For those of you on a budget but want to give XLR gear a try, Amazon is having a sale on a wide variety of Behringer gear. Highlights of this sale include:
Behringer Xenyx 302USB Mixer
$40 - A compact desktop mixer that can also act as an audio interface and/or external soundcard / hardware volume controls and basic 2-band EQ for gaming and headsets. Has phantom power so you can use even XLR condenser mics.
Behringer U-phoria UM2 Interface
$30 - Behringer's entry-level 2x2 audio interface. Supports one mic in with phantom power, one instrument in if you need it, and headphone monitoring. At $30 there is no lower entry point with this kind of feature set.
Behringer U-phoria UMC22
$40 - Also a 2x2 audio interface from Behringer it has feature parity with its little brother with one significant upgrade: It uses Behringer's newer MIDAS mic pre-amps that are a bit cleaner on dynamic mics. Also, it has better build quality than its little brother.
At one point, I owned all 3 of these and I can't recommend them enough. With a good USB audio interface, you gain access to a wider variety of recording hardware and can actually save money by being able to buy and sell individual parts of your project studio one piece at a time, as well as a very healthy used market of recording gear.
If you need a microphone to pair with your new USB interface entry level recommendations include:
$20 - Behringer Ultravoice XM8500 (Dynamic
$40 - Sure SM48-LC (Dynamic)
$70 - MXL 990 (Condenser)
$100 - Sure SM58-LC (Dynamic)
$100 - Behringer B-1 (Condenser)
Also, don't forget your accessories like your Gooseneck Pop Filter and Balanced XLR Cable.
Make sure your XLR cables are the balanced type. While there is no benefit of using a balanced cable on unbalanced gear, using an unbalanced gear on any balanced gear, like the microphones above could introduce noise, as unbalanced cables are not properly grounded.
Behringer Xenyx 302USB Mixer
$40 - A compact desktop mixer that can also act as an audio interface and/or external soundcard / hardware volume controls and basic 2-band EQ for gaming and headsets. Has phantom power so you can use even XLR condenser mics.
Behringer U-phoria UM2 Interface
$30 - Behringer's entry-level 2x2 audio interface. Supports one mic in with phantom power, one instrument in if you need it, and headphone monitoring. At $30 there is no lower entry point with this kind of feature set.
Behringer U-phoria UMC22
$40 - Also a 2x2 audio interface from Behringer it has feature parity with its little brother with one significant upgrade: It uses Behringer's newer MIDAS mic pre-amps that are a bit cleaner on dynamic mics. Also, it has better build quality than its little brother.
At one point, I owned all 3 of these and I can't recommend them enough. With a good USB audio interface, you gain access to a wider variety of recording hardware and can actually save money by being able to buy and sell individual parts of your project studio one piece at a time, as well as a very healthy used market of recording gear.
If you need a microphone to pair with your new USB interface entry level recommendations include:
$20 - Behringer Ultravoice XM8500 (Dynamic
$40 - Sure SM48-LC (Dynamic)
$70 - MXL 990 (Condenser)
$100 - Sure SM58-LC (Dynamic)
$100 - Behringer B-1 (Condenser)
Also, don't forget your accessories like your Gooseneck Pop Filter and Balanced XLR Cable.
Make sure your XLR cables are the balanced type. While there is no benefit of using a balanced cable on unbalanced gear, using an unbalanced gear on any balanced gear, like the microphones above could introduce noise, as unbalanced cables are not properly grounded.