Need Help Recording

[ExileOfDreamZ]

I Was Using A SNowball USB Mic From Bluemics

Now I Am Using A Yeti USB Mic From Bluemics

But It's Not Sounding The Greatest As My Previous Mic Did
Because I Am Unsure On The Settings My Microphone Should Be Put On
I Use Cool Edit Pro 2.1 For Recording And I Love It

Does Anyone Elze Record With A Yeti Microphone?
If So What Settings Do You Use?

And Does Anyone Know What Effects I Should Use On My Vocals With Cool Edit Pro For It To Sound Close To Studio Quality
I Always Use Dynamic Processor - Very Fast Attack / Spit Clear / Reverb Effects

Here Is A Test Sample:
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=8547077



Any Help Improving My Recording Would Be Appreciated Thanks

 

[Jim Lad]

Aside from the obvious hiss in the intro, you sound pretty good with that set up. Only you will know what you want for reverb but your room noise works fine the way it is.
If you want a studio sound though, you need to get an audio interface and forget about USB mics.
You'll hear that a lot.
You should probably let people know about the content too, just in case they happen to open it up in front of the kids.

 

[gt2008]

If you're stuck on using presets, here's what I'd suggest to do (as a fellow amateur, I would say learn how to mix through tons of research and hands-on, but here's a decent process for the mid-term).

#1. Save up money, and grab pieces a little bit at a time. Get an interface with a preamp (I started with the Lexicon Omega and it really got me going), and I started with a $300 studio mic. (Rode NT1A). This will improve your sound significantly.
#2. Messing with an EQ like the spit clear on the graphic eq, and mixing it with the very fast attack setting in the dynamics processing can really make S's way to0 sharp. (I haven't heard your tracks b/c I can't get soundclick from my office). So, if this is an issue for you, drop the graphic EQ preset altogether (spit clear) and learn about EQ(like I need to) before messing with it too much. The very fast attack is a good preset for rap vocals, widely used, but to take away from the harsh s's (without fuxsin with a d'esser) you can go to multi-track view, click eq at the top, and it gives you a hi med low option for each track. When using the very fast attack(and sucking with EQ), turn the hi setting down to negative 2 or 3.

Here's what I was doing on Cool Edit Pro before I recently began messing with manual eq and compression and stuff:

Record my track twice. The more "exact" you can get the two, the more polished you'll sound. Turn the second one way down. The first one up as your "main." Then, make two tracks of dubs for "emphasis" words, like for rap the ending of the bars or whatever. Pan 1 of them 75 left, one of them 75 right, and turn them down to about a negative 3. They should be really subtle in the mix, barely noticable. Having them too prevalent sounds muddy and awful.

In editing:

amplitude>amplify>center wave
amplitude>dynamics processing>very fast attack (don't forget, if it's making your S's too sharp, turn the hi's down in multi-track view).
then apply a reverb, or an echo effect. if your room is "decent" sounding, mess with the "nice presence" preset, or the "natural" preset. For choruses, I like to go to echo > mono vocals 2 preset. check that out.

or you can go into chorus effects, but change the setting at the top(number of voices) back to a "2" no matter which you choose or it will always get muddy.



Hopefully these are some tips you can use, and once you feel comfy with presets, start reading and learning manual mixing!!!

 

[TimOBrien]

USB mics are, for the most part, for podcasting and not music making.

Even a cheap ASIO interface and a Shure SM-57 will give you better results.

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My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad so this is just a paste (I don't want to re-type this all the time):

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/04...mp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0470385421
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)
You can also pick up this book in most any Borders or Barnes&Noble in the Music Books section!

Another good one is: Recording Guitar and Bass by Huw Price
http://www.amazon.com/Recording-Gui...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215734124&sr=1-1
(I got my copy at a place called Half-Price Books for $6!!)

And you can get a FREE subscription to TapeOp magazine at www.tapeop.com

Barnes&Noble or Borders are great places to start --- they have recording books and you can go get a snack or coffee and read them for FREE! Don't pass by a good recording book --- this is a VERY technical hobby and you REALLY want to start a reference library!!!

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics and have good tips:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs
http://www.harmony-central.com/articles/
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/tips-techniques/168409-tips-techniques.html

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig: http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Also Good Info: http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

Other recording books: http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html

Still using a built-in soundcard?? Unfortunately, those are made with less than $1 worth of chips for beeps, boops and light gaming (not to mention cheapness for the manufacturer) and NOT quality music production.
#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the built-in soundcard.
Here's a good guide and tested suggestions that WORK: http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm
(you'll want to bookmark and read through all of Tweak's Guide while you're there...)


Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:

Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)
Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)\
Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/
Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com/smm

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ (It's $50 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)
I use Reaper and highly reccomend it...

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($25) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - http://myriad-online.com
Demo you can try on the website.

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full FREE studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they gave away SamplitudeV9SE and July 2009 issue they put out Samplitude10SE. FREE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)

 

[ExileOfDreamZ]

=] Alright Thanks For The Advice I'm Sure It'll Be Useful.