MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

Okay, If you're new to recording, face the facts. It's going to cost you a little money. Don't buy the cheapest! It will just take room up in your studio and it won't be worth nothing on Ebay for resale!
Also don't buy into the "purests" remarks about spending a lot on a mic or nothing. This one will treat you fine. I am very pick and I wouldn't waste my time doing this review if I didn't think it was a quality piece of equipment.

Good luck in your recording adventures.
So I have played guitar for over twenty years and am now just trying to get into some serious recording. I have written songs that my family wants to preserve. So the first thing I did was buy a low dollar mic only to find that it was horrible! It sounded like my guitar was recorded through a tin can located in a third world country somewhere. So I started researching. Every person has a diferent apinion. Why can't one just be the perfect one? It was very confusing and at this point I just didn't care about cost but quality.
This one was wired with high quality material, came with a case and a usb cable so that I could plug right in to my Mac laptop and use Garage Band to record. I waited a couple weeks to find time to use it cause I just didn't want to be let down. My wife and I pulled it out finally, unwraped it, didn't even read the instructions, pluged it in. (It even comes with it's own little stand!) I started playing my acoustic Martin guitar and my wife pressed record. When we played it back both of our jaws fell open. It had totally captured the warmth of my guitar! My strings wern't even new and the tone recorded was awesome! I am now totally excited about recording but my only warning to you is this...IT'S ADDICTING! Now I need some powered monitore speakers, head phones, and upgrades to my Garage Band program. It's a lot fo fun. So my point is this. If your looking for a good mic to set in front of you to record this one works great. I haven't tried to mic my amp cabinets yet but I am sure that it will be just as good.
Solid contruction. It comes with a nice case. Its a bit heavy so if you use the little stand (It's very cool!) then make sure you set it up so it doesn't fall over in the middle of recording a killer track!
It's nice that it comes with a usb cable. I will eventually need a longer one but that I can get later.
Totally worth the money! This one works great! The one I spent less on a I gave to my three year old daughter to do kareoke. This one I treat very carefully. It's a quality piece of equipment.

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

Let me some up my short review.I AM a producer. I have and DO get paid by companies to produce media. I have been a producer for several major Radio Stations around the country.This Mic is nice for someone "new" to home recording. It has decent enough quality, and is REAL easy to set up.As opposed to some of the Mics I use that need a preamp, tubes, shock mounts and different types of enclosures to get the best sound, this one you can just plug in and go.However, you are not going to get the same type of sound you would from a really nice expensive Mic.However it is close enough. If you are doing this to cut a demo, then if you ARE good, the people listening to the demo will NOT care about the Mic you used. They are looking for Star Potential and NOT MIC Quality.It all comes down to what YOU need.

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

Like many others, i bought this Mic because i wanted something for vocals that would plug right into my computer without needing an extra preamp. If i were a professional recording studio type guy, i'm sure i could find lots of little things to gripe about with this Mic, but im a home recording studio guy, and for this application this Mic worked killer!!! It did everything i needed it to do and sounded really really good. If you would like to hear some vocals recorded on my MXL 990 USB, go to www.jordanojames.com/music.html and check out the album from NYTNDAE JONES, all the vocals on this album were recorded on this mic. Thanks.

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

Went to track my order on-line and the UPS man knocked on the door, super fast shipping, great mic for the price, on the down side there is no vocal playback for monitoring, which is something I can get used to considering the quality of the mic. A+

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

I am going to give this mic a 7/10 rating. It has good quality, good levels and it's afordable. It's the 3rd condenser mic I've owned. Although it may be a "Noob" mic it's pretty nice. I've been using it for about 3 years now and would reccomend it for someone who wants something better than a USB condenser. With the right preamp it'll work wonders for you.

The only thing that is iffy about it is the levels are beyond sensitive and if you're not careful you'll get a bit of distortion.

You can hear some of my recordings with it here
www.soundcloud.com/officialduc3

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

I got this because I wanted something to hook up directly to my computer to record vocals without bothering with any preamps or interfaces. The mic sounds pretty good. It has a good overall sound for vocals and sounds full. The main problem I have is that, when recording, I can't monitor myself singing. Meaning I can't hear the vocals I am recording with the rest of the mix until I play it back. This can get pretty frustrating. It also should come with a shockmount like the regular 990 (I had to buy the shockmount separate). I've never even used the desktop stand that comes with it and I don't see why I ever would. Overall, it's a good buy, but I wish I would have bought a USB interface like an M-Audio and the regular 990 instead.

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

Since I love muusic, and record music for the love of music, making money is not expected with this mic. I've had this mic for going on two years and have been satisfied with it the entire time. It doesn't have the "studio" quality that most people look for, but it definitely gets the job done. Since I am looking for better sound, I will be buying a new mic soon, but until then, I will use this mic, which is the best mic I've used. If you're looking for great quality for cheap, this is the one for you.

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

These were the first mics i have ever bought. the warmth they produce is great although i was working with a 1GB laptop with a 1.80Ghz Dual core and sometimes when i would record my vocals they muffle... i did my research and i found out that you need at least a 3.2Ghz Processor if you want to create a top notch home studio. Although, as a personal opinion, with the technology advancing you can use these USB Powered MXL's if you have atleast a 4GB of RAM and a quad core above 2.6Ghz.

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

The MXL 990-USB Powered Condenser MicrophoneI bought this condenser to record on my laptop (Windows, Vista op) almost entirely vocal tracks, and it works fairly great for that. I will say up front that it does not come with any drivers or software like it is pictured, but you can download the drivers from the given website.Sound wise, I was pretty pleased. A great starter setup for those that are doing hobby work. The MXL-900 is a little quiet for my tastes, and the whole package could use a shockmount, but otherwise I'm very happy with the sound.I use Audacity to lay down most of my projects, and the mic has given me no technical problems, except for the first day out of the box, it started giving me this harsh static sound, but that fixed itself, so I guess it was a fluke.Anyway, I would recommend this for any laptop-recorders, as it is very easy to set up and use, and especially voice-over recorders. If you want to do high-quality vocal tracks and still want the conveinence of a USB mic, then I would look at the higher-end MXL USB Mic's like the USB.006, .007 or .008. They will give you a high brow sound for only a little more. If I had stayed into direct USB recording, I would have upgraded to one of those.

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

The mic is good, making good clear recordings, keeps out sounds such as the refrigerator and other ambient sounds. However the clamp seems as not as good as quality as the mic. The clamp is in my opinion a low lever plastic that pops off while even in stationary position. I think they should have used thicker and a larger clamp base and wing nut. As for the tripod stand it too has it's problems. It has wobbly legs that don't stand strong. Once the mic is all positioned with clamp, stand, and cord there no other clamp to keep the mic from swiveling left to right.

I would recommend this mic if it were sold with out the stand and clamp.

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

Just got mine and did some trials with it, and I'm impressed. The range is excellent and the playback quality is great. Don't bother downloading the free software they offer at www.mxl-usb.com, I couldn't get it to work properly. But with Audacity or Goldwave running on XP, it plugs right in, installs itself and is ready to create some descent quality recordings. I'm no professional, but this goes above and beyond serving my guitar recording needs. Find the right placement for the mic, and play away.

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

Hi, I just bought this microphone not too long ago, and it is amazing. I wanted a microphone to hook up to my computer, and I also wanted to avoid the sound card issue. I have had bad experiences with non digital mics, but this one is incredible!It shipped fast, has a wonderful sound, connected to my computer super fast, and looks pretty spiffy. A five star in my book. My voice keeps the real bassy sound when I record with this, and my acoustic guitar sounds amazing too. A very nice product, thank you.

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

I've been using this microphone specifically for recording vocals. This is a very good microphone if you have a computer system set up ONLY for recording. If you have a desktop with alot of other stuff on it, I suggest you save your money. The microphone itself is not compatible with any operating system, and will cause random crashes for people who use this on a leisure type computer.I give it a thumbs up for the simple fact I was able to record an album and a mixtape with this microphone, combined with the right software everything was worked out and sounded excellent. Not for the beginner who thinks they can become a star using this mic, so invest in something with better quality in mids(I HAD TO KEEP A SECOND MIC )

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

Excellent I recommended it to my friends. When I had a couple of friends over I showed them how well it worked and what they can do with it. It is a good learning tool I thought.

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

Great little mic.

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

I am a bit disappointed in the quality of the tone of recorded vocal through this mic; I'd been using a cheap, dynamic unidirectional from Radio Shack for years, but upgraded my computer at the office and needed a condenser mic with USB, etc. for the new configuration; this mic does the job for making recordings in my office for the church musicians to rehearse with, but the vocal quality is not nearly as good; probably ok for speech...

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

My Mac Book Pro's built-in microphone does not pick up acoustic piano well. This mike solves the problem.

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

I have played guitar on and off for a long time but never tried to record myself. First I tried just a webcam and it sounded terrible. I could almost get a decent sound if I placed it right on top of my amp but that is not a real solution. I got the MXL USB 990 and tried it and it also sounded terrible but only because I was not using it in a good way. I used it by enabling it through my webcam. It was severely distorted and hollow sounding. Then I got some recording software (DAW) that enabled me to set it up properly and now it sounds crisp and clear, almost as good as what you hear on commercial recordings. I'm sure that after I learn how to use all the tools available with the recording software that I can make it sound every bit as good. Plus I think the only way to get rid of the noise from your amp is by using some kind of recording software. I have never recorded before, I barely know what I'm doing and I'm already getting excellent results far beyond my expectations.

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

I wish I did more research as far as purchasing goes. My bad and I learned my lesson. I'll never shop here online again.

Comments about MXL 990 USB Powered Condenser Microphone:

I use this mic for commentaries on my gaming videos. I've had it for almost 2 years and it's still working great! The quality is really good for a beginner's mic. The only down side is that the stand is a little cheap, and broke a few months ago. I just purchased a shock mount and boom for an upgrade though.

If you'd like to hear how it sounds, here are my videos: http://Youtube.com/azncoolz