Need Better Mic Audio Quality; Advice?

  • Thread starter Thread starter HotFieryTech
  • Start date Start date
H

HotFieryTech

New member
Hi guys. I know there are probably a million threads on this, but I wanted to tell you guys my specific situation. I have a BLUE Microphones Bluebird and a TC Electronic Konnekt 6. I don't have very good quality at all. I bought both of these when I didn't really know what I was doing. When I record (ONLY VOCALS, because I know you will ask), I always get distortion in the background and the sound is muddy. It really doesn't sound good. I want your opinion on what I should do. Should I buy a preamp? A better mic? A new audio interface? Maybe a combination? My budget is $600.

Thanks in advance for your help.
HotFieryTech

P.S. I was originally just going to buy a True P-Solo.
 
You seem to have everything you need HFT.

Are your recordings in your DAW maxing at or below -12?
 
moresound said:
You seem to have everything you need HFT.

Are your recordings in your DAW maxing at or below -12?
Click to expand...

Well I know that most of the time they are a little less than halfway up. I try to compensate by upping the gain on the Konnekt, but that causes distortion. So then I have to put the volume at 6 Dbs in my DAW and sometimes that isn't even enough. Btw I use Logic Studio.
 
During tracking you should always be low for you can always turn it up!
 
Really? I'm not that familiar with logic ..... I use Reaper and/or Pro tools.
 
With what you have there you should be able to get a good clean sound with no distortion. You are either doing something wrong or something is wrong with your equipment.
 
maestro_dmc said:
With what you have there you should be able to get a good clean sound with no distortion. You are either doing something wrong or something is wrong with your equipment.
Click to expand...

Well, the bluebird did fall over a couple times.
 
As a general problem solving mindset, it's more often the use of gear than the gear itself that causes issues.

Have you tried recording anything else with your mic?

Do you know what level of gain is appropriate?

Can you post a clip as an example?
 
Armistice said:
As a general problem solving mindset, it's more often the use of gear than the gear itself that causes issues.

Have you tried recording anything else with your mic?

Do you know what level of gain is appropriate?
Can you post a clip as an example?
Click to expand...

Well, nobody ever really taught me how to record, so no. I don't know how to properly use gear. I will try posting a clip in maybe an hour and a half. I tried to record my guitar amp into the BLUE, but it was full of distortion so I didn't even attempt anything else.
 
I attached a sample exported with dithering, 24 bit, converted from .aif to .mp3 to support the file format for the forum. Not the best vocals :rolleyes: I guess now I'm just looking for advice on recording techniques.
 

Attachments

You have at least a couple of problems to sort out before you start spending money.

First off, there is quite bad DC offset on the track you posted. This causes the tracks to be "off centre" and the negative-going waves are hitting clipping long before the positive going waves. If it's like other DAW software, Logic may have a function you can turn on to correct for DC offset--though it might be worth checking what's happening in your mic, cabling and interface to cause this in the first place.

Second, there is a lot of background noise between phrases in the vocal and, even at the end, there are some funnies on the waveform that might be caused by some stray voltages or something. This might be caused by the knocks your mic took but I think you need to work systematically through your system, swapping the mic, the cable, the TC box and your DAW to see where this is coming from. Until you can isolate the source of the problems, it's probably premature to dash out to try and buy some kind of magic cure.

Bob
 
Thanks Bob for your help. I really appreciate it. But I'm kinda a noobie and I have no idea what DC offset is. And also I don't have any other equipment except for a Shure SM58, so I don't know if I can pinpoint the problematic device. I'll try recording with it, but I don't know how it will turn out.
 
DC offset is what is making the waveform of your recording look off centre. Normally it would be fair evenly spread around the centreline of the display. Yours is offset quite badly to the bottom. This is caused when there's a small amount of DC current present in your system which moves the "zero point" of the sound signals away from where they should be.

Your SM58 is perfect for checking things out. Just do a test recording with it and, if the offset and/or noise are still there, you'll know you have a problem with your TC Electronics box (or possibly your cable). However, if the SM58 recording loses the noise or the DC offset, then, alas, dropping your Bluebird has damaged it.

Bob
 
Well, I just found out that my cable is seriously messed up. Insane amount of distortion when I tried it again. I noticed that it was doing that but then it just went away. I'll buy another cable and try again later. If it is the bluebird that is the original problem (which I have a feeling it is, since the cable wasn't messed up yesterday) then you'll be hearing more questions from me about what mic to buy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top