Mic 'Peaking' Issues - Please Help

Zenji

New member
Hey HomeRecording peeps, I was wondering if y'all could help me solve my problem. I recently purchased and am running a set-up that contains a Rode NT1-A and a Focusrite Scarlett Solo 2nd Gen. I use Audacity for vocals and I've noticed that something appears to be off in my recordings. Here is a picture of what a vocal recording looks like in Audacity:
WMkhYEuARNSZtBD5L58lmg.png
As you can see, there appears to be this strange 'peaking' (I'm not even sure if I'm using that word right) going on and my audio seems to be 'restricted' in its range. This takes place regardless of how I adjust my gain on my pre-amp. Here is a picture of my Audacity settings in case that helps:
LohgApLoQSixlT2Y8EpjZg.png
I'm quite the newbie when it comes to recording (this is my first home studio) so I would really appreciate some help on this issue.
 
- The level/VU meter in Audacity shows excessive input and it's clipping.
- The green and red ring LED around the gain knob gives an idea of the levels. Does it stay in the green or mostly in the red? Does the gain knob affected where the red and green come on?
- The 'microphone' in Audacity has a slider that you can pull back the gain. Have you tried adjusting the gain with this slider? I can't remember if settings in Windows control panel (if you're using Windows) affects the gain in Audacity. See if in the Windows audio settings if the mic gain setting is cranked way up.
 
As Mark commented, your input meter shows clipping. (If it is red you are dead). Also according to your mic input level, you have it maxed out. This is not good. There is a process called "Gain Staging". Simply put, you want to adjust the mic input level on your interface as well as the mic input control with Audacity so that your average input level reads between a -12dbs and a -18dbs WITHOUT have to max out any of your input controls.

You wave form also looks like you had a hard limited in place as well. I will try and do a recording using Audacity to show you what your reading should look like. Be back in a few.

EDIT
: OK, in the picture below, you can see where I had to max out my mic input. I am out of town and just using a USB headset with a mic. This is why Podcasters that just use a USB mic like the ATR 2100 have a hard time with Audacity. The input level shown on the input meter is a -15dbs on average and you can see the natural peaks in the wave form.

View attachment 100394
 
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Hey HomeRecording peeps, I was wondering if y'all could help me solve my problem. I recently purchased and am running a set-up that contains a Rode NT1-A and a Focusrite Scarlett Solo 2nd Gen. I use Audacity for vocals and I've noticed that something appears to be off in my recordings. Here is a picture of what a vocal recording looks like in Audacity:
View attachment 100390
As you can see, there appears to be this strange 'peaking' (I'm not even sure if I'm using that word right) going on and my audio seems to be 'restricted' in its range. This takes place regardless of how I adjust my gain on my pre-amp. Here is a picture of my Audacity settings in case that helps:
View attachment 100391
I'm quite the newbie when it comes to recording (this is my first home studio) so I would really appreciate some help on this issue.

the main reason why the signal is clipping before the interface can is that the input impedance of your microphone preamp is too high. The scarlette has a 3K ohm input and the rode is 100 ohm. The excessive amplitude comming out of the Rode is from the lack of loading from the mic pre. A mic must have a mic preamp with no more than 10 times its impedance. So the highest input impedance that mic should see is 1K ohm.
 
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