[bacchus]

Anyone know of a decent, mid level (read not to expensive) microphone that could be used with GarageBand? One that plugs right into my 12" Powerbook.

Thanks y'all

[Minty Fresh]

You could go with something like this Stageworks UM-50 Mic. Sam Ash has them for 50% off, it comes with a 15 ft. cable, and it's buy one get one free!!!

http://www.samash.com/catalog/showit...onetodaythanks

Then to hook it up to to the Powerbook through the Line In, you would need an XLR to 3.5mm adapter.

[spiky_dog]

microphones are an area where audio geeks have no common ground. everybody has their own pick, and the sky is literally the limit as far as price. for something reasonable and which will work without supplementary preamps and such, try one of the mics meant for minidisc use. the input will be at the proper level, which will not be the case if you simply by a xlr->1/4"->1/8" set of converters.

http://www.minidisco.com/ is a good place to start.

personally, i run a shure sm57 hooked up to a m-audio audio buddy which in turn outputs to a roland ua-30. it's about as cheap as you can go with the non-minidisc-mic route at somewhere slightly north of $300 (altho one could admittedly scrimp on the usb audio device).

[Pale Rider]

I looked at minidisco, and they do have quite a good selection. Was wondering if anyone had some specific recommendations for a pretty basic task: recording voice-over tracks for iMovie? I want to be able to narrate some components of a movie, and also get audio clips from other persons. So, I need a basic mic, probably mono, probably lavalier style, to use with my 15-inch PB [Aluminum FW 800], especially when I visit people in their homes to get the voice overs.

Any suggestions much appreciated.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by Pale Rider:
Was wondering if anyone had some specific recommendations for a pretty basic task: recording voice-over tracks for iMovie? I want to be able to narrate some components of a movie, and also get audio clips from other persons. So, I need a basic mic, probably mono, probably lavalier style, to use with my 15-inch PB [Aluminum FW 800], especially when I visit people in their homes to get the voice overs.

As others have mentioned, this depends ENTIRELY on your budget, though most stuff that will plug straight into your 'book is crap.

You can get crap for less than $100; you can get a Neumann condenser and preamp for several THOUSAND dollars and run that through a FireWire ULN-2.

If you're going to be moving around to other people's homes a fair bit and need a semblance of professional audio quality: one mobile radio classic (used by *many* journalists for interviews and such) is the Sennheiser MD-421 dynamic mic. Pretty indestructible and a classic. You will need a mic pre-amp with that, though. As far as mic pre-amps with built-in A/D stage go: I've never heard anything bad about M-Audio equipment.

It sounds like that might be a decent route for what you're looking to do.

-s*

[TMLai]

Be very careful with M-Audio product in the Mac world. Visit OSXAudio.com and search their forum for more comments. I would recommend eMagic 62m with a cheap mixer and a Shure SM58 or SM57 if you don't want to spend too much.