Please please help me!!!!!!!!!!!!

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JayFeldbs

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Well im new to this site so idk if im doing this right, but oh well. I NEED HELP. I recently bought the Sterling Audio ST55 FET Condenser Microphone. I had the CAD GXL 2400 microphone so I thought this would be a step up! So I bought it used for 60 bucks which really seemed like a steal. But anyways lets get to the issue I have. My recordings sound tooby and sort of muddy. I am not getting the quality I need for my fans. I am using the Sterling Audio ST 55 with mount onto a mic stand. It is placed in a corner with blankets up for acoustic treatment. I have a cord running through it into my Behringer Xenyx 802 4 channel mixer. And that I have running straight into my computer NOTHING ELSE. The mixer just has 7 dials. Gain, HIGH EQ (12 kHz), MID EQ (2.5 kHz), LOW EQ (80 Hz), FX (dont use), PAN, and finally my level dial. It has 3 other channels with the same dails and then has a MAIN MIX dial. I have a feeling its something to do with where the dials are on my eq. I have no idea about anything with the Hz or kHz or anything so just tell me "You need to turn your dial 1/4 to the left" Lol.. But PLEASE HELP ME!! I really need a nice clear sound particularly for rap vocals. Bigger things are happening with my music career and I am in very desperate need for this to work good. I am getting music up for sale on iTunes and I need great quality. Tell me where I need to turn my dials to or anything to get better quality PLEASE!! Anybody that has this equipment or anybody that could help message me or something idk but I need help. My sound just sounds tooby and muddy and just plain not good. Im going for a full sound, sort of bassy, very detailed. Not rounded sort of sound do you get what im saying?? lol Please HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbs up:
 
Several things wrong here.

First we can't really tell you which way to move the knobs if we don't even know what they are currently set at. Also a clip of audio would help greatly so we could figure out the problem. You're also wanting quality sound out of not quality parts.

Without more info I don't think I can help much, maybe someone else can.
 
I was getting studio quality out of this 80 dollar mixer and a 60 dollar mic so I would think I could get better quality out of this mic.
 
Everything needs to be on "11".


So like...why don't you just go back to the other mic if it was better sounding?
 
11 on my EQ dials? And my other microphone broke.. Thats the whole reason I needed a new one, otherwise I would have kept that thing for my entire life haha.
 
Go to this link and set all your knobs to look like it is in the pictures. Then... don't ever touch them again. Make all your adjustments in software.

Behringer: XENYX 802
 
+1. No one can advise without knowing how things are set and how things sound.
Advice is great, but I'd strongly advocate learning what those knobs do too!

They represent a basic 3 band eq. You'd find a more complicated eq on a car radio so it's not studio wizardry. ;)
In simplest terms
low = kick drums +bass,
mids = the guts of most rhythm instruments. The muddy bit of guitars, pianos, voices etc.
highs = the shimmery high bits. Cymbals, shhh sounds etc.

Usually 12 o'clock means the eq is doing nothing.
If your voice sounds dull to you then upping the highs a little or cutting the mids a little (or both) might be a start.
Subtlety is usually the key, and bass can usually be cut away quite a bit.
YMMV. :)
 
Go to soundcloud.com and create an account. Upload a clip there and then give us the link. From there we can at least have some idea of how things sound.
 
^Fixed that for ya. 10 posts is the minimum for links again. Not sure why the player didn't work. Soundcloud may be set to private or something....

:)
 
I don't hear much in the way of muddy but I do hear a lot of background noise. Turn the gain down some?
 
Sounded fine to me, except for the background noise like Polarity said.
 
Is there a fan running in your room as well? Sounds like you need to reduce the background noise in your room, or move to a dynamic mic.
 
polarity said:
Several things wrong here.

First we can't really tell you which way to move the knobs if we don't even know what they are currently set at. Also a clip of audio would help greatly so we could figure out the problem. You're also wanting quality sound out of not quality parts.

Without more info I don't think I can help much, maybe someone else can.
Click to expand...

I agree with him.

Also, do you have Phantom Power turned on?
 
I usually tell engineers not to be afraid to leave headroom. It's digital. Get a mike pre and make sure you're not overloading at the original source, the mike. Overloading the mike is the first introduction to mud. Once you have your performance down you can normalize the track for more volume, etc. But if you're overloading use the roll-off on your mike and go from there!
 
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