Advice required - low vocal levels from Lexicon Alpha

M

Minim

New member
Hi All

I am trying to get into home recording. A friend gave me his old lexicon alpha interface and I downloaded Reaper. I also downloaded the latest driver for the alpha and it's set to use the ASIO driver in reaper.

I have been able to record line inputs from guitar and keys ok but am having trouble recording vocals. I first tried with an SM58 that I use on gigs but the level was really low going straight into the mic input on the alpha. I could shout in the mic and it could barely be heard on playback. The waveform visible on the track I recorded was also tiny compared to the instruments I had recorded via the line input.

After a bit of googling, I got the impression that an SM58 isn't ideal for recording and the mic preamps in the alpha aren't great. I figured I'd need a condenser mic sooner rather than later and bought an Behringer B1. I also bought a phantom power supply as the alpha doesn't have one built in.

However, I still have the same problem when trying to record with this new mic in reaper - the vocals from the mic are barely audible on playback and the waveform is barely visible. Even with the input gain turned up to the point where the peak light on the interface is on and I can hear the sounds from the mic distorting in my headphones, the input level on the reaper track won't seem to go beyond about -36db.

Strangely enough, if I use an XLR-jack cable and plug the mic in via the line input instead of the XLR mic input, I actually get a lot more signal in the software - making me wonder if there's a fault with that input on the interface.

Having said that, I am a complete noob so it's perfectly possible that I'm doing something wrong. Any help or advice you guys can give me would be very gratefully received as it's driving me insane at the moment!

Thanks in advance.
 
Okay, first the SM58 should be fine for recording vocals. Should be awesome (and keep some of the room noise out that the B1 is going to bring in). Not that the B1 is a bad mike, but make sure your environment is "up to" a LDC. :)
As far as weak signal, have you tried playing with the sensitivity control on the Alpha? Bear in mind that the mike channel is channel 2 on the Alpha. A bit different than most. Also, make sure that Reaper is looking at channel 2 for it's input and not Channel 1.
 
Thanks for your reply. There is no sensitivity control on the alpha - only an input volume level labelled line2/Mic. This is what I referred to as 'input gain' in my initial message. When this is turned up to about halfway, I can hear the mic distorting and the peak light comes on so I'm sure there is plenty of signal from the mic to the alpha.

I can actually record some sound to reaper, but it's very, very quiet (-36db level). If I had the wrong input channel selected in reaper, surely I wouldn't be able to record anything?
 
Page 14 of the manual warns that if anything is plugged into line 2 input the mic circuit is muted.

If this is not the case then it could still be that the switch on line 2 jack is not working.

Dave.
 
No, there was definitely nothing else plugged in when I had the mic plugged into the XLR socket. I am wondering if it's a fault with the alpha...
 
Minim said:
Thanks for your reply. There is no sensitivity control on the alpha - only an input volume level labelled line2/Mic. This is what I referred to as 'input gain' in my initial message. When this is turned up to about halfway, I can hear the mic distorting and the peak light comes on so I'm sure there is plenty of signal from the mic to the alpha.

I can actually record some sound to reaper, but it's very, very quiet (-36db level). If I had the wrong input channel selected in reaper, surely I wouldn't be able to record anything?
Click to expand...

I suspect you have input 1 selected in Reaper and you are getting the bleed-through.
 
Sorry about the confuse, when I said sensitivity control it was to be the same meaning as input gain.
Well, I liked Dave's suggestion about the possible mute, but if you're getting signal through your headphones, it's not muted.
Still have to go with signal routing in Reaper. Only possible I can think of. The Alpha is working into Reaper for channel 1 (signal is passing through USB to record). The Alpha is working for channel 2 to headphones (direct monitor). All we're missing is channel 2 into Reaper for record. Should work if the routing is correct. ??
Insert a new track. Mark the track number.
Press Alt-R (Matrix View)
Follow the track number down to the red boxes and make sure the red box for channel 2 is selected (and not channel 1)

Hope this is the problem, because otherwise I'm :confused:
 
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