Question about DAW waves.

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musycsmk

New member
Hi, I have a question about the tracking vocal wave on logic pro. My mic is an AT2035, and interface is a Scarlett 18i6. It's my bedroom that I record, so I record on a reflection filter on the stand. The problem here is that I turn up the interface gain on the mic up to 6 ~ 6.5db. I'm about only 3" to 4" away from the mic. Put up the headphone volume upto a level where i can hear myself. But when I start recording vocals on to DAW. The waveform on the Logic seems so small that I can barely see it on normal size without expanding the track size. Only on high notes it appears more clearly that the waveform actually exsist. Read some post that when i'm recording vocals the average peak should be around -20 ~ -9db max. Do I have to step back and put more gain on the input? (If I put more gain into the input up to 7.5 or 8 it captures a lot of the background sound) or is there something wrong my gears?!? or is it this normal.. Please HELP!!!:confused:
 
If you have your mic set up in a big open room, that could be part of your problem. Try recording in a closet, or a smaller isolated space. That may help you. You should be able to boost it up more without getting as much of the room noise. The project I'm currently working on with a band I put up a bunch of blankets and created a semi iso booth in a garage. It didn't too bad at all. The problem was it was 90+ degrees. I've also gotten good results in a walk-in closet with clothes lining the sides. The small space of the closet gets rid of a lot of room noise, and the clothes helped with the reflected sound.
 
musycsmk said:
.. The problem here is that I turn up the interface gain on the mic up to 6 ~ 6.5db. I'm about only 3" to 4" away from the mic. Put up the headphone volume upto a level where i can hear myself. But when I start recording vocals on to DAW. The waveform on the Logic seems so small that I can barely see it on normal size without expanding the track size. Only on high notes it appears more clearly that the waveform actually exsist. Read some post that when i'm recording vocals the average peak should be around -20 ~ -9db max. Do I have to step back and put more gain on the input? (If I put more gain into the input up to 7.5 or 8 it captures a lot of the background sound) or is there something wrong my gears?!? or is it this normal.. Please HELP!!!:confused:
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Three things-
Don't worry about the wav picture size, it's only relavent to aid in editing or detail work (automation lines, cuts and pastes etc), and you can probably zoom in if needed.
The record level target you mentioned is way more important and a decent range to shoot for. (The ocasional peak a little higher is little harm typically

Your background noise (room' noises) is a function of how loud you are vs how far you are from the mic (and/or how much isolation you have around you and the mic of course)
Your pick as to how far is also a tone and size quality factor, so that will continue to be something to work out and judge as you go.

The key here is all else being equal, turning your gain or your record level up or down does not affect how loud the background room noise is.
Record it low, turn it up in the mix is the same signal-to-room ratio as recording hotter.
 
gecko zzed said:
Also . . . check to make sure you are singing into the correct side of the mike.
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+1 for Gecko's input. Not paying attention to the mic after placing it in the shock mount and behind a pop filter, more than one has made the same easy mistake by talking into the back side of the 2035. :cursing: been there, done that. The correct side will read 'Audio Technica' , with switches to the back.
 
xbxrxixtx said:
If you have your mic set up in a big open room, that could be part of your problem. Try recording in a closet, or a smaller isolated space
Click to expand...

I hate to do this, but I have to.

Disregard this advice and everything else in his post. It's the worst advice anyone could have given you. DO NOT sing in the smallest room possible, and no matter what you do, DO NOT record in a closet.
 
Well, a couple of thoughts:

First, raising the level by turning up the gain also raises any background noise by the same amount--the ratio between the wanted sound and the unwanted room noise remains the same. However, depending on the quality of the pre amps, turning up the gain can actually add electronic noise and make things worse. However, recording louder by getting closer to the mic or just performing louder does change the signal to noise ratio and can make things better. Indeed, the way the physics of sound works, it's an "inverse square ratio" so, for example, halving the distance to the mic increases the level by a factor of four (or, in effect, quarters the background noise).

Second, on the topic of recording in a closet, there's an element of "it depends on the closet". Yeah, a small boxy room is probably less desirable than a big boxy room. However, if the closet is full of enough clothes and soft stuff to make it a very dead space acoustically, that can actually help. If I can't have a good acoustic space I'd rather have a very dead space whatever the size. You'd be amazed at how many reporter voice overs in the field are recorded in hotel closets or even with a duvet over the guy's head and mic.
 
Bobbsy said:
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Second, on the topic of recording in a closet, there's an element of "it depends on the closet". Yeah, a small boxy room is probably less desirable than a big boxy room. However, if the closet is full of enough clothes and soft stuff to make it a very dead space acoustically, that can actually help. If I can't have a good acoustic space I'd rather have a very dead space whatever the size. You'd be amazed at how many reporter voice overs in the field are recorded in hotel closets or even with a duvet over the guy's head and mic.
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Why would you want to take a one in a million exception and throw it out there for a newb to mis-interpret.

Noobs, don't record in a closet. 99.99999% of the time, it's a horrible place to record. Forget the "it depends on the closet". As a general rule, 99.99999% of the time, a closet is a horrible place to record, and 99.9999999% of the time, a bigger room is better than a small room.
 
Closets in and of themselves are crap--but a closet stuffed full of clothing, bedding and other soft stuff is simply a dead space. Given a choice, I'd record in a nice acoustically treated studio--but if the choice is a big untreated space or an acoustically dead small space, (and talking about voice recording) I'd go for dead and add some room reverb later.
 
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