Need budget Xlr mic and interface ($140 usd max for both)

[TubbieTubs]

Hi, I want my mic to be better for streams and things of that sort, so I want to get and xlr microphone, but am strapped for cash ($140 USD total budget) and need some suggestions as I am new to this. I heard the tonor mic bundle isn’t bad, so I was thinking about that as I have no equipment at all. I really am In search of a good audio interface. Thanks in advance.

[shoutingsteve]

You would be better off buying a "very high end" consumer mic for $140 rather than a "very low end" XLR mic and Di.

[Letgomyleghoe.]

6 minutes ago, shoutingsteve said:

You would be better off buying a "very high end" consumer mic for $140 rather than a "very low end" XLR mic and Di.

What makes a xlr mic not for consumers? Btw @TubbieTubs check out @The Flying Sloth's signature for xlr mics and interface suggestion https://linustechtips.com/profile/345176-the-flying-sloth/?tab=field_core_pfield_46

[TubbieTubs]

13 minutes ago, shoutingsteve said:

You would be better off buying a "very high end" consumer mic for $140 rather than a "very low end" XLR mic and Di.

Are you positive, because I have seen videos of people using like 5 dollar mics with cheap interfaces that outperform mics like yetis and that hyper x one.

[TubbieTubs]

9 minutes ago, Gundar said:

What makes a xlr mic not for consumers? Btw @TubbieTubs check out @The Flying Sloth's signature for xlr mics and interface suggestion https://linustechtips.com/profile/345176-the-flying-sloth/?tab=field_core_pfield_46

Also, have you heard of pro audio star? Are they legit? Will they steal my money?

[Letgomyleghoe.]

Just now, TubbieTubs said:

Also, have you heard of pro audio star? Are they legit? Will they steal my money?

Zero clue who they are

[TubbieTubs]

10 minutes ago, zhnu said:

There're tons of used audiointerfaces presonus or focusrite will work well. As for the mic you can get MXL cheap and good nuff for most things.

Oh alright, thank you. Also, have you heard of ProAudioStar? Are they legit? Will they steal my money?

[Tigerleon]

2 hours ago, TubbieTubs said:

Oh alright, thank you. Also, have you heard of ProAudioStar? Are they legit? Will they steal my money?

FFS. Just order from thomann

[Ahoy Hoy]

9 hours ago, TubbieTubs said:

Hi, I want my mic to be better for streams and things of that sort, so I want to get and xlr microphone, but am strapped for cash ($140 USD total budget) and need some suggestions as I am new to this. I heard the tonor mic bundle isn’t bad, so I was thinking about that as I have no equipment at all. I really am In search of a good audio interface. Thanks in advance.

Your budget is a bit low for this you will not be getting a good audio interface you will be getting the most low end interfaces.

The lowest end interface anyone will recommend is the behringer umc and thats 70 dollars. I cant figure out a way to get a microphone cables and a stand for 70 dolars and still be able to say this is good audio. Because the simple answer is it is not good audio its the cheapest stuff available and were picking stuff we kind of know what isnt trash.

If you can stretch the budget to just under 200 dolars and we can recommend a very decent microphone set up.


 

[The Flying Sloth]

ALRIGHTY THEN,

OP, here's what's up, those BM/NW series mic kits suck donkey testicles, believe me you don't want to touch them. I would strongly suggest you take a look at my mic recommendations list that @Gundarso kindly provided as it will answer most of your questions. 

 

Now, with $140 my recommendation to someone in europe would be UMC202HD, eBay stand and BEHRINGER C2 but I'll assume we're talking the US of A here in which case we'll have to go a bit of a different route.

 

There are two options :

1, Go used, buy a decent used mic and pair that either with a used interface or the 202HD netting us a decent condenser mic giving us nice, crisp, detailed tone with the drawbacks of the mic being very sensitive which leads to more background noise being picked up.

 

2, Since the Klark Teknik CT1 is universally out of stock due to being stupid value for money there are two suboptions here, first being the UMC202HD with a Behringer xm8500, second being a Samson Q2U/AT 2005. Now, whenever using dynamic mics I almost always recommend an inline preamp, it's not that an interface can't drive the mic without one it's just that you get so much more versatility out of mics by using one. So our choices here are either a dynamic mic with an interface or a USB/XLR combo mic that's still pretty good and can save you some cash to put towards your next audio upgrade or whatever you want really. Dice it still also has an XLR connection you can always upgrade to an interface later and then slowly research into what mic you want to end up with but in the end that's a personal choice.

 

Like I explained earlier, my gear guide will answer the questions you have coming (such as the difference between condenser and dynamic mics as well as providing samples of each) and I strongly recommend you take a look at it.

 

[TubbieTubs]

5 hours ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

Your budget is a bit low for this you will not be getting a good audio interface you will be getting the most low end interfaces.

The lowest end interface anyone will recommend is the behringer umc and thats 70 dollars. I cant figure out a way to get a microphone cables and a stand for 70 dolars and still be able to say this is good audio. Because the simple answer is it is not good audio its the cheapest stuff available and were picking stuff we kind of know what isnt trash.

If you can stretch the budget to just under 200 dolars and we can recommend a very decent microphone set up.


 

I don’t need anything spectacular, I just need something better than my kraken X mic, and want xlr for upgradabilty in the future.

[Ahoy Hoy]

17 hours ago, TubbieTubs said:

I don’t need anything spectacular, I just need something better than my kraken X mic, and want xlr for upgradabilty in the future.

If you saved another 40 or 50 dolars you could get good equipment which wont need upgrading or you can spend 140 now get stuff which isnt that great and then spend another 200 on better stuff and almost none of the original stuff gets used again and will have almost no resale value.

@The Flying Sloth Even his choice is probably going to break budget. Behringer interface 60 dolar the microphone is 60 dolars trying to find a stand and cable with the left over twenty dolars is almost impossible.

And in the end it may be a working system which sounds alright but its not a great system.
Then when you come to upgrade you probably wont want the stand as its probably so cheap it cant hold its own weight up.
The cable is probably horrible because of how cheap it is if it hasnt already broken.
And the microphones are going because were trying to upgrade.
So youve spent 140 150 dolars and your upgrade path is buying 80% of the set up again. Thats not a upgrade thats rebuying it all again. 


BUT if you had like 180 to 200 dolars
UMC22 - $60
Rode Pod mic - $99
Stand and cable $50 (desk arm style) OR Short stand $17 + XLR cable $12 (small table stand)

No one is going to say thats a bad recording system. Its really good for the money and your not going to care about upgrading because that is good enough and the next level in performance is a lot of money away (around the 300-400 mark). But if you did want to upgrade again you can keep the stand cable and interface because they are fine and just replace the microphone.


If youve only got that budget and the upgradeability is not as important get a USB microphone theres some great choices at the 100 dolar mark which smash a XLR system at that price out of the park. Take a look at the RODE NT USB and the SHURE MV5

[The Flying Sloth]

5 hours ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

@The Flying Sloth Even his choice is probably going to break budget. Behringer interface 60 dolar the microphone is 60 dolars trying to find a stand and cable with the left over twenty dolars is almost impossible.

BUT if you had like 180 to 200 dolars
UMC22 - $60
Rode Pod mic - $99
Stand and cable $50 (desk arm style) OR Short stand $17 + XLR cable $12 (small table stand)

No one is going to say thats a bad recording system. Its really good for the money and your not going to care about upgrading because that is good enough and the next level in performance is a lot of money away (around the 300-400 mark). But if you did want to upgrade again you can keep the stand cable and interface because they are fine and just replace the microphone.


If youve only got that budget and the upgradeability is not as important get a USB microphone theres some great choices at the 100 dolar mark which smash a XLR system at that price out of the park. Take a look at the RODE NT USB and the SHURE MV5

The scissor arm I use was $10 and I've been using it for 3 years without issue, the 6M XLR cables I buy are under $10 and I've never had an issue with them. In case you missed that, that's under $20...... So perhaps not as impossible as you think.

Now, I certainly understand this argument

 

5 hours ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

So youve spent 140 150 dolars and your upgrade path is buying 80% of the set up again. Thats not a upgrade thats rebuying it all again. 

Except that your option provided directly below it falls prey to the exact same problem. Poor interface with Dynamic mic that likely wont reach its potential without an inline preamp. 
 

 

5 hours ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

If youve only got that budget and the upgradeability is not as important get a USB microphone theres some great choices at the 100 dolar mark which smash a XLR system at that price out of the park. Take a look at the RODE NT USB and the SHURE MV5

Yeah, no, 202HD and C2 smash both those options with the added benefit of still being XLR and having dedicated headphone amplification systems.

Beyond this there's still one major issue...

 

23 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

2, Since the Klark Teknik CT1 is universally out of stock due to being stupid value for money there are two suboptions here, first being the UMC202HD with a Behringer xm8500, second being a Samson Q2U/AT 2005. Now, whenever using dynamic mics I almost always recommend an inline preamp, it's not that an interface can't drive the mic without one it's just that you get so much more versatility out of mics by using one. So our choices here are either a dynamic mic with an interface or a USB/XLR combo mic that's still pretty good and can save you some cash to put towards your next audio upgrade or whatever you want really. Dice it still also has an XLR connection you can always upgrade to an interface later and then slowly research into what mic you want to end up with but in the end that's a personal choice.

Not only are both of these options within budget, one of them is a USB option that not only saves more money than any of yours but stays more versatile than any of yours due to the XLR connectivity.

While I appreciate the addition of your input, most of that was fairly meaningless.