basic question hooking stuff up
 

if I have a mic that requires phantom power and my objective is to record sound (not really video) into Vegas ... what are the things I need to get to make my life simple?

I have an old SAMSON MPL1502 mixer laying around that seems to have phantom power.

I have an XL1S camera

I have a plain old simple sound card in my PC.

Thanks,

KIM

If your soundcard input can be set for a line-level signal, then all you need is the appropriate cable to go between the Samson mixer's Tape Out RCA connectors into the soundcard input, which is probably a stereo 1/8" mini.
These 2xRCA to 1/8" stereo mini cables are readily available and inexpensive.
After making the appropriate settings in your Windows audio control panel and in Vegas, arm an audio track for recording. Practice and set your mixer levels so you get a good recording level in Vegas without overdriving the input. Start the recording.
A higher quality method of recording into the computer is to use either a USB or Firewire audio interface. These are also readily available and can cost from $200 on up. They will give a much cleaner signal path into the computer than using the onboard soundcard.

I like this option. can you give me one or two to pick from? If I do this then I don't need the mixer?

Thanks again!

KIM

Some Firewire interfaces have mic inputs supplying phantom power and others don't. I recently upgraded my "blaster" card to an Echo AudioFire 8 interface which has 2 "universal" mic/line input channels with phantom power, level trim, and channel inserts, 6 additional line level inputs, 8 line outputs, headphone monitoring on channels 1 and 2, 2 channels digital I/O selectable between SPDIF and AES, MIDI I/O, and Word Clock I/O. All analog I/O channels are balanced and selectable for +4db pro or -10db consumer line levels. Something like this, a mic or 2, a good pair of headphones, and Vegas would be all you really need.

If you have a choice, Firewire is usually preferable to USB all other things being equal.

There are a number of other excellent Firewire interfaces from m-Audio, MOTU, and others. Your budget and your individual needs are your guide and I don't mean to imply that my choice is necessarily the best on the market or would be best for you, it's just one that works for me. Browse through some of the big online merchants such as zzSounds or Sweetwater and the ads in magazines like "Mix" and "Sound on Sound" and you can get an idea of what's out there to choose from.

I've used the lapel mic without body pac, plugged straight into the sound card.

Thanks for all the pointers.

The mic I have is a shure ksm27. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

Would this m-audio thing work for me or do I need something different?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

Thanks,

KIM

I would expect the m-Audio would to be just fine

And if you ever need to record more mics simultaneously, you can still use your mixer as a front end for that interface, connecting to the line inputs.