br 1600 recordings not loud

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guitaristdan103

New member
Hi Guys this looks like a great forum and i thought you'd be able to help me out.

Ive been trying to recording acoustic guitar, drums anything,through several microphones but when i listen to the recording on my headphones or laptop the volume is quite low and the quality isnt that good. ive tryed to EQ and compression and it helps but the volume and 'oomp' is not there. There's just no power in my recordings. :confused:

Ive recorded many songs before and it used to be a breeze, id just plug in the mic and record. The volume is probably half of what it should be. The input level is all the way up and mic input sensitivity are just about at the top. Is there something im doing wrong, mabye the microphones (shure,perception 220, jts nx9, but there new and all cables are new and recorder is new. I dont think the input levels should be set that high but im not sure any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks dan
 
Let's start with your mics then.
I don't know the Shure Perception but am familiar with the AKGs.
If what you have is a condenser mic then you need to turn on the phantom power or you will get nothing.
Same goes for your instrument mic. Take the battery out (in case it's low) and run it off the phantom power.
With my battery condensers, the battery takes preference so watch out for that.
I'm guessing that your vocals are okay and your guitar mic is being held back by a 9V battery.
 
Jim Lad said:
Let's start with your mics then.
I don't know the Shure Perception but am familiar with the AKGs.
If what you have is a condenser mic then you need to turn on the phantom power or you will get nothing.
Same goes for your instrument mic. Take the battery out (in case it's low) and run it off the phantom power.
With my battery condensers, the battery takes preference so watch out for that.
I'm guessing that your vocals are okay and your guitar mic is being held back by a 9V battery.
Click to expand...

well i found out that one of the mics (jts) was running on the battery so i just took out the battery and changed the switch on the mic to phantom and now it seems to have a lot better quality and a considerably high volume level. I also changed the battery on the guitar (9v) which i havent changed in about 7 months so that made a bit of difference.

Now i tried to record using 3 mics to record the drums using the multi track function but it seems to be low on volume. Each mic recorded on mono is working fine now but not when all 3 are used. maybe compression holding it back, any thoughts?
 
guitaristdan103 said:
Now i tried to record using 3 mics to record the drums using the multi track function but it seems to be low on volume. Each mic recorded on mono is working fine now but not when all 3 are used. maybe compression holding it back, any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Are you saying it loses volume or presence when you have all 3 mics on? But each mic seperately gives you a good level??? If that's what you mean, then you're probably experiencing phase cancellation. Read up on drum micing techniques. There's a lot more to it than just throwing mics at the drums and hoping it will all work itself out.

And I'm not sure what you mean when you say "Compression holding it back?". Are you applying compression or not??? Only you can answer that.
 
What level are you tracking at? You should track at about -18dbFS and you gain your volume while mixing. Using a compressor is common on drums too.
 
RAMI said:
Are you saying it loses volume or presence when you have all 3 mics on? But each mic seperately gives you a good level??? If that's what you mean, then you're probably experiencing phase cancellation. Read up on drum micing techniques. There's a lot more to it than just throwing mics at the drums and hoping it will all work itself out.

And I'm not sure what you mean when you say "Compression holding it back?". Are you applying compression or not??? Only you can answer that.
Click to expand...

Yes, when all 3 mics are used they seem to have no power or prescence (about half th volume it should be at). Each mic alone has the right volume level when recorded however. i'll move the mics around to see if it makes a difference (ive read about phase cancellation before so i have a fair idea about where to put the mics).

Im using compression, but really only figured what it actually does and how to use it today so yeh im still learning. thanks for the reply's
 
NYMorningstar said:
What level are you tracking at? You should track at about -18dbFS and you gain your volume while mixing. Using a compressor is common on drums too.
Click to expand...

how do know what level your tracking at?

Also, i recently transfered some recorded tracks to the computer and they sound so thin and weak. It sounds good on the headphones, but on the computer it sounds useless. I've moved mics around but it doesent seem to change it much. I just dont understand what can be causing this. I'm using a brand new condenser mic (perception 220) recorded on a br 1600 Please, any help would be great. thanks :confused:
 
hey guys i found out that the br 1600 uses compresion for each track(channel edit), aswell in the effects mode. I must of adjusted the threshold on some tracks.So yeah i finally sorted that out. :D

also..

ive been tryin to record a 12 string (fingerpicking mostly), and have been adjusted the eq, compression etc.. but always ends up as a medium - thin sound. Is there any other way to thicken up a guitar and what setting would you use on the compressor (rack 160dbx).

cheers dan
 
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