Best type of Mic?

[Donovan Werts]

Good Points Mick. I have focused so much on the visual part, and felt a little lost on the audio side. I am a good researcher and shopper, and now I’m inspired to start buying better equipment. I’m set up pretty well with a nice studio mic, it’s the field stuff that’s lacking. Thanks for your reply, Donovan

[Donovan Werts]

Mick, since this might help others as well: What features should I look for in a decent mixer (around $100)? What types of inputs? Do mixers amplify the sound as well? Anything else I should consider when shopping? I know there’s a million things I should consider, but tips would be appreciated! 🙂

Thanks again, Donovan

[Mick Haensler]

The main thing I look for are decent mic preamps. The Yamaha pres are really decent for the price. When I say decent I mean high gain and low noise. In other words, can you drive the audio signal from the mixer to your input devices and achieve a decent sound level without a lot of noise like hiss. And make sure all mic inputs have phantom power for condensor mics. Cheaper mic pres will have a bit of hiss when cranked. Other features I look for are multiple outputs so I can feed the signal to a number of recorders. Good metering is important too, especially if you’re inputting to a deck like the Sony DSR 11 which doesn’t have meters. I like a strong headphone preamp too since concerts tend to be loud, I need to hear the mix over top the house sound. I don’t worry to much about EQ since I run everything flat and sweeten the sound in post. I also like a variety of input types, the Yamaha has 4 balanced switchable mic/line inputs as well as balanced and unbalanced line inputs. The only thing it doesn’t have is switchable mic/line output, only line. This is only an issue if you are feeding the signal to a prosumer camera that only takes an external mic input. Although I have the Yamaha and like it, there are quite a few small mixers like it on the market. My favorite is the Mackie Onyx. A bit pricey but awesome pres as well as the ability(for an extra price of course) to output a multitrack mix to a laptop via firewire which allows you to keep every channel seperate for greater flexibility in post tweaking. Hope this helps and good luck.

Mick Haensler
Higher Ground Media