I found high-quality recording equipment for less than $50
Posted: July 26th, 2016, 9:02 am
I just wanted to let everyone know about the amazing recording equipment I found in an unlikely place. This is not a sponsored pitch or anything like that, just a hot tip, if I may be so bold.
I did my first two recordings with a low-end Audio-technica shotgun mic that cost (several years ago) about $40. I did so in a padded closet with the fan and air conditioning off. Utter. Dead. Silence. The recordings required a ton on noise reduction, and the recordings ended up seeming very muffly and still having a lot of noise in the background. I figured I'd have to live with it. Here's a recording I did with that setup. http://uploads.librivox.org/alg1001/mysteryofpain_01_hinton_128kb.mp3
Then one day, I got a relatively cheap gaming headset. It has a noise-cancelling mic, so on a whim I tried recording with it. It was like night and day! The noise cancelling was so good that I didn't need any noise reduction! I didn't need to record in the closet with the fan and A/C off. I could record sitting at my computer with the A/C and fan on. The frequency range is great and the sensitivity is such that I can read at a normal volume. Here's a recording I did with the gaming headset. http://uploads.librivox.org/alg1001/mysteryofpain_03_hinton_128kb.mp3
The headset I used is the Blackweb Gaming Headset, available at Walmart for $45 brand new, and as low as $30 refurbished. I would caution you that the adapter it comes (3.5mm to USB) with is quite fragile and replacements are almost impossible to find on the web. So get the replacement plan (I promise I'm not a Walmart employee or affiliate!)
I did my first two recordings with a low-end Audio-technica shotgun mic that cost (several years ago) about $40. I did so in a padded closet with the fan and air conditioning off. Utter. Dead. Silence. The recordings required a ton on noise reduction, and the recordings ended up seeming very muffly and still having a lot of noise in the background. I figured I'd have to live with it. Here's a recording I did with that setup. http://uploads.librivox.org/alg1001/mysteryofpain_01_hinton_128kb.mp3
Then one day, I got a relatively cheap gaming headset. It has a noise-cancelling mic, so on a whim I tried recording with it. It was like night and day! The noise cancelling was so good that I didn't need any noise reduction! I didn't need to record in the closet with the fan and A/C off. I could record sitting at my computer with the A/C and fan on. The frequency range is great and the sensitivity is such that I can read at a normal volume. Here's a recording I did with the gaming headset. http://uploads.librivox.org/alg1001/mysteryofpain_03_hinton_128kb.mp3
The headset I used is the Blackweb Gaming Headset, available at Walmart for $45 brand new, and as low as $30 refurbished. I would caution you that the adapter it comes (3.5mm to USB) with is quite fragile and replacements are almost impossible to find on the web. So get the replacement plan (I promise I'm not a Walmart employee or affiliate!)
