ART pro mic-preamp, M-Audio Soloaris, and baffles.....oh my

aquaman

aquaman

New member
I bought an ART mic pre-amp and an M-Audio Solaris a few months back and also constructed several baffles out of Auralex mineral fiber. I have my phantom power turned on, an additional 20 dB boost and the preamp set to +7 dB and still my acoustic guitar recordings are extremely quiet. Are my recordings not breathing enough? How far away from the baffles should I be? Right now I have put them at right angles and placed the mic in the corner. I have gotten as close as I can to the mic but still the recordings are flat and quiet. With this equipment and sound proofing how do I get a good presence to my acoustic recordings?
Many thanks.
 
First off I would put yourself facing away from the corner, rather than the mic. But that isn't your problem.

The ART is capable of something like 70dB of gain. The last 10dB is fairly useless due to tube saturation, but I can't believe 60dB isn't enough gain. What do you have the input gain set at? When you say your recordings are quiet, how quiet? What is their peak level?
 
mshilarious said:
First off I would put yourself facing away from the corner, rather than the mic. But that isn't your problem.

The ART is capable of something like 70dB of gain. The last 10dB is fairly useless due to tube saturation, but I can't believe 60dB isn't enough gain. What do you have the input gain set at? When you say your recordings are quiet, how quiet? What is their peak level?
Click to expand...

Input gain is 7dB, master is at 0 dB, preamp output is at 0dB, the 10dB pad on the mic is off, and the recorded track peaks around -3dB. It's not just the volume though. Recordings I have made with a crappier pre and mic with no room treatment sound more alive eventhough more noisy.
 
What is your signal chain?

I don't know how many times I have went out of the way to turn the phantom power on on my board and spaced that the preamp is in front of it, and needs ITS OWN phantom power turned on. But that's my signal chain. Are you mic>art>cpu/adat/etc?

Pete
 
aquaman said:
Input gain is 7dB, master is at 0 dB, preamp output is at 0dB, the 10dB pad on the mic is off, and the recorded track peaks around -3dB. It's not just the volume though.
Click to expand...

If your peaks are at -3dBFS, what's the problem?

Recordings I have made with a crappier pre and mic with no room treatment sound more alive eventhough more noisy.
Click to expand...

I suspect that's because the baffles are around your mic. You want the baffles around you, not the mic.
 
mshilarious said:
I suspect that's because the baffles are around your mic. You want the baffles around you, not the mic.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I appreciate it. I will try this the next time I record.
 
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