Can't seem to get rid of clipping when recording my drums.

C

cdeffenb

New member
First and foremost I appreciate any help that can be given. My problem is that every time I try and record my drums the toms/snare/kick all clip. This is my equipment:

- PDP 805 series drumset with zildjian ZXT Titanium cymbals.
- CAD 7-piece drum mics
- Behringer Europower PMP2000 powered mixer
- Behringer UFO202 audio interface

I connect my mixer from the cd/tape/line out to the input on the audio interface with RCA cables. The interface then connects to the USB in my computer. The software I use is cool edit pro 2 (I know its old and I could get new software).

On the mixer I have all the gains and the main turned all the way down, and phantom power turned off. The problem I am having is the wave lengths on the computer are obviously clipping and when I listen to them through headphones they sound like two trash cans banging together! I don't understand this because all of my gains are turned down.

I don't know if I am missing some vital hardware or I'm just not hooking everything up right. Again, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
is the switch on the ufo set to line or phono?

If you're using the mixers line outs, you want the ufo set to line.


Neither of those pieces of behringer gear are really designed for what you're doing, But still, there's no reason it shouldn't work.
 
Micing drums produces a large signal swing that some preamps have a problem handling.
Your PMP2000 has a 25db pad switch on channels 1-6. You might want to engage the pad to reduce
the signal level going into the unit's preamps.
 
jaygee said:
Micing drums produces a large signal swing that some preamps have a problem handling.
Your PMP2000 has a 25db pad switch on channels 1-6. You might want to engage the pad to reduce
the signal level going into the unit's preamps.
Click to expand...

I was thinking this might be the problem as well.
 
My bet is that Steenamaroo has the right idea. The switch on the UFO202 has to be set to Line, otherwise it's expecting a super-low input from a turntable and would almost certainly clip on Line level stuff from the mixer.

FYI, changing your version of Cool Edit won't affect this at all--CEP just records what the audio interface gives it and has no control over input levels. Since the UFO202 also doesn't seem to install any mixer or level control software, you may need to tweak levels in the Windows Recording Devices menu...exactly how to do this depends on your version of Windows.

However, engaging the pad(s) on the mixer also seems like a good idea since the PMP2000 doesn't have gain trims on the channels. Even if this isn't the problem, I'd rather have the pads in and the gain controls someplace mid range rather than everything turned down to the bottom.

Bob
 
Hey guys thanks for the input! So what I did was padded all 6 inputs and made sure the interface was set to line. Although with these things set and the gains turned all the way down, the clipping didn't change at all. I'm just not sure what to do at all now! Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Just out of curiosity your mic's aren't that close that the clipping sound you are hearing is from the drum hitting the mic?
 
Listen to this, I downloaded a trial version of reaper just out of curiosity and tried recording. When I played back the recording it was incredibly quit so I turned up the gains on the mixer. The next recording had no clipping at all! Now i've got some work to do on mixing and eliminating some snare ringing but I really appreciate everyone's feedback on this! Thanks!
 
glad u found the solution.

If you want to eliminate snare ring, fix the drum, not the recording.

Tune it properly and what not to get it to sound right in the room; It always sounds much better than manipulating a track.
 
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