Please advise on audio set up on MacBook pro 17" with Logic (or Soundbooth)

[michaelmack]

Hi,

I'm trying to get a decent recording from my macbook pro.


Here is my current setup.

I am doing audio (spoken) recordings

in a room that is about 14Long 10Wide 8High (nearly soundproofed)

Using either a sennheiser e935
or Edirol CS-15R Microphone

I have LOGIC PRO 8 and SoundBooth, but I am not happy with the level of hiss that comes from the recording in soundbooth. Not tried Logic Yet.

Currently it goes directly into the 'audio in' on the mac.


Any help much appreciated.

I have a budget of about $200-400 if I need to buy anything.
Many Thanks

I may need a pre-amp that then goes direct into the mac?


Michael Mackintosh

 

[noisegeek]

correct, the audio in on the mac's isnt the quietest. So if your doing just spoken word recordings, the signal to noise ratio is gonna be hit somewhat.

Best thing todo is get yourself a little firewire mic pre and use that to interface

 

[salientstimulus]

Yeah, you will never get a good quality recording going directly into the mic input of any computer (at least any computer i've ever seen/heard of). You can get a decent USB or firewire audio interface for $100-200, or more if you really want good quality (even a cheap one will sound 90% better than using the mic in).

In general, a condenser mic is going to sound better for speech (although those are both quality dynamic mics that you have). So another option would be to pick up one of the direct USB condensers, like the MXL USB.006 or USB.009.