On Mon, 31 Mar 2003, Tobiah wrote: Tobiah, First thank you for the reply. It has been very informative and I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. |You will be unhappy with this arrangement because the cards are not |timed perfectly, and will slowly drift in time with respect to one another. I have decided to use SB Lives for now (3-4 of them). I was told here that they could also pose the same problem, it is okay for now as I am just getting started doing some recording for home stuff. |I'm guessing that your mics are in around the $50 price range. |If they are condensers, then you have mics that will perform |ok for casual recording. your main problem here is going to |be noise, noise, noise. Aside from stepping up to $200 -$300 |mics, the greatest favor that you could do for yourself on a |budget would be to get some channels of decent mic pre. They were in fact around $50. Two Shure PG-57s and 1 Shure PG-48. I have been trying to figure out what all I need, as I am quite confused about the mixers and preamps. I shall explain later |I went with a Mackie 1202-VLZPro mixer I got one new for |around $350 when it was first introduced. It was worth every |penny. I'm pretty happy with the mic pre's. They are really I priced this and it is out of my price range now but will be within the next month or two. |This would also give you the ability to run your mics |balanced ( using XLR on both ends of the cable) which should |make them run a little quieter. You really have to do this in |order to use the Mackie properly. i'm assuming that you have |a couple of Radio Shack mics that are really balanced, |but end in unbalanced phone plug so as not to confuse the |uninitiated. I hate Radio Shack :) I got the Shures from Ted Brown music. They have XLR plugs and I have a "transformer" for a 1/4". |The mixer also gives you the ability to run mics that need |phantom power, which they will, when you finally realize that |your present mics are crippling your recordings, and you move |up to the low end pro stuff. That would be helpful down the line. I am sure I will be upgrading equipment when my needs grow, however for now I'll have to stick with my current mics. Any input on the Shure mics for a newbie? Thanks for the help, Bryan
