liberty610
New member
Hi guys,
I am currently on the fence of re-purchasing a Shure SM7B mic, and I am hoping someone could help me out here. I had one a a few years ago, but decided to sell it because I did not have a pre-amp to run it through, and my audio interface had a low signal volume with this mic.
I am using a Line 6 UX8 interface. The 8 XLR input channels all have a +60db on them. A few years ago when i had the SM7b, I recorded a metal band's vocalist with it. The project didn't turn out to bad, and I thought the vocals where pretty good. I ended up selling the mic, and I think it might have been a mistake to do so. But I was hoping for some feedback first.
Knowing a bit more about recording now then I did then, I decided to pull out the tracks I recorded for that metal band a few years ago. If I remember correctly, the UX8 input knob for that mic was cranked to close to max. Looking at a couple clips of the audio tracks inside Sony Sound Forge, I am seeing that the max level they get to during growls and screams is -16db on the higher screams, and -24 on the lower ones. The tracks sound clear, with little to no room noise on them.
Now, I was told on other forums that you should never 'normalize' a track, but in this case I gave it a shot. I used Sound Forge's 'normalize' feature set to 'peak volume' and boosted it about 50% to a peak of -5.00db. When I played the track back, it sounded a lot louder of course, and still had a clear tone to it without a lot of room noise being present in it.
I have posted a couple pictures that shows a difference in the signal. The beginning of the track the vocalist is silent, and you can see where he starts screaming towards the end. Is this a way I should/could go about getting a higher signal with this mic? What are your guys thoughts?
I am currently on the fence of re-purchasing a Shure SM7B mic, and I am hoping someone could help me out here. I had one a a few years ago, but decided to sell it because I did not have a pre-amp to run it through, and my audio interface had a low signal volume with this mic.
I am using a Line 6 UX8 interface. The 8 XLR input channels all have a +60db on them. A few years ago when i had the SM7b, I recorded a metal band's vocalist with it. The project didn't turn out to bad, and I thought the vocals where pretty good. I ended up selling the mic, and I think it might have been a mistake to do so. But I was hoping for some feedback first.
Knowing a bit more about recording now then I did then, I decided to pull out the tracks I recorded for that metal band a few years ago. If I remember correctly, the UX8 input knob for that mic was cranked to close to max. Looking at a couple clips of the audio tracks inside Sony Sound Forge, I am seeing that the max level they get to during growls and screams is -16db on the higher screams, and -24 on the lower ones. The tracks sound clear, with little to no room noise on them.
Now, I was told on other forums that you should never 'normalize' a track, but in this case I gave it a shot. I used Sound Forge's 'normalize' feature set to 'peak volume' and boosted it about 50% to a peak of -5.00db. When I played the track back, it sounded a lot louder of course, and still had a clear tone to it without a lot of room noise being present in it.
I have posted a couple pictures that shows a difference in the signal. The beginning of the track the vocalist is silent, and you can see where he starts screaming towards the end. Is this a way I should/could go about getting a higher signal with this mic? What are your guys thoughts?