Stupid questions? I have many

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PJ10

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First post here, and the thread title can clue you in as to how experienced I am.

I've been in an acoustic duo for the past four years that has played out and about at various bars. We recently broke up (amicably, because we both became daddies), and I'm looking to do some home recording. Finding it's not that easy. I purchased the Presonus Audiobox USB, which comes with Studio One (the cheapo version), and this thing has me rather baffled. Here's my questions, and I hope someone can pretty much walk me through this, because as I said, I'm clueless:

1) I'm recording with a Taylor 110 through one channel and a MXL 990-991 kit through the second channel. I've been playing and singing through just one track, but when I do that, I'm having an issue. The vocals come through one side of the headphones, and the guitar comes through the other. Do I need to do separate tracks?

2) There is a "mix" dial on the Presonus that I can't really figure out. When I attempt to put on a little reverb, then turn up that mix dial, I can hear the reverb, but there is such a huge delay that it becomes a major distraction. So I turn it all the way down, and I sing without any effect, which I hate. It obviously doesn't sound as good. Why is there that delay?

3) Playing live, I've learned to enjoy the sound of my voice. Through a condenser mic, in a quiet room, there is a huge difference. I feel like I'm out of tune half the time. It's really strange. Is there a trick to singing through a condenser mic, or even a dynamic mic while recording?

4) I don't mind getting just an audio file to put on Sound Cloud or something, but does anyone use a webcam or some variation thereof to record themselves while playing? And I would assume that if you did video yourself, you'd have to match it to the audio file.

Again, really, really new to all of this. And any help would be more than appreciated. Thanks!
 
1. Record each thing in mono to a separate track at different times. ie. don't record acoustic guitar and singing at the same time.
2. It's called latency. Unless the interface has direct monitoring output, you may need to dick around with settings in your DAW to minimise it. Using an interface with direct monitoring AND DSP effects like reverb eliminates the problem, but they can be a bit further up the food chain. I can't help you with this one, but others will...
3. Practice. Maybe you are out of tune half the time. Work it out. It takes some getting used to.
4. Some do if they have a reason to do so. I'm not into putting half-arsed crappy sounding singer songwriter videos on teh interwebz so I don't. If you want to do this from a live, one shot, static camera, there are some things you need to understand about recording settings to avoid the audio creeping against the video when you try to sync them. If you're creating a video clip with multiple angles cutting in and out all the time it's less of an issue.
 
Yes to everything Armistice said. I might add that headphones can help with the vocal pitch. A lot of singers find they are not always dead on. If you saw the episode of the Braxton Family Values where the girls were working with a vocal coach, Tamar was out of tune but most people wouldn't notice it. Try using a pitch reader and practice your vocal scales. I think it was Greg L who mentioned committing to something. Simplify and then work to make each part, the acoustic and your voice the best it can be. Good Luck.
Rod Norman
Engineer
 
The AudioBox has a fairly good rep for low latency so you should be able to setup some "assistance" reverb to help your singing.
In any event you only need a "wash" of reverb and that does not demand such light speed latency as say playing a software synth.

Alternatively, do you perhaps have a mixer with FX left over from the gigging days?

Out of tune? Yes, quite possibly, we often don't sound so good in the "cold light" without the adrenalin and beer!

I don't know Studio One at all but you might get on better with Reaper?

Dave.
 
The AudioBox has a fairly good rep for low latency so you should be able to setup some "assistance" reverb to help your singing.
In any event you only need a "wash" of reverb and that does not demand such light speed latency as say playing a software synth.

Alternatively, do you perhaps have a mixer with FX left over from the gigging days?

Out of tune? Yes, quite possibly, we often don't sound so good in the "cold light" without the adrenalin and beer!

I don't know Studio One at all but you might get on better with Reaper?

Dave.

I have a Fishman SA 220 with on-board effects. I can probably just plug that into Audiobox using the DI hookup. Right?

But is it also possible to record it without effects, then add them after I'm done recording? Again, sorry, I don't really know anything. Just doing a lot of reading on these boards.
 
"I have a Fishman SA 220 with on-board effects. I can probably just plug that into Audiobox using the DI hookup. Right"

Yes, from the manual block diagram looks like.
That gives you a "dry" feed for recording but you now need to get the reverb effected signal into headphones and the Fishman does not have a phones output!

No matter, you could use the monitor out to drive a cheap headphone amp.

Dave.
 
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