Tom wrote:

Hi group.

I intend to replace my Extigy with the Audigy 2 Platinum Pro and also would
like to upgrade my microphone.

We need professionally recorded sound from this mic in the form of voice
recording.

What is the best mic to get and where from!? (Budget = around £60-£80) and
do I need some sort of [wind?]shield on it to prevent loud parts of the
recording (on the 'P' and 'SH' sounds etc?)

For a professional sounding product you'll need a decent sounding room
to record in. The cheapest way would be to take a DIY route but you can
also buy ready made booths from places like Studiospares
(http://www.studiospares.com).

Take a look at the range of microphones that Studiospares sell too while
you're there. The industry standard voice mic is probably the Neumann
U87 but that is well out of your budget. The great thing about the U87
is that it works acceptably well on just about any voice - cheaper mics
tend to favour one type of voice but may sound terrible on other voices.

The only other mics with this universal property seem to be the Shure
SM58 for close vocals or the Shure SM57 for instruments or more distant
vocals. They don't sound as good as the Neumann but they'll work in most
situations and they're in your price range.

I'd also investigate alternative mic preamp and sound card combinations.
You might find one of the M-Audio mic pre/audio interface boxes to be a
better bet for semi-professional use.

Cheers.

James.