Where can I get a good, cheap microphone for singing?

Where can i get a microphone like this to help better capture my singing?

• i see A LOT of awesome singers on youtube all the time, and i always try to capture myself singing and post it on youtube, but i don't have the proper equipment and singing on a video through my ipod isn't going to cover it, considering i cant capture both my voice and the instumental.. >.> i KNOW that i'm looking at a professional type microphone, and i just want to play around with it because i love singing, it's just so much fun, and i'd love to have a microphone to fiddle around with, you know? SO i was wondering about these microphones here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT8gcZh_42w and/or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIZm62F0pZM i also want to know how they get their voices like that, it's like the instrumental on the forget you cover is balanced with their voices, considering i know that with just a dream they use actual instruments. so do they also download a software? PLEASE tell me how this works, i'd be so thankful(:

• Answer:

  Amazon.com I wouldn't suggest a 'professional' microphone for what you're doing. Microphones use a proprietary connection method called XLR and it's 100% analog. To use a top-of-the-line microphone, you'd need something to make an analog signal into a digital one. Which you can do, with reasonable ease... but it's a lot more expensive because then you have to buy an interface, an XLR cable, a microphone and software and drivers to read all of the information. What I do recommend, however... is a nice USB condenser. You won't notice any loss of performance as you're just using it to record to YouTube and it's a lot easier/cheaper for very high quality sound. http://www.amazon.com/Samson-Studio-Condenser-Microphone-Cakewalk/dp/B000WNMCME/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327374238&sr=8-1 As for the processing of the sound, what they most likely use is something called a DAW. Digial Audio Workstation. it's like Photoshop for sound. Not to imply that they're fake. All it is, is a program that allows you to record sound and do about a million other things. They record their voices, equalize the frequencies and maybe add some gentle effects like reverb and chorus. Most of the work is in the microphone. If you decide to get a decent one, you'll notice an ENORMOUS change in quality. It picks up more frequencies and therefore you sound more full and alive and detailed. What I recommend doing is buying that microphone I linked to because it comes with a watered-down version of an advanced DAW. Something for you to mess with. But beware: audio recording is not easy and they might even pay people to do it for them. Good luck.