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Producing acoustic guitar/audacity and volume

SciFiButterfly	Date: April 8, 2009 @ 12:38 PM Hey, does anyone has any tips on what might be going on here? I record with Audacity, the open source program, with a good mic and a premixer of the same brand. Now whatever I record, whether it\'s vocals, electric or acoustic guiatr, my mixes become very quiet, cause if I record them louder, the speakers resonate quite a bit with the original sound and you get overdrive and distortion. Now I\'ve learned home recording all myself, so I don\'t know what I\'m doing wrong... Does anyone has advice on this ? Thanks in advance
Distilled1	Date: April 8, 2009 @ 1:49 PM What are you using to record into audicity? usb/firewire/ soundcard? I had this issue recording with krystal and using the mics and pre amp into the soundcard. Found it was the settings in the software mixer on the EM-U sound card. I just started recording using USB into Reaper (thats a great program and free if your not using it to make $, blows audicity away! ) and I found just setting the input level on Reaper I can get the levels up there. just keeping them right under 0 DB. by the way I am no pro I taught myself and am still learning still need to get our keyboardist over to help me set up stuff Proper (he is a pro with recording ) Are you saying that you need to keep the ORiginal levels down? I am guessing you are using an amp with the electric? or are micing the acoustic? When I do Acoustic I run a pick up and record DI into my mixer.
NosmoKing	Date: April 8, 2009 @ 2:08 PM To me this sounds nothing more than you are getting a feedback loop because your monitoring with your speakers while recording! Use a set of headphones and cut the speakers totally off when recording!
Distilled1	Date: April 8, 2009 @ 2:11 PM ^ see I knew someone would know I monitor thru the speakers (well monitors But I don't do so when I mic anything unless I am doing one of those bad live recordings where I have to so that I can send out the shoutcast
SciFiButterfly	Date: April 8, 2009 @ 6:40 PM On 8th Apr 2012, NosmoKing said: To me this sounds nothing more than you are getting a feedback loop because your monitoring with your speakers while recording! Use a set of headphones and cut the speakers totally off when recording! I'm not monitoring with my speakers !! Don't ask me how I do it lol but I'm not monitoring at all ! I use the headphones for the click-track, listen to the guitars sound that is being recorded acoustically through the mic or electrically via the premixer (a Behringer). I transfer the signal via the soundcard yes. And I only get to hear it once it's on my computer !! (Hmm... am I doing something wrong ?) I do have Reaper somewhere on my computer, and I could try that, but can't you just set its input level higher while getting input via the soundcarsd ? And if not, could Distilled1 explain to me how you can make the input be transferred via the USB? Cause I never quite heard of that !! Thanks a lot !!
hate9wicket	Date: April 8, 2009 @ 7:08 PM Hmmn... are you getting clipping on the track that you are recording? I'm thinking you might have the audio too low on the computer and pushing the gain too high on the mixer end... don't mind me, I'm sorta thinking out loud here. If you have the gain too high or the level on the track set to 10, you don't have much wiggle room when it comes time to mix. Say you recorded a guitar really loud, then did a vocal where you couldn't hear anything but guitar while tracking... I've done this, then gone back and soloed vox and have heard bleed into the mic via headphones. If I helped, great, but it would be good to know your setup to know more, like, are you plugging the mixer in direct to a soundcard? Or a firewire/USB?
Distilled1	Date: April 8, 2009 @ 7:11 PM on my new Zoom 9.2TT it has a DI in USB (basically Its an AD/DA converter as well as an FX/amp simulator. I don't know if I could run a mic ..maybe a hi-z one MY set up is crazy, what I do is use a EM-U 0404 PCI card I run my guitar into the Mixer (as well as any mics) I run the Mixer main outs into the inputs of the 0404 card. (I then run the outputs of the 0404 back into one of the stereo inputs of the mixer, then I run my studio monitors or head phones out from the monitor or headphine out on the mixer. This is the only way I can do Shoutcast (DJ or play live) and send out the sound. But it also works for Recording (but only one track, I can't multi track properly this way as it will loop the output of the card back into it... I have no clue how it works like this but it does. *** note I need help setting it up right!) when I was multi tracking prior to getting this new zoom I would just re rout my soundcards out puts direct into the monitors (they are powered)but this till was an issue trying to do vocals on a multi track.. one of the reasons I still haven't done any of the colabs I say I will do vocals for When I used Krystal for recording I could set the ASIO up a certain way and monitor the first track without it going back in, But I could never get it right. Reaper I know I can set up so much more its mainly getting something to say out put to this sound card or that one I have 2 Any way on this zoom not only can I record via the USB it also sends back what I play and any other tracks I monitor in Reaper via the zooms line out or headphone jack (so far the only trouble is the monitord track(s) are way to quite in that return mix.) There are a lot of USB and Firewire AD?DA converters now. in fact I orderd a Firewire based mixer that should be on its way. I am hoping with it (its better than the Alesis I have) I can solo/mute/and use the hardware side of the Mixer to Multi Track so I can do vocals as well as record our Singers vocals and scratch tracks to save us gas Money going to our keyboardist studio.. All this DAW and digital mixing stuff I get lost I like my pots to turn and slide
SciFiButterfly	Date: April 8, 2009 @ 7:20 PM I'm plugging the mixer directly into a soundcard, mayby a SoundMAX digital Audio, but I'm not sure ? The general volume is set the maximum, but the volume of the line-in switch is only half-way. And yes, I think the correct term must be 'clipping', for me it means that when I play the recorded track on a low volume it all sounds fine, but when I put my speaker volume up, I get distortion. This also occurs if I use my Zennheiser headphones, though in a lesser degree. The physical mixer I use, is a simple four-track, and I only use a little bit of the volume level possible, let's say, the main mix half open, the individual tracks open for a quarter.... If I put them up further, my audio-recording program says the level's too high
SciFiButterfly	Date: April 8, 2009 @ 7:23 PM Djee, Distilled1 ! I know one has to be creative when it comes to home-recording, often I find myself lost in cables lol For me multi-tracking is essential though. I was thinking about 'finding' Cubase 'somewhere', cause I thought maybe that would make a change?
Distilled1	Date: April 8, 2009 @ 7:29 PM I have Cubase LE (freebie with everything I buy it seems) But I couldn't figure it out. I forget who turned me on to Reaper but it really has a lot of function and features. Its the first program I have actually been able to send a track from it to edit in wavelab or other editing stuff
SciFiButterfly	Date: April 8, 2009 @ 7:34 PM Well, I'll try them both. And I will turn up the level of my computer audio line in. Maybe.... just maybe.... it will WORK !
Distilled1	Date: April 8, 2009 @ 7:37 PM I think My line is maxed on the computer and then I control it with the mixer and the software .. of course I have the soundcard mixer all messed up to but that seems to be set at +7.5Db sometimes I don't know if it is even working right
SciFiButterfly	Date: April 8, 2009 @ 7:56 PM He he I just tried Reaper and well, I don't know if I will be able to get the sound that I'd like with it. It's not completely difficult to use, like Cubase, but I tried Cubase before and managed to record simple songs with it, and the sound was great ! I think I'm gonna give it another go. By the way, is it true that after 30 days Reaper does give a warning, but you can still continue to use it? Cause I kinda like the intuitiveness of the program I'm not a computer wizz myself, it shouldn't get too difficult !! I still sometimes need help from people with hardware and stuff - also in RL
Distilled1	Date: April 8, 2009 @ 8:19 PM yeah I get the msg but it all still works well. I am pretty sure I am going to buy it though its a decent price
evansorchid	Date: April 8, 2009 @ 9:01 PM It sounds to me like you might have THREE, maybe more, different volume levels to contend with. 1) the level on the external preamp. 2) the level on the line-in for the soundcard. 3) The level in the software your using to record. ...and you might also want to check the audio level in your control panel for the OS if the soundcard doesn't override it. Also, check your preamp for a 'wet/dry mix' control. It may or may not have one. You might have the input levels cranked, but if the 'mix' knob is turned down it can easily affect the signal. I hope you figure it out.
SciFiButterfly	Date: April 9, 2009 @ 3:16 AM Thank you very much evensorchid. And the others !! By know I have adjusted my computer's line in volume, tried Reaper (and was very satisfied with what I heard so far), and adjusted the premixer's volume. I'll experiment a bit with this and hopefully it will be better now. Thanks a lot !

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