Firbox query

[BooRadley]

Hi all
I recently bought a PreSonus Firebox... Usually i would record by plugging my guitar straight into it but when i try using a mic i have to turn the input gain right up just before it starts clipping/distorting. The mics are crappy radio shack ones with 1/4" plugs but despite this should i really need to be turning the input gain up before it starts clipping. I have tried using phantom power & the input level boost and i still get the same results

I know i need better mics but just wondering whether anyone has or knows of someone with this same problem and whether they were able to rectify it at all

Any help would be appreciated

Cheers

 

[ssscientist]

Any help would be appreciated

I assume it's an acoustic/electric guitar you are trying to record, and if it works by plugging it in to the Firebox but not with your 'crappy Radio Shack' mics with the 1/4" plugs there's a good reason for that. The impedance of the 1/4" input is made for plugging in a guitar, not any kind of microphone, crappy or not. Get a mic with an XLR jack and plug it in to the XLR part of the combo jack and you will hear a huge difference.

Also, do a search on 'phantom power' in the microphone forum - you are obviously confusing it for something that it's not.

.

 

[Russtopher]

Ditto. RS mics, or any mics that have a built in 1/4" plug, are worthless. I have one that was given to me and barely registers on my Firebox. Shure mics, MXL mics, etc all work just fine.

 

[gordone]

The mics are crappy radio shack ones with 1/4" plugs

There's your problem

 

[rayc]

Boost them with something else - a preamp etc. Crappy they may seem but until you can afford something else do what you can with them. I used a crappy R/Shack/Tandy Mic for the 1st couple of years I recorded in the mid 80's They did well enough & the pres in my 4 track managed to boost the sound well. You could boost them with a pedal EQ or something like that.

 

[Monkey Allen]

All the songs on my soundclick page were done with crappy 1/4 mics. Ever since I bought a Firebox and a condenser mic I haven't recorded shit. It's like how the original Star Wars films are better than the new ones. I'm not saying my songs are good. But for me, they are my original Star Wars. When I was working with bare essentials, compared to all the money I could throw, I actually did some work and it was fun. Now, it's a chore to drag out all my good shit.

 

[ssscientist]

All the songs on my soundclick page were done with crappy 1/4 mics. Ever since I bought a Firebox and a condenser mic I haven't recorded shit. It's like how the original Star Wars films are better than the new ones. I'm not saying my songs are good. But for me, they are my original Star Wars. When I was working with bare essentials, compared to all the money I could throw, I actually did some work and it was fun. Now, it's a chore to drag out all my good shit.

If a $300 Firebox and (I assume) a $100 condenser microphone kill your creativity you had to be using some downright skanky shit on what you type as your 'original Star Wars films'.

Most people just leave the Firebox connected to the computer and have the microphone plugged in and on a stand so there's nothing to 'drag out'.

.

 

[Monkey Allen]

Yeah, I was using some skanky shit alright. I have a shit place...live in a unit, small room, awkward. No matter where I sit the neck of my guitar bumps into a wall or something. See, back in the day, I still lived in a unit, but I had a whole spare room to use. Oh well, I'm just gonna have to say stuff it, throw on a pair of Dunlop Volleys and just do it.