Noob Needs Help! (Lengthy)

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KelvinM

New member
Hello Everyone,

Im New to Recording music, but have put in countless hours trying to solve my most recent problem.
This isn't any ordinary problem. No, I have posted on forums, have had many Best Buy specialist assist me, any tech support numbers have been called, but still no one can figure what the hecks happening. Given none of those people where specialist in music production, just in computers.

Here is my problem.

I have two computers, both laptops, both windows, both bought for under 500 dollars. One is a hp windows 8 (not sure which model).
The others I just bought brand new because it was very cheap. [link to specs at bottom]
I have two microphones. A samson c01u (it's only for testing sounds but works perfect). And a MXL 67g. Both where bought new. I have a prosonus audiobox usb. Now all equipment here works 100%. But here is the issue. Ive installed proper drivers and done anything I could think of, but no matter what when I plug either mic in, the sound is WAY to quiet. I mean VERY quiet. I can put the mic to my lips and talk and im only getting one bar in windows sound. My interface will let me turn the gain up, but the only way it sounds like its working is when i turn gain up all the way. And of course the quality is awful. Anybody have any ideas on what im doing wrong? My original thought was that it was my mics that were defective. But two new makes couldn't both be defective. Especially when they work but the computer isn't outputting enough sound. So them I thought the problem must be my laptop. So I bought a new laptop. Downloaded everything, Drivers for interface, daws, but same outcome. Im only getting a couple bars of sound at best. I have used 4 different daws. All sound good when monitoring the mics sound, but when i hit record the recording is ridiculously quiet. [screenshots at bottom]

I have been trying to find the answer to this problem for a while. And i thought that buying a new laptop would do that, so when that didnt help I kinda freaked out. Im a in high school without a job so saving up for things like computers is hard, so i was really bummed after saving up and waiting a couple months just to run into the same problem. When after all this is my least favorite part of making music. I would much rather get this out of the way so I can just get to making music.

Any suggestions/answers are GREATLY APPRECIATED! Thanks for your help and cant waited to have feedback.
Feel free to ask questions if i wasn't descriptive enough, or if I didn't mention something important.

One of the laptops that im using.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-15-6-laptop-intel-celeron-4gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-black/7288011.p;jsessionid=.bbolsp-95A20B3201EBF712599E8EE236278C70app01-135?id=1219262036899&skuId=7288011&st=pcmcat190000050007_categoryid$abcat0502000&cp=1&lp=12



Some screenshots of what im seeing when my mouth is pressed to the mic and talking very very loud. (phantom Power IS ON) And interface gain is at 0-. Also once again mic quality is perfect when monitoring in adobe audition, but when I record the recording is quiet as show. This makes me think the problem is with the computer.
 

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Um, that looks good to me. Actually might be a bit high for input level if Audition meters are dBFS scale.

-18dBFS is your goal when recording digitally. Forget what that little blob looks like on your track. That is only there for editing purposes. It does not represent the actual level of the recording. Well, not as you would think.


Turn up your monitors and do some reading here about signal levels. Do you have monitors connected to your interface?

If you are trying to monitor via laptop speakers, then you will not likely be happy with the way digital recording works... Use headphones.
 
First off, yeah, the level of the recording shown there is good, if anything a bit hot.

However, a guess here. I notice that you have the input monitor button pushed on Audition (the "I" to the left of the track). If you have this pushed AND you have the direct monitoring selected on the Presonus, you'll be getting a double dose in your headphones at the recording stage, then a normal amount on playback.

If this is the case, the answer could be as simple as turning off the Audition input monitoring and turning up the headphones at the time of recording. This should result in things sounding the same (or at least similar) on recording and playback.

Having said all that, it's a bit concerning that you have to turn the gain up so high with a condenser mic--unless your voice is VERY quiet, I wouldn't expect you to have to go much above the half way point on the input gain.
 
Im using headphones through my interface. When recording that snapshot I was pretty much blowing into the mic to show how quiet it was recording.
Here is what the levels are like with the condenser mic 6-8 inches away talking at an average volume. Levels seem normal when talking, but when recording the sound recorded is so quiet. And also im not sure why it would sound correct when in adobe audition but "sound" panel is only giving me one bar at most.



Screenshot (7).pngScreenshot (6).png
 
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I did have double monitoring. Good call. But no i realize that my mic levels are low to start out with. what I mean by that is before it sounded loud enough when monitoring in adobe. But when monitoring with presonus i cant even tell that my mic is on or that my headphones are turned up all the way because its so quiet. So why would the interface input be so quiet?
 
In your pic above, Im not sure why the sound dialog box is saying "Line"

How is the audiobox connected to PC?

When you plug headphones into the audiobox and monitor your input signal, what do yo hear?

When you play music through your audiobox what do you hear. For example, have your tried loading a trakc from somewhere into AA and playing back?
 
Audiobox is connected through usb to pc. When loading an instrumental everything sounds perfect with output. When monitoring input I cant hear my self when mic is held past 4+ inches, unless input on interface is up all the way and clipping. Which sounds like a mic problem. But the mic works perfect when monitored in aa. But the same thing happens when using a usb mic I own. So the problem isnt specifically with my interface.

Here is a snapshot of the same case with the usb mic. (Note all sample rates match in put and output) You cant even tell that im talking in this snapshot but trust me i am. Thats how quiet the recording is. So as you can see the problem isnt the interface or either mic.

Also im not sure why its labeled "line" either. I have searched this and could not find why.

Screenshot (8).png
 
Maybe too obvious, but you ARE using an XLR to plug into to the Presonus aren't you? If you happen to be using an XLR to quarter inch adaptor and plugging into the centre of the dual connector, your interface will be expecting instrument level which is WAY higher than mic level. I doubt this is the case because of the need for phantom power but thought I should ask in case there's a funny.

Otherwise, is there a software setting for line/mic in the Presonus control panel? The fact that the Presonus is listed as a line input seemed strange to me as well.
 
Okay, prepare to be bored because it won't likely help!

In audio there are two "standard" levels, referred to as line level and microphone level. Line level is defined as a specific voltage and is typically the sort of thing you get from some electrical device...a mixer output, a CD player, that sort of thing. In audio terms, line is the working, reference level that floats around inside sound gear.

Microphone level is a lot quieter...typically -40 to -60dB compared to line level. This is why the microphone inputs to mixers and audio interfaces have "microphone pre amps"--very electrically quiet amplifiers that bring the mic signal up to line level to float around the rest of the system. FYI, "instruments" come in at a funny level about half way between mic and line--and the quarter inch jack sockets on your Presonus expect instrument level, hence my earlier question.)

(People like ecc83 will realise that I've simplified and generalised to a huge extent here...)

Anyway, with the difference in levels, if you plug a microphone into an input designed for line level or instrument level sources, you'll get extremely low sound levels because of the lack of the pre amp. What has some of us curious is that your screen shot of your Windows Audio control panel shows your Audibox as the "Line" input--and plugging a mic into a line input would result in super low levels. Chances are this is just funny semantics from Presonus--my two interfaces don't specify Line or Mic at all on the Windows screen, just the make and model of the interface) but seeing the word "line" rang some minor alarm bells.
 
KelvinM said:
I did have double monitoring. Good call. But no i realize that my mic levels are low to start out with. what I mean by that is before it sounded loud enough when monitoring in adobe. But when monitoring with presonus i cant even tell that my mic is on or that my headphones are turned up all the way because its so quiet. So why would the interface input be so quiet?
Click to expand...

Here is a Plan B.

Download Reaper. It's a small download, you get a free, uncrippled trial and it is a way good program.

See if it makes a difference when you use Reaper. While I don't think AA is the problem, I am not familiar with it. By trying Reaper, I can look at its preferences for audio devices and see what it is doing in there.
 
gecko zzed said:
That's what's worrying me as well.

I've got a Presonus Firepod, which is firewire, not USB, but it doesn't specify "line". It specifies the device.
Click to expand...

Actually, that is how my Steinberg UR824 shows up in Windows 7 'Sound' control panel. As Line.
 
Obviously I have disabled Realtek onboard soundcard via BIOS as well.

I find it odd that W7 labels an external USB interface as Line input. But there it is...
 
It must be what the device decides to call itself...on my Win7 system, both my M Track and my Profire Lightbridge are labelled "Input M Audio M Track" and "Input M Audio Profire Lightbridge".
 
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