What mic to use for REW?

[Rennster]

Just downloaded the REW into my laptop and looking for a mic to use with it. I read that the RadioShack SPL meter is only good up to a certain freq. and I am lookking for a mic with full spectrum response. Planning to use it to tune my car audio system. Would it be cheaper to buy the Phonic PAA2 for about $280?

[Sonnie]

Hey Renny and welcome to the Shack! Sorry it took so long to reply... seems like the thread got shoved down the ladder rather quickly.

I always recommend the Behringer ECM8000 which can be found for about 50 bucks US. It is fairly flat but if you wanna get it totally flat then you can send it off and have it calibrated. If in the US you can check out the Mic Calibration sticky thread. You'll need a mic pre-amp with phantom power supply, but even when you get the mic, mic pre-amp and have it calibrated you are only looking at about $140-150 US for pretty much a perfect mic setup.

[Snookboy]

Sonnie,

Are there some tips somewhere on hooking this up? I took your suggestion and purchased the ecm8000 mic and the ub802 and I am pretty well lost on hooking this up. I have the 15' mic cord and I am guessing this goes from the mic to the mic 1 xlr input on the 802. But how do I get from the 802 to the sound card?? Why do I need phantom power and how do I use it? I would assume that I leave all the eq, fx, and Pan in the neutral positions, but I'm just not sure how to get to the sound card. I see 1/4 L and R main out. Is that what I use? If so, just one channel or a Y cable? And then 1/4 to RCA adapter? The manual really doesn't help much. Any and all help to lower the frustration level would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[Sonnie]

Don't feel bad... when I first got mine I was like... huh? You got the input part right... XLR/Input 1. For the output I use the Tape Out RCA and use an RCA to mini-plug adaptor to the sound card. I actually use the cable version of this:



You'll something similar to come out of your sound card and go to your receiver/pre-pro to play your test tones/sweeps from REW.

To activate phantom power just press the phantom power button.

[Snookboy]

Ok, I happen to have a cable with two RCA plugs on one end and a single plug on the other that fits the sound card. So I hook this up to the tape out L/R and into the line in on my sound card, correct? Leave everything else on a zero setting and turn on the phantom power? Is this right? Dang, that ain't so hard if you know what the you are doing! Thanks Sonnie.

[Snookboy]

And I would assume that I turn OFF the C weighted metering in REW, correct?

[brucek]

L/R and into the line in on my sound card, correct?

You only use one channel of the soundcard for input and output, not both left and right.

See the diagram below:



brucek