Help me find a Condenser Mic

Hello Everyone!

I hope everything is great! I need to buy a condenser mic that will work with my M Audio Fast Track. My worry is I might end up buying a condenser mic (phantom powered) that needs a mixing board to supply its voltage. What I need is a Condenser Mic that can be plugged in directly to my M Audio Fast Track without using any mixing board.

Is there any condenser mic that doesn't need a mixing board so you just plug it in into the Audio Interface?

Thank you so much! Any advice will be much appreciated.

Paul Adrian

I know this is not the answer you want, but my advice would be to ditch the Fast Track, which I assume is the Fast Track usb original model, and replace it with a similar device that provides phantom power and is also in a screened metal case. Then you will be free to select a microphone for its characteristics rather than being forced into a limited market.

I base this on my experiences testing and recording guitar with a number of these interfaces, and also listening to the samples on your website. The playing deserves a better recording interface.

Alterntively, you can simply buy an external phantom power supply, such as one of these - http://tinyurl.com/4xc9c6a - that means you can choose whichever mic suits you.

My first question is why you feel you have to have a condenser in the first place?

Graeme is right about phantom power supplies, (although his link brings up the Google home page for me...) Search for auxilliary phantom power supplies. Naiant used to have several...

There were some condensor microphones that were battery powered and didn't need phantom power. The Equitech CAD-200 from Conneaut Audio Devices comes readily to mind. These things had two high current draw 9V nickel hydride batteries inside, and would give you about 5 hours of recording time without need for phantom power. However it was a real PITA to unscrew the body housing, partially disassemble the mic, take out the batteries and replace, if you wanted a longer run time.  (There was an integral charging circuit in the mic which would recharge the batteries if you plugged into phantom power, but it took a long time...)  http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_articles/jun97/cadequitek.html

The bit about unscrewing the microphone housing is not to be taken lightly... I once bought one of these for a song from a "junk bin" sale at the music store because the threads were stripped (probably from too many unscrewings and re-screwings without care...) and repaired it by drilling and tapping for a slightly larger screw in the body. I don't think these have been made in years, though, and they are not what I'd recommend for music production. An excellent mic for voice-over work or perhaps for broadcast work, but the "shock-mount" is not a shock-mount at all and works very poorly!

Is there any condenser mic that doesn't need a mixing board so you just plug it in into the Audio Interface?

AKG C1000S
Rode M3
Audix UEM81C
Audio Technica AT8031
Audio Technica MB4K

And that's just the mono ones. They are all capable of being battery-powered, and just plug into a mic input - no phantom required at all.

My first question is why you feel you have to have a condenser in the first place?

Hello! Graeme, I think I really need a condenser microphone for my classical guitar. I am using a non condenser mic so I always suffer from the hiss sound problem and I always take me hours just to get rid of the noise after I recorded some track.

and also listening to the samples on your website. The playing deserves a better recording interface.

Thank you so much Wildduck! Being appreciated is always great!

At of the moment, I really don't have the resources to buy a new audio inter phase however. So I might try to get some Condenser mic so I can start recording my new materials.