preamp?

[SheHadTheJack]

Hi
I have bought this Lexicon Omega. And i fear that this was a bad buy.
I have an ADK Hamburg condensed microphone and an SM57.

My problem is that i think my recordings are a bit "mumbled" (is that a word ), it lacks high frequencies and doesnt sound very alive. Im sorry i cant explain it better, my recording vocabulary is not that good or correct.

Today i went to the local store to look on mixers, because i thought i could get a better sound with some pre-recording EQing. But the salesman adviced me to buy a better preamp instead of a mixer. More precisely he adviced me to buy the "Studio-Projects Pre-Amp VTB1".

What is your opinion. Im sure the VTB1 is a much better preamp than whats inside the Lexicon Omega, but how much will i actually gain from buying this, and what is to gain from buying a much more expenssive pre-amp - will i want to buy a new and more expenssive pre-amp half a year from now?
.... - not sure this issue was explained right, i hope you understand my concerns.

Other than that: using the VBT1 through the lexicon omega, wont that undermine the quality of the VBT1?

Hope you understand.
Thanks
Carsten

 

[RAK]

Hi
I have bought this Lexicon Omega. And i fear that this was a bad buy.
I have an ADK Hamburg condensed microphone and an SM57.

My problem is that i think my recordings are a bit "mumbled" (is that a word ), it lacks high frequencies and doesnt sound very alive. Im sorry i cant explain it better, my recording vocabulary is not that good or correct.

Today i went to the local store to look on mixers, because i thought i could get a better sound with some pre-recording EQing. But the salesman adviced me to buy a better preamp instead of a mixer. More precisely he adviced me to buy the "Studio-Projects Pre-Amp VTB1".

What is your opinion. Im sure the VTB1 is a much better preamp than whats inside the Lexicon Omega, but how much will i actually gain from buying this, and what is to gain from buying a much more expenssive pre-amp - will i want to buy a new and more expenssive pre-amp half a year from now?
.... - not sure this issue was explained right, i hope you understand my concerns.

Other than that: using the VBT1 through the lexicon omega, wont that undermine the quality of the VBT1?

Hope you understand.
Thanks
Carsten

Before you go spending any more money, I would experiment with mic placement to start with. Also, what is your monitoring setup and how's the room, acoustically speaking. These things may play a part as to why you're not getting a great sound.

Also, I know you didn't really describe low volume (gain) as an issue, but if you think that is part of it, I believe the Omega has a mic pad switch on the back, so make sure that's not on.

Also, which software are you using, and is there any signal processing you have on when you're playing it back that is affecting the sound?

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

I agree with RAK, the gear you have is fine, in fact i've heard very respectable recordings made on lesser gear, the problems are probably in your ability to use it and also the acoustic space you record in.

The best mics and pres in the world won't be up to much in a shitty sounding room.

I've never used the pres in the lexicon but I have used a VTB-1, I'd be very surprised if the studio projects pre was much better, I don't think it's a worthwhile upgrade, in fact it's not an upgrade at all, more of a side-grade.

It's certainly not going to solve your problems I'm confident of that.

 

[Robert D]

It's certainly not going to solve your problems I'm confident of that.

.....unless you have a defective unit, in which case getting it fixed is the fix. Otherwise, I agree with both Kevin and Rak. There's got to be something else wrong.

Oh wait, here's the problem... "I have an ADK Hamburg condensed microphone and an SM57". You have to add a can of water to the "condensed" Hamburg. (you meant condenser )

So, if you put cardioid mics too close to things, they will have something called proximity effect, which is an increase in lows. If this is the case, move the mics away from the source a bit.

If you deaden the room too much with foam or something, it will suck all the highs out of the room, but low frequencies with their longer wavelengths will be un-affected, giving you a skewed freq response.

Really cheap cables can act as low pass filters.

If none of these apply, see if line in recordings suffer the same loss of highs and detail as mic in recordings. This check illiminates a lot of things from the equation.

Let us know what you find out.

 

[SheHadTheJack]

Ok.
I guess you´re right, because im pretty new to recording.
Im guessing its the room then, because its in my bedroom, which is both small and filled with all kinds of isolating effects (bed, clothes...)

I have been trying all kinds of different mic settings (only using one mic at the time, i havent tried both at the same time, which i probably should pretty soon) - I found a website about mic technique with different mic placements.

Here is my setup:

Cheap spanish guitar (santana) -> ADK CONDENSER mic -> Lexicon Omega -> Cubase SX3 (back to Lexicon Omega) -> Event TR8 monitors.
When i record i dont add any effects untill later.

I will go back to working on my mic placement, room setup and stuff, and quit spending money for a while. Thanks for your advice. Maybe i will even post a track in the future.