Sound 'Phenomenon'? What I Hear isn't What is Recording.

  • Thread starter Thread starter gvdv
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gvdv

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Sorry, couldnt' think of a better title for this thread.

I have been doing some mic. tests, and have encountered a phenomenon which I haven't previously encountered.

Put simply, I have found that sometimes the sound that I heard in my cans was very different from the sound that went 'to tape', and sometimes it was exactly the same, and that the variables affecting this were (1) polar pattern (mic. configuration/setting), and (2) leaving the mics. unaffected while tracking.

I like to track leaving the EQ off (i.e., using a 'flat' mic. setting), and I usually go straight into my Presonus Firestudio preamp, and record the output on my Mac Pro (at this point I'm using GarageBand but am rapidly outgrowing it).

I have only ever really used humble mics. (SM58, SM57), but have recently begun to test some condensers and other dynamics (Rode K2 and Shure SM7b, Audio Projects C1 - and Shure SM57, so far) to see whether I should change my recording set-up a bit.

I found that tracking with these mics. in various configurations gave me an 'accurate' depiction of what was being recorded, and was an easy task, while switching to other polar patterns or configurations sounded very flat, and was very difficult to cope with because I couldn't really 'hear' what I was singing or playing (the level/volume was O.K., but I couldn't really get a feel for the dynamics).

I experienced this problem mostly with the Rode K2 and Shure SM7b (although I have tended to EQ the 57 and 58, too), and found that the solution to this problem was to add a significant amount of high end. I'm not talking about proximity effect here, because I have experimented with all kinds of mic. placements and positions relative to the sound source.

Does anyone else know what I'm talking about here? And if so, should I be going about tracking in a different way?

Another part of this problem, which has really been emphasized by the K2 and SM7b especially, is that I have often wanted to monitor the signal at a lower level but have been unable to do so because (a) the software mixer and 'routing matrix' with my Firestudio have never worked, and (b) GarageBand does not allow separate adjustment of recording and monitor levels (i.e., the recording level and monitor level is combined in one slider per track).

Thanks,
GVDV.
 
I'm not following what your problem is, could you please simplify it. All I've really gathered is that the monitored sound is different than that of the actual recorded sound. I'm just not sure if i'm following you correctly.
 
m.g. eddie said:
I'm not following what your problem is, could you please simplify it. All I've really gathered is that the monitored sound is different than that of the actual recorded sound. I'm just not sure if i'm following you correctly.
Click to expand...
Hi m.g.eddie, mjbphotos, grimtraveller, and guitaristic,
Thanks for your posts and thoughts.

m.g. eddie, sorry about the confusion. I only realized yesterday or early today how to describe my problem clearly, so thanks for the encouragement to get clearer, and here goes.

First, yes, you are understanding the general nature of my problem, which is that the mix that I was hearing in my headphones with some of the mics. I tested was nothing like what was being recorded.

The important part of that - and the part that I was uncharacteristically inarticulate about - was that the 'mix' that I was hearing was sometimes so 'strange' to me (usually extremely murky and muddy) that it was getting in the way of me being able to focus on what I was recording. I hope that that is clear and please feel free to ask for an alternative explanation - I will do my best.

The interesting part of this to me is that I usually record 'flat' (without effects) with my SM58 (and add effects later). While the SM58 doesn't sound great flat, it at least provides me with the information I need to hear in order to overdub without being distracted. So, I was surprised that I couldn't work in the same way when recording the Rode K2 'flat'.

As I mentioned in my original post, I think that I would have been able to minimize this problem by lowering the monitor level of what I was recording; however, as I also mentioned, in GarageBand (and with the problems that I have with my Presonus Firestudio software) I am unable to lower the monitor level without also affecting the recording level (because both are controlled by the same slider).

mjbphotos, Reaper - yes, I downloaded it about a month ago and haven't yet got around to tracking in it. I am very interested in getting to grips with Reaper as it sounds like it is a wonderful program (I'm sure that - apart from plug-ins - it has much more versatility than GarageBand, being a professional program). But given that GB has some nice plugins, and is very simple to use, I will probably continue to use it for my initial tracking for a while. (I was working in a friend's Logic Express very briefly recently, and want to look at LE and Reaper in comparison to one another for a possible move 'up').

Thanks,
GVDV.
 
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