Mic recommendations?

[Eric Wright]

I've been a cellist for 6 years but mainly been exclusive to concert performances and jamming with friends. Lately I've been wanting to record my covers and own compositions but that's pretty much gone to the toilet as I don't have any quality recording equipment.

I've used both acoustic and electric cello in my studies and I know there's certain equipment better suited to each one, but everything I've tried (e.g. A desk mic, plugging in the electric with a line-in) comes out grainy.

Any of you guys know a decent bargain for a mic that's good enough? I'm not looking for anything state of the art, just something that sounds pleasing to the ear without excess feedback.

 

[Eric Wright]

I'm aware "bumping" is a breach of forum etiquette, but I would be awesome to get some advice on this one and it's not too far from the top.

 

[Yax]

Approximate budget? And do you have a decent interface with phantom power and ok mic pre's?

 

[Yax]

Basically any decent condenser will do (dynamic microphones can work too, it's all very much to one's taste here and depending on the situation etc) and you wouldn't have to pay too much. Go for a large diaphragm one as they pick up low frequencies much better than small diaphragms. I have a tube microphone of the same brand and it's excellent. Heard good things about this particular model too : http://www.thomann.de/se/audio_technica_at2020.htm
That, a decent interface and, the most important thing here, proper placement will get you where you want to go. Google around for the placement, but a meter or so, placed low pointing towards the body should get you a good sound. but your acoustics will come into play here. You could also mik closer to the body but you'd have to move around to find the sweet spot more carefully and it would be more sensitive to your movements.

You could also get a clip on mic and be able to move a bit more freely and it will be more user friendly, but I can't say how the low segment clip on mics sound. No idea (you could likely find a good one, but you'd have to do a lot of research as the bottom segment usually have some crap mics you'd want to avoid), but more expensive mics of that kind are generally used in a live setting with excellent results. But you could definitely get a rather cheap one with satisfactory result - I just don't have any idea what specific clip on to recommend.

On the subject of feedback: That depends solely on the volume of your speakers, p how they are angled towards the microphone, polar pattern, and the mic's proximity to speakers and recording source. Or did you mean something other than feedback?