

The Snowball has a some features that would be great for you and a few drawbacks. And the built in A/D (analog to digital) converter is certainly not the best for recording a vocal group, its designed more for a spoken voice directly in front of the laptop. its pathologically cardioid), you don't get much fidelity, and you get a lot of background noise to boot. So you don't have a wide sound field (i.e.

The built-in laptop mic you were using is almost certainly a cheap dynamic mic, and having it built into the laptop doesn't give you much in the way of options for getting an ideal sound field. As I said, they are tools for specialists and require too much special handling for a hobbyist. They tend to be delicate, too much sound pressure can actually ruin the ribbon.

I know a guy with a studio that has a pair ribbon mics that cost as much as a car. Ribbon mics are amazing studio tools, they can cost a small fortune.Some have a very focused sound field (cardioid), some have a wide sound field (omnidirectional), some have two condensors that allow you to switch between the two. These usually have XLR connectors instead of 1/4" jacks, in part to power the mic.

