When You're a Poor Student that Needs to Record Vocals · 3:09am Dec 29th, 2014
. . . you get creative!
This is the mic setup that I used to record vocals for Bonds of Glory, and likely will use to record other things in the future. Excluding the mic, this whole setup cost me something like $15.
$10—A phone mount for a car converted into a mic retort stand
$3—A dollar store bangle and pantyhose converted into a pop filter with a little superglue
$3—A few reusable cable ties converted into a pop filter clamp
The mic itself is the Samson Go Mic. It's no studio microphone, but it does a pretty good job of picking up vocals. I picked it up for some $35. I've tried out a few other mics, and this one seemed to be the best for the price. Not to mention it comes with a built-in clamp. It's supposed to be used to clip to the top of a laptop screen, but again, creative uses. It's also got zero-latency monitoring, which one can use to listen to what's being recorded. That's what the headphones are for.
A microphone stand is normally used to hang a microphone somewhere convenient, away from sound-reflective surfaces, like walls and tables. One of the disadvantages to using a phone mount as a microphone stand is that the mic is still somewhat close to the wall the microphone is attached to. This causes a phenomenon called comb filtering. Normally, to reduce this, I hang a coat or something on the arm of the microphone mount; this reduces the first sound reflections coming off the wall. In an ideal recording studio, every wall of the room would be similarly treated to reduce reflections. I recorded this in my bedroom, so I have the blankets and ponies (of course!) on my bed soak up the sound instead. It works well enough, especially if I turn down the sensitivity of my microphone.
A pop filter really isn't needed for recording, but it's nearly essential, as I discovered early on in the recording process. The syllables "p" and "b" are known as plosives; they're generated by releasing a quick puff of air. Microphones don't like this. That's what a pop filter is for: dissipating the puff of air before it reaches the microphone. Otherwise, you get really loud wind noise (the kind you hear on bad-quality home recordings) every time a "p" or "b" syllable is said.
Or maybe I just made this blog because I took a really cute picture. 
