condenser mic?

[dkane360]

Hola. I want to get a condenser mic and the appropriate equipment to measure the in room frequency response. I only want to spend about 100, preferably less. I either need a condenser mic + mixer, or just a usb mic. How would the mixer input to the computer? My comp only has an all in one headphone jack and mic input. Id rather buy a usb condenser just for simplicity, but it doesn't really matter if they're the same price.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-ECM8000-Measurement-Microphone-Omnidirectional/dp/B000HT4RSA

This best mic your under $100 budget will get you.
and use reset to get good dac:

http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-UFO202-U-Phono-High-Quality-Interface/dp/B002GHBYZ0/ref=sr_1_80?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments&qid=1265600574&sr=1-80

 

[dkane360]

http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-ECM8000-Measurement-Microphone-Omnidirectional/dp/B000HT4RSA

This best mic your under $100 budget will get you.
and use reset to get good dac:

http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-UFO202-U-Phono-High-Quality-Interface/dp/B002GHBYZ0/ref=sr_1_80?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments&qid=1265600574&sr=1-80

ok thanks. but the dac doesnt have an xlr input?

 

[skers_54]

http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-ECM8000-Measurement-Microphone-Omnidirectional/dp/B000HT4RSA

This best mic your under $100 budget will get you.
and use reset to get good dac:

http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-UFO202-U-Phono-High-Quality-Interface/dp/B002GHBYZ0/ref=sr_1_80?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments&qid=1265600574&sr=1-80

That mic needs a phantom power source to work. The DAC you linked doesn't have that, so it won't work I'm afraid.

The Behringer Xenyx 802 mixer has this feature. I'm not sure if you'd also need a USB DAC so you can bypass your computer's mic in. The guys over at Home Theater Shack said in their REW measurement thread that you need to have a line-in and not just a mic-in on your computer. I don't know why, but they specifically state that the mic-in won't work.

Mixer: http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-Xenyx-802?sku=631263

I've been casually looking into this as well and my research has lead me to believe that you need all three. In the Amazon reviews of the mic, one guy mentioned using this

http://www.amazon.com/MXL-Condenser-Microphone-Supplying-Phantom/dp/B000VZ8WC2

I don't know anything about it, but it seems like it would take the place of the mixer and DAC.

 

[skers_54]

http://www.amazon.com/Samson-CO1U-USB-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B000AP1RE8

Something like this could work too. The reviews say that there's an issue using it with Vista, and I don't know if REW (which is what you'd be using right?) has a calibration file for it. So maybe not this one exactly, but something similar?

 

[dkane360]

Does anyone know of a good usb mixer with xlr inputs?

 

[highfigh]

That mic needs a phantom power source to work. The DAC you linked doesn't have that, so it won't work I'm afraid.

The Behringer Xenyx 802 mixer has this feature. I'm not sure if you'd also need a USB DAC so you can bypass your computer's mic in. The guys over at Home Theater Shack said in their REW measurement thread that you need to have a line-in and not just a mic-in on your computer. I don't know why, but they specifically state that the mic-in won't work.

Mixer: http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-Xenyx-802?sku=631263

I've been casually looking into this as well and my research has lead me to believe that you need all three. In the Amazon reviews of the mic, one guy mentioned using this

http://www.amazon.com/MXL-Condenser-Microphone-Supplying-Phantom/dp/B000VZ8WC2

I don't know anything about it, but it seems like it would take the place of the mixer and DAC.

You don't send line level signals through a mic input because the mic input needs very little voltage, so line level will overdrive it badly.

 

[highfigh]

Hola. I want to get a condenser mic and the appropriate equipment to measure the in room frequency response. I only want to spend about 100, preferably less. I either need a condenser mic + mixer, or just a usb mic. How would the mixer input to the computer? My comp only has an all in one headphone jack and mic input. Id rather buy a usb condenser just for simplicity, but it doesn't really matter if they're the same price.

The Behringer ECM8000 has been the go-to mic for a long time and i have been reading that they changed the element, which supposedly isn't as god as it was. The one I have seen as the new go-to mic is the Dayton version, also available from Parts Express and for about the same price- less than $50. You can use just about any phantom power supply and most audio cards are good enough for this use. You would need at least one adapter but that's about all, other than software. You need to go into My Computer, click on Sounds and Playback devices, then set the input to line level if you use a mixer. If you use a UBS adapter like a Tascam US122L (oth something similar), you set it for that device as the default and it will recognize it immediately.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Oh, Thanks guys - I completely missed the fact Behringer's mic is XLR phantom powered...

 

[skers_54]

You don't send line level signals through a mic input because the mic input needs very little voltage, so line level will overdrive it badly.

My laptop has a variable gain on its mic input. It's default is 40 dB and it's adjustable between 0 and 80 dB. Would it work ok if I turned the gain to 0?

 

[highfigh]

My laptop has a variable gain on its mic input. It's default is 40 dB and it's adjustable between 0 and 80 dB. Would it work ok if I turned the gain to 0?

Zero gain is shutting the input down completely unless it shows -0dB to -80dB, in which case it's the amount of attenuation. It may work but I don't know which sound card you have. The difference between mic and line level can be drastic enough that you would have the level at one position where one click higher is too high and one lower is too low because the range isn't sufficient. Look in the Help section to find the best way to do this with your computer. It's worth the time.

 

[skers_54]

Zero gain is shutting the input down completely unless it shows -0dB to -80dB, in which case it's the amount of attenuation. It may work but I don't know which sound card you have. The difference between mic and line level can be drastic enough that you would have the level at one position where one click higher is too high and one lower is too low because the range isn't sufficient. Look in the Help section to find the best way to do this with your computer. It's worth the time.

It's labelled as "microphone boost" so it's not a gain control per se. My sound card is whatever came with my Toshiba laptop, which I think is a Realtek. I played around with REW using my RS SPL meter and the signal seemed to clip pretty easily. I'm guessing that there's not enough headroom even when setting the boost to 0.