audio jack see if the light is on.

Is it possible to use USB webcam + USB mic simultaneously?

I would like to use a USB mic (Blue Snowball USB) and USB webcam (Ligoitch Quickcam) together simultaneously, because I understand the one is good sound and the other is good video for live internet broadcasting of music.
can anyone tell me if this should be possible? I'd hate to buy them and find it doesn't work... THANKS!
I'm using Macbook 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo OSX 10.5.8

No reason why not.

Macmini 2012, Mountain Lion, Logitech C600 webcam USB Mic...

OK.
So I got the new macmini 2012(base model). Got 10.8.2 on it and a webcam Logitech C600.
Everything works fine (no additional drivers needed). The problem comes when sometimes (randomly) the mic stops working. It is a USB mic integrated in the webcam. I am thinking it has something to do when the monitor goes to sleep, but still cannot find the reason. It sometimes happen after fresh restart. When I disconnect and reconnect the webcam it goes ok. Any ideas?

BDAqua is right Hristokirev. I solved this problem myself with this issue before. Coz I also have a C600. Also if your C600 video display resolution is crap, go to quicktime player then go to movie recording and click on high recording quality on it so you can manually adjust the resolution. So yeah when I first plug this camera it didn't had a 720p quality feature, but its just that you have to manually change the settings in it itself.

T60 USB Mice has random disconnect, needs to be plugged back in

We have a bunch of T60's here, and we use Lenovo USB mice with them. What happens is, at any given moment, the mouse will stop working. The user just unplugs and plugs the mouse back in (Port Rep or directly into machine). This usually works, but sometimes requires the mouse to be swapped out. Then that old mouse will work somewhere else.
It's a very weird problem, and was wondering if anyone has a solution? I did some reading up and found other people with this problem, didn't find much of a solution though.
Any help appreciated, thanks.

Try setting usb in bios - config - usb to always on or powered and in device manager remove the tick on usb hubs allowing windows to turn them off.
Andy ______________________________________
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What is the capture range of the snowball and the nessi usb mic ?

anyone knows the max range to capture voice with these usb mic, or any other. it is to records Church Sunday's messages, my audi booth is at the far back of the church. it would be so much easier if apple would equip their product with an audio in, then i would just need a audio cable from the comptuter to the sound console, but they don't so i need another solution.
i would welcome other not too expensive solution
thanks
Rob Mongeau

It depends on the quality you need. The iMic would give you about the same quality as the built-in audio input of an earlier Mac. If you want a more professional quality input, or something with a more rugged jack than the 3.5mm jack in the iMic, something like the Lexicon Alpha or M-Audio M-Track might be worth looking at. There are higher-end devices available, but those might be overkill for capturing chuch services.
Regards.

Help with Rode Posdcaster USB Mic

Hello all--
I'm trying to use audacity to create my first podcasts for a class. I initially tried a no-name lapel mic that plugged into the line in on my Macbook Pro. No dice. When I go to Sound on the control panel, I can't get any of the bars to move, even when I select the mic.
I did a bit of reading and figure that it may be because the mic isn't powered by the audio in. Ok. No problem. I borrowed a brand new Rode Podcaster USB mic to try. Plug it in, got the green light on the mic showing power. Go to Sound and there it is listed. Still, when I select it, I can't get any sound to show up on the bars.
Ideas? I'm missing something dumb.
I'd figure that the mic wasn't Mac friendly but the instructions have a mac section dealing with 10.4+ installation. Followed 'em to the letter.
Thanks for any and all help!
--P
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.6)

I tried that, but the mic doesn't show up in Audacity. I don't think that the Mac is getting any input at all. In the sound panel, the Rode mic shows up as installed, but when I select it and talk into it, no movement on the bars. That's what's annoying me--the computer knows it is there, but nothing is coming in. I think my problem is with the mic, not the program.
Just for hoots, I tried it on my G5. Same deal. Mac recognizes the mic is there, but no sound coming in.
Ideas?

USB mic recommendation?

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