Alright. Once again sorry if this is the wrong section.
I've been recording for years and I've always had the same "problems" when recording vocals. To this day I still haven't found any help from the internet so I finally decided to ask someone.
First of all, I know the problem is not in my singing since I've sung on albums recorded in professional studios and there were no complaints. But everytime I record vocals at home the signal is really weak. I can't hear myself at all in my headphones without pulling the vocal track fader up all the way (or pulling the volume of the other tracks down obviously). It's just super dull and gets lost under other instruments so easily.
Adjusting the gain has never really helped (I'm using a Line6 Pod UX2 btw and sometimes a M-Audio FastTrack Ultra 8R) since it will either start generating a ton of white noise or the voice will get distorted. I've always fixed the problem by using a limiter plugin and overall the vocals will sound fine when processed, especially after compression.
But the thing is, I'm pretty sure my vocals used to sound fine without processing at the pro studios which has always made me wonder which piece of my gear is letting me down.
Are the pre-amps in these soundcards I've used just so lousy or what is causing the problem? Mics I've used include a Samson C01 (Condenser), Sennheiser MD 421 (Dynamic) and a basic Shure SM58 (Dynamic, duh). And yes, the phantom power was on with the condenser lol.
And yes, I do realize that the pro studios have better and more expensive gear but I've heard so many people saying they use cheap gear and get decent recordings so I've always wondered why my raw takes suck so much.
I guess it would help to buy separate mic pre-amp to run into the soundcard, right?
Also all tips on how to get good headphone monitoring for recording vocals would be appreciated (you know how you go into a pro studio and you can hear your voice in a way that it makes the cool stereo effect, then you record at home and hear nothing at all).
I've been recording for years and I've always had the same "problems" when recording vocals. To this day I still haven't found any help from the internet so I finally decided to ask someone.
First of all, I know the problem is not in my singing since I've sung on albums recorded in professional studios and there were no complaints. But everytime I record vocals at home the signal is really weak. I can't hear myself at all in my headphones without pulling the vocal track fader up all the way (or pulling the volume of the other tracks down obviously). It's just super dull and gets lost under other instruments so easily.
Adjusting the gain has never really helped (I'm using a Line6 Pod UX2 btw and sometimes a M-Audio FastTrack Ultra 8R) since it will either start generating a ton of white noise or the voice will get distorted. I've always fixed the problem by using a limiter plugin and overall the vocals will sound fine when processed, especially after compression.
But the thing is, I'm pretty sure my vocals used to sound fine without processing at the pro studios which has always made me wonder which piece of my gear is letting me down.
Are the pre-amps in these soundcards I've used just so lousy or what is causing the problem? Mics I've used include a Samson C01 (Condenser), Sennheiser MD 421 (Dynamic) and a basic Shure SM58 (Dynamic, duh). And yes, the phantom power was on with the condenser lol.
And yes, I do realize that the pro studios have better and more expensive gear but I've heard so many people saying they use cheap gear and get decent recordings so I've always wondered why my raw takes suck so much.
I guess it would help to buy separate mic pre-amp to run into the soundcard, right?
Also all tips on how to get good headphone monitoring for recording vocals would be appreciated (you know how you go into a pro studio and you can hear your voice in a way that it makes the cool stereo effect, then you record at home and hear nothing at all).