Home Set Up Problems

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TOF1987

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First post here so hi first of all.

I found this site while browsing for answers when I was having problems getting my home equipment to work, after having a look around it seems like alot of people here would have the info I've been looking for some time, so hopefully some of you can help me out.

About a year and a half ago I bought a mixer and studio microphone. I bought both from gear4music.com, and before buying I told their staff what I wanted and they then suggested which stuff to buy. Basically I wanted to record my voice over music, which would be on software on my laptop. They suggested the mixer I currently have and I chose the microphone myself.

In that year and a half I've never gotten any of it to work, presumably because I really don't know that much about sound equipment. It would be hard to type so below I'll post a labelled picture of my set up:

img508.imageshack.us/img508/1903/diagramvn5.jpg

I can't put the H-t-t-p tag to the beginning of that link cos I don't have 5 posts.

Anyhow there you can see how things are connected, the two connections for the USB device which are in the mixer are located on the 'Output' side, and the two connections in the USB device itself are also in 'Output', a USB lead then connects that box above the mixer to my computer.

The problem I'm having is, I can't hear any sound thats being played from my computer, and I also can't seem to record to the software on my laptop, at the moment all I've managed to do is be able to hear what I'm saying into the microphone played back through the head phones.

If anyone could help me out I'd greatly appreciate it.
 
Did the mixer come with any driver software maybe? That might be what's missing... Or not... What software are you using to record in?
 
Yea man, we need more info.
What exact mixer model you have would be a good start. I looked at the pic, but I still can't tell.

Also, that little box with the RCA cables in it - that came with the mixer? I assume it is your Audio Interface. Did you install the drivers for it?

What software are you using to record?
 
Dude!!!! The reason you can hear anything is 'cause you don't have rca cables coming back to the mixer, where your headphones are plugged in. If you want to hear it, plug your headphones into the phones out of the uca202.

Also, it's and output(mixer) > input(interface).

And btw, you could have got a much cheaper mixer for what you need. However, that mixer will do great if you expand your setup. You could actually record a full band really well with that setup, with a couple more mics.
 
Bulls Hit said:
What sort of mixer have you got?
Click to expand...
amra said:
What exact mixer model you have would be a good start. I looked at the pic, but I still can't tell.

Also, that little box with the RCA cables in it - that came with the mixer? I assume it is your Audio Interface. Did you install the drivers for it?
Click to expand...
Behringer Xenyx 1204fx, i think. And the interface is the Behringer UCA202, which doesn't need drivers, as far as i know. It's just plug and play... However, you'd can download drivers here if needed.
 
I've been spending most of my time recently trying to get it to work, to the poster who mentioned the RCA cables, that was the problem. The only provided me with one set of RCA's...I had to go and get my own in order to get anything to work. But thanks to everyone who replied.

Out of interest though, what else would you advise getting to expand the set up?
 
More mics, and a decent pair of monitors. Acoustic treatment...

What is it you actually what to record? What mic do you have?
 
pandamonk said:
More mics, and a decent pair of monitors. Acoustic treatment...

What is it you actually what to record? What mic do you have?
Click to expand...

I record vocals, and lay them onto instrumentals.

I have a friend who plays guitar and has wanted to write something for me to put vocals to, but I wouldn't consider it something I'd want to buy equipment for.
 
I'd get that power cable off the top of the mixer. Get it away from the audio cables, just route it down from the mixer off the side of the table.
 
Out of interest what advantage would monitors give me for home recording? I assume by monitors you mean speakers?
 
TOF1987 said:
Out of interest what advantage would monitors give me for home recording? I assume by monitors you mean speakers?
Click to expand...

Well, it's kind of a gray area...The idea behind monitors is that they are supposed to have a flat response through the whole frequency range. Thereby giving you a more accurate representation of what is going on in your mix.

However, the reason I say it is gray area, is that there are a whole bunch of other factors to take into account. If you don't have acoustic treatment in your mixing area, you may still not get a completely accurate representation at all, even with studio monitors. Obviously the acoustic qualities of the room directly influence how the sound is affected before it reaches your ears.

Also, I would say that the sort of monitors I could afford aren't neccessarily going to be super accurate anway.

However, it still may be worth getting some reasonably priced monitors if you only have crappy speakers, or are mixing on headphones (which is not a good idea--but that's another story)...
 
Your gear recording equipment; mics, mic positioning, audio interface, etc..doesn't "hear" sounds the way your ears do. Complicating matters, the room participates in this as does the playback equipment and so much moreMaking. Everything in the signal chain participates.

Getting to the truth of what you recorded and playing back an honest reproduction is harder than you might imagine. If you're playing back through your computer speakers or even your $10K stereo system doesn't always tell the truth. Bottom line, I don't have the same playback equipment that you have, my car stereo certainly won't sound the same. So how do you know that your material will sound good when I listen to it?Oh, don't even start asking about mixing with head phones...the gang here will well...take your head off leaving you with no place to hang the headphones.

So what happens when you start tweaking your sounds to make them sound good at the place you're working from? You massage a little here and some more over there and you get what you think sound good, you burn the CD and take it to your friends house and it's all boomy sounding or very bright and shrill.

Getting a set up with a good point of reference is where everyone's going here. Getting a good, clean neutral work space is essential and a good set of monitors (speakers) is a good place to start...not to be confused with expensive home stereo speakers since many entertainment speakers will hype the sound to make it more pleasing to listen to. After all, how do you really know that your cheapie bargain mic sounds like crap? Maybe it's how you're using it, the room it's in and how the playback system reproduces your work. Moving along, monitor placment and the room you're working in (just say no to headphones) again play an important part. This can get expensive very fast but the point really for the DIY music maker is to find a balance and get the best bang for your buck.

The last bit of advice I would give you...read through the forums here. If you're a noob the learning curve at first appears steep and the lingo a little off-putting but it's not all that bad. It's the finer points, the last 10% that's the toughest to master and that's where your product really starts to shine.

Good luck, patience and have fun.
 
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legionserial said:
Well, it's kind of a gray area...The idea behind monitors is that they are supposed to have a flat response through the whole frequency range. Thereby giving you a more accurate representation of what is going on in your mix.

However, the reason I say it is gray area, is that there are a whole bunch of other factors to take into account. If you don't have acoustic treatment in your mixing area, you may still not get a completely accurate representation at all, even with studio monitors. Obviously the acoustic qualities of the room directly influence how the sound is affected before it reaches your ears.

Also, I would say that the sort of monitors I could afford aren't neccessarily going to be super accurate anway.

However, it still may be worth getting some reasonably priced monitors if you only have crappy speakers, or are mixing on headphones (which is not a good idea--but that's another story)...
Click to expand...
It'd not just this. There are headphones with much flatter responses than monitors in a room. They just don't sound the same. If you mix on headphones, if you play it on a pair of speakers, it will sound totally different. You just can't mix for speakers on headphones, imo. One thing i've noticed, if you reverse phase/double track a guitar, you can't hear the affect on headphones nearly as much as through monitors(in my experience).
 
punkin said:
Your gear recording equipment; mics, mic positioning, audio interface, etc..doesn't "hear" sounds the way your ears do. Complicating matters, the room participates in this as does the playback equipment and so much moreMaking. Everything in the signal chain participates.

Getting to the truth of what you recorded and playing back an honest reproduction is harder than you might imagine. If you're playing back through your computer speakers or even your $10K stereo system doesn't always tell the truth. Bottom line, I don't have the same playback equipment that you have, my car stereo certainly won't sound the same. So how do you know that your material will sound good when I listen to it?Oh, don't even start asking about mixing with head phones...the gang here will well...take your head off leaving you with no place to hang the headphones.

So what happens when you start tweaking your sounds to make them sound good at the place you're working from? You massage a little here and some more over there and you get what you think sound good, you burn the CD and take it to your friends house and it's all boomy sounding or very bright and shrill.

Getting a set up with a good point of reference is where everyone's going here. Getting a good, clean neutral work space is essential and a good set of monitors (speakers) is a good place to start...not to be confused with expensive home stereo speakers since many entertainment speakers will hype the sound to make it more pleasing to listen to. After all, how do you really know that your cheapie bargain mic sounds like crap? Maybe it's how you're using it, the room it's in and how the playback system reproduces your work. Moving along, monitor placment and the room you're working in (just say no to headphones) again play an important part. This can get expensive very fast but the point really for the DIY music maker is to find a balance and get the best bang for your buck.

The last bit of advice I would give you...read through the forums here. If you're a noob the learning curve at first appears steep and the lingo a little off-putting but it's not all that bad. It's the finer points, the last 10% that's the toughest to master and that's where your product really starts to shine.

Good luck, patience and have fun.
Click to expand...
Very good post :D
 
Thanks for all the advice.

In reply to the headphones business, I need headphones while recording, as I need to hear what I'm performing to, so I use them to actually create as opposed to seeing how the end product comes out.

From what I've read here it sounds like monitors are a better way to hear the quality, but without any real guarantee that it's a true representation, I'm starting to wonder if it'll be worth the money, since there doesn't seem to be a 'right' set to buy.

I've noticed the room I've been recording in has effected the quality of the recording. Usually I record at home in the front room when no one else is home, so there aren't alot of changes I could really make to the room since other people have to live here too. I'm not quite sure what do to about the space I record in or if there are any solutions, but if there is I'd like to hear them.
 
TOF1987 said:
Thanks for all the advice.

In reply to the headphones business, I need headphones while recording, as I need to hear what I'm performing to, so I use them to actually create as opposed to seeing how the end product comes out.

From what I've read here it sounds like monitors are a better way to hear the quality, but without any real guarantee that it's a true representation, I'm starting to wonder if it'll be worth the money, since there doesn't seem to be a 'right' set to buy.

I've noticed the room I've been recording in has effected the quality of the recording. Usually I record at home in the front room when no one else is home, so there aren't alot of changes I could really make to the room since other people have to live here too. I'm not quite sure what do to about the space I record in or if there are any solutions, but if there is I'd like to hear them.
Click to expand...
You could build rigid fiberglass broadband gobos, and arrange the mixing position to the best place, without too much distruption. However, unless you're recording a full band, and mixing, then i don't think you really need more than just headphones. If what you record is sent somewhere else with monitors/good mixing environment, to be mixed/mastered(if you go that far), then don't bother with monitors/acoustics. I'd suggest trying to get a dead sound, however, while recording, so the person mixing has the most flexability. Something like this can help acheive that dead dry sound(duvets/pillow over a mic stand :D):
 

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Panda makes some good points. I tend to over simplify and nothing is cast in stone here. The wonderful thing about making sounds is that there are no rules...just guidelines. The cool thing is, there are a lot of great experienced people who've already built the wheel for us..

Move slow, do your home work. Doesn't sound like you've got any critical deadlines.

Another worthwhile exersise might be to record something...anything. Burn it as is then take it to your car, then to the home stereo, then to the boom box. Compare to what you think it sounded like when you recorded it in the first place.

Headphones have their place...wasn't trying to shoot them down entirely and you bet!...during tracking is a great place for them. The mix and mastering not so much but still useful for detailed listening and cleaning up little nasties here -n- there.

It's about knowing your gear and what it really turns out.

Peace, love and all that happieness shit...I think little Stevie Vai said that somewhere.
 
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Good idea there Pandamonk, I'll try to get something like that set up tomorrow.

I'm just recording myself as you guessed, the most I hope to achieve would be some CD's to sell locally, or maybe a demo some day. I'm just taking it easy.

Punkin: I've had my eyes opened a bit about the difference in playback, I'll definately be experimenting a bit more.

Thanks alot.
 
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