Whats the problem, can't hear myself...

G

Goss-stick

New member
So today after all the research I did I picked up the Shure SM7B microphone. Here's my set up Pro-tools 11, interface Steinberg UR 22 on a Mac. So I hook my new microphone up and everything but when attempting to record I can barely hear myself in the headphones? I have the turn the input on my interface all the way up and still can't hear myself and my vocals come in distorted. Anyone have a solution for this problem?
 
Hi there.
There are a few stages at which you can adjust volumes and levels, but it's very important to understand the differences between them and when to use each.

You shouldn't be adjusting the input gain to be able to hear yourself; You should be adjusting it to get a good healthy level for recording.
The signal should be loud enough that noise floor isn't an issue, but still well clear of clipping.

The protools fader should stay at unity during tracking, and you should have no filters or effects which would alter the level, frequency content, or dynamics.

Playback level is controlled by the 'phones' output on the interface.
If you're recording a healthy signal and your headphone level is up full, but you still can't hear yourself enough there's probably something funny going on.

If that's the case, tell us more. What model headphones are you using?
Does imported or previously recorded music playback at a sensible level? What about iTunes/youtube etc?
 
Steenamaroo said:
Hi there.
There are a few stages at which you can adjust volumes and levels, but it's very important to understand the differences between them and when to use each.

You shouldn't be adjusting the input gain to be able to hear yourself; You should be adjusting it to get a good healthy level for recording.
The signal should be loud enough that noise floor isn't an issue, but still well clear of clipping.

The protools fader should stay at unity during tracking, and you should have no filters or effects which would alter the level, frequency content, or dynamics.

Playback level is controlled by the 'phones' output on the interface.
If you're recording a healthy signal and your headphone level is up full, but you still can't hear yourself enough there's probably something funny going on.

If that's the case, tell us more. What model headphones are you using?
Does imported or previously recorded music playback at a sensible level? What about iTunes/youtube etc?
Click to expand...

Yes so iTunes is fine, youtube is fine, imported audio is fine. But when I hit record on pro-tools the signal comes is fine while recording but I just can't hear my self thru the headphones at all!
 
Goss-stick said:
Yes so iTunes is fine, youtube is fine, imported audio is fine. But when I hit record on pro-tools the signal comes is fine while recording but I just can't hear my self thru the headphones at all!
Click to expand...

You have a direct monitoring knob on that interface. If you turn it to input, you should hear the mic loud and clear before it gets to protools.
That means you won't have any latency and you won't hear any reverb effects that you might be using.

If you turn it to DAW you should hear the playback through protools.

If the latter is what you're going for, you'll have to make sure input monitoring is turned on (in the 'track' menu), and you'll have to make sure your output path is set for headphones on the track you're recording and on your master fader.

Some interfaces have the headphone output set up as a mirror of main outputs 1+2. Other inputs keep main outs and headphone outs separate.
Click on the output paths for a track and see what options are available to you.

I'm tempted to move this to the Protools section. Would you mind?
 
On the Steinberg, set the "mix" knob to about halfway between "input" and "DAW", and set the "phones" knob to about halfway. Make sure your headphones are plugged into the Steinberg, and not, say, into the Mac somehwere.
 
Steenamaroo said:
You have a direct monitoring knob on that interface. If you turn it to input, you should hear the mic loud and clear before it gets to protools.
That means you won't have any latency and you won't hear any reverb effects that you might be using.

If you turn it to DAW you should hear the playback through protools.

If the latter is what you're going for, you'll have to make sure input monitoring is turned on (in the 'track' menu), and you'll have to make sure your output path is set for headphones on the track you're recording and on your master fader.

Some interfaces have the headphone output set up as a mirror of main outputs 1+2. Other inputs keep main outs and headphone outs separate.
Click on the output paths for a track and see what options are available to you.

I'm tempted to move this to the Protools section. Would you mind?
Click to expand...

I don't mind
 
gecko zzed said:
On the Steinberg, set the "mix" knob to about halfway between "input" and "DAW", and set the "phones" knob to about halfway. Make sure your headphones are plugged into the Steinberg, and not, say, into the Mac somehwere.
Click to expand...

I did as you instructed still can't get feedback in my headphones and don't really get a good mic level either.
 
Have you any way of proving that the mic and cable both work?
Do the lights come on on the interface? Does protools recognise it OK?
 
With headphones plugged into the interface, can you hear pre-recorded material coming in tfrom the computer?

Have you checked the microphone lead? Are you using an XLR to XLR lead? Maybe you are using XLR to jack, and trying to get signal from a line level input.

Have you got another microphone you can try?
 
Steenamaroo said:
Have you any way of proving that the mic and cable both work?
Do the lights come on on the interface? Does protools recognise it OK?
Click to expand...

Yes everything seems to work fine. Accept the signal into PT is very low and I can hear in my headphones. And getting signal is turning the input knob to the max but by then what I have recorded is distorted.
 
arcaxis said:
One issue may be the low output of the the SM7b and the max gain of the UR22.

View attachment 90895

The SM7b generally likes to see about 60db of clean gain. The 54db of gain the UR22 has might be a bit on the low side which may account in part for not having a good mic level. You may have other things going on that are causing low headphone volume as well. Can you get the peak light to come or flicker when loudly talking into the mic?
Connect one of the outputs of your Mo'Phatt synth (or similar sound source) to the 1/4" Combo line input jack on the UR22. You should be able to set the UR22 gain to blink the peak light and this may give you an idea if the headphones and interface are working properly or not.

What have you got plugged into the UR22 Phones jack? It doesn't look like an normal headphones plug and cable.

I have an SM7b and while most of my preamps have enough gain for it, I bought a Fathead inline amplifier to give it an extra boost for the gear I have that doesn't have the gain to pull it up to a good level. A Cloudlifter CL-1 is a similar device.
Click to expand...

Thank you! Actually you might have gave me a huge clue. There is not light(peaking) on my interface so yes the signal from the SM7B might not be strong enough to even be recognize by the UR22. What is plugged into my headphones is a stereo 1/4 inch cable which goes into my both connected into my headphone amp.

So I might have to get a vocal pre amp then is what might be the solution here then right?
 
This may be your savior.

Though, I have not found that much of an issue with SM7 and preamps with less than 50dB gain. You just need to add gain later. I suppose that is not possible if you are using direct monitoring...
 
Goss-stick said:
Yes everything seems to work fine. Accept the signal into PT is very low and I can hear in my headphones. And getting signal is turning the input knob to the max but by then what I have recorded is distorted.
Click to expand...

This suggests a hardware malfunction in the mic, mic cable or preamp. If the preamp gain were just inadequate the signal should be low but not distorted.
 
Thank you to everyone who responded to this thread in attempts to help me out. So about $140 later and some change the solution was to purchase a microphone pre-amp. So I guess the SM7B needs an extra boost in gain so a pre-amp did the trick. Again thanks to everyone who gave their input.
 
Goss-stick said:
Thank you to everyone who responded to this thread in attempts to help me out. So about $140 later and some change the solution was to purchase a microphone pre-amp. So I guess the SM7B needs an extra boost in gain so a pre-amp did the trick. Again thanks to everyone who gave their input.
Click to expand...

So what did you purchase? Don't leave us hangin man? :)
 
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