Question concerning firepod

T

thickfreakness

New member
Well we've been hard at work recording lately and have run into a problem. We're using a firepod to record. the tracks are very muddled and sound like they are compressed; in other words, the dynamics of the drums especially are almost nothing. The wave looks like one big block instead of a wave full of spikes and slopes. The dynamic mics are fine, but the powered mics are'nt. We're using a Shure SM 81 condenser on the drums.

Perhaps some info on to why this is happening would be great.
 
thickfreakness said:
Well we've been hard at work recording lately and have run into a problem. We're using a firepod to record. the tracks are very muddled and sound like they are compressed; in other words, the dynamics of the drums especially are almost nothing. The wave looks like one big block instead of a wave full of spikes and slopes. The dynamic mics are fine, but the powered mics are'nt. We're using a Shure SM 81 condenser on the drums.

Perhaps some info on to why this is happening would be great.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the input level is up way, way, way too hot (or, f you're having to add lots of gain in software, not hot enough). Either that or maybe the phantom power isn't holding its voltage. Are you using really thin or extremely long cables?
 
heres a quick mix of a song I recorded on a customers Firepod



Ignore the mp3 artefacts, but the dynamics sure seemed to be there
 
we're using 15ft mic cables at the most. the drums are in a very isolated booth too...could that also be an issue as to why the dynamics are weak?
 
hit a drum hard

hit a drum soft

compare their reading both peak and rms (you could use the PSP Vintage meter for this)

If they show near the same numbers then you surely are losing dynamics somewhere. But honestly, after trying this unit myself, the only way I could see losing dynamics is if the whole thing were clipping
 
yeah it wouldn't make any sense for the built-in mic pres to be compressing the signal which is what I thought was the case. I made my booth less isolated and sure enough it sounds more dynamic. Now, I've just got to tweak it to where I like it.

Do you guys usually run your tracks through a mixer first and then into the firepod, or do you just use the built-in pre's and mix it with a digital interface?

Also, do you use a different mic pre for vocals?
 
thickfreakness said:
yeah it wouldn't make any sense for the built-in mic pres to be compressing the signal which is what I thought was the case. I made my booth less isolated and sure enough it sounds more dynamic. Now, I've just got to tweak it to where I like it.

Do you guys usually run your tracks through a mixer first and then into the firepod, or do you just use the built-in pre's and mix it with a digital interface?

Also, do you use a different mic pre for vocals?
Click to expand...

Well, i use a Motu 828mkII with no mixer. i just plug everything directly into the inputs of the motu. i use the onboard motu preamps for my LDC's. basically everything is mixed on the motu and cubase .
 
pipelineaudio said:
heres a quick mix of a song I recorded on a customers Firepod



Ignore the mp3 artefacts, but the dynamics sure seemed to be there
Click to expand...

my friend, you need to get a new mp3 encoder. that 192kbps mp3 sounds worse than 96kbps.
 
yes!!!

I cant figure it out

At 48khz sampling even the 128's sound good, but at 44k, the 192 even sounds like awful lagh track crap whenever theres a cymbal
 
Hey,

I have a firepod and have not experienced this problem at all, so I will simply outline what I do, procedurally to get the results that I do(great, in my opinion)...

1. same mics as you
2. pad the condensor overheads (Try to keep all mics that need the +48v phantom power in the first four imputs (since the phantom power is grouped 1-4, and 5-8) since there is no need for the extra power on the other mics...and that could be boosting your signal.
3. line check each mic individually before recording so clip led only occurs on loudest dynamic portions...
4. In Cubase, I keep the faders about mid-way up.
5. I apply all effects after the fact with a few rack units (but mostly plugins like waves)

If everything is like that, I have NEVER had a single issue with levels being too high during tracking.

I'm sure that's all just beginner stuff, and I don't mean to insult anyone's intellegence, if you already knew that. I just figured that since I'm fairly new to this as well, this was one of very few areas, that I feel I can offer advice as I have used the Firepod successfully hundreds of times without incident...

Hope this was a little helpful.

TheUltraVespa
 
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