Distortion While Recording Vocals

MisterJoe49

New member
Hello,
I've heard a lot about distortion when the input levels are set too high. That I understand. But the meters look fine. They should actually be higher and closer to the red zone. But it makes the sound worse.

Last week I made a pretty decent recording with the same setup. Any ideas? Thanks.

Setup: Windows XP in an iMac,
Presonus Blue Tube, Mbox
Shure SM-58
 
They should actually be higher and closer to the red zone.
They shouldn't even be in the same area code as the "red zone" -- Especially with low transient sources.

Wondering if this falls back to my usual "Cheap" and "tube" in one sentence almost invariably leading to "crap" in the next...

That said - You're not doing something goofy like running the line level output of the Blue Toob into the MIC level input on the M-Box perhaps...?
 
Thank you so much for all the quick feedback. Sometimes it takes years to get a response from other forums.
My first impression is the same as yours. The gain must be too high on the Blue Tube or the Mbox source level. But they are both below the 12 o'clock position [below mid range].
And I also mentioned that I made a nice clean recording with the same setup only one week ago.
 
It's not a ridiculous suggestion at all. But I'm aware of of that. When I get to the heart of a song I have to move the mic away to avoid the red zone on the meters. I'm also aware of the gain controls. There is something else going on that I'm not aware of. So, I'm open to all suggestions. I'm singing to a store bought music track and I'm wondering if there is something screwy about the way I'm working with it. I'll post it when I find out. Thanks. Joe
 
Thank you so much for all the quick feedback. Sometimes it takes years to get a response from other forums.
My first impression is the same as yours. The gain must be too high on the Blue Tube or the Mbox source level. But they are both below the 12 o'clock position [below mid range].
And I also mentioned that I made a nice clean recording with the same setup only one week ago.

WHAT source level on the M-Box...? You should be going into the LINE input. There shouldn't BE a source level. AGAIN, are you going into the MIC in?
 
I have the original Digidesign Mbox. There are two input channels and two gain controls. They are called Source 1 and Source 2. Both input jacks accept XLR or 1/4". There is an XLR cable between my Blue Tube Line out and the Mbox Source1 [you can call it line in]. My Sm-58 mic is connected to the XLR input of the preamp.
Anyway I may have found the problem but I need help fixing it. My vocal recording gets better as I lower the volume on the store bought music track [karaoke audio file]. It's a Neil Diamond song, "Hello again". I can't lower it much more without disturbing the balance between music and voice. It sounds like there is distortion in the music as it gets louder and if affects the recorded vocal. Anyone experience this before?
I tried editing with Audacity using compressor, I tried loading directly from the cd, and I tried changing the track to mono. But when I play it together with my vocal, the vocal is affected. The vocal is far from perfect [I'm not Samuel Ramey or Ezio Pinza] but it's clean when the music is muted.
If anyone out there has the same audio track, I'd like to know about it. Mine was made by DK.
Thank you for your interest. Joe
 
I'm not sure I understand you but I just read about setting input levels a minute ago in "Getting Started with Mbox". It states, "The key to setting proper input levels is to get a signal as loud as possible without clipping." This advice seems to be unanimous but I welcome a different point of view. Please explain what you mean. Thanks. Joe
 
Back
Top