Please educate me about microphones

[wildwood flower]

I'm in a situation where I have to sing duets with my daughter and I need a microphone recommendation.

I have a Shure SM58 that I've used in the past but it's highly directional and you have to be so close to it to almost swallow it before it will pick up the voice. And being that close to it makes me worry about hygiene too.

I've done a little research which only served to confuse me.

So what I need is a mic that will allow two people to sing into it from a reasonable distance away, and won't break the bank.

The iSK Pro Audio RM-12 looks like it might do the job but the description only talks about mic'ing instruments, not voice, so that gives me pause.

http://www.iskproaudio.com/collectio...ant=1198602016

The price on this one will fit into my somewhat limited budget, and budget will be a determining factor.

So, any experience with this mic, or recommendations for something that will do the job? Any and all comments/advice appreciated.

[ChuckS]

What is the microphone being connected to? The active ribbon mic you are looking at requires phantom power, so do you know if that's available?

Are you limited to a single microphone? If so you will have to balance the vocals by adjusting your distances from the mic; is that workable for the two of you? If you could use two microphones the balance could be adjusted by adjusting the gains of each channel.

[Bob Womack]

If you have phantom power available, I've look at either the Rode NT1 or NT1A large diaphragm condensers. They have the lowest self-noise of any production mic and are nicely made. The newer NT1 has slightly smoother high-end response.

Bob

[MikeBmusic]

Is this for live use or recording? I wouldn't recommend a ribbon mic for live use or vocal recording, and using a large diaphragm condenser mic presents its own challenges for live use. Since you posted this in the recording section of the forum, I'll assume its for recording - the Rodes are well over your budget, but there are other good condenser mics in your price range. Have you considered recording the two vocals separately?

What are you plugging the mic into?

[Earwitness]

Last year I bought two mics. Joined gearslutz to learn what I could. One thing I learned is that "microphone world" is even larger than "guitar world" and probably more complicated.

Don't you hate when you say, "I just want a good one" and people start asking "what exactly are you using it for"?!

Just kidding--good luck and you'll get good advice here (but gearslutz is the geeky place for mics).

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by wildwood flower

I'm in a situation where I have to sing duets with my daughter and I need a microphone recommendation.

I have a Shure SM58 that I've used in the past but it's highly directional and you have to be so close to it to almost swallow it before it will pick up the voice. And being that close to it makes me worry about hygiene too.

...

It's worth understanding that overall system sensitivity determines how far you can be from the mic, and the mic and preamp interact to determine the overall system sensitivity. The SM58 by itself has fairly low sensitivity but if your preamp has sufficient gain you can capture a pin dropping across the room with your SM58 by turning up the preamp. If your preamp is of good quality you should try cranking it all the way up.

Condenser mics and active ribbon mics (which have built-in pre-preamplifiers) have higher sensitivity, which requires less gain from the preamp. This is an advantage if your preamp has limited gain or adds excess noise as the gain is raised ... but beware of confusing ambient noise from your environment with preamp noise.

Perhaps your issue is really mic pattern/directionality rather than sensitivity. For one mic duets like you describe, a figure 8 (bidirectional) mic might be ideal. Ribbon mics are naturally bidirectional and dual diaphragm condensers can offer this feature as well.

If you have phantom power available you might look at the CAD M179, a multipattern dual diaphragm mic which would provide the bidirectional pattern.

One more thing - the farther you place the source from the mic the greater the impact of the room - you'll get more ambient noise and more reflections which result in the classic "small room sound."

Fran

[Bobby1note]

OP, You said;
"I worry about hygiene",,,,,,,so buy a washable foam windscreen,,, $3. Are you using this mic at an open-mic?

There's nothing wrong with the SM58, in fact, it's probably got the ideal pattern you're looking for (cardioid). That said, if you're having to get right up on the mic, it seems to me that your gain-structure is lacking somewhere. What are you plugging the mic into, and how are you controlling the mic's output?

Important; Are you looking for a mic for "Live", or for recording?

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by wildwood flower

I'm in a situation where I have to sing duets with my daughter and I need a microphone recommendation.

I have a Shure SM58 that I've used in the past but it's highly directional and you have to be so close to it to almost swallow it before it will pick up the voice. And being that close to it makes me worry about hygiene too.

I've done a little research which only served to confuse me.

So what I need is a mic that will allow two people to sing into it from a reasonable distance away, and won't break the bank.

The iSK Pro Audio RM-12 looks like it might do the job but the description only talks about mic'ing instruments, not voice, so that gives me pause.

http://www.iskproaudio.com/collectio...ant=1198602016

The price on this one will fit into my somewhat limited budget, and budget will be a determining factor.

So, any experience with this mic, or recommendations for something that will do the job? Any and all comments/advice appreciated.

You need to give some more info to get any viable specific help.
You "have to sing duets" for what purpose exactly, live performance or recording ?


You do realize the iSK Ribbon mic requires phantom power, and if so can we assume that is the case for your usage ?