How to start off (Yes, I perused the FAQ) >.<

[Jeff Alan]

Hey guys! New to the forum and recording in general. I know these posts are probably a touch annoying since it's so far below most of your levels, but any help would mean the world! My conflict is this: I'm trying to record some simple voice acting parts for a cartoon. I bought an Audio-Technica AT2020 based on reviews. The problem is, when I plug in and just start recording, it sounds like a 5 dollar mic. Now, I know this isn't the mic, I've heard recordings from it from other actors involved with this, and it sounds fantastic. To make matters more complicated, the part requires some yelling, so I'm trying to avoid crackling, but if I push the gain too much in one direction or another in audacity, it makes the sound even worse. Basically my long winded question is this: what do you do to configure this thing to get adequate sound in the simplest terms? I'm open to any software, or any advice! I checked the FAQ, but again that information seemed out of my league/didn't really seem to touch on USB set ups, as near as I could tell from a quick glance. Thanks so much guys.

 

[Massive Master]

Is the mic simply picking up a poorly-treated space...?

What's the rest of the chain? (Preamp / converter / interface / etc.)

What sort of experience do you have with VO work?

What sort of experience do you have with VO recording? (Which leads to another several dozen questions)

What do you mean by "pushing the gain in Audacity? The signal going in or the signal tracked with plenty of headroom being amplified in the DAW...?

Long story short, we need quite a bit more info before anyone can even hazard a guess. But going out on a limb, most of the time it's a lack of basics (tracking too hot instead of leaving gobs of headroom - *especially* important in VO, where most guidelines require absolute *peak* levels of -18 to -12dBFS - not surprisingly, where you should be most of the time anyway) and improperly / inadequately treated spaces (especially important with overly-sensitive condensers with overly dynamic sources).

 

[Dave Matthews]

Like Massive Master is asking... What are you plugging the mic into?

 

[Bobbsy]

+1 to all the questions above, particularly what you're using as an interface to plug the mic into the computer. Or is it by any chance a USB microphone? The AT2020 has a USB version.

However, one possible easy solution: The AT2020 is a cardioid condenser mic. Without going into the details, this means that there is a correct side and a wrong side to speak into. If you're speaking into the wrong side it'll sound terrible because it's only picking up the reflections of your voice off the walls of the room.

So...try talking into the other side.