Two Equipment Questions

[Spillenger]

I'm recording live acoustic instruments into Garage Band (about to be replaced by Cubase 4 Studio), on a Power Mac G5 Quad. My audio interface is a Presonus Firebox. I use an old Mackie mixer for playback but plug my mics directly into my Firebox.

When I record with my Audio-Technica AT 2020, the acoustic guitar (for example) sounds bright and crisp, but the mic picks up every single sound in the room (including, unfortunately, my G5 fans) and pretty loudly too. When I use my Shure Beta 57A, the room noise goes way down, but the guitar sounds mushier and muted. Is this simply a function of the difference between condenser and dynamic technology and frequency response? And is there anything I can do to keep my instruments sounding clear and full but lose a little bit of this ambient noise?

Second question: In order to get a decent recording level, I have to turn up my computer's audio input level to max, turn up my Firebox mixer level to full, check the little "+12dB" box on my Firebox control panel for the channel I'm recording on AND turn my MIC 1 record level to absolute max. I'm not sure why I have to max everything out just to get an almost strong enough signal. Would it help to run my mic into the Mackie 1202 mixer first and then go from there to the Firebox? Or do I need a better mixer or another pre-amp?

Thanks!

[Trell Blaze]

To answer your 1st question, you need to isolate your mic from the room. It's supposed to pick up that kind of noise (the condenser, at least). You should look into building an isobooth or you could buy a little contraption I use (I'll post the link to it in a minute).

I'd look into your second question but I just got my firebox about 3 days ago and I'm still putting it through the test phase...

[Trell Blaze]

http://www.seelectronics.com/rf.html

There ya go. Not a perfect solution, but very effective and cheap (compared to building an iso-booth). Mine serves me well...

[steveintampa]

Using a small diaphram condenser mic might help.

Sleeping bags, moving blankets etc can be used to help shield out side noise.

Why would you go to Cubase from GB? Have you seen the new Logic?

I do some basic traking in GB and put it in to Logic for editing and building. Works well.