Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

airin wrote:

I looking for an affordable mic that I can use with my PC to record some simple (as in 'beginner') shakuhachi playing.  The idea is to share the music with friends and family, given it is going to be pretty substandard relative to most shakuhachi recordings, and therefore I don't want these samples to go to far nor do I want to get too involved in doing the recordings.

I currently use an older digital recorder from which I can upload files to my PC however the sound quality is very poor, there's all kinds of hissing and other background sounds even when recorded in a totally quiet room.

So I'd like to buy a mic for my PC so I can record directly to the computer and then manipulate the sound files from there.  Is there such a thing or am I totally heading off in the wrong direction for what I want to do?

When doing some searchs, (nods to Edosan, "yes, I did try to do my homework first, Dad") but didn't really find any current threads that addressed this specific need (ok, ok, maybe I just didn't use all the possible search terms and could've missed something....nod again to Edosan).

I second the USB mic solution. However, if you already have one of those inexpensive headset mics you might want to give that a try first. Audacity is a pretty good very popular free recording software, although if you buy a USB mic you might as well use the software that comes packaged with it.

For a very cheap USB mic, I recommend the Blue Snowball -- it's what I use for online lessons. Excellent sound for the price (something like $75 US). And for software, yes, Audacity is excellent and free.

I have a Blue Snowball and like it.