Sound Reinforcement Mandolin to Computer

Good afternoon Cafe friends. I have a Shure SM57 microphone and the appropriate XLR cable (D'Addario). I want to record into my computer so I can evaluate my playing and hopefully improve. I don't want to spend a ton of money. I have two questions.
1. Is there an adapter for my Shure SM57 cable (XLR D'Addario) to a USB plug so I can put it into my desktop or my Surface tablet?
2. What is a software package to record my playing that is not overwhelming in options that I will never use? There is one that came with my Microsoft Surface but I am afraid to open it because it might be bloat ware that causes me to send upgrade payments for stuff I will never use.
3. A program that combines video and audio would be awesome, if that is possible. I want to use this as a learning tool. That said, I still want sufficient quality so I can clearly hear my mistakes. LOL

I am sure some of you Cafe friends have a handle on this. There are probably others like me, that want to ask the same question. Thanks in advance.

This is probably no help ha and I'm not very technical when it comes to recording. What works well for me is recording video on my iPhone. I'm using a Shure MV88 condenser mic that plugs into my phone and it comes with Motiv video and Motiv audio apps. It makes nice audio and videos. I have a tripod to sit my phone on, record video and there's an option to upload the video to other sources. I upload to my Google Drive

I've used an Apogee Jam+ with great success. It has a standard 1/4" input that could take a mic cable or an instrument cable.

You need something like an M-Audio analog to digital box. The XLR plugs in the front and USB comes out the back. There are many sorts of these around. Mine's at least a decade old and works fine but I'm not up on what's a good deal today. Most of these things come with a stripped down version of a DAW [digital audio workstation] which should do what you want software wise. A 57 is a wonderful mic but is more commonly used in live sound. There are allot of more sensitive mics out there these days for a good price as so many people are recording with the computer in high resolution. The box will have an input for a high impudence quarter inch cable like what comes out of an electric guitar too. I did a quick look and here's a cheap one...it doesn't seem to have included software though. There were some free recording apps around for PC, probably do a search and get one if you need to. https://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-...audio&index=19

The hardware is the easy part. Learning to operate the software and focus on the playing is the hard part. A controller with the basic play/record/stop/FF/RW is handy.

These are very popular:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...udio-interface

As for software I use Audacity. It free and works very well.

https://www.audacityteam.org/

Thanks, BoxCarJoe: Anyone from Brooklyn has to be right!! Great city. I am an OLD Dodger fan. Went by the old site where Ebbets Field once stood a couple of years ago and had lunch at Junior's Deli. Love that city.

Thank you. I am looking into this now.

Well .... you can just buy a USB mic and use the programs your computer came with. That will likely be the simplest way to go. You could also buy a mic camera combination and use your computer recording software either video or audio. Things get complicated when you want to mix or edit the recordings. Luck R/

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Originally Posted by dulcillini

Thanks, BoxCarJoe: Anyone from Brooklyn has to be right!! Great city. I am an OLD Dodger fan. Went by the old site where Ebbets Field once stood a couple of years ago and had lunch at Junior's Deli. Love that city.

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Ha! I haven't been to Junior's in years.
That will be my 1st stop when the pandemic is behind us.

Hi dulcillini,
I don't consider myself to be a "technophile", so sorry if this isn't really answering your question. That said, the pragmatic side of me thinks that if you want to record yourself to evaluate your playing (which I think is a really good thing to do), couldn't you just use your mobile phone? Obviously the sound quality wouldn't be as good, but should be ok enough for you to "appraise" yourself. When I was learning guitar many years ago, I used to record myself using an "old school" cassette recorder for the same reasons. For me, that was a useful thing to do. To visually assess your technique, you could always practice in front of a mirror?
Good luck! :mandosmiley:

Shure them selves has a XLR in and a USB out the X2U .. which also adds phantom juice via internal battery for condensers,
the 57 you have doesn't need it

well I'm no help as I don't do windows, I have garageband on my imac but as someone said I mostly record videos on my iphone, if you just need one track phone videos work just fine and then upload them to a cloud

just to kinda show phone video, a little something I recorded on phone shortly after I bought my mandolin, just trying to learn a little and I'm no good yet, thats why I practice all the time, I transferred this to my google drive account

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F0q...ew?usp=sharing

and a little acoustic phone recording...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DLY...ew?usp=sharing