vocals in mono too quiet and muffled, any help?

Leena

New member
Hi guys,

I posted a little while back about my mic problems. I've managed to narrow the problem a little now but Im still stuck.

I'm using an alpha lexicon preamp and a Yoga FX-528 dynamic mic. I'm now running windows 7 and am testing this all out on audacity before moving onto Adobe audition.

My problem is this,

My mic is being very odd and only recording in stereo. Ive realised now that it is actually picking up a very faint sound in mono but when I turn the gain right up it sounds very muffled and still very quiet.

vocal help2.jpgvocal help1.jpg

Does anyone know how to fix this? I've been trying to work it out all week but Im having no luck.

Any help or adivce would be so great. Im desperate to do some recording. :-)
 
How have you narrowed it down? I gave you the answer in the last thread.

The problem is:
What you called recording in stereo is just recording from inputs 1+2.
1 is on top, 2 is on the bottom.

Your mono recording is a recording from input 1. Nothing's plugged in there.

Your mic is plugged in to input 2.


So:
Set up a new mono track, and tell it to record from input two.

It even says on the front of the interface, "channel one - inst" and "channel two - mic" :)



Here. I don't know audacity, but I've circled in red where I think you should change the input from 1 to 2.
vocal help2.jpg
 
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How have you narrowed it down? I gave you the answer in the last thread.

The problem is:
What you called recording in stereo is just recording from inputs 1+2.
1 is on top, 2 is on the bottom.

Your mono recording is a recording from input 1. Nothing's plugged in there.

Your mic is plugged in to input 2.


So:
Set up a new mono track, and tell it to record from input two.

It even says on the front of the interface, "channel one - inst" and "channel two - mic" :)



Here. I don't know audacity, but I've circled in red where I think you should change the input from 1 to 2.
View attachment 69182


Thanks for the reply, Ive tried changing it but it doesnt seem to give me the option for 1 mono. Sorry for being annoying.
Ive included an image of my options.

vocal help3.png
 
Ok, i downloaded audacity.

Select 1 mono in that red circle.
Hit record then stop. (I dunno how else you get the track to appear)

On the track, at the left hand side beside the X, click on the down arrow where it says audio track.

In the drop down menu, select 'right channel'.

By default it's set to mono, which will record from the left channel AKAIK.
 
Ok, i downloaded audacity.

Select 1 mono in that red circle.
Hit record then stop. (I dunno how else you get the track to appear)

On the track, at the left hand side beside the X, click on the down arrow where it says audio track.

In the drop down menu, select 'right channel'.

By default it's set to mono, which will record from the left channel AKAIK.

Firstly, thanks again for being so sweet and helping me out. I feel bad making you go to all this trouble but i do appreciate it.

I had a go at what you said and clicked right channel but everytime i do that and hit record again it just opens a new track and im stuck with the old setting. I've also tried to change the track to the right channel while recording but it unfortunately doesn't change anything.

I'm having a look in audition to see if the settings are clearer in there but as far as i can see if only offers a mono, stereo and 5.1 channel. I can't find anything to do with the left and right so far but I'll keep looking.

thanks again for all the help. :)
 
No need to apologise. I was a little snippy but i see now it is badly laid out.


I found i had to set it to mono at the top,
Then hit record (so a new track was created),
Then hit stop and change that new track to 'right' input (over to the left side near the X)
Then hit record again.

I'm sure there's a more user friendly way to set it up, but as i say, i don't really know audacity at all.



*edit*
An alternative if you're really stuck is to just work away with a stereo track, then when you're finished, click that menu at the left side and select 'separate into mono tracks'.

That way you can delete the recording from input 1, and keep the recording from input 2,
but like I say, there's bound to be a simpler way.


Final alternative is to download reaper. Seems so much more straight forward and it has a free fully functional demo (It's the same download whether you pay or not)
 
Hi,

If it happened 'suddenly' as you said in your other thread, then fiddling around changing DAWs probably isn't going to help. You need to know why one channel isn't working. There may either be a wrong setting, a loose lead, or the interface may have developed a fault, or...?.


Firstly, it might be worth checking the button right in the centre of the box - is it in or out (set for mic or instrument). If that's in the wrong position you'll get almost no signal from the mic on mono, if any.


I'd suggest going back to Audacity on a mono track. If you can't get that to work then you probably won't get anything else working either. Audacity is pretty simple.

Could you open a new single mono track (from the top menu - Tracks > Add New > Audio Track). You should get a track box that looks like your picture 1.

Check what the four little boxes say. The last one should say 1 (mono) but it's worth checking what the others say too. You may have something wrong there.

Also, check your connection. Unplug the lead at the mic and on the interface box. Replug. Unlikely to help, but quick to do.


It's very difficult to troubleshoot other people systems when you not sitting in front it, because you can't see what all the settings might be, but if you still can't get the correct channel working then it might be worth experimenting with plugging a guitar into the jacks on the back and see if you've actually lost a whole channel in the box.
 
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Hi,

If it happened 'suddenly' as you said in your other thread, then fiddling around changing DAWs probably isn't going to help. You need to know why one channel isn't working. There may either be a wrong setting, a loose lead, or the interface may have developed a fault, or...?.


Firstly, it might be worth checking the button right in the centre of the box - is it in or out (set for mic or instrument). If that's in the wrong position you'll get almost no signal from the mic on mono, if any.


I'd suggest going back to Audacity on a mono track. If you can't get that to work then you probably won't get anything else working either. Audacity is pretty simple.

Could you open a new single mono track (from the top menu - Tracks > Add New > Audio Track). You should get a track box that looks like your picture 1.

Check what the four little boxes say. The last one should say 1 (mono) but it's worth checking what the others say too. You may have something wrong there.

Also, check your connection. Unplug the lead at the mic and on the interface box. Replug. Unlikely to help, but quick to do.


It's very difficult to troubleshoot other people systems when you not sitting in front it, because you can't see what all the settings might be, but if you still can't get the correct channel working then it might be worth experimenting with plugging a guitar into the jacks on the back and see if you've actually lost a whole channel in the box.


Hi,
Ive tried all the obvious parts like unplugging everything, putting the little mono button on and off but with no luck.

I had a problem with audacity not letting me choose the right channel on mono. It forces me to record on a new track so the setting is useless.
I downloaded Reaper just because im running out of ideas and it was a lot simpler. I was able to pick mono - right channel without any agro but the recording sounds very spacey and boxy compared to older recordings that ive been measuring against.

I looked up online and it told me that a mono signal should always record on the left channel so Im guessing thats why im losing quality. Before when I would record it would always play through one ear and then I would pan it but with the settings on the right channel it plays through both ears. Should it be doing that?

I wouldnt mind all this if it sounded fine but ive tried working with the quality today and I can't stand the sound of it. I sound like im singing in a box, you can hear all the room ambience and its not very nice.

This is a new computer and this problem first came about on my old one so its hard to pin point whats gone wrong.


thankyou both though for the kind help and sorry for being such a pain in the ass. I hate pestering people but I dont know anyone who knows about this stuff so Im kind of stuck.

sigh*** makes you wanna drink, lol
 
Hi,
Ive tried all the obvious parts like unplugging everything, putting the little mono button on and off but with no luck.

Ah, you're right, that is a mono/stereo button. I couldn't tell from the pics, and on my interface there's buttons to switch between Mic and Instrument, for input. Now that I've checked a large photo I can see that it's for switching the playback system between stereo and mono. Different task. Apologies if my mentioning mic/instrument switching was confusing, but that's an easy one to accidentally press when you shift things. But you don't have one, so that's ruled that out!

I had a problem with audacity not letting me choose the right channel on mono. It forces me to record on a new track so the setting is useless.

I don't really understand what you're saying there. You should be able to open a new mono track from scratch and record straight onto it.

I looked up online and it told me that a mono signal should always record on the left channel so Im guessing thats why im losing quality. Before when I would record it would always play through one ear and then I would pan it but with the settings on the right channel it plays through both ears. Should it be doing that?

It does sound like you've lost half the input for some reason. You shouldn't need to record in stereo and, whichever you, use the default should be that for both mono and stereo the sound should come from both sides.

This is a new computer and this problem first came about on my old one so its hard to pin point whats gone wrong.

That does make it sound like it could be a fault in the audio interface (your Alpha Lexicon). Another possible issues is drivers. Have you installed the correct drivers and checked that they're doing the job properly? How to page for Alpha Lexicon - for Windows.

If not, you can get the drivers Here


sigh*** makes you wanna drink, lol

Hang in there.... :)
 
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Check what the four little boxes say. The last one should say 1 (mono) but it's worth checking what the others say too. You may have something wrong there.

This could be important. If your drivers aren't right then you may be running with some kind of mismatch. Ideally, you should be using the Alpha box for both input and output (i.e hooking your speakers up to it too). Otherwise you can be trying to use one set of drivers for input and another for output, which can cause problems. I'm just guessing here, because my system is completely different to yours (and it's a Mac too) so I get different messages to you. But on mine, the middle two boxes both show my audio interface. Yours seems to show it on one and the computer soundcard on the other. But it might be worth checking the whole driver/setting business.
 
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I'm starting to think that input 1 went bad and what you're getting is the crosstalk between the channels. Have you plugged into input 2 to see if that sounds better?
 
I'm starting to think that input 1 went bad and what you're getting is the crosstalk between the channels. Have you plugged into input 2 to see if that sounds better?


I'm not sure that Leena has that option, unless the mic came with another cable with a 1/4" jack on the end. In the picture, the mic currently goes into an XLR connection at the back of the box.

I don't know the box, but from the pics it seems to have one mic input (via the XLR) which it calls Channel 2 Mic and a pair of 1/4" inputs (1 and 2) which it refers to as Channel 1 Instrument, which I guess could either be a single guitar lead or a pair from something like a keyboard. Presumably you could plug into one of the instrument inputs, but I don't know what sort of pre-amping you'd get. Unless I'm misreading all this, which can happen ... ;)
 
Ok, i downloaded audacity.

Select 1 mono in that red circle.
Hit record then stop. (I dunno how else you get the track to appear)


For some weird reason, it works like this:

From the top menu select Tracks > Add New > Audio Track

It will paste a new empty mono track on the screen (or stereo if that's what you selected). Do additional setting up as required.

Now it gets a bit odd....

If you just hit record then it will open a whole new track and start recording. But if you want to use the track that you just set up then you hold the Shift key on your keyboard and hit the red button. Then it doesn't do the new track thing.
 
Ok, with the audacity thing, I can open a new mono track fine but I cant change it to record onto the right channel.
It doesnt look like that is the issue though here so I wont bother with that. As I said, I was able to record onto the right channel with Reaper but the quality was very poor so Im going to forget about that for now.

My boyfriend had a look at the drivers yesterday for me and said they were all installed fine. He works with computers so knows about stuff like that but unfortunately this audio problem has him stumped.

I guess that just leaves the alpha lexicon preamp so im going to contact them for some help. I just hope they can get to the bottom of it.

Thankyou so much for all the time and effort you have spent trying to fix my annoying problem. I do appreciate both of you for your kind help.

I'll let you know how it goes . . .wish me luck. :D
 
Before you give up try sticking a 1/4" plug into the Line 2 input. A guitar cord or headphone plug will do. There may be a switch built into the jack that switches between the line and mic inputs. Put the plug in a few times to work the hypothetical switch, preferably while recording something through the mic.
 
Good luck! :)

It's always tempting to blame gear failure, and it usually turns out to be some annoying software glitch, setting change or whatever. But sometimes it really IS gear failure, so contacting them sounds like a good idea. If nothing else they should be able to give you some appropriate troubleshooting steps.

Let us know how you go. We all love a good mystery - but mostly if it gets solved in the end.

Cheers,

Chris
 
Guys, i don't think interface faults or pluggin into the wrong place are a part of this.

Look at the interface. It only has one microphone input and that's on channel two.
Channel one is an instrument input.

The problem is the audacity by default is recording either

Mono - Channel 1, or
Stereo - Channels 1 + 2.

That's why the mic is coming through strong on one side of a stereo recording.

OP needs to find a way to do what I said. Set up a new mono track and tell it to record from right rather that the default '1 - mono'.
Then from what Hakea says, you gotta hold shift and hit record.


Sure, there may be more to it, but I'd at least get a recording down as above to be certain.
 
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I seem to remember reading something about jumping between input 1 and 2 with a 1/4" cable to get more gain out of the Alpha. Or was it the Omega. IDK, maybe that would get signal to input 1.
 
I seem to remember reading something about jumping between input 1 and 2 with a 1/4" cable to get more gain out of the Alpha. Or was it the Omega. IDK, maybe that would get signal to input 1.

Oh my god!!!! do you know what, that actually works.....that must be the reason it changed so suddenly because I was switching between my digital piano and vocals when it happened. Ive now got a signal on mono in the left channel but my god, its soooo loud and distorted.

Do you know how to get it back to normal? ive tried switching it a few times and turning the input down but its still beyond loud.

Thanks so much though because it seems I finally have some light at the end of this long, frustrating tunnel!!!! yeay!!!vocal help4.jpg
 
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