BY Huge Shark
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA: Last column, we talked about how I recorded a friend’s guitar using an audio interface. I do this with my voice, too. I set up a microphone, plug the cable of the microphone into my audio interface (in my case, a Motu 8pre), and then plug the interface into my studio computer. (At the moment, my “studio” is in a corner of my living room that’s set up for recording music!). You might wonder why I can’t just plug my microphone right into my computer.
Sounds that we record with a microphone are physical sounds — the smack of a drum, the strum of a guitar, the wail of a voice. Microphones use the physical sound’s vibration to create an electrical signal — whether that mic is used in a telephone, in a broadcast studio, or for audio recording. When recording was mostly done to tape, that electrical signal was used to make a magnetic imprint on the tape that kept a “record” of the sound over time. But your computer isn’t able to take that electrical signal directly and understand it as sound. Instead, you need an A-to-D (analog-to-digital) converter to turn the electrical signal into digital signals that your computer can interpret.
Of course, you can buy a microphone with a USB interface that plugs directly into your computer. These microphones are so common now that many people have them for use with Zoom or for playing games (often as part of a headset). But higher-end microphones like the sort that are used for professional recording still mostly have analog interfaces and have cables with ¼” or XLR ends (plugs) on the ends rather than USB plugs. USB microphones have their A-to-D converters built in, but these higher-end mics require a standalone A-to-D converter, often called an audio interface or an ADC, to get sound into the computer.
Audio interfaces can be expensive, especially when they allow for recording more than one microphone (Input) at the same time. If you are just getting started with recording, or if you want to make podcasts and other spoken-word recordings, a decent quality USB microphone with its built-in analog-to-digital converter is perfectly fine. For example, a Blue Yeti is a popular and affordable microphone that’s used by many podcasters. It works reasonably as a starter music mic, too. There’s nothing wrong with taking that first step with a USB mic! But now you have a better understanding of how recording works — and why I’ve got that extra equipment in my home studio.
