Input signal mysteriously low and other issues

E

Era212

New member
I finally got my hands on a comp, ai, monitors and cubase 5 daw today, for very cheap. Good for me. My very first outfit.
Where I bought it, it was set up and working flawlessly. Loud monitors, good signal, ect.
I set it up here at the house and there are issues.
For starters, everything is working, but the input signal, as well as the out put signal through the monitors are very, very quiet. It is even barely audible through my headphones.
The input signals are only reaching -30 dbhu on the mixers. Phantom power is on. Everything should be working smoothly.
I have to turn the master fader all the way up to get it to reach a maximum of -18dbhu. Which is crazy.
But here is the other thing, when I turn the gain all the way up to get a louder signal it clips. And even though the audio is so very faint on the playback, you can still hear distortion from the clipping. ???
The mics are fine. I have two I've tried, and they were working perfectly last night on an old tascam recorder I have. The whole setup was in perfect order before I brought it home.

One more thing, even the visual of the audio tracks (squiggly lines representing audio on the daw) are very very small. Just tiny little blips.

why is my signal so low?
 
Are you using an XLR-XLR cable for the microphone? I ask because many "old Tascam recorders" have 1/4" inputs for the mics, and that might not work too well with the AI.
 
What model microphones are you using? Any chance you've slid over an attenuation switch?

And what kind of mics connect to both an old tape recorder and an audio interface, and require phantom power? (Same question asked by [MENTION=103008]bouldersoundguy[/MENTION].) It makes me suspicious you tested it with a different mic where you got it, and maybe are going into the AI with a 1/4" plug, which won't be detected as a mic-level input.

A little more specific description of the compenents, connections, etc. never hurts.
 
Which one of these do you mean by dbhu: dBV, dBVU, dBu, or dBFS?

What AI?

Compressor? Skip it for now, or for good. Software compressors are better in most cases.

During the recording process the usual target average level of each track is lower than a finished and "mastered" recording. The AI is (or should be) set up so the optimum analog gain setting result in a digital signal that frequently crosses the -18dBFS mark while the highest peaks stay well away from 0dBFS. You'll need to have the output of the AI set higher than when playing commercial recordings, but don't worry about that at this stage.

While mixing it's not a bad idea to keep your overall mix level in that same range on the master meter, with the understanding that just combining tracks will raise the level some. There's still no need to "make it loud" at this stage. If your levels creep above the 0dBFS mark during mixing, don't panic, just lower the master fader as needed. Ideally you'd want the mix level to stay well under 0dBFS, but there's some clever math that makes things work regardless.

Once you've got a mix done it's time to "master" it.
 
Makes, model numbers of everything Era as others have said. Then we can look at specifications but in reality, ANY AI I can think of should give workable levels into ANY DAW and monitors these days.

Then, Cubase 5? Ooo! That's old. Not THE easiest DAW to learn in any case (and does not have dB cals' on the meters iirc? Always thought that a bit daft!). You might be better off using Reaper or, for the purposes of initial setup/sort out, Audacity?

"Give us the fact man" (ma'm?) and we shall endeavour to assist you further. Oh! Computer specs' as well.

Dave.
 
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