Would greatly appreciate input/help

[dans595]

Dear all,

I will try to be terse for the sake of concision and consideration of your time.

I used to record with a) iPhone headphone microphone, b) MacBook Pro built in mic, c) $75 condenser USB mic (no longer have it), d) "Rock Band" Xbox mic. The results never varied - I always got ambient noise in excess. I started in GarageBand and moved to Logic Pro.

Looked into it, ended up buying:
- Avid Fast Trak Studio aka M-Audio MKII Fast Trak ($89, on sale.)
- Sterling SP50/30 recording mic set. ($50, on sale.)
- 5 foot XLR cable

Recorded vocals in a walk in closet lined with coats, pillows, etc, with MacBook Pro outside of the door sandwiched between pillows and all appliances and lights switched off. Noticed an improvement, but I'm still unhappy.

Worse, I tried this setup again and I can't even reproduce the decent stuff the first couple of times I recorded. For reference my Fast Trak has an XLR input, a knob that controls that input's level, an output, and a knob that controls the output level. When the Fast Trak is plugged into my Mac, all of Logic's output comes through the output on the Fast Trak.

- As I adjust the level of the output knob on the Fast Trak the volume changes erratically - a tiny change can cause the volume to spike, turn to pure static/crackling, to drop out entirely, etc.
- The static level is too high. I recorded some, and I even turned the input knob all the way down (which should silence the input entirely) there is still static recorded. (I tried listening to it with the system's built in output to verify that this was not just a problem of the Fast Trak's output port.)
- With the other microphone from the recording set, I turned the input knob on the Fast Trak all the way down and it didn't effect the microphone's volume at all. (??)
- When working in projects with more than a few tracks, the Fast Trak's output doesn't pick them all up, adds weird reverb to other tracks, and everything basically sounds like it's coming from a miniature speaker inside of a tin can, etc.

So many things are wrong with it now (that weren't the first time I used it!!) that I am wondering if somehow my Fast Trak broke. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Kindly,
Dan

 

[RAMI]

One of the reason you're not happy with your vocal sound is because a closet with or without clothes is the worst place to record. The smaller the space, the boxier the sound, the closer the walls, the more un-wanted reflections and standing waves, etc.....Forget the idea of a "booth". The word "booth" is probably the worst one they could have used to describe what actual studios use. A "booth" in a "real" studio" is the size of most home recordists' total recording space.

Time to come out of the closet.

 

[dans595]

Update:

Using the quarter inch output with a quarter inch to eighth inch adapter, the volume is finicky as described above. With a set of Turtle Beach X31's plugged into the RCA I hear a high pitch noise that sounds like it might be the computer. I turned off the computer and just listened to the mic into the M-Audio into the Turtle Beaches and it was PERFECT. So... there's hope?

 

[dans595]

One of the reason you're not happy with your vocal sound is because a closet with or without clothes is the worst place to record. The smaller the space, the boxier the sound, the closer the walls, the more un-wanted reflections and standing waves, etc.....Forget the idea of a "booth". The word "booth" is probably the worst one they could have used to describe what actual studios use. A "booth" in a "real" studio" is the size of most home recordists' total recording space.

Time to come out of the closet.

See, for sake of concision I left out many steps on my experiment. I definitely tried recording in my living room and bedroom before moving to the closet. The closet was the place where I got the best takes by far. There's so much more ambient noise outside of the closet that it just doesn't work at all. I believe that some amount of my noise problem is the laptop itself, because it made a big difference whether the laptop was in the closet with me or outside with only the Fast Trak inside the closet.

 

[RAMI]

Well, at least you took the time to experiment, so I can't argue with you.

And, yeah, moving your laptop away from the mic is a good idea. That's got to help. .

 

[dans595]

The Fast Trak's headphone jack is simply not an option, it is flaky on so many levels. Is it that bad to use the laptop's built in sound card for the audio out = monitor?