Someone Needs Recording Tips?? Thanks??

Hi, I just have a few questions. I am thinking of maybe putting together something for a music project sometime in the future if I can get to some kind of proper understanding about recording things properly. But I just want to ask a few basic questions. I plan on recording vocals naturally but I have been recently debating on if a wireless headset made for PCs is good to use or if a common microphone is best? Is a microphone attached to a wireless PC headset capable of recording clearly? Or is a common microphone, like a common USB microphone better to use? I'm trying to understand what type of recording device is best to use to record audio clearly from those two choices or something? Any info is appreciated. I'm trying to find any other official information and stuff, and I think I really need help with this somehow.....so thanks for any help.
 

SOMM

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It really depends on what you are trying to achieve. The two options you gave will probably produce very average recordings. If you simply want your voice on the computer that those options will work well, but if you are looking for a clear music recording (vocals, guitar, drums, bass, etc.) then you will need a condenser mic, pop filter, and a recording interface. Google those three things and you will start getting an idea of what you'll need.
 
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Thanks for the help. What does condenser mean? I don't want to ask too much yet, because I'm not sure about too much yet, but I have this USB microphone that came from a Nintendo Wii video game package: http://www.amazon.com/Karaoke-Revolution-Presents-American-Encore-Nintendo/dp/B0010B3PWI

I saw this video yesterday, about microphones recording dry, with no processing, like in some kind of natural form? And then the microphones recording wet, with a reverb effect that captures some kind of echo background in the sound wave when the vocals are recorded? They sort of explained a little bit in the video I found on YouTube:

Is the USB microphone that came with the video game package as good as a condenser microphone? If it is, are things really just about the recording interface?

When I hear a track on an official CD like this:
, how it's all recorded natural, what has to be done to achieve that clearness in audio? I'm just referencing the audio and stuff just about the audio in that track? I kind of want to get the vocals to sound that natural and clear like it was recorded in that track or something like that?
 
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I might need to repost the videos again because there was a problem:

The video with microphone testing:
[]

Just the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGS0UvbCwGk

I kind of want to get the vocals recorded clearly as if it were on an official CD, like something in this audio track:

Just the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRuH-6L5RrA

I know that audio streaming isn't always clear online, but I'm trying to get a clear sounding recording with the vocals in it like the track above this sentence but as if it were on official CD since the quality is in clear sound quality on official CD......?
 
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SOMM

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I think its good to keep it in the forum as this stuff is helpful for many people who are wanting to do a similar thing.

A condenser mic, to put it simply, is a very sensitive mic which requires electricity to run it. Dynamic mics do not need electricity to operate and are not as sensitive which is why they use them for live performances.

Condenser mic's are used in recording so widely because they produce a clear sound and are sensitive enough to capture all the little tiny bits of sound which make the voice sound like its right there next to you. You can record without a condenser, no problem, but you will probably not get what you're hoping for.

The mic you mentioned will work, but it will not give a nice sound.

If you have never recorded before, don't set your hopes on the highest/best sound... just get started. Start recording, learn, make poor recordings, try again, google a bit more, try again. Just like song writing, if you don't do it then you won't grow too much in being able to do it well.

Adding things like reverb to make it sound "wet" or taking reverb away for "dry" is all done after you've recorded the vocals.

When recording vocals you want a room which sounds "dead"... very very little sound waves bouncing around the room. This will help your recording massively.

Like most things, the quality you get in your recording depends on the amount you spend on it. Not 100% true all the time, but you won't get much out of a $20 mic.
 
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