Spreading myself to far

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mstudio1224@aol.com

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I have an AKGC2000 MIC going into the
ART TUBE MIC PRE, from there into channel (1) of Mixer (digital)

So optically I record into my HARD DISK UNIT (MDR), now my backgrounds seem to come out fine, clear and prestine and leveled, but when I do the lead I seem to get a buzzing
(might be cause I have a strong lead voice)

I'm using THE FINALIZER for compr/limiting via spdif from my mixr

it's weird cause , when I record at 3 inches away from the mic, (I have the gain up) and a little booth, my backgrounds pickup well, but on the lead (MORE FORCEFUL and attentive) it tends to have a lil lil lil lil lil digital buzz along side the lead vocal.

As producer, engineer and artist, your everywhere doing everything and I cant think where to begin to find the problem
any help would be useful. Trying to get stuff done before Jan
(((RECORD COMPANY BUDGETS)))
 
Let me see if I got this straight, your signal chain is:

Mic into ART Pre - into Mixer (Analog In - mixer converts to digital) - out of mixer via S/PDIF - into Finalizer (as compressor) - out to Digital recorder?

If this is the case then it sounds like you have the compressor after the digital converters, if so then you could be clipping the converters in the mixer by sending too much level from the ART Pre.
 
U Know what

Now you know what, they makes DAMN GOOD SENSE TO ME

I never thought of that, see what I mean, I was burnt out

that never even crossed my mind. something deep inside told
me to turn the gain down, but I didnt listen I was to eager to try
to get the songs done, better correct than quick.
 
Still not working

VOx --- The Harmonic Distortion still exists, I cant record without hearing that damn dreadful distortion on the vocal.

Also that last connection is: SPDIF out of mixer into FINALIZER, FINALIZER back in to the MIXER

I have been through everything. The MIC PRE is not in the RED, I never set the gain that high anyway, the FINALIZER could be but I think I read through that manual enough to set the Compressor/Limiter, so in turn it might be my mixer.

I noticed the gain inside the mixer when turned down does not give me the distortion, but then I get no level to record into my MDR.. I'm honestly ready to quit man, I get this far and I cant find the problem. The music is seperated 8, the other 12 have the background DONE, and now I cant get the GOD DAMN LEAD cause of distortion. It freaks me out cause, I've previous recording with adat, and now with this MDR ---THE SAME WAY AS ALWAYS, then boom all of a sudden --THIS HAPPENS --- any help will be appreciated, I'm giving it two weeks to figure out, if not
FUCK IT I'm selling everything aint no need to spend all this damn money for this stuff to run into ONE problem that will hinder the WHOLE DAMN PROJECT --- (forgive me I'm fukin furious at the dilemma I'm in)
 
What board are you using and exactly how is everything routed, what inputs/outputs etc ?
 
Yeah, and while I'm not sure it's possible, try using EVERYTHING that you used for the backup vocals and simply switching the MDR's feed so that you're recording what's coming through your mixer's backup track into your MDR's lead vocal track.

If you're still running into problems, it's likely the MDR (don't forget about Mackie's bad-wire incident a while back; this could be related). Has this particular channel on the MDR given you trouble in the past?

I have some more ideas for solutions, but I'm not familiar enough with digital transport between boxes to know if you can plug-n'-replace tracks like I'd suggest. Can you comment on your setup, and what exactly changed when you switched from backups to lead vocals? I notice you mention "little booth" when describing the backup environment. Did this environ change when you started doing the lead vox? (did you run a cord over a power cord or next to a transformer, etc?).

Also, one more thing: time of day. If you did the backups during the day, and then later did the lead at night, then flourescent ballasts might be getting at your sound. Think about what was on when you did the backups (and what your neighbors had the power doing), and what was on when you did the lead track.

One last thing: if this is the only track giving you trouble, do the lead vox in analog (which might be tough with the MDR). Lead track in alalog might give you a great sound, too (kinda).
 
Vox -- I am using the (2) Fostex VM200 digital mixer, to give you a mental visual, it's basically like this.

JV1080, Planet Phatt, Trinity,MPC, ASR 10, out of each 1/4 mono into mixer XLR

Now digitally the VM200 is ADAT out/in to MDR 1-8
the second VM200 is ADAT out/in to MDR 9-16
from second VM200 is ANALOG 1/4 to Dsub to MDR 17-24

Never had a problem previously to this--EVER, EVER, EVER NEVER EVER EVER EVER. The most recent addition to my set up is the FINALIZER --still which I dont think is the problem, because I dont have it in the red or compressing/ limiting to hard.
Mind you when I VOCALIZE on the mic to hear from my monitors I am clear ( I had someone vouch for me too) that it came out clearly, but ONLY, and ONLY after recorded into the MDR it came BACK out ---distorted harmonically----

Kelly Holdridge --

I didnt know of any wire problem with MACKIE, I just converted from ADAT, after waiting for the HD24 I grew weary and frustrated of waiting, also, there isnt anything DRASTIC that I have done from BACKGROUND to LEAD VOX, ya know, nothing different, maybe add a little WETNESS to background, but I like the lead dry (just me) so basically it's like one day something decided to go HAYWIRE on me, and I dont know where it is. Funny thing is all 5 other songs are fine on the drive, it's just this one LEAD, the music on the analog tracks-FINE, the background- FINE, adlibs - FINE but the lead comes out ILKKKK

So... I'm like confused, my set-up has not changed, day or night my recordings came out fine, as far as neighbors, they dont bother me, they rather like my stuff (so the young lady tells me)
I will keep trying, if anyone has any IDEAS, please let me know,
I will contact MACKIE today, to see if it's a glitch in the MDR, if so I'm under warranty I can switch and get a new one......

WISH ME LUCK right back please
 
VOX -- sorry,

The first mixer is ALSO SPDIF out to FINALIZER, FINALIZER out back into the SPDIF in on mixer

But its weird, on the back of the FINALIZER it has
SPDIF = 2 rca, 2 AES-EBU, ((2 OPT)) this is what I used

Ao on the front panel of the FINALIZER it asks for input, I selected OPT cause the other choice is ANALOG & SPDIF-(the rca SPDIF)

follow me --- just another insight
 
Mention that you "know" about the bad-wire thing. My dealer told me that Mackie was backed up and could not (with any swiftness) fix my CFX-16 because they had a batch of "bad wire" from a supplier, and this was causing tons of problems for their fixit department.

I've gotten lines from this dealer before, and want to confirm this. If this helps you get your MDR "fixed" (it might be fine as-is), then great. If they vehemently deny any "bad wire," then I'm going to kick my dealer's ass later on today. That's another story, though.

My solution was just a troubleshoot. If you can take everything that worked for the backups, and just shove it into your lead vox MDR channel, without problem, then it's in your mixer or whatever signal chain you used for the lead vox. If you still have the problem, it's probably in your MDR. You know what I mean.

Waiting for the HD24 myself. It better rock!
 
Spoke to MACKIE

They said because I dont have a BNC source, from my MIXER to the MDR to "KEEP SYNC ALIVE" ha ha ha

anyway I told them, I used it without it previously to this problem, he said "Yeah, you got lucky, but what happened is that it eventually drifted outta phase, which gives you harmonic distortion or drifts outta phase"

Basically set my mixer for external ADAT or WORD CLOCK source and that should copy/picture & replicate all AUDIO SOURCES
(I'm buying a BNC cable just in case)

I hope this works,

p.s. Kelly, Good Luck waiting on that unit, I really tried, god knows I did, but record company budgets are around the corner and I need to get this stuff done, I may still get one, then sell my MDR, because I have the BRC still and 1 adat, but hey! I'm moving now, no need to STOP
 
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