Karaoke Forums

Phil:  My mic is a audiotechnica ATM41HE.  Is that a good, bad or what kind of mic?

I will be singing by myself mostly.  My friends or husband dont care about singing.  It just something I like to do. Im hoping that i can record the music mixed with my voice and the music.  Do you have any setup like that at your home?

Thanks
Gayle

Nothing wrong with that mic.  If your cord has a 1/4" plug, you will want to replace it with an XLR-XLR cord - when you get your new mixer.

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Phil:  You mentioned a IE soundcard,,, what is that?

Lonman:  I will look the internet for those wires... thank you!!!

soundcard... is the device inside of your computer case that produces the sound.  some are good some are bad.  Most likely whatever came with your computer is adequate but i'ms ure fuller sound can be achieve by buying a new one.

As to recording.. that's my next step in the project.. but I have no idea how... i figure I probably need some sort of interface hooked to my laptop.

it can be done with the one sound card but you tend to have to mute the line/mic in on playback controls so as the loop doesnt produce feedback. (on playback not record) To record, double click the speaker icon on your task bar it brings up the play controls put a check in the box of line in/mic in to mute it
now go up the top to options then properties and choose record....this will bring up a different set of controls, these assist you in setting things for recording into the computer. You will need to have selected the line in for recording purposes.
Are you using a mixer? I dont like plugging a pro mic straight into a soundcard unless the card has an xlr connection. I prefer to use a mixer and take a line out of the mixer and back into the soundcard.

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

Hi Morgan and Phil:  Can you tell me how to tell what kind of soundcard I have?  Is that the dial-up modem?  I fried the modem ones(think it was called the modem) went to the store and they told me how to take it out and put a new one in. It was easy but not sure exactly what all this modem did. I know the phone cord goes into it and I can dial out with it, but not sure if it is also the soundcard.

thanks
Gayle

no honey its not the sound card...it will have certain sound functions becos I believe you can set them up with a voice message for answering phone sending fax etc.
your modem connects you to the internet...or it does it you are dialing up if you are using cable or dsl then you are no longer using your modem.
the sound card depending on the age of your computer should have colour coded jackpoints green for pink for mic, green for line out (speakers) etc
if they arent colour coded then there will be little icons etched into the metal one will look like a microphone, another will have an arrow pointing out of a circle and another will have an arrow pointing into a circle depicting line out and line in respectively
the line out is to connect to speakers the line in to record

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

Morgan:  I have the sound blaster sound card PCI 512 software.  Do you think this will be ok for the equipment that I buy?  I havent decided on the equipment yet.  I want the quality sound more then the loudness.  I just don't know which one to get yet.  Earlier I mentioned spending only 500.00, but some think I need to spend more for quality sound.  Do you think so too?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Gayle

first off sweety I am not a tech, listen to the others Lonman, etc who will give you advice that will steer you in the correct direction.
As far as reproduction of sound the soundblaster is fine, if however you wish to record I would suggest something better. I say this becos I have latency isssues with mine (that is when your vocal track drifts out of time later in the song) That is why I purchased another soundcard...it has its own set of probs but we wont go into those.
So make your wishlist based on what you want to do honey and then start to do your homework based on that hugs

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

like i mention before... if loudness is not an issue.. even the lowest "power" mixer amp should be enough to handle what you need in an average size room.  500 bucks should be enough to get you a set of basic PA that will serve your needs.  So if you are happy with your mic.. you can think of spending some $ to upgrade your mic cable... as other mentioned 1/4" is not the desirable cable type for mics.  Speaker wires... in a set of PA from 300-400 bucks i doubt they'll give you quality speaker cables, that's something you should research... Maybe you'll get hum through connecting your desktop/laptop to your mixer amp.. so you shoudl think about hum eliminators... (although you should test your PA system first before you decide.)  Since i JUSt almost finished putting together my PA system... I'm just glad I didn't spend 600 bucks or 700 on just the PA system alone.. since I end up getting mics cables, other accessories that ran my bill up 200 bucks or so.

Phil:  Thanks for the help.  I will see what everyone suggested I purchase and get something.  

Thanks everyone!  I sure when I hook everything up, I'll have questions then.  

 :)

Lonman:  You showed me 2 things I can purchase:

http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i- ... K620.html#

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=l ... 03/rpp=10/

I was reading the review, and noticed that the speakers are about waist high.  I was wondering if there are speakers that are not so big that have a mixer/amp combo but the speakers are not so large?

Thank you
Gayle

In both cases, the speakers are 51 centimeters tall (according to the instruction manuals), which equates to about 1 foot, 8 inches tall. Unless you are 3-4 feet tall, they are no where close to waist height. More like knee height. And they only weigh 23 pounds (my speakers weigh 68 pounds and I have no problem lifting them).

For comparison purposes, that is about the size and weight of a small dorm-room microwave.

The guy/girl that gave a review saying this equipment was big must have been an extremely weak Oompha Loompha. And the NUMBER ONE RULE in PA selection is DON'T TAKE ADVISE FROM OOMPHA LOOMPHAS. Ask anyone....

These are 10" speakers (the woofers), it doesn't and shouldn't get much smaller than this for PA speakers. The smaller the speaker, the smaller the bass response (in general), and if you go any smaller than this, into a studio reference speaker, you are going to have practically no bass.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

TopherM:  Thanks for clearing that up for me!!!!

Most appreciated
Gayle