Direct connection, dull and lifeless, but microphone, all bright and crisp?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jerberson12
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jerberson12

mucis procedure
Everything I connect direct to my preamp sounds dull and lifeless, like my electric guitar connected to the High-Z of my preamp and my synthesizer keyboard connected to line input of my preamp.

But Everything recorded using my microphone like vocals and acoustic guitar, it sounds crisp, bright and alive?

please help
 
For the guitar, it might depend on what you mean by dull'? They aren't all that zingy flat' to begin with.

Do me a favor? Try the synth in the high Z in?
 
..Then there's the fact that line/direct is totally dry. Mic' has some air and space in there.
Again, need some context filled in.
 
Ok guys

I am using Digidesign Pre connected to Digidesign 96IO

I think I just fix the problem.
Tell me that a slider volume from the mixer is different from a gain knob.

My synthesizer is connected to my line mixer. Ofcourse, there is a slider volume which is usually I use for controlling volume.
There is also a gain knob which is always set to zero thinking that the volume slider is the same as the gain knob.

I turn up the volume slider, just adds some DB's, I turn the gain knob, ohhh wala!!! adds some warm, brilliance, and crisp....its sounds more exciting now.....
I think most of my problem I had is just some basic stuff that I just missed.
 
Yeah, and its too obvious using a headphone.
If the gain is zero and I put the volume slider all the way up....the sound coming from the keyboard sounds like its coming from the back or it doesnt sound up front of the mix.

If I turn up the gain half way and move the volume slider down half way, the sound coming from the keyboard sounds like upfront of the mix and its crispier , more punchy and thick which is what I want.

This way, its easier to mix, EQ and compress. I dont have to edit drastically which I had to do with the gain down.
And everything sits well on the mix...
 
jerberson12 said:
Yeah, and its too obvious using a headphone.
If the gain is zero and I put the volume slider all the way up....the sound coming from the keyboard sounds like its coming from the back or it doesnt sound up front of the mix.

If I turn up the gain half way and move the volume slider down half way, the sound coming from the keyboard sounds like upfront of the mix and its crispier , more punchy and thick which is what I want.

This way, its easier to mix, EQ and compress. I dont have to edit drastically which I had to do with the gain down.
And everything sits well on the mix...
Click to expand...
Just seems like something doesn't add up here, something else going on.
 
Gain at 0 (not 0 dB) = usually means no signal getting through the preamp at all. What you are hearing is the bleed-through, maybe?
 
This makes sense. Low gain with high volume tends to sound wimpy.
 
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