Poor sound quality + Static [AT2035 & M-Audio Fast Track]

L

Lankesh

New member
I recently purchased a bunch of gear from a guy I know at school. I'm using the AT2035 microphone with an M-Audio Fast Track, and was just trying to record rap vocals. I attached the raw vocals with this post. As you can see there is a lot of static, and when the gain is low the sound is hardly audible and when it is high it becomes clipped and unbearable.

What am I doing wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 

Attachments

  • Spitfire - Final Warning ft. Skylar Grey.mp3
    9 MB · Views: 292
Have you turned on the phantom power? The static heard there sounds like background noise. Is your room fully soundproofed?

Also: The sound at the beginning was alright, may I know how far you are from the microphone?
 
Yup phantom power is on. I got the static to go down by turning the latency up. My room is not fully soundproofed but I used to own a Blue Yeti and it sounded perfectly fine in the same room (mic broke).

I'm about 8-12 inches from the mic throughout.
 
Yeah it clips and/or the sound quality decreases as I approach it. And is it just me or is the sound clip really quiet?
 
The first 10 seconds sounds like a good recording level, peaking at about -10 to -12dBFS through my Lynx2a meters. I don't hear static until the final loudest part of the take.

The last bit of the take is hard clipping. That last bit registered 9 separate peaks over 0dBFS. Turn the mic amp DOWN.

Have you tried repositioning the mic?

Try pointing the capsule at your forehead and project your vocal below the capsule.

If that is too nasally try pointing the capsule at your chest and sing over the top of the mic.

Either of those techniques should help with sibiliance too.

One more thing---- and don't go getting all offended I just want to cover all the bases here. Are you singing into the front of the mic and not the back? Position the mic with the logo facing you and the low-cut and pad switches facing away from you.

Looking at the specs of that mic you should be able to mic a jet engine with it and not clip the output of the mic itself. Keep in mind that the cardioid pattern exhibits proximity effect when you get close up on the mic.
 
I did try repositioning but it did not help. Yeah I was recording into the front.

I can hear static all throughout...and the quality was not what I expected at all.

Yeah the quality is okay at the beginning but reviews and tests of the same mic show it to be much better
 
It's connected to a laptop and other USB ports didn't fix the problem. Sadly I don't have any other gear aside from this.

Could it be faulty gear? And is there any way to figure out which part is faulty without having spares of everything?
 
Listened to those takes again with my 18-year-old son tonight.

I don't hear the static at the beginning of those takes, only in the last two takes with the highest levels. Keep in mind I'm mid-50's with tinnitus and fair hearing loss.

My kid says he can hear the static, but that it was really only noticeable when I cranked the treble to max. Maybe I'm blessed to either not hear it or just able tune it out from being used to listening to high-generation Grateful Dead tapes from the old days. :D

I'm kinda curious about what your expectation is for "sound quality" and the volume not being what it should be. From my perspective listening tonight the 2nd and 4th sections of that clip have about the right volume. 3rd section too low, 5th and 6th sections too hot. First section is just an RCH hotter than what I aim for when tracking vox, but I wouldn't discard a vocal clip that peaked at -8 or -10dBSF simply over level if it captured the performance I was after.

What dBFS level are you looking for when you track? Peaking at -12 to -18dBFS is the neighborhood you want to be in. Get too much hotter than that and you can run into headroom issues later. Much lower and you are going to have signal-to-noise issues.

I still think at least some of what you are hearing as static is actually sibilance and maybe a tiny tiny tiny dash of flutter echo--- not enough to sound phasey but enough come across as an artifact.

My son and I both agree that the sound "quality" all else aside seems appropriate for a raw vocal take with the setup you describe.

Arcaxis may have hit the nail right on the head with the stuff about a powered USB hub or outboard phantom power.
 
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