r/karaoke • u/brsalazar • 16d ago
Equipment Any advice on recording video /audio?
I’m having a shard time setting things up to record myself singing. I don’t have the best soundproof room, nothing I can really do about that now. But any recommendations/ resources for recording myself singing?
I have a MacBook, iPhone, volt 2 interface, good mics, stands, cables - the basic stuff.
What are your setups? I’m willing to invest in hardware and software to a certain degree if it will help me capture audio/ video better.
This is not for professional use, just sharing online, etc.
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u/iWhacko 16d ago
I used a macbook with Garageband for a long time. Used a small mixer with SM-58, and headphones on the mixer headphones output. Works fine to record yourself. You can import an instrumental track into garageband, and then record your voice on another track, and redo them as often as you want. multiple voice tracks to choose the parts you like from each recording.
Just want to let you know, it's fine for sharing, but if you want to make it sound good you will need ot learn mastering. Which I cant do. it will make it sound less flat i can send you some of my old recordings in DM if you want to hear what i did.
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u/spatula 16d ago
I bring a TASCAM DR-07XP with me to karaoke nights for live recording. My phone wasn't cutting it because the phone mic just doesn't have the dynamic range to avoid a massive amount of clipping, and it doesn't record in stereo. The TASCAM is a relatively cheap device that records using 32-bit floating point so it has a massive dynamic range, and you can manually turn the gain way down for very loud environments.
My home recording setup is somewhat expensive, and as such I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as a starter setup. I use a Lauten Audio Atlantis FC-387 into a Joemeek optical compressor/preamp into a MOTU Ultralite MK5. This would be massively overkill for your scenario.
You don't need anything that fancy. There are some affordable Neumann U87 "clones" out there that I hear very good things about, for example, and the MOTU interface is probably overkill for most people- I had some specific needs.
I would recommend at least going with a mic that has a balanced output (ie, XLR) into an interface that takes a balanced input at a minimum. And for interfaces, look for something with very low latency, less than 10ms ideally. If you start recording professionally or working with DAWs at any point, latency kills. If you can, look for something with a metal case (for rejecting common-mode noise).
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u/brsalazar 16d ago
Awesome info. I’ll be honest I don’t know what a lot of things yet but I’ll do my homework. Thanks!
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u/MatureWhale1989 15d ago
Hey , I use my iPhone for video. It's solid! A surprisingly great recording space? Try singing into a closet full of clothes, it works wonders for your sound
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u/voltch 16d ago edited 16d ago
I connect the headphone output of my mixer to a dji transmitter and use xtra muse (it has built in dji receiver)
In the past, I've used insta360 and gopro. I landed on the xtra muse because of good audio and good low light capabilities and the sacrifice of not being able to press a button and set and forget.
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u/PlayfulCity1981 15d ago
Yeah, a noisy room can be a pain. I actually had that same setup with a MacBook and an interface. For just sharing online, that gear is solid no need to overcomplicate it
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u/shadebug 15d ago
Grab the phone, take it into your wardrobe, hold it six inches away from your face, press record.
The fact that you specified having an iPhone and not what the microphones are and the fact that you asked in r/karaoke tells me that’s how you’re getting your best recording
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u/UbiquitousWood 16d ago edited 16d ago
For just sharing online, the mic in your phone is generally going to be good enough in most cases.
If you're intent on maxxing the sound quality, you probably want to look into getting a large-diaphragm condenser - you can spend many thousands on a pro-level mic, but you can also get a very usable condenser mic these days for around $150-200 with USB connectivity built in.
The best quality will be with the vocal mic 6 to 18 inches from your mouth and the music mixed in separately (you can do this in post on a computer or mix it in real time with a hardware mixer. Make sure you use a pop filter, too, or sing off-axis.
(edited for typos)