Recording voice and acoustic guitar using condencer mic

[MartinSvist]

Hi, I am new to recording, but not so new in music . I would like to record acoustic guitar, and vocals.

I have: M-audio FastTrack Pro USB, SM PRO Audio MC01, Cubase5

Setup:
- MC01 connected to M-audio with XLR, and phantom is ON
- On mic, I have set PAD to -10dB and I am cutting input bass frequency with the roll-off switch on the mic (I have tried more combinations)
- Gain on the mic channel on M-audio: 3/4
- In cubase I have one new mono track

Recording with this settings is way too quiet and I have to be 3 -5 cm close to the mic. I have to increase gain on mic channel on M-audio to 100% to get the loudness I am expecting. Unfortunately except of loudness I am getting also noise (too much according to my expectation). When I have more tracks, the noise becomes louder.

Can anyone please suggest how can I set up my stuff to get the maximum performance out of it? Thank you

 

[JimmyS1969]

Do not use the mic pad first off if you have to crank the preamp on the FT. I seriously doubt you sing at 130 dB. The pad is meant for for recording really loud stuff like drums. A cranked preamp on a lower end interface is likely to introduce added noise.

What levels are you getting in Cubase? You should be aiming for somewhere around -18 dBFS.

 

[Armistice]

What Jimmy said ^

And don't get hung up on "loudness" - you're after a correctly gain staged signal. "Loudness" is not a useful term at this point.

Also be aware of proximity effect. Get close to your cardioid pattern mic and you get more bass frequencies - which is fine if you want them, but I hope that's not the reason you have the rumble filter switch on.

 

[MartinSvist]

Thank you for your advices so far. I use the term loudness, because I can barely hear the recording when I have not set the gain to the 100%. I will check the levels I am getting tomorrow and I will post it here. One more question. As jimmi said, those noices and cracks can be caused by my Maudio. Could it also be because this mic is not very good? Would better mic solve this or it doesnt matter what mic i have, unless i have better mic preamp? thx

 

[Wish]

Also make sure you are singing/playing into the front of the mic, not the back.

 

[MartinSvist]

I am pretty sure, that I am singing /playing into the front Can anyone please respond to my question 2 posts above ? And of course if you have any other ideas, you are wellcome .
PS: Armistice said, that I should not be focused on loudness. But if the raw recording is not loud enough, how can I adjust its volume, when other instruments/tracks comes in?

 

[JimmyS1969]

What are you monitoring with? You would turn up your monitors or headphones until the mix is done. You don't need to worry about high volumes when tracking. This is something you would typically deal with later when mixing/mastering.

If you cannot hear your tracks while recording input level around -18dBFS (which in the digital world is somewhat of an equivalent to 0dB in the analog one), then your monitoring (headphone amp or monitor speaker power) needs to be addressed first.

 

[MartinSvist]

So, I am getting levels between -15 and -20dBFS So It should be ok.

 

[JimmyS1969]

What are you monitoring with?

 

[MartinSvist]

I am using M-Audio AV 40

 

[JimmyS1969]

Yeah, they are not very powerful. You could surely track with headphones to get more volume (hopefully your headphone output is strong), but mixing is really tough with headphones. Borderline impossible to some extent. SONY MDR V-150's are very loud and cheap. I used to use them for drum tracking.