A
andrewlowemusic
New member
Hey guys. Really in need of some advice if you can give any - please bear with me!
I only ever record through one channel - a mic input. I'm working with someone who is producing tracks and sending them over to me to record vocals - just a situation we're in at the moment because of travelling distance...
My setup USED to be as follows:
Blue Bluebird Mic -> M-Audio Fast Track Pro USB Interface -> PC Running Cakewalk Sonar 8 Producer.
I've never really been satisfied with the Fast Track Pro's preamp quality and decided to cut it out completely and invest in a dedicated mic preamp.
Over the past couple of weeks I'd been doing research on s/pdif inputs/outputs, how they work, etc., and discovered the Focusrite Voicemaster Pro Mic Preamp. More importantly was the fact that there was an ADC Card add-on - so I purchased both. I absolutely love it! So My setup is now as follows:
Blue Bluebird Mic -> Focusrite Voicemaster Pro Mic Preamp -> PC Running Cakewalk Sonar 8 Producer (via s/pdif out on the preamp to s/pdif in on my soundcard). My soundcard is an Asus Xonar D2X 7.1 - claiming to be capable of processing up to 24-bit 192kHz on every channel, including the s/pdif in. The Voicemaster Pro can stream out to a maximum of 96kHz. So technically, there shouldn't be a problem, right?! PROBLEMS PROBLEMS PROBLEMS!!!
Well I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew, because I have yet to make a successful recording in SONAR. The main problem I am having is with delay. I import a track to play in one channel going through the line-out to my headphones, and record in another channel with the s/pdif in from the Voicemaster Pro. I record, everything is fine. When I play back, the vocal recording is about half a second ahead of the track. I have tried every latency setting going in the ASIO panel, from 2 - 300ms, and it makes no difference. I've also tried recording without the backing track - just one channel with the metronome on, counting to the beat into the mic. Still a delay... Very frustrating.
Am I going wrong here somewhere with settings? I made sure all devices were streaming at the exact same level - I even lowered the frequencies to 44.1kHz as I thought they may just be too high, but still the same issue occurs... Is it the soundcard not being able to process the recording immediately because it's a digital signal? The weird thing is, if I'm generally monitoring the mic through my headphones, there is no delay at all - as I talk through the mic, it the sound comes through my headphones precisely.
The other issue when recording with the track playing through the other channel, is that when playing back the vocal recording seems to be quieter, as though the soundcard is balancing both channels. However when I play just the vocals solo - they are louder! I feel like I don't even trust what I'm recording!
Apologies for the long-winded post, it's just very frustrating for me and after calling a few different technical support people who don't seem to know what I'm talking about, I feel like hitting my head with a brick wall.
Is it just my soundcard not being good enough to process the digital signal precisely? If so, is it worth investing in a soundcard that will be able to handle what I need it for? Or do I require something like a USB/Firewire Mixer? Like I said, I literally only use one channel for recording, and am worried about purchasing another audio interface because I don't want it to affect the signal from the voicemaster pro, because it's the cleanest most accurate and lovely signal I've ever heard in a mic preamp! In my budget, that is... It also seems pointless to have something that has 8 or even 4 channel inputs, when I'm only ever going to use 1!
Any help will be a godsend. Thanks.
I only ever record through one channel - a mic input. I'm working with someone who is producing tracks and sending them over to me to record vocals - just a situation we're in at the moment because of travelling distance...
My setup USED to be as follows:
Blue Bluebird Mic -> M-Audio Fast Track Pro USB Interface -> PC Running Cakewalk Sonar 8 Producer.
I've never really been satisfied with the Fast Track Pro's preamp quality and decided to cut it out completely and invest in a dedicated mic preamp.
Over the past couple of weeks I'd been doing research on s/pdif inputs/outputs, how they work, etc., and discovered the Focusrite Voicemaster Pro Mic Preamp. More importantly was the fact that there was an ADC Card add-on - so I purchased both. I absolutely love it! So My setup is now as follows:
Blue Bluebird Mic -> Focusrite Voicemaster Pro Mic Preamp -> PC Running Cakewalk Sonar 8 Producer (via s/pdif out on the preamp to s/pdif in on my soundcard). My soundcard is an Asus Xonar D2X 7.1 - claiming to be capable of processing up to 24-bit 192kHz on every channel, including the s/pdif in. The Voicemaster Pro can stream out to a maximum of 96kHz. So technically, there shouldn't be a problem, right?! PROBLEMS PROBLEMS PROBLEMS!!!
Well I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew, because I have yet to make a successful recording in SONAR. The main problem I am having is with delay. I import a track to play in one channel going through the line-out to my headphones, and record in another channel with the s/pdif in from the Voicemaster Pro. I record, everything is fine. When I play back, the vocal recording is about half a second ahead of the track. I have tried every latency setting going in the ASIO panel, from 2 - 300ms, and it makes no difference. I've also tried recording without the backing track - just one channel with the metronome on, counting to the beat into the mic. Still a delay... Very frustrating.
Am I going wrong here somewhere with settings? I made sure all devices were streaming at the exact same level - I even lowered the frequencies to 44.1kHz as I thought they may just be too high, but still the same issue occurs... Is it the soundcard not being able to process the recording immediately because it's a digital signal? The weird thing is, if I'm generally monitoring the mic through my headphones, there is no delay at all - as I talk through the mic, it the sound comes through my headphones precisely.
The other issue when recording with the track playing through the other channel, is that when playing back the vocal recording seems to be quieter, as though the soundcard is balancing both channels. However when I play just the vocals solo - they are louder! I feel like I don't even trust what I'm recording!
Apologies for the long-winded post, it's just very frustrating for me and after calling a few different technical support people who don't seem to know what I'm talking about, I feel like hitting my head with a brick wall.
Is it just my soundcard not being good enough to process the digital signal precisely? If so, is it worth investing in a soundcard that will be able to handle what I need it for? Or do I require something like a USB/Firewire Mixer? Like I said, I literally only use one channel for recording, and am worried about purchasing another audio interface because I don't want it to affect the signal from the voicemaster pro, because it's the cleanest most accurate and lovely signal I've ever heard in a mic preamp! In my budget, that is... It also seems pointless to have something that has 8 or even 4 channel inputs, when I'm only ever going to use 1!
Any help will be a godsend. Thanks.