Many recording questions I have

[MotionBlyr]

I'm looking at getting into vocal recording for video game commentaries (don't hate on me, it's fun!). My PC can handle any software you throw at it, but I need advice on optimising my recordings and getting my setup how I want it.

My equipment (so far):

Shure SM58
Alesis XLR to USB cable
Audacity
Desktop mic stand

And now to the questions:

1) My mic sounds beautiful when I record through audacity, but it's extremely bassy to other people on Skype/Teamspeak and the like. How can I fix this?
2) Is the XLR to USB direct input a good idea, or would it be worth finding something I can then feed into a soundcard? Any suggestions?
3) For vocals, do any Shure product-owners know the optimum distance for the mic to be at?
4) What accessories would it be worth getting to reduce any background noise/clean up sound entering mic?

I've got a budget of around £70, or $100.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Hi there,

Advice for reducing pickup of noise (other than removing the source of noise!!!) is to get very close to the mic.
Advice for reducing bassiness is to move away from the mic. (google proximity effect).

Do you have any way of putting audacity in the path before skype/whatever?
If you can route that successfully then you can stay close the the mic and just use an eq on your voice.
You might need to investigate virtual bus software like soundflower.


I don't often recommend these but a much simpler solution would be a small USB mixer with eq on the mic pre channel.

Bottom line with room noise, though, is to remove the source of noise. Anything else is just damage limitation really.

 

[MotionBlyr]

Hi there,

Advice for reducing pickup of noise (other than removing the source of noise!!!) is to get very close to the mic.
Advice for reducing bassiness is to move away from the mic. (google proximity effect).

Do you have any way of putting audacity in the path before skype/whatever?
If you can route that successfully then you can stay close the the mic and just use an eq on your voice.
You might need to investigate virtual bus software like soundflower.


I don't often recommend these but a much simpler solution would be a small USB mixer with eq on the mic pre channel.

Bottom line with room noise, though, is to remove the source of noise. Anything else is just damage limitation really.

Is there a soundflower alternative for Windows? And also, how can I optimise the PC/task side of things so that latency is not as much of an issue with audio routing?

And what brands would I look for in a small USB mixer? Why wouldn't you often recommend them?

 

[Steenamaroo]

Is there a soundflower alternative for Windows? And also, how can I optimise the PC/task side of things so that latency is not as much of an issue with audio routing?

And what brands would I look for in a small USB mixer? Why wouldn't you often recommend them?

How would latency matter to you? (That's a genuine question.)

I don't usually recommend USB mixers because they're not usually the most appropriate tool or they're just not necessary.
In your case, EQ on the way in would save you a lot of trouble.

 

[MotionBlyr]

How would latency matter to you? (That's a genuine question.)

I don't usually recommend USB mixers because they're not usually the most appropriate tool or they're just not necessary.
In your case, EQ on the way in would save you a lot of trouble.

What I'd need the bass reduction for is for Teamspeak, which is tactical decisions in team-based games that need to be quite fast. The discussion gets pretty fast-paced, so latency can't be higher than 0.5-1 second higher than usual

 

[Steenamaroo]

What I'd need the bass reduction for is for Teamspeak, which is tactical decisions in team-based games that need to be quite fast. The discussion gets pretty fast-paced, so latency can't be higher than 0.5-1 second higher than usual

I don't expect you'd have a problem. What we (recordists) generally consider to be unacceptable latency is way below half a second!

It's only off putting if you can hear your real voice acoustically and the copy with mild latency.

 

[sjjohnston]

One subject, not mentioned: how are you monitoring your recordings? I don't totally understand what it is you're recording, so it may not be necessary to monitor accurately while you're recording it, but it sounds like you need to check what you've recorded and "master" it (in the general sense).

What inspires that thought is this:

1) My mic sounds beautiful when I record through audacity, but it's extremely bassy to other people on Skype/Teamspeak and the like.

How your mic sounds to you likely has more to do with what you're using to listen to it than anything else.

 

[matkatmusic]

an extra bassy sound is the result of the proximity effect. back away from the mic, and you won't pick up some much bass in the signal. also, make sure you get a pop filter.

 

[ecc83]

I would also suggest a small mixer.
I am doing much the same thing but for a very different purpose, garden wildlife recording.
I have two cheap (20quid) dynamics wrapped in clingfilm in the garden feeding a Behringer Xeny 802. The bass control is at minimum and there is a touch of mid and treble lift. This keeps wind rumble out and I get really clean birdsong and all sorts of chirps and squarks.

The mixer actually feeds a passive video/audio converter to send the signals ove 2 pairs of CAT5e to my living room where another box converts them back to video and unbalanced audio. This feeds a 32" FST telly and a Freeview hard drive recorder. I have hundreds of hours of stuff on dvd!

I agree that small, cheap usb mixers are not that good. The 802 is well up for it but is far better feeding a decent PCI card such as the M-A 2496.

Dave.