should i quit?

[Blue Bear Sound]

Well - you can email me the clips then if you prefer... in all likelihood, it's some setting on your signal path into the computer that's causing the issue, but without hearing the actual difference, it's hard to say exactly what that might be.... [info@bluebearsound.com]

 

[cpc]

Well - you can email me the clips then if you prefer... in all likelihood, it's some setting on your signal path into the computer that's causing the issue, but without hearing the actual difference, it's hard to say exactly what that might be.... [info@bluebearsound.com]

yes i know, i wish i could post a sample of what it should sound like so comparisons could be done, but unfortunately i cannot post a casette online for download. which is why i didnt want to post a clip in the first place but it was requested so i complied because im desperate. but thanks for your willingness to help , i'll try to get some better clips , or get something put together elsewhere digitaly so it sounds like it should and email them to you for comparison. thanks again. this is just frustrating.

 

[noisedude]

Your singing sounds fine if that's your voice and your style. I'm too tired to make any attempts at a judgement based on 8 seconds, but I'd go with the Bear's assessment tonally.

 

[cpc]

thanks for your opinion as well. i mean, that is my voice and style to an extent, you can tell it's me singing...but it just seems to have an added effect when i record to computer that makes it sound not serious and worse. and it's fine for recording ideas...but i wanted to get into computer recording to make serious stuff. and i just cant feel satisfied or comfortable putting this sound of my voice on songs when it's not how i have it invisioned and its not how i'm suppose to sound. would you feel comfortable putting your name on thigns you're not satisfied with? ...its similar to if someone were to play guitar for a pretty ballad song with distortion on their guitar, or played guitar from behind a wall or something. you know who's playing the guitar and can tell what it is ,and hear their style....but theres some kind of effect that makes it worse then it should be and sound not serious. thats what it feels like to me and its frustrating.

 

[Chris Shaeffer]

And the answer to should you quit is definitely "NO!"

I sucked and had no idea why when I started almost 20 years ago.

Now I have a pretty good idea of why I suck when I do... The rest of the time its not too bad. And its been fun every step of the way. Have confidence that you CAN figure out what's wrong and don't get too attached to the results at first and you'll be fine.

(And I'm at work so can't listen to your clip. Will do when I get home.)

Chris

 

[cpc]

thanks for the encouragement haha. i dont let myself get too attatched to the results because i know im better then that and it's not how i sound...it just frustrates me because i cant do anything now how i want them to be with my computer yet and i keep wondering if i should just leave computer recording up to the professionals. i thought this would be a fun easy hobby but it's been nothing of the sort yet, although it's been suprisingly addictive given my frustration and unsatisfied results. i just really want to be able to record on my computer so i can store all my ideas, come up with songs, and even do some online collaborations where people can actually hear how i am suppose to sound!

 

[nwsoundman]

You may just be used to what recordng to tape does and digital doesn't. Who knows how hard you normaly hit the tape but you may be used to some tape compression on your voice. Also depending on what analog you use you get differnt head bump. Also you may not be getting the same upper mid and top end off the tape as you hear on the digital recording.

Are you happy with recordings to your computer of things other than your voice?

 

[cpc]

all i've ever recorded on my computer is my voice really so i cant really compare. i record my cheap casio keyboard sometimes and that sounds a little off too but im not really worried about that. also recorded piano with it 1 time and wasnt happy with the results but have no experience in how to record a piano what so ever.

another thing that confuses me, i see absolutely NO improvement with my new beta87a condenser mic and mobile pre over my shure sm58 and stock soundcard for computer recording. the mic is alot clearer at practice which is a nice new option, but for recording on my computer i hear NO improvement at all, which kind of confuses me. still sound the exact same not serious- unsatisfied vocals that i had with a shure sm58 into my stock soundcard.

 

[cpc]

i also recorded my girlfriend talking normally, and singing. and upon playback neither sounded like she did in real life. you could deffinitely tell it was her...but once again it was different

 

[nwsoundman]

What soundcard are you using? What app are you recording to/

 

[cpc]

i am using an m-audio mobile pre right now into adobe audition 1.5.

i also have a stock sound card, shure sm58 mic, audacity....and every combination i can try has yielded the same results.

another newb question. could my stock sound card be interfering with my m-audio at all? i would guess not but doesnt hurt to ask.

 

[neno]

I know exactly what are you talking about Riznich.

I'm not really into vocal recording and singing anymore but when I was devoted Judas Priest/ Rob Halford fun (back then in the 90's) I used to practice alot and every tape recording of our rehearsal sounded right but when I first tried to record my performance with SB Live Platinum and Beta 58 mic I could not believe how different and how thin my voice sounded.

I was embarassed to show our digital recordings to friends and blame it all on bad equipment, but even after I upgraded my rig to RME Hammerfall,condenser MK-319 and TB 202 tube pres it didn't changed much. My voice had character, warmth and strenght on all of our tape recordings but on those digital it sounded unnatural and sterile. I needed to put so much effort when recording digitaly to sound barely acceptable. What troubled me is that my bandmates did not notice big difference but to me it was huge.

I am aware that my mic and pres were in budget category but still think that they should have sounded better than a bloody $100 2-track Sony tape recorder, dynamic Shure mic and Yamaha EMX mixer pres.
However, I decided to invest in some better vintage mic and pres and to try again, though it is not easy to make a decison im my homeland beacuse you can't just go to a 20 different stores and experiment with mic/pre combos to find best match with your voice, but perhaps that's just what you should do. It would be great to rent good mobile rig for such a purpose.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

I was embarassed to show our digital recordings to friends and blame it all on bad equipment, but even after I upgraded my rig to RME Hammerfall,condenser MK-319 and TB 202 tube pres it didn't changed much. My voice had character, warmth and strenght on all of our tape recordings but on those digital it sounded unnatural and sterile.

Oh fuck, here we go.......

Neno -- I record to both computer and digital multitrack and I assure you, even if I used the crapiest or best mic & mic pre, what goes into either computer or multitrack is what I get out... if you're not getting out what's going in, then you've done something wrong - period. It's certainly NOT the fault of "digital recording"............

 

[cpc]

true, but im wondering like what a previous poster said. to get the analog sound do you just have to pay alot more on digital equipment? it would be worth it for the versatility of digital recording... but strangely the guy 2 posts above sounds quite similar to my situation..except my band mates and such CAN notice a difference when i record digital and agree it sounds worse. im also embarrassed to show people my digital recordings because its not how i want them to sound, and i feel like a fraud saying "i normally sound better than that"...but it's the truth!, in real life i can sing in person to prove it...online people dont take me seriously with my non-serious sounding vocals. am i going to need more experience with digital recording or a professional to truely bring out what my voice should sound like or should i continue to try new mics for my voice or what. my current mics seem to sound fine in practice...but it confuses me a bit that the upgrade to a condenser provides no improvement in my digital recordings.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

You're doing something wrong - that's the only explanation....

The other thing you can do is maybe take photos of your signal path (show all connections right down to the computer interface and the back of the computer) - maybe we can spot something there, otherwise it may be a config issue on your machine.

 

[cpc]

in fact, his situation sounds almost identical to mine. i also live in a place no where near music stores to test a bunch of different equipment out. did you ever find digital equipment or learn what would do your voice justice digitally? did you ever have a professional record you with better results?

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

did you ever find digital equipment or learn what would do your voice justice digitally? did you ever have a professional record you with better results?

I AM a professional - I use digital gear all the time and what goes in is exactly what comes out.... that's why I'm saying there's something wrong with your signal path (either before or after the computer) for you to be getting such a difference in sound as what you indicate there is..............

I'm willing to help you but you've got to hold up your end -- there's no way to diagnose your issue blindly by words on a page - I need to see and/or hear (preferably both!) what you're doing to be of any real help...........

 

[cpc]

You're doing something wrong - that's the only explanation....

The other thing you can do is maybe take photos of your signal path (show all connections right down to the computer interface and the back of the computer) - maybe we can spot something there, otherwise it may be a config issue on your machine.

i plug my shure mic into an m-audio mobile pre with an xlr cable. i turn the gain up just so the signal is loud enough without clipping. the m-audio mobile pre is plugged into my computer via usb . latency is not a problem.

even though my equipment is budget or entry level, i would still expect my few hundred dollars worth of stuff to yield better results than various tape recorders. i mean, my digital recordings are alot quieter...but that doesnt matter when the actual sound doesnt satisfy me.

 

[cpc]

I AM a professional - I use digital gear all the time and what goes in is exactly what comes out.... that's why I'm saying there's something wrong with your signal path (either before or after the computer) for you to be getting such a difference in sound as what you indicate there is..............

sorry, i am taking your advice quite seriously..i just thought i'd ask him those questions since he seemed to be in a similar position and go through a similar situation as me. i thought maybe the mic or soundcard could be adding a weird color that doesnt sound good on my voice in digital recordings or something, but both of my mics seem to have the same result.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

i plug my shure mic into an m-audio mobile pre with an xlr cable. i turn the gain up just so the signal is loud enough without clipping. the m-audio mobile pre is plugged into my computer via usb . latency is not a problem.

even though my equipment is budget or entry level, i would still expect my few hundred dollars worth of stuff to yield better results than various tape recorders. i mean, my digital recordings are alot quieter...but that doesnt matter when the actual sound doesnt satisfy me.

I repeat..........

I'm willing to help you but you've got to hold up your end -- there's no way to diagnose your issue blindly by words on a page - I need to see and/or hear (preferably both!) what you're doing to be of any real help...........