Albus,
It would help to know more about your budget. What is "middle range" for you? That type of thing.
The problem here is that "best" is a very subjective term. What's right for me may not be right for you.
1) microphone
This is probably the most subjective of all. There are many many choices. First you need to decide what type of mic you are looking for. Most likely you will want either a condenser or a dynamic mic.
The broadcast industry standard is the ElectroVoice RE-20. It's a large dynamic. Sturdy beast, which is why you see them in so many radio stations. A bit bassy. Some like them for VO work but I don't. There are some from Shure you could look at, the md421 (I think) is a decent one, especially for a woman's voice, but it's pretty good for men too.
For my voicework I prefer a condenser. Without knowing your budget, I would suggest looking at mics from Rode as the middle ground. On the low end you could consider something along the lines of a Marshall. On the high end, well there's always the Neumann line (IMG:
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Find a music store that will let you test them out in store. Compare them, see which sounds best for you. Check the return policy too in case you hate it when you get home.
If you get a good mic you'll want to consider a good mic preamp as well. Sure most mixers come with them, but are fairly sterile. Not an issue with all mics. A cheap mic, just use the mixer. A middle ground mic, get a middle ground pre, a high end mic and you need to be looking at a high end pre.
2) mixer
You usually can't go wrong with the Mackie stuff. Depending on how many channels you need, look at something like the 1202-VLZ Pro for around $300. I have a Yamaha MG16/16fx that I like too. It's nice and clean. The Yamaha stuff runs a bit less money. Also, it has a couple of stereo inputs unlike the Mackies I suggest. Not a big deal, if you need a stereo input on the Mackie, you just take two channels and pan them.
Both of them have decent but not great mic pres. (again this is VERY subjective).
3&4) On the pro level, we don't do sound cards. We do "Audio Interfaces". Fancy sounding eh? Yeah, it's just an expensive sound card. There are many many options here. Do you want an internal PCI card or something external running on Firewire or USB 2.0, how many inputs do you need, etc etc. I've ended up with a Presonus Firebox. It's firewire and I love it.
I've sent you some links to sites I like for reading up on gear. Hope they help.
The great thing about Audition is that it's very flexible. Wonderful program. I assume you are still on 1.5? It doesn't support ASIO drivers so you need to make sure the audio interface you are looking at has a WDM driver or something too. 2.0 does support ASIO, just FYI.
You didn't mention monitors, you should probably add that to your list unless you already have a decent set. And don't forget to budget for cables. They can get very expensive. I usually make my own for a bit less.
I hope this helps you get started. Keep in mind, every brick & mortar store I've ever been to will negotiate somewhat on the price. Here's what I usually do. I'll print out the best price I can find online and take that to my store of choice. Usually they will match it, but sometimes they'll beat it. Also, once you know what you want, buy as much of it at the same time as you can afford. Purchasing power = negotiating power and you can get a better deal.
Hope this helps somewhat. Do some homework, make some possible choices, research the heck out of them. Post back, I'm sure many here will help.
One more thing, buying new gear gets very addictive so watch yourself out there. (IMG:
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My name is Brian and I'm a gearaholic.
This post has been edited by Hart: Mar 10 2006, 04:52 AM
Need help on production equipment
Mar 10 2006, 02:36 AM
