Voice induced pops???

[eichler]

OK, this may sound strange but I have been recording a female vocalist that causes what sounds like electronic pops to be recorded. She can sing the same phrase over and over and the pops usually show up in the same spot each time. I've tried different input sources, mics, pres and her voice just seems to flip out Sonar. Meantime I am recording other tracks simultaneaously that do not have pops. This is very wierd cause I don't hear the pops acoustically.

Anybody else ever experience anything like this before?

This is all happening with Sonar 2.2XL, a new Carillon PC running XP Pro, the Delta66 Omnistudio. The only thing new in this chain is the PC and XP. I was running this on an older Dell machine for a while with absolutley no pops (but I have never recorded this woman's voice before either.)

Thanks in advance.

[moskus]

Have you tried to rise the latency?

[eichler]

moskus -

No, I have not yet tried to raise the latency. My computer has a 3.something GHz processor with a GB of RAM and two fast drives. I am barely pushing it. The audio card is running at the same settings it did in my older Dell 1GHz box with half the ram. I will try to play with the latency settings and see what happens

Thanks

[AlChuck]

Come on, guys -- they can't be the usual digital audio pops caused by driver conflicts, soundcard misadjustment or resource overload -- otherwise they would happen randomly or all the time, and not in response to what the source is.

You say it happens at exactly the same words when she sings over and over again. Are these moments occuring when she sings particular consonants? I suspect your singer is hitting some notes in her voice that instantaneously overload the mic element or the mic preamp. Either you are hearing the acoustic/electric "pop" for which pop filters were invented, or else these instantaneous spikes are causing the ADC to clip.

[dachay2tnr]

Are you sure it isn't a plosive from the mic?

Conderser mic? Does it happen on hard consonants (like p's)? Are you using a pop filter? Have you tried having her sing at the mic from the side, rather than directly into it?

If it's only on the vocal track, I would assume it's a plosive.

[dachay2tnr]

Looks like a "simo" post AlChuck, with the same idea.

[AlChuck]

Looks like dachay2tnr and I are having brain wave overlap again...

[AlChuck]

Wow, we could keep doing this and increase the size of this thread exponentially in a few short minutes...

[eichler]

it does not just happen on Ps and Bs and this vocalist sings very softly. it often happens during sustained notes which is really weird especially cause it often happens in the same spot in each take. I wonder if her freakin jaw is clicking.

[AlChuck]

A clicking jaw! Could be, I suppose. Some people's jaws click audibly as they move... never heard of it affecting recording but who knows?

[Porter]

Have you tried a different mic with the singer?

That would determin hardware/performer. Also, is she holding the mic? ...does she have a squeaky shoe?

Porter

[eichler]

Originally posted by Porter
Have you tried a different mic with the singer?

That would determin hardware/performer. Also, is she holding the mic? ...does she have a squeaky shoe?

Porter

Tried different mics, mics were both in shock mounts, her knees squeak when she squats (but she wasn't squatting while singing.)

[dachay2tnr]

Originally posted by eichler
Tried different mics, mics were both in shock mounts, her knees squeak when she squats (but she wasn't squatting while singing.)

Hmmmm, squeaky knees and a clicking jaw. Sounds like it might be time to trade her in.

[moskus]

Originally posted by eichler
Tried different mics, mics were both in shock mounts,

It could be as simple as a new mic cable...

I don't know. It's worth a shot.