I hear more and more people talking about (or even buying) USB microphones. To those who don't know what a USB microphone is, let me explain. There are several steps in the recording process. Sound traveling through the air vibrates a mic. The mic converts this vibration into good old analog electricity. The signal is then boosted up to line level with the help of a preamp. From there, the analog signal is converted to digital the computer can manipulate it.

On real deal recording rigs, this takes several dedicated components. On super high end systems, this chain could cost as much as a new car. Then again, you more than likely own records where vocals were recorded with a chain that costs a fraction of that.

Before I start my critique of USB microphones, I do want to point out good uses of USB microphones.

#1 USB microphones are good for documenting sound. In other words, if you simply trying to capture the sound of birds chirping, the sound of cars driving by, taking notes, interviews, podcasting, etc than USB microphones may be okay for this. They may not be the best sounding, but they will be functional and you'd only need a laptop and a mic.

#2 Recording band practices. We've all had the tape recorder laying on the floor in the middle of the jam room. It never really sounds that good, but it's nice to what you really sound like. A USB mic would be great for something like this.

Why I Don't Like The Idea of USB Microphones For Serious Music Recording

#1 Latency – Stock soundcards suck for recording if a person wants to take advantage of monitoring within their recording software. I love running a lead vocal through Cubase before sending the mix back out to the singer's headphones or monitors. A USB microphone does not fix the huge problem of latency and takes away a person's ability to monitor through their software. Not only that, but you will still suffer all the latency issues you do with your stock audio interface (because you are still using the stock soundcard for playback0. In other words, it will probably be nearly impossible to overdub vocals with a USB microphone.

#2 Preamps – I don't think USB microphones even come with an adjustable preamp. This means they are using some sort of auto leveler circuit like you'd find in video cameras. While this is okay for home movies, it's not okay for music recording. While I am a big fan of compressors, I want to control the thing.

#3 Component Quality – With some USB microphones costing less than $100, there is no way there are using high quality components. While I'm a big fan of many inexpensive microphones, paying $100 for the mic, cable, preamp, and analog to digital converter is pushing it a little too far.