Music: Going 'Pro'

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23/July/2026 A few days ago, I started acquiring recording equipment for my bedroom studio. I started with a Shure SM48 which I'm certain is a good mic. Thought I would cheap out and get a USB to XLR cable. Well, it showed some signal in GarageBand and it was inaudible, just a green dot bottom of the mic gain slider.

In between, me and Emma (thru the mindspace), wrote a song about a Georgia rose. She won it because I sucked at performing it but yeah, I co-wrote a song for the second or third time. Earlier, I ordered a proper interface (BOMGE BMG-22M), and also a UGREEN M-F XLR cable, both for cheap. I don't know yet if the setup will work, if there'll be nasty surprises. More on this by Friday.

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Was up early to find that my BMG-22M was out for delivery. Prepared the 66.6RM -once again, that dreaded number. First time was with my CCB Bible, also 66.6RM. Puzzled. What can an audio interface have to do with a Bible, have to do with Antichrist?

The interface is in and I set it up easily, no drivers required, just Audacity on Arch Linux. I gave the mic +10dB gain which meant I had to sing pretty close up. Pre-recorded the acoustic guitar part a few inches from the ball cage and it was a little bit soft but surprisingly detailed. All my poor technique artefacts got into the mix.

I had been stingy all my life, making do with budget USB condensers, even trying to use a USB-XLR cable to save money. Now I'm middle aged and there're cheaper options from China that work well. I have my first 'pro'-style recording setup since starting working with songs, 25 years ago. Would like to get another mic but I will have to save for that a few months more. Would like to buy something entirely different from my SM48.

Here's a sample I recorded, being still inexperienced:

I hastily mixed this snippet called 'Mary' in Audacity where I play nylon guitar, sing, sing backing, and do a bass impersonation with my voice. It needs earphones as I can't get the levels up much yet.

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