Ever wonder what makes a great recording great? Gives life to a live performance? Makes the difference between a legendary song that marks a milestone in music history and just another flash in the pan top ten hit? It’s almost always the vocal performance. Sometime a guitar piece will change the way we think about music, or a pianist will break new ground, but almost always its a vocal that delivers the message we’ve been waiting to hear.

If youre like most of us who are into home recording and or studio recording, youve learned the hard way that you cannot compromise on quality when youre capturing a performance. That being said, not everyone can afford a $10,000 vintage Neumann tube condenser microphone, and your choice of microphone also has to do with your budget and what kind of goals you have.

Adding a good vocal microphone to your setup is one area where you should probably spend a little more than you want to. Regardless of your end goals, you need to start with the best vocal setup you can afford. The truth is, most early home recordings aren’t worth a listen simply because the vocal track ends up requiring so many boosts, cuts and effects to cut through the mix, that it actually ends up sounding horrible when it finally does cut through.

This is exactly why in this case, conventional wisdom prevails – start with the best vocal microphone that your budget will allow for. While you’re in the early stages of setting up your home studio, set a budget, and then double what you wanted to spend on a vocal microphone… you won’t regret it – I promise. There’s just no sense in spending a whole bunch of money on Logic or Pro Tools, a nice tube preamp and some Tannoy monitors if all you’ve got is a Shure SM57 to record the vocals with. Believe, you won’t want top hear those recording in six months and you will end up having to do it all over again.

Start with the right equipment ” get yourself a quality vocal microphone, you will be glad you did. These days, there are tons of manufacturers like AKG, Audio Technica, Shure, Sennheiser, and others who make decent microphones in the $200-$400 range. A large diaphragm cardiod condenser microphone will give your vocals shape and clarity, allowing your vocal tracks to cut through the rest of the mix.

Let’s say it again together – “start with a good quality vocal microphone…” save yourself the heartache and hours trying to do a fix-up on someones vocal performance. It’s pretty simple, bad vocals will sound a little better, and great vocals will sound amazing. If you or the person you are recording has a message, don’t point a crappy mic at them and hit record. Spend a few hundred bucks, get a good one, and thanks me later.

When it comes to vocal microphones, USB connectivity effectively eliminates your setup time and makes life a little easier. Theres definitely value in being able to plug and play, and also in cutting down on that spaghetti pile of cords underneath your desk. Generally, I wouldn’t really use a USB microphone for anything else than pod-casting, stuff like that… But, some new products are changing the game a little bit, and luckily for us, in a good way.

First of all, quality is getting pretty damn good. If you are looking for something to record dialogue for a pod-cast, a headset for gaming, or something to use with SKYPE, then USB has always been the way to go. However, recording vocals for a song means you really need to feel confident with your vocal microphone before you press record. Its that feeling of confidence that has taken time to propagate throughout the home studio community, but things are changing.

Dont get me wrong, I still consider USB microphones to be a sub-category of vocal microphones, and really they still pretty much should be thought of as consumer products, and are usually not as good as prosumer mics and professional level wired microphones. Now that Ive acknowledged that opinion, the time really has come to take notice of what companies like Audio Technica, Shure, AKG, CAD, and NADY are developing for home recording enthusiats. Audio Technicas AT2020 is a competitively priced large diaphragm USB microphone that performs well enough to have most home recording gurus scratching their heads.

Shures new X2u XLR-to-USB adapter is probably the most exciting development that has come along in the last couple years. Now, Shure has made possible what weve all been waiting for since the first USB microphones came out. Now, home recording enthusiasts have the option of being able to hook up their higher end vocal microphones with the USB adapter and plug right into the computer. The jury is unanimous! This is simply an awesome development and people seem to be getting pretty good results. This is a great little adapter for anyone who likes to simplify in the home studio, but still wants to use the collection of wired Sennheisers that they have sacrificed for over the years. The X2u adapter is perfect for multi-track audio recording and performs perfectly in headphones with zero latency.

If you have been gradually adding components to your setup over the years, its time to consider picking up a USB condenser microphone and see just how good the results you get on your next vocal track really are. You will be surprised at just how close the margin between price and performance has become.