Noob asks help!!!!!

And... Here I am!
Please, listen until the end because it's there that you can mostly listen the problem, at like 0:51 and on.
I want to specify that I was not very close to the microphone! I mean I wasn't far but I wasn't even close. I tried to have a right distance...
I didn't put any reverb so that you can listen well...
I hope you could help me :(
 

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Your vocal is distorting, for sure. Your voice is powerful-it sounds good for the type of material, but check the gain-staging as mentioned above. That mic and interface aren't the best, but it sounds like the input is too hot. What is "too close" as far as your distance from the mic? In centimeters? That makes a difference.
 
TimN said:
Your vocal is distorting, for sure. Your voice is powerful-it sounds good for the type of material, but check the gain-staging as mentioned above. That mic and interface aren't the best, but it sounds like the input is too hot. What is "too close" as far as your distance from the mic? In centimeters? That makes a difference.
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The Tascam didn't distort! :( I paid so much attention :(
That's why I think there might be something in Ableton, some gain settings or something that I don't know about...:(
The distance from the mic might be 14-15 cm...
 
'In 'ell kid!

That track rarely goes below -10dBFS and TRIES to go over 0dB!

Waaaay too much level into the DAW, you might even need some inline XLR mic attenuators.

Dave.
 

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jimmys69 said:
Take a look at the video on THIS LINK
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Thanks a lot!! I think this is going to be helpful :)
Anyhow I tried to adjust the gain and you're right guys, that noise goes away! But the matter is that the volume is TOO low... so, where am I making a mistake now?!
I have to set the gain, I got that, but i I set the gain in a way that the noise doesn't come, the song results too low on volume!
 
Mini Sound Level Meter | Maplin

That ^ is the only example I can quickly find that is both cheap and C weighted and the latter is really necessary for audio calibration purposes.

Yes! I KNOW the newb does not want to be bothered with "technicals" or non-musical kit (however cheap!) but the human ear/brain complex is bloody useless at "absolute" judgements and getting your monitoring system lined up to some sort of standard sound level is a really good idea, especially so when there is an overload problem as here.

The other bit of kit every musical bod should have is a Digital Multi-Meter, 20 bucks buys something very useful.

Dave.
 
I didn't know where your meters were from the screenshot you posted, but found this from an online Ableton page . Along with avoiding the clip lights on the Tascam, make sure the meters in Ableton stay out of the red (assuming they go red if levels are too high). Occasionally yellow may be OK. I can't see a dB scale with those meters. You can bump the levels/volume up later after a track is recorded. I didn't catch if you had mentioned you were using the Tascam drivers/software for your interface or not.
 

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Krissy, K.I.S."Suzi"

You need to set levels so the the VERY LOUDEST you get still only gets to -8 or -6dBFS AT THE VERY MOST. Then LEAVE the levels set there!
Yes! the rest of the wavefoms will look tiny, at times virtually non existent but this does not matter (we assume 24bits, 44.1kHz?) because the dynamic range of your voice and the ambient noise levels in the room will easily "fit" into the vastly wider dynamic range of the digital recording medium.

To put this another way, compressing, limiting or almost no post-tracking modification you do to that wide DR take will increase the basic noise level (that is NOT to say you could not do a bad job on the track! But you will always have the original so you can start again.)

Imagine you were recording a loud rock band in a pub? You have NO control of their loudness or dynamics but you could just shove a pair of mics into the room and set any 1/2 decent AI to -8dBFS on the loudest peaks safe in the knowledge that the digital system has grabbed it all.

Back in the day, us tape jockeys would have KILLED for such a setup! (I reckon those oddballs secretly still would! Ha!).

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Krissy, K.I.S."Suzi"

You need to set levels so the the VERY LOUDEST you get still only gets to -8 or -6dBFS AT THE VERY MOST. Then LEAVE the levels set there!
Yes! the rest of the wavefoms will look tiny, at times virtually non existent but this does not matter (we assume 24bits, 44.1kHz?) because the dynamic range of your voice and the ambient noise levels in the room will easily "fit" into the vastly wider dynamic range of the digital recording medium.

To put this another way, compressing, limiting or almost no post-tracking modification you do to that wide DR take will increase the basic noise level (that is NOT to say you could not do a bad job on the track! But you will always have the original so you can start again.)

Imagine you were recording a loud rock band in a pub? You have NO control of their loudness or dynamics but you could just shove a pair of mics into the room and set any 1/2 decent AI to -8dBFS on the loudest peaks safe in the knowledge that the digital system has grabbed it all.

Back in the day, us tape jockeys would have KILLED for such a setup! (I reckon those oddballs secretly still would! Ha!).

Dave.
Click to expand...

Ahahah! I know! I'm a noob :D
I cannot leave the levels there because the volume is too low!!! Even If I use compressor!

arcaxis said:
I didn't know where your meters were from the screenshot you posted, but found this from an online Ableton page . Along with avoiding the clip lights on the Tascam, make sure the meters in Ableton stay out of the red (assuming they go red if levels are too high). Occasionally yellow may be OK. I can't see a dB scale with those meters. You can bump the levels/volume up later after a track is recorded. I didn't catch if you had mentioned you were using the Tascam drivers/software for your interface or not.
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Thanks a lot! That was helpful! :)

jimmys69 said:
Turn it up! lol!

Now it's time to start watching some videos and learning how to mix. :)

You can start by turning up the gain in Ableton. Look into compression and limiting.

Here is a start for ya. Compressor explained link
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Thank you Jimmy, let me see if I got this right : First, I set the gain of Ableton in a way that the sounds don't get distorted...and then I turn it up; that's what you mean?
But if i turn the volume up, the problem comes back again :drunk: Anyway I'll take a look at the video, thank you very much!
 
Set the gain on your interface so that Ableton receives the -18ish signal level. From there you can raise the output level within your DAW (Ableton) in many ways without having the issues you have had.

That is where it involves learning what is needed to do just that. Not many around here use Ableton. That kind of says something to me... If you had Cubase or Reaper, there would be way more direct advice for you. Maybe you should download Reaper (it free to try and use until you decide to pay).

Looking at the limited videos available for Ableton I haven't found much that makes me confident to give much more advice.
 
"I cannot leave the levels there because the volume is too low!!! Even If I use compressor!"

Krissy, this is starting to make no sense to me and do me 'ead in! IF you do as I say and record such that your very loudest peaks hit -6dBFS then you have a recording OF WHAT YOU DO! Quiet passages, warts and all.
Re my rock band example. Yes, if you set the level so that 120dBSPL+ room levels were NOT cracking up in the recording chain then, YES! The signals in the room when they stopped playing would be very low. You probably would not be able to understand a punter ordering a pint! This is a fact of acoustic life!

However, even with the basic tools in say Reaper (also look at Samplitude ProX Silver) you could "squash" the dynamic range and get the band AND the punter within a reasonable DR,

I don't know Ableton but if those tools are not obviously available, maybe give it the Big E?

Dave.
 
Maybe the attached MP3 will make things clearer?

That recording is from my garden and levels were set to grab wildlife sounds.
The totally unexpected sonic boom over the town took the levels way off the scale, how far off, we cannot know.

The pigeon was right under the microphone. Now, pigeons are noisy buggers but IF I had been able to set my gains to accommodate the boom, i.e. not clip, the bird would have been inaudible.

In fact the recording goes straight onto a Freeview hard drive recorder, the spec' of which I do not know but I doubt it is even as good as 16 bit PC recording! Therefore I would never have retrieved the pigeon.

Dave.
 

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jimmys69 said:
Set the gain on your interface so that Ableton receives the -18ish signal level. From there you can raise the output level within your DAW (Ableton) in many ways without having the issues you have had.

That is where it involves learning what is needed to do just that. Not many around here use Ableton. That kind of says something to me... If you had Cubase or Reaper, there would be way more direct advice for you. Maybe you should download Reaper (it free to try and use until you decide to pay).

Looking at the limited videos available for Ableton I haven't found much that makes me confident to give much more advice.
Click to expand...


Thank you!! I've just downloaded Reaper!
Are there any videos that you know about this issue for Reaper? I thought Ableton was kind of famous but I was wrong, I guess :D
 
There's nothing wrong with Ableton. I'm not sure how famous it is, but it's like any other DAW in it's basics. Gain staging can be tough to get at first, but once you've got that down cold, you will have solved a major newcomer's problem.
 
Hi guys. I'm so, so sorry to bother you, I know I am being boring and insistent but you people are the only who could help me.
In these days I've been watching tons of videos and tutorials about gain staging,but I couldn't figure it out. I understood compression (kind of),but gain staging is really tough!
I'd need some of you to be super patient and kind and explain me step by step what to do for this gain staging.
I understood that I have to take the gain of my recording track at -18db, right? I did. But then, when I put the volume back to 0, the volume is too low compared to the music, even if i turn down the volume of the music. If after recording I go up to 0 (even more, because I can't listen!) at a decent volume, the record start distorting. So I really don't know what I'm doing wrong :(
Consider that I'm italian, so it takes a while for me to understand all of the technical words :D
And again, sorry guys :drunk:
 
I went back and looked at the posts, and I didn't see any mention of how you are monitoring/listening to your recorded work. Headphones? Speakers attached to computer? My apologies if you did mention it and I missed it.
 
TimN said:
I went back and looked at the posts, and I didn't see any mention of how you are monitoring/listening to your recorded work. Headphones? Speakers attached to computer? My apologies if you did mention it and I missed it.
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Hi Tim, thank you for answering. I didn't mention it, you're right. I listen most of the part with my headphones and the result is quiete good, when I'm done I skip to the speakers of my notebook and there the result is too low. This is actually also a big issue for me because I don't know which one is the most correct.
 
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