Alright so my friend and I are building a recording studio to record both music and vocals such as voice overs for video. We currently have a mixer that hooks directly to my friend's computer via a cable hooked directly to his onboard sound card. He then plugs his XLR cables directly to the mixer to record his guitar, vocals etc. Its rigged for now so we are wanting to get good tips on how we should set everything up to where it can preform decently. We are on the market for a recording interface. But we don't want to purchase anything really expensive, under $100 would be nice.

Also, we are looking for a good dynamic microphone for recording vocals, mainly for voice overs. Alot of people in other video forums have suggested the Sure SM58 which I agree with but again, something alittle less expensive. I have been looking at the MXL 990 on ebay simply because its cheap and alot of them come with a pop filter. However I know nothing about this mic's preformance. Any bad experiences from this company? Or suggestions to another microphone that is under $100?

Final concern is diffusion. We have some diffusing material but have no idea how to position it. We don't want to just start slapping it on the wall without knowing what we are doing. Any suggestions?

I understand that going cheap doesn't always equal good choice. However we are trying to streach our money to different things at the moment and want to get this studio up and running.

Thanks in advance,
Terry.

"Final concern is diffusion. We have some diffusing material but have no idea how to position it. We don't want to just start slapping it on the wall without knowing what we are doing. Any suggestions?"

Diffusion is not recommended for small rooms. Often it can add to the sonic confusion rather then correct any issues that you are thinking it might.

Absorption is always recommended, especially at the first reflection points and at the rear wall behind the sitting position.

Soft ceiling(overhead cloud) with a hard floor is another place to look into.

Diffusion requires a room with a large volume to effectively diffuse the sound.

Good luck

Brien Holcombe
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