Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mic

I need a recommendation for an iPhone earbud/mic/controller combo that doesn't suck.

loudguitars — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:15:10 -0800

I need a recommendation for an iPhone earbud/mic/controller combo that doesn't suck. A little backstory: The stock earbud/mic/controller that comes with the iPhone slides out of my ears, so I decided to buy a set from a third party. Having used these Skullcandy cheapies for a while and having really liked them, I decided to go up to the Skullcandy FMJ's.

The problem is that the build quality on the mic is such that anytime I use them on the elliptical, sweat gets in and they start to randomly send control signals to my iPhone. Pausing and fast-forwarding stuff randomly, repeatedly activating Voice Control and refusing to allow it to deactivate. I'm on the third pair now to have this problem (plus another pair that was broken straight out of the box). It's really unfortunate because when things are working, these are great headphones, but they only work for anywhere from two days to a month before this becomes an issue, and I'm just done with it. To Skullcandy's credit, they've been good about cheerfully and quickly exchanging the ones that break, but I can't for the life of me understand why a company capable of making excellent cheapies makes such craptastic expensive earbuds.

Anyway, ideally, I'm looking for something in a similar (or cheaper!) price range where the fact that I actually sweat when I work out is not going to cause my headphones to go berserk. I'm debating the Apple in-ear buds but I'm a little concerned that they don't appear to have multiple sizes of ear cover - I've definitely had to adjust different sets of earbuds to fit my ears properly. Anyone with experience with these in particular, how have you found the fit? And how is their durability?

I also definitely want to be able to answer/end calls and at least play and pause music with the controller, otherwise I'd be sticking with the tried-and-true cheapies. I looked into possibly getting some sort of extender/mic combo I could plug the good cheapies into, but it appears nobody's really been able to get the hang of that properly from all the reviews I've been reading.

Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thank you!

How can I convert Microsoft Image Composer files into a usable format?

Lazlo — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:33:56 -0800

I have a bunch of old Microsoft Image Composer (.mic) files. Nothing in my current toolkit can handle the format. How can I view them and/or convert them to something useful? Google consensus seems to be I should torrent a copy of Image Composer -- which used to come with FrontPage, IIRC -- but I'd rather not risk downloading a trojan. I'm running Windows.

Thanks!

How to record live music on my iphone 3GS?

skechada — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:19:23 -0800

What's the best hardware and app to use to record live (loud) music on my iphone 3GS? I play in a band a like to record our practices and live shows. I currently use a Boss Micro-BR, and while that's acceptable, I'd like to use my iphone if possible.

Ideally, I'd like to use a separate mic with an app like Fourtrack to do this. I specifically need a mic sensitivity adjustment, as anything we've tried to record so far has been WAY too loud and washed out in noise. Multitrack recording isn't necessary so if there's a single track recording app with mic sensitivity controls, that works too.

I've done some research in the app store and ask mefi, but it's far from clear what hardware/app combo would even work, let alone be ideal. Any pointers in the right direction are appreciated!

What headset/microphone do they use for TED talks?

jlstitt — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 06:21:46 -0800

What mic do they use for the TED talks? Hey guys! I'm trying to track down the mic/receiver setup they use for TED talks (www.ted.com) ... It's an earpiece and it gives pretty amazing quality during their talks.

Incidentally, it's a cool site for speeches.

I sound like an air raid; do not want.

pseudostrabismus — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:58:59 -0800

Built-in MacBook microphone records an annoying buzzy/overloaded tone on loud vocals- is there a cheap fix? I've been practicing singing to YouTube karaoke tracks, recording it with PhotoBooth or GarageBand on my MacBook (the 13" aluminum one). Whenever I belt, it records my voice as a buzzed-out feedback sound, like I'm spiking the level or something. My old PowerBook G4's internal mic did not do this, nor does my friend's white 13" MacBook.
How to fix this?

I'm usually standing about 1 metre away and my head is about a foot above the computer. Overloading happens even if I back off the mic on loud notes. I'm a little limited in that I also want to record video of me singing so I can watch my breathing and jaw, so whatever I do can't involve me covering the whole screen or standing somewhere other than in front of the laptop. I know I could get an external mic, but I want it all to be as streamlined as possible so I'll be more likely to do it often (if I have to pull out gear I just won't do it, from experience).

I've tried:
changing the height of the laptop; putting it on a hard desk or a soft vinyl kitchen chair seat; adjusting the angle of the screen (in case it's reflecting back the sound weirdly into the mic); placing a Tshirt around the mic part of the laptop to absorb some of the sound; and putting a tiny piece of dense foam (an earplug) on the mic holes to dampen the sound a little. None of those have worked.

The mic holes look like this: ~10 teeny holes in the aluminum, at the top left of the keyboard, near the hinge that attaches the screen. The webcam is top centre of the screen frame.

Any simple hacks I could try? Putting some kind of tape or other soft stuff on the hole? Putting the laptop on a different kind of surface to affect vibration? Any ideas welcome, feel free to think creatively or come out of left field. And I guess, as a final resort, recommend a cheap but decent peripheral mic I could buy?
Thanks!

Podcasting Equipment

mpls2 — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:31:02 -0800

Podcasting questions Yeah, there's a lot of how-to guides for podcasting out there, but it's scattered all over and confusing my ADD brain. Can someone tell me why I might want the following things, and what I should look for when buying them? (suggestions are also great)

Mic - yeah, I know I'll need one of these
Pre-amp
mixer
compressor
audio interface
digital recorder (? I've heard that it's good to record externally to spare your computer the burden of recording while its busy doing other things)

Do pros usually use more than one computer when creating a podcast? FYI, I have a MacBook pro, and will probably be getting a new iMac in the near future.

Thanks!

Podcast pointers and primers, please.

NikitaNikita — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:08:35 -0800

Podcast pointers and primers, please. Can you recommend a good "primer" for starting a podcast? This podcast in particular that I have in mind will consist mostly of interviews, and just a little bit of buffer music.

And/or: can you give me your tips for the beginner's guide to podcasting? For example, what gear should I have? What software for editing and voice equalization?

More background details: The interviews will take place over the phone (I already have a quicktap for this), as well as in person/at conferences. So, in the latter cases, recorder-portability is an issue. I have access to both PCs and Macs, so software can be for either. In terms of budget, I'd like to spend enough to have this sound professional and pleasantly listenable (no hissing, no wild sound variations between speakers) but I'd like to be frugal when possible, since I work for a non-profit.

Thanks!

National Steel

chuckdarwin — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:51:20 -0800

What is the best method of "mic"ing a single-cone National steel guitar for live work? We tried two condenser mics, but it was kind of boomy. Is the Sure Beta 57A a better option? What about a Rode NT5? Do we need two mics for it? TIA.

Recording decent audio with a lousy digicam

SamuelF — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:56:06 -0800

We're taking a road trip from Boston to Michigan this weekend, and would like to record some video along the way, just for fun. Problem is, we've got a cheap digicam with a lousy built-in mic. How can we record audio (two people talking, mostly) on the übercheap? Our digicam - Aiptek A-HD - has enough trouble recording audio normally, but it's completely useless in a car. Everything gets drowned out by engine noise and static. There's no jack for an external mic, so I'd need some kind of external recorder that I can dump to a computer to sync with the video in post. Quality isn't a huge concern, and I'd like to keep it as cheap and simple as possible. Any digital audio recorder + cheap mic pairs? Recording advice? I'm completely inexperienced at this whole thing, so any information will be valuable. Thanks!

Need microphone recommendations

®@ — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 19:05:29 -0800

Need recommendations for a microphone that has a pickup space suitable for a smallish room. I'm shooting a short video in my apartment with a Canon XL2 camera. The on-board mic sucks and I don't want to boom the project, so I'm going to hide the mic in the dead center of the set (in part of the scenery). My budget for this purchase is $200, maaaybe $250. Anyone know any good cardioid XLR condenser models?

Portable digital recorder with powered mic in and removable storage

neustile — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:58:36 -0800

Looking for a portable digital recorder that is as small as possible but has a powered 1/8" stereo mic in (for a binaural mic), records uncompressed PCM at at least 16-bit 44KHz, has removable storage, and does not need special software to transfer and deal with files on a computer (e.g. it should record direct to aiff or wav on the card.)

Tascam USB box vs. Martin D-16

mwhybark — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:45:17 -0800

Tascam USB 122 + onboard factory-installed Martin acoustic pickup = lost signal. Wha? I have a Tascam USB 122 breakout box that I use with Garageband to noodle around. Usually I record everything acoustically, close-miking the guitar and such with the lines going to the mic line-ins, and that's just fine.

Today, I was too lazy to set up the mics and just ran a quarter-inch patch from the butt of the guitar's factory-installed onboard jack to the quarter-inch-in on the Tascam. No matter what position the input switch was set to (line/guitar or mic) I couldn't get a consistent signal.

Running the patch through a pedal tuner, I did get consistent signal there. I did not dig out an amp as laziness was ruling the activity.

When I would -first- plug the patch in, a strum would produce clear, sweet ringing tones that were clearly showing signal and audible in the headphones. Then for no discernable reason, the signal would stop.

I swapped cables and all cables showed consistent signal on the tuner, with no discernable cutouts when subjected to the rigorous wiggle-and-fiddle test.

I did NOT disassemble or remove the pickup, and don't have papers that tell me what was installed. There is an easily accessible 9v battery visible through the sound hole, which I have not changed (but will as soon as I hit post).

Using two separate straight electrics into the quarter-inch jack produced satisfactory results.

I *think* the anomaly is a result of running what is essentially a mic off a quarter-inch plug with no intervening EQ or preamp. Still, I'm baffled by the initially successful signal. What gives?

Looking for a good wireless mic solution for a portable video camera.

Mr_Crazyhorse — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 11:16:59 -0800

Looking for a good wireless mic solution for a portable video camera. I am doing interviews/depositions on camera, and I am looking for a good portable mic solution. The portable mic is not the problem, I have found many good setups... the problem is to have a receiver that is intended for use with a video camera. The receiver needs to be small, convenient and ideally, designed specifically for video cameras.

Thanks.

wireless speakers on a Mac

D-ten — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:54:29 -0800

I'm wanting to send sound to and from a remote room in a house to a Macintosh sound in and out ports. I'm thinking wireless mic and wireless speakers. This is inside a standard ranch style house that spreads horizontally and would cross several walls. Okay, so the long story. I'd like to flood my house in different places with the same audio stream. So, it seems like a wireless speaker system would be the way to do that.

If would be even better if I could select which sets of speakers are active from a Macintosh computer running OS X.

I want to couple that with a sound in wireless pickup that is also wireless. It doesn't have to be part of the same speaker setup but that would be ideal. At least, the two systems should be compatible in proximity. It would be great if the Mac could turn individuals mics on or off but that's not as critical.

So, speakers first, then mics.

help me find a camera and a mic

Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 22:29:37 -0800

I'm making a movie! The best camera that appears to be in my price range is the Sony PD-150. What are your thoughts on this particular model? Are there better cameras out there in the same price range? I also have concerns about sound equipment. (I'm afraid renting a camera will not be possible.) For instance, will the PD-150 still look decent if it's transferred to 35mm film and put on a movie screen?

Of course, I've heard that sound is often more important than image (particularly on a documentary, which is what I'll be working on) so I'm not sure if the on-board mic on the 150 will be sufficient. Any thoughts on that, or on how much a good mic would cost to buy or rent? Unfortunately, appearing as discreet as possible during filming would be preferable, so it would be best to have as little bulky equipment as possible. In other words, I will probably want to limit myself to a small shotgun mic. Is that a bad idea?

Is live-monitoring a USB mic in Audition 1.5 possible?

cortex — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 12:21:19 -0800

Live monitoring a USB mic in Adobe Audition 1.5: can it be done, or not? I'm married to Audition 1.5, and I've been getting along very well with that and a Fast Track USB outboard audio interface. However, I'd love to simplify my kitchen-table setup for the days when I want to start recording now, not in the five minutes it takes to set up my condenser mic and my mixer to power it and the outboard box to feed it into. Current set up works like a dream, but I want to be able to do quick work sometimes without having to do more set-up than plugging in a mic.

So I picked up a Samson C01U on a lark yesterday, and while the mic sounds fine, I find that I can't monitor it live in Audition—no mic sound back into my headphones whatsoever during recording or idle time. Is there some way, either within Audition or with an additional external app, to get this monitoring happening when I'm working in Audition?

(The mic shipped with a copy of Sonar LE, which, along with the ASIO4ALL driver, shows that it can be done in general, though out of the box the monitoring is still noticeably laggy and full of pops to boot—I suppose that might be a matter of buffer-management, but it's all moot if I can't hear it when I'm in Audition. This previous question has some good discussion of the general situation, but not Audition; this one hits up latency stuff as well, but again, no dice for Audition specifically.)

Good External Mic for a Camcorder?

Pater Aletheias — Thu, 10 May 2007 15:09:15 -0800

I need help choosing an external microphone for a camcorder. I have a MiniDV camcorder (a Canon ZR500) that I frequently use for recording interviews with one or two people at a time, usually indoors. I would like to begin using an external mic to get better sound quality on the recordings, but I really have no idea what to get. General advice or specific mic recommendations (with a little explanation of why it's a suitable choice) greatly appreciated.

Looking to recreate the "perfect" sound

defmute — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 00:28:24 -0800

audiofilter: How do you get one sound sample (http://www.sendspace.com/file/x8yljn) to sound like another (http://www.sendspace.com/file/fh6v9l) without rerecording? I recorded a guitar part for a track I'm working on using a pretty crappy computer mic on my old Dell laptop and recorded another part with a condensor mic on my newer Powerbook. My Dell refuses to boot anymore and I've essentially given up trying to record the guitar parts on that mic. So I tried to use the computer mic to record on other computers but failed to match the sound of the original sample (I'm convinced that the soundcard on my Dell was somehow magical). Frustrated, I decided to simply record using my condensor mic and hoped to recreate the sound by means of filters and EQs but with no luck. Any tips on how to get the condensor mic clip to sound like the computer mic clip without rerecording? Perhaps there's a good VST that will magically solve my problem? My resources include Reason, Ableton Live, Garageband and Logic Express.

How to record a sing-along choir track without a pile of headphones?

cortex — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 09:10:17 -0800

Lo-fi group recording: how can I record a 6-8 person sing-along choir cleanly if I don't already own a bunch of headphones and splitters? Imagine this: I have a track of a song-in-progress, and I'd like to add to that a track of half a dozen or so people singing a part. (See also: clapping a part.) It's an untrained group of friends and family—they don't know how to work as a group, and may have essentially zero musical training, but they can sing along to something with a little practice.

So I can't hum a reference note, wave a baton, and get an a capella performance out of them: they'll need to hear the track they're singing to.

But I don't have 6-8 pairs of headphones, nor the splitter hardware to run them through.

I could play the song into the room through a monitor, but I don't want the backing track bleeding significantly into the choir recording.

So: clever tricks? Alternate routes? Good bleed-management compromises, if I monitor? And should I just pick up a bunch of super-cheapo headphones, and if what's a good route for splitting out to 8 or so pairs of 1/8" jack phones?

This thread is about threads.

jlowen — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 10:23:58 -0800

Screws and bolts: How can I cheaply convert a Universal 1/4-20 screw (standard camera tripod mount) to either a 5/8"-27 (standard mic stand thread) OR a 3/8"-16 (boom mic standard thread.. i think) I have this mic and I want to purchase and mount it to this cool tripod for field recording purposes.

The microhone comes with an adaptor to take the standard 5/8"-27 down to a 3/8"16, but how to I bridge the connection down to a standard camera tripod screw 1/4"-20?

Adaptors are available online, but they seem expensive ($14ish). Is there a cheaper conversion I could piece together and the local hardware store? Or would a homemade adapter be too big and unweildy and thus defeat the portabillity of the whole setup?

What should I buy?

Save Christmas with Your Audio Advice!

batgrlHG — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 12:55:59 -0800

Audio/Video help needed - suggest small mic to help me fight Canon Elura 100 (evil) motor hum! (Help me love my Christmas gift!) [Rambling background time!] I did my time in the Radio/TV/Film degree (in the dark ages of the 90s) using the Canon L2 High 8 (owned by the school), so I'm probably pretty spoiled. I have happily used an old Panasonic Palmcorder (I forget the model) - so I'm used to lower quality and built in mics. However, the Canon Elura 100 was a Christmas gift and I both love and hate the thing. The visuals are great - the size is wonderful, especially since I travel with a larger Canon digital for photographs and I plan to take both to Ireland and on treks around the US - I need something this size and weight. What I was not prepared for was the evil motor hum that is mentioned in many reviews of this thing (and my camera seems to have a quieter version of the noise that others complain of, so maybe I'm lucky). Even if I lay down some background music on the video it's going to obvious enough to me to make me crazy, and then there are my plans to get audio from family members that may in time be more of interest (to family) than the video. Thankfully the camera does have a mic terminal, which is the main reason I'm ok with keeping it. I've decided to invest in a good small mic that will allow me to get ambiant noise and small interviews with family - and that's what I need the advice on. A good mic is something I can use in the future for podcasts, etc., but since it will travel a bit I don't want to spend vast sums.

[The question!] ]What's a good lav (or small mic) you can recommend in the $100-200 neighborhood - and then give me any recommendations that assume I have all the money in the world, just so I can torture myself. Cheaper would be better - but I understand that cheap audio equipment almost always gives poor sound. I've had bad luck in the past with cordless lav mics, but that was back in the dark ages, so perhaps they're better now. Anyone? Anyone?

[And since this will now be searchable for random googlers - I don't recommend this camera for anyone who doesn't plan to use a mic and/or remove audio and edit in your own narration. Unless you know you will have as much fun editing the video as shooting it, be wary of any of the newer small Canons, as they all may have some problem with the motor noise being picked up by the mics. Apparently some people don't notice it as much, and it can be less extreme on some of the models. This is apparently the trade off for the small size and the price. Or so I gather from the reading I've done on this camera.]

How can I record speech in stereo?

featherboa — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 04:53:32 -0800

Oh, how I wish I could record in stereo, but as things stand, it's looking like it's going to have to be a mono-podcast. Help me get into both channels. So, I'd like to start podcasting, and I've been experimenting this week, but at the moment I can only seem to record in mono (coming through the left channel).

I'm using an old Peavey dynamic mic from my days as a singer, which has an XLR cable to 6.3mm jack, which in turn is plugged into a 6.3mm to 3.5mm converter, that goes into an iMic which is stuck in the USB port of my iBook G4 (OS 10.3.9). I've tried Garageband and Audacity, but nothing gets recorded in the right channel. Even though I've told it to record in stereo.

Is it something in my set-up that's causing the problem, and are there any get-arounds? Is there some way I could copy what's in the left to the right to give the impression of stereo sound? Would it work better if I went through my amp and then to the imic's phono input?

I'm not that technically skilled and I've only ever used Audacity to trim recordings down, so this is a bit beyond my capabilities, but I want to learn!

How to route audio from a Mac's built-in mic over a network?

namespan — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 09:29:47 -0800

Is it possible to route audio from a Mac's built-in mic (or other audio source) over a network to another machine in mostly-realtime? If so, how? Assume both machines have modern, fast ethernet connections. Bonus points for solutions that don't require keeping an application in the foreground -- the user should be able to keep working in other applications with the audio transfer happening as unobtrusively as possible. Terminal/UNIX wizardry is fine, but the command to invoke it and turn it off should be simple.

short titless

Paris Hilton — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 13:37:15 -0800

Spyfilter: Suppose I wanted to rig up a room with a few microphones in order to covertly record conversations, etc, and I want to spend less then $100. I understand the general concepts, but what stuff would I need to buy? I realize there are legal issues, but let's assume that won't be a problem in this situation, since the person will have signed a (lawyer-aproved) release at some point. Are there any cheap, and *small* wireless microphones capable of picking up someone's speech in a meter or so away in a relatively quite room? Are there any cheap 4-track recorders that I could use? Or should I just use a cheap stereo tapedeck (with two mics)?

What kind of software would I need to do to post process and improve the quality if things don't turn out perfectly? How would I master this down to a stereo recording on my computer?

What else should I keep in mind?

TIA.

MXL 990

ludwig_van — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 08:41:43 -0800

I dropped my MXL 990 condenser mic. The grill is slightly dented and the capsule inside has come loose. Can I repair it myself? Can I get it repaired in London? I'm a clumsy idiot, and I shouldn't have left my mic out on the stand, and I shouldn't have left the cable where I could trip over it. That said, can anyone tell me how to fix it, or recommend a repair shop in London? I don't have a soldering iron or any specialized tools, and I'm located in New Cross.