 increasing line level on sm58 to m audio |
Digital Cause 
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Hi. Ive got an Shure SM58 mic, going into an m audio fast track pro soundcard. Ive tried everything and I can not get the input level to go higher. It is fine for most things, but i needed to record someone who was whispering for an audiobook and would really like to pick up level to get higher.... does anyone know how to do this?
maybe my only choice is a new mic with phantom power?
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21-07-2009 13:23 |
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Digital Cause
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yeah basicly it is a guided meditation, so the person speaking is speaking really softly. so a condenser mic should sort it out? will that use phantom power? any recomendations?
thanks a lot
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21-07-2009 13:54 |
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thechronic
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Whisper louder 
A condenser will indeed be much better suited to record whispering, it is much more sensitive to soft noises and will sound better as it will capture the high frequencies better than a SM58. But make sure you get a decent one, as the noise floor will be very important when recording low level audio.
On the other hand if the budget is really small an SM58 should be sufficient. Have you set the mic input gain to maximum? Is the mic really close to the speaker's mouth? How does the audio sound if you normalize it - Passable or way too noisy?
A separate mic preamp to boost the level of the SM58 could also help and would be the cheapest option, there are like a dozen different mic preamps for under €100.
For the best quality results, get a large diaphragm condenser mic and use it with the M-Audio, this will set you back around €200, but you'll have a quality mic which you can use for the rest of your life.
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21-07-2009 18:01 |
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Digital Cause
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ah cool thanks for the help. Im so out of touch with all this stuff.
Yeah I have turned the line level up to max, which is more than loud enough for recording most things. Just in a silent room recording whispering the level is really really low, and too much noise..
budget is not really defined, but I would say Id probably go for the cheapest decent one... if that makes sense.
My soundcard does have phantom power (m audio fast track pro)...
so another mic pre would be good? does this just go between the mic and the soundcard? if it is a cheaper option that would be good, as long as the quality will still be good.
thanks a lot
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26-07-2009 13:37 |
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Digital Cause
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So a condenser mic will have a higher pick up level?
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26-07-2009 19:39 |
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thechronic
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Just a followup on this even though it's probably too late.
Indeed a condenser has a higher pickup level. It has a preamp built in, which is why it needs 48V power. On the other hand a condenser mic such as an SM58 does not have a preamp built in and has a much lower sensitivity.
I have set up a condenser mic the other day to see how well I could record myself whispering. I used cheap equipment: a cheap <200€ large diaphragm condenser and a Digidesign Mbox2 mini preamp. The Mbox is of comparable quality to your M-Audio.
I set up the mic at a distance of about 10 cm and cranked up the gain. It worked perfectly, I had a very acceptable level, even clipping when the gain was at maximum. I could even hear it when I scraped my tongue against my teeth, loud and clear. The noise of my computer fans was deafening though so you really will need to record in an acoustically isolated room.
The recording ended up with a lot of smacking, breathing and lip noises, so you will have to get your scissors out and prepare for some heavy editing.
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09-09-2009 14:22 |
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Digital Cause
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Cheers buddy. The answer I was looking for!
The levels i was getting on the sm 58 were just not good enough for what I was doing and ended up with a noisy recording!
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17-09-2009 17:36 |
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