C-Media Distortion

T

tadmaz

New member
I have an integrated C-Media chip soundcard. For recording, it IS better quality than my sound blaster live, no one argue cause it really is.

My soundcard has a built in limiter, so there is no clipping, but there is distortion when it hits 0.0. My understanding of a line-in port, is that the signal that it takes is "line-level" so there should be no altering of the signal that my hardware compressor outputs. Obviously, the soundcard is altering the signal, because there should be no distortion. Am I configuring something wrong? Do any soundcards out there take in a line-level signal like I am describing (it takes the exact signal from my compressor)?
 
you should be recording at -4db to -2db max otherwise yioull get digital clipping ie: nasty distortion. if you are using on board sound watch very carefully your settings in the recording and playback applets of wibdows.
my recording software before i record tells me the incoming audio level.
if its too hot i adjust it down slightly.
 
I set my compressor to "+4" instead of "-10" and there is much less distortion. I could've sworn that I've tried +4 before and it was the same...meh. The quality I'm getting now is good enough. Thanks.
 
This could very well be part of the problem: (i'm using a condenser mic)

The more dynamic (louder) the vocalist, the less sensitive the mic needs to be. Some condenser mics will distort like madness if the vocalist is too close when they scream and it is an awful sound, especially if you are wearing cans (headphones). There is nothing you can do to fix that audio either. Because the distortion happened before the signal hits the compressor, all the compression in the world cannot help. If there is a -10 or -20 pad on the mic, use it with untrained wild vocalists. Otherwise, use a dynamic mic which is less susceptible to break up under high sound pressure levels (SPL).
 
tad - try this with screamers who even put the mic in their mouths and blow your levels/distort. give them a junk store mic to scream into ...
(like a babys rattle !)
then a bit back put some pantyhose around a metal hangar on a stand and just behind it put the condenser. experiment with mic distance from vocallist.
if the room sounds bad you need to minimise standing waves/reflections
by doing a little room treatment or putting the condenser closer to the vocallist.
 
i forgot to mention you dont of course record the junk store mic - just the condenser unless you want to include a bit of grit with the track which of itself can work sometimes at low level depending on the song.
 
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