Hi Sean,
I strongly second the view that a decent condenser mike is the way to go
in studio, with an external pop shield, suspension cradle and some kind
of noise+reverb reduction, either one of the dedicated surrounds, or
something hacked up with a frame and some blankets. Controlling
extraneous noises can be a challenge. Don't forget bumps carried through
the floor.
The SM58 and it ilk are "dynamic" live-performance microphones,
definitely not intended for studio vocals.
In the studio you can afford to mic further from the singer, use a
pop-shield, headphones for monitoring so no feedback worries, no need to
handle quite such high volume as right in contact with the lips of a
loud voice. That said, microphone technique on stage needs learning if
he's expecting to sing live.
The Neumann U87 requires a small second mortgage.
The AKG C414 requires a substantially smaller second mortgage.
There are a number of similar-in-operation condenser mics from from
other companies, at much lower prices, many of which are surprisingly
good.
There are lots of pretty good USB recording interfaces. On Mac with
GarageBand though, one of the Firewire intefaces may be worth the extra.
I would suggest exploring somewhere like
www.dv247.com, who supply a lot
of this stuff and have a place in Soton. An alternative, not exactly
local, is
www.thomann.de. I'm pretty sure there is at least one other
place in Soton. Both of those sites have advice/blog/magazine type
areas. ..
http://magazine.dv247.com Thomann's seems now mostly to be
via email.
Recording is a bit like Hi-Fi. If you buy very cheap, you get rubbish,
if you want the best, you pay a fortune. Somewhere between those
extremes is something with which you'll be satisfied. Unless budget is
no concern (yeah, right :-), I'd suggest going for something modest,
perhaps a bundle, which will be OK but not great, considering it
possibly to be a long term sacrifice, whilst deciding exactly what
really best suits your needs.
HTH,
Gordon.
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