USB-C microphone fo...
 

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USB-C microphone for guitar

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My daughter and wife do remote guitar lessons via Zoom. My wife's recently changed laptop and is now USB-C only (hooray!).

What would be a good mike for recording classical guitar?


 
Posted : 30/01/2025 3:52 pm
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What's the change to laptop with USB-C got to do with it? What were you using before?


 
Posted : 30/01/2025 4:35 pm
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The new laptop has no USB-A ports, only a USB-C port. The old laptop only had USB-A ports because it was 10 years old.

Previous mike was the built in mike on the laptop (which wasn't good) or a Logitech webcam (which was OK). I could get another Logitech webcam and use that mike or get a dedicated, better mike. I could get a USB-A mike and a USB-A to USB-C converter but I'm moving everything to USB-C as it gets replaced.


 
Posted : 30/01/2025 4:50 pm
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Ah. As you were. I wondered if you were missing the adaptor option.

Sorry I don't have any experience of USB mics but when it comes to mics I would tend to go for a "known" manufacture. One renowned for decent quality even at the lower end of the price range is Rode (they do very good studio quality mics too) and they have a couple of USB mics aimed at podcasters but might fit your requirements.

There is the Rode X XCM-50 USB which I've seen advertised at £45 here.

You can get some idea of how it sounds with acoustic guitar around 9 mins into this video (I didn't watch all, I'm easily irritated).


 
Posted : 30/01/2025 5:47 pm
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Thanks, that looks good


 
Posted : 30/01/2025 7:15 pm
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Get a usb audio interface.

Then you can do things like use soundhole mics, record sound hole and room. Input other stuff etc.

And use any number of microphones and more importantly set the levels easily.


 
Posted : 30/01/2025 8:23 pm
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This might sound like an ignorant comment but a couple of friends and I play and sing. When we record stuff to show each other we just do it using the inbuilt phone or laptop mics.
Have you tried seeing how that sounds?

And we still can't jam together over zoom. The latency makes it too laggy and out of sync. One of my mates goes off down various rabbit holes looking for miracle solutions but he's found nothing yet.

Oh, and I went to a local phone repair shop last week and bought a USB-C to USB-A adapter for about £5. Seems to work.


 
Posted : 30/01/2025 8:42 pm
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@joshvegas I would say that's OTT for the proposed use. Though I agree it would be ultimately more versatile, I don't think it's what the OP wants at the moment.

And we still can’t jam together over zoom. The latency makes it too laggy and out of sync.

Not really an issue for lessons over Zoom.


 
Posted : 30/01/2025 11:02 pm
Murray and Murray reacted
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Latency is always going to be a big problem if streaming to each other and playing together ..

I remember having rocksmith 2014 on pc which came with an electric guitar jack to USB cable so you could play with a real guitar... I think I've still got it somewhere and that took a lot of pratting about due to delay /latency issues, an and in my case the signal was only going from the guitar to the PC and then video out to the screen and audio out to an amplifier.

If you're essentially doing that but also via a video call and both ways.. It's gonna be a headache if you are trying to play a song together.

Edit.. It's not a problem at all if you are taking it in turns to play a lick or whatever in a lesson situation... But playing a song together in sync... Mucho problemo!


 
Posted : 30/01/2025 11:43 pm
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slowoldman

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@joshvegas I would say that’s OTT for the proposed use. Though I agree it would be ultimately more versatile, I don’t think it’s what the OP wants at the moment

I do actually agree. I had meant to include a sentence saying something along the lines of "of you think it might be useful in the future consider..."

Although it does open up "all microphones" rather than "USBC microphones"

And seeing as this is Songletrack...

RCA ribbon mic or maybe a u87. Into a preamp of some sort, perhaps a never one or something more valvy and exotic. All connected up into an Amek Mozart or similar.

What can actually help any mic os if you can get something a bit absorbent on the wall or window facing you if ots all a bit echoey.


 
Posted : 31/01/2025 9:04 am
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RCA ribbon mic or maybe a u87. Into a preamp of some sort, perhaps a never one or something more valvy and exotic. All connected up into an Amek Mozart or similar.

🙂 For a nice bit of vintage there's a refurbed ex-Abbey Road desk for sale on Reverb.uk


 
Posted : 31/01/2025 12:33 pm
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I'd go for a USB interface as well: Behringer do some cheap & cheerful units.

ex-Abbey Road desk for sale

I looked at that and thought, 'bloody hell - £1,900 for a desk the Beatles used is a bit cheap'.

Ah.


 
Posted : 31/01/2025 12:47 pm
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Take a look at the  CloudVocal  Flashtrack

Super simple to use, can even plug directly to your phone/device to record (the idea being that you use phone camera to record and the mic for audio) it has presets and stuff inbuilt,  negating any need for DAW

I know the below link is to a sax shop but meh, it's just good for that too

https://sax.co.uk/products/cloudvocal-flashtrack-dsp-microphone?_pos=1&_psq=Flashtr&_ss=e&_v=1.0


 
Posted : 31/01/2025 1:09 pm
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I looked at that and thought, ‘bloody hell – £1,900 for a desk the Beatles used is a bit cheap’.

That was exactly my thought when I first saw it. I almost pressed the button. At £2M I'm keeping an eye on my lottery tickets.


 
Posted : 31/01/2025 2:17 pm

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