Cardioid mics and shouting/hardcore vocals

S

ShoutOutKid

New member
Hi everybody,

I'm totally new to home recording and just started a transatlantic recording project with my former band mate. I tried recording my vocals for a track with my Audio Technica USB cardioid mic and GarageBand 11 but the problem was that even when I turned the Recording Level all the way down to 1% the recording was still peaking (although the volume of it was quiet). I started wondering, are cardioid mics too sensitive for that kind of singing or is there something I can do to make the levels good and sound clear without any peaking?

I had a pop screen and my distance from the mic was about 6-7 inches.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!
 
ShoutOutKid said:
Hi everybody,

I'm totally new to home recording and just started a transatlantic recording project with my former band mate. I tried recording my vocals for a track with my Audio Technica USB cardioid mic and GarageBand 11 but the problem was that even when I turned the Recording Level all the way down to 1% the recording was still peaking (although the volume of it was quiet). I started wondering, are cardioid mics too sensitive for that kind of singing or is there something I can do to make the levels good and sound clear without any peaking?

I had a pop screen and my distance from the mic was about 6-7 inches.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

Cardioid is a polar pattern. That tells you what direction the microphone is able to pickup sound from, but doesn't tell you anything about sensitivity, or output relative to input.
If you take an sm7b and a rode nt1a for example - both have cardioid patterns but the sm7b will have a much lower output level.


If turning the 'recording level' down to 1% yields a quiet clipped recording, then the 'recording level' is probably an attenuator after amplification.
What you want is a gain control; this controls how much the signal is amplified.
In a conventional setup you'll find this on the audio interface, mixer, or preamp.

What model is your USB mic and does it have any control marker 'gain'?
 
Oh I'm sorry, I meant to say condenser mic, not cardioid. The model I have is AT2020 and it doesn't have any external gain control.

That makes a lot of sense what you're saying about the recording level being an after amplification control. Another issue I have with GarageBand is that it doesn't show the actual mic levels but only the levels input levels into the program, if that makes sense. That means that there's no visual indicator of when the volumes hit the "reds" or start peaking.
 
I think for hardcore or in your face singing, dynamic mics would work better, like Shure beta. Condenser mics are pretty sensitive.
 
ShoutOutKid said:
Oh I'm sorry, I meant to say condenser mic, not cardioid. The model I have is AT2020 and it doesn't have any external gain control.

That makes a lot of sense what you're saying about the recording level being an after amplification control. Another issue I have with GarageBand is that it doesn't show the actual mic levels but only the levels input levels into the program, if that makes sense. That means that there's no visual indicator of when the volumes hit the "reds" or start peaking.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you mean.
As long as you have no plugins and your faders are at unity, the meters in your software should accurately represent the incoming signal.
I guess it's the only reference you've got - I take it the usb mic has no clip led?

I'm looking at reviews here-
"Equally, there is no gain control here, so you'll be reliant on your computer's input controls to regulate recording levels." apparently.


If you're half way serious and thinking about maintaining a home recording setup, I'd recommend getting yourself an interface and, as said, a nice dynamic mic can be the ticket for intense vocals.
 
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