My sounds nice but not loud enough

S

S.C.U.D

New member
Hi just a quickie - I'm having diffiuclty getting vocal tracks recorded loud enough, I'm using an se electronics 2200 condensor with a focusrite P. Trackmaster into a tascam 564. The mics really nice and warm but i find it hard to get a loud enough vocal on one track - I use two tracks sometimes which works, maybe that's the trick. I doing some quite loud indie rock at times and this is where my probelms surface - any tips or tricks would be great.
 
I don't understand. Are you saying that you can’t get a hot enough signal going to recorder? Are you saying that the other instruments are overwhelming the vocal? We need more to go by here. This should be a very easy problem to fix.
 
Vocal Volume

If your Tascam recorder has a copy/paste function and you have extra tracks, you can gain about 3db in volume by copying your original vocal. And, while you're at it, you can copy/paste a copy of the original vocal slightly ahead to create a subtle or not so subtle delay.

You might also take a second look at the Trackmaster settings. I think this unit has an input gain, an output gain, and a make-up gain on the compressor section. Make sure the input gain light is green, indicating that you input signal is high enough. Set your desired compression levels and make sure the compressor is kicking in by looking at the db reduction meter. Then adjust the make-up gain on the compressor to compensate for the db’s lost in compression. Finally, adjust the output gain and check you levels on the Tascam. I hope this helps.
 
Are you using Phantom power?

Your condensor mic will need phantom power, if not you will get a very quiet signal.
 
There should be some knobs labeled either "volume" or "gain."

Try turning either one of those up, and see if it helps.
 
The posts above contain good advice. A lot of times turning the volume on other tracks down is better than turning the volume on one track up.
 
Thanks to dwillis45 I'll have a look at the settings on the Tmaster.

For anyone else that was interested the Vocal is being drowned out by the other tracks. If I turn them down the vocal is more prominent but the other tracks sound too quiet.
 
Look into getting a compressor (I like the RNC) and patch that into the insert on the vocal track (I think the 564 has inserts), this will help bring out the vocals without drowning out the other tracks.
Good luck!

PS - I used to have the Yamaha Minidisk 4-track (MD4S) and it served me very well before I went to an all PC studio.
 
my focusrite trackmaster has a compressor on it - I was thinking about putting my mix through it and maybe using the EQ as well what do you think.
 
Trackmaster

I think the Trackmaster is a single channel. So you probably would not have much luck using it to compress a stereo mix.
 
S.C.U.D said:
For anyone else that was interested the Vocal is being drowned out by the other tracks. If I turn them down the vocal is more prominent but the other tracks sound too quiet.
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You can't have it both ways. Think about it for a second. If the tracks are loud enough to drown out the vocal, the only way to fix the problem is to turn down the tracks. What other possible answer could there be?:rolleyes:

On the other hand, if your problem is that your vocal is loud enough when you're singing loudly, but gets buried when you're singing quietly, you need to compress your vocal to try and keep it at a uniform volume.
 
S.C.U.D said:
my focusrite trackmaster has a compressor on it - I was thinking about putting my mix through it and maybe using the EQ as well what do you think.
Click to expand...
This will do absolutely nothing to help your situation. Notice that gordone said to compress only the vocal. If you compress the whole song, the volume relationship between the tracks and the vocal will be more or less unchanged.
 
Ensure the EQ section switches on the Trakmaster are set to "Vocal", and try using the compression AFTER the EQ section.

The Trakmaster is clean, but you won't get any vocal prominence from a condenser through it (I use a Rode NTK with mine) Clean sound but not edgy.

Sounds like your gain structure is completely wrong - try some subtractive EQ in the 1kHz-4kHz region on your guitar tracks - this will give the vocal more prominence. Boost the vocal in the same region. Not by more than 1 or 2 db in each case.

You might also have reverb on your vocal - this will soften the voice in the mix, so reduce it until you can't hear it in the track any more.
 
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