Track purity

  • Thread starter Thread starter Clam Soup
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Clam Soup

Clam Soup

Project 49
Here's my situation.

I record the first track of a song and it sounds pretty good. When I record a second track (we'll call it vocal) I am wearing headphones..... the mic is picking up the first track through my headphones. So the vocal track ends up with the first track being heard in the background. I don't remember this ever happening when I've recorded before with other people. ... The recordings aren't bad, but, I think they can be better.... more pure.

It might be just a microphone issue - I only have one mic and it is a condenser type.

Thoughts?
 
Sounds like you need headphones with better isolation or you could try monitoring at lower volume.
 
Yeah, either cut it down in the headphones or back off the mic a little. Or get new headphones ;)
 
Track Rat said:
Sounds like you need headphones with better isolation or you could try monitoring at lower volume.
Click to expand...

Right...and make sure you are using closed-back headphones, not semi-open...but even if they are closed-back but not tight-fitting and/or you have them blaring real loud...the mic will still pick up.
 
What the others said ^^^

Reducing the volume going to the headphones, or changing the headphones, or using less mike gain and increasing the source level are all ways of reducing headphone bleed.

However, even though you may like to have more 'pure' tracks, it may not matter that much that there is a bit of bleed when it comes to mixing.
 
Thanks - I'll try a few of these things...

I really like the phones sort of loud because I sing loud. When they are down low I tend to sing quieter, and lose the better parts of my voice and passion.

With less mic gain wouldn't you lose out in mastering? I've been recorded (poorly) a few times and one of my biggest complaints was always that I could never get the volume out of the finished CD that you could get out of a commercial recording.... I assumed this was a recording blunder.
 
Mic gain and "mastering" are unrelated as far as finished loudness goes.
 
Clam Soup said:
With less mic gain wouldn't you lose out in mastering? I've been recorded (poorly) a few times and one of my biggest complaints was always that I could never get the volume out of the finished CD that you could get out of a commercial recording.... I assumed this was a recording blunder.
Click to expand...
Getting the commercial volume on your own takes alot of skill and some good equipment.

You don't want to record as loud(hot) as you can, in fact it will make it harder to get a commercial level sound if you do.

You want your signal coming from your preamp to your recording software to be at about -18dbFS using 24 bit. That will give you a good amount of headroom for post processing.
 
NYMorningstar said:
You want your signal coming from your preamp to your recording software to be at about -18dbFS using 24 bit. That will give you a good amount of headroom for post processing.
Click to expand...

Everything you said up until here made me feel better about what I'm doing by accident. But I'm lost at "-18dbFS." I hate having to learn something new every day! I hope I don't end up being an engineer when I'm done.
 
How bad can the bleed be? The bleed is a super quiet version of the already-recorded material. I notice that in all my tracks too, like if I solo the vox or whatever. It's negligible in the overall mix. And my headphones aren't even that isolating! If you're recording 6 or 8 drum tracks, the bleed is crazy, but it still usually works out.

You want your signal coming from your preamp to your recording software to be at about -18dbFS using 24 bit. That will give you a good amount of headroom for post processing.
Click to expand...

True, it helps for a lot of reasons, but it doesn't help the signal-to-bleed ratio at all.
 
One area where headphone bleed is a problem is with click tracks. Especially during quiet parts or when a song fades at the end and that click is clacking away. I use a pair of cheapo Sennheiser HD-202's and never have bleed. Like others have said, gotta the closed back design.
 
Could a noise gate help, or would that be considered bad practise? I'm assuming it would be bad practise...
 
Chili said:
One area where headphone bleed is a problem is with click tracks. Especially during quiet parts or when a song fades at the end and that click is clacking away. I use a pair of cheapo Sennheiser HD-202's and never have bleed. Like others have said, gotta the closed back design.
Click to expand...

I always plot the length of the song and cut the click to order to STFU on the last chord, note, whatever for this exact reason.... speaking acoustic guitar recording here, so levels are pretty quiet and you can easily get click bleed if you're not careful...
 
suprstar said:
How bad can the bleed be? The bleed is a super quiet version of the already-recorded material. I notice that in all my tracks too, like if I solo the vox or whatever. It's negligible in the overall mix. And my headphones aren't even that isolating! If you're recording 6 or 8 drum tracks, the bleed is crazy, but it still usually works out.

True, it helps for a lot of reasons, but it doesn't help the signal-to-bleed ratio at all.
Click to expand...
Nothing wrong with a little bleed, I find total isolation unnatural. Ever notice how natural some pro tracks sound? Ask them about isolation they might laugh at you.
 
make sure you are not on top of the mic - use a pop screen to help keep the space - 4 - 8 inches, If you do the headphones on 1 ear thing - turn the volume off in the unused can or it acts like a speaker.
 
A condenser mic will pick up more since it is more sensitive than a dynamic. But a lot of the time it could be down to the heapdphones being too loud, or the singer not singing loud enough or both.
 
Chili said:
One area where headphone bleed is a problem is with click tracks. Especially during quiet parts or when a song fades at the end and that click is clacking away. I use a pair of cheapo Sennheiser HD-202's and never have bleed. Like others have said, gotta the closed back design.
Click to expand...

Actually, I think I have the problem resolved between my mic settings and a little button on the mixer. (2TRKS/USB TO MAIN). Be sure, I have no idea how good the quality of this is going to be in the end given my ineptitude at anything technical, but - we are under way nonetheless.

Chili - I very intentionally chose your post to quote. I almost never use click tracks. I've had people tell me how important they are, but they actually get in my way. I keep time extremely well without trying. The clicks, which never sound natural to me, actually take my mind off of the music the way a fly might annoy someone who is trying to eat.
 
Glad to hear you've got your problem resolved.

Yup, playing to a click is a skill that has to be learned and practiced. It doesn't come natural. My son started trumpet in school this year, I make him practice to a metronome.
 
Yeah metronomes can be strict and boring seeming, but they are great for practicing. If you learn to play an instrument while using a metronome then it will definitely show in the coming years!
 
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