Unsure about Mixer and Compressor set-up

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cocalmond

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Hello all,

I have questions! I just wrote out my entire life story, it seems, so will leave that below. But let me do a short version too.

Short Version:
I am doing a home recording and it’s not sounding good; lots of buzz, compression doesn’t sound good, not blending well with precompressed ipad tracks.

Here’s what I think some of the problems might be:
- My mixer is an old mixer, it’s second hand. It’s also European, with European plug, (it’s AC cable is weird and I can’t get a replacement), so I have it running through a heavy voltage converter. Is that adding buzz?
- My mixer does NOT have inserts. But I need the mixer to be directly connected to my mic for the phantom power. So my set-up is MIC (akg perception 120) > MIXER (old behringer xenyx 1002fx)> COMPRESSOR/GATE (dbx 266xl) (just from CTRL out) > iMic > iPad.

Will placing the compressor after the mixer make a whole lot of difference to the sound? Please help!
What I’m basically wanting to know is whether my set up is the inherent problem, or if my equipment is the problem, and if I should just forego using the compressor/gate since I’m not liking it at all so far.

Long Version:
I’m new to this whole business of home recording. I’ve read a lot about it but am very much a novice. I’ve done demos with very, very simple set ups, but now am producing my first album. I think I have reasonable expectations of the quality, but so far my expectations are not being reached, not even close, and I think there’s something I’m missing. I’m using ipad2’s garageband, and am recording vocals and ukulele, with additions of some of garageband’s drum and percussion loops and drums.

In beginning this project, I didn’t have a lot of money to spend, so just got what I believed to be the bare minimum, which was a compressor/gate (dbx 266xl) and a $100 condenser mic (akg perception 120). In addition to that, I already had a mixer (old behringer xenyx 1002fx) and a few other small bits and pieces.

My interface is my ipad2, which all is attached to via the griffin iMic. As I said, ‘tis all very basic. BUT with all that I’ve purchased, and with all the tweaking and exploring I’ve been doing, I actually can’t get my recordings to sound much better than they sound just recording directly into the ipad mic! To clarify, there’s a lot of buzz, the compression doesn’t sound good to the ear (in its various settings), and when playing my vocals along with drum tracks I’ve laid down using the garageband’s drums, the vocals and ukulele just sound like they’re world’s apart. I don’t expect it to sound like Eddie Vedder’s ‘Ukulele Songs’, though how I wish it would, but it’s not even passable, to my ears.

Here’s what I think some of the problem’s might be:
- My mixer is an old mixer, it’s second hand. It’s also European, with European plug, (it’s AC cable is weird and I can’t get a replacement), so I have it running through a heavy voltage converter. Is that adding buzz?
- My mixer does NOT have inserts. But I need the mixer to be directly connected to my mic for the phantom power. So my set-up is MIC > MIXER > COMPRESSOR/GATE (just from CTRL out) > iMic > iPad.

Will placing the compressor after the mixer make a whole lot of difference to the sound? Please help!
What I’m basically wanting to know is whether my set up is the inherent problem, or if my equipment is the problem, and if I should just forego using the compressor/gate since I’m not liking it at all so far.


Thank you kindly for any help,

Ciara
 
I'll have a stab, although i warn you i'm very sleepy so i apologise in advance for possible rambling, poor spelling, and lack of sense.

My initial instinct would be to ask what you aim to achieve by using the compressor whilst recording. Would do want/expect it to do? There might be some really valid reason for doing so, but for the benefit of keeping things clean and simple i'd be much more tempted to say not to use it. It is certainly not essential by any means. Also, if there's already noise in the system adding a compressor into the path is likely to make the noise louder, and if you record with compression on and don't like it you can't take the compressor off the recording, whereas if you record clean without it you can easily add and take away compression to your hearts content when mixing with no negative consequences

Secondly, we used to have some of the older small beri mixers at work and used them in a similar-ish way; the interfaces we were using didn't have mic pre's so we used the mixers as the mic pre and went into the line in on the interface. However, we never found them that noisy (unless you had the gain up near full, but that's true of a lot of cheaper preamps). Then again, we're in the UK with UK plugs and so we didn't have the issue with power convertors which, i expect, although i can't be entirely sure, is probably creating at least some part of the noise.

Thirdly, the little griffin imic thing looks....well..... their webiste says;

"The iMic shines as the essential tool for converting your vinyl LP and tape collection into MP3s and CDs."

Granted, it then later mentions recording but i have some serious doubts as to the quality of the convertors inside it which, again, may be adding to the noise you hear.

I'm sure there may be a way to solve the issues, although i don't know exactly how or what, but my advice would be this;

Ignore the compressor whilst recording and add compression in Garageband later if needed.
If you want to record with a better quality straight to your ipad i'd be much, much more tempted to pick up something like the Focusrite iTrack Solo or the Alesis Studiodock iO. It would solve a number of your issues and would make everything simpler as everything is just in one box without the need for the extra mixer and imic thing. Granted, they're not free (although it is very cheap for what it is!) but, in reality, it's only just a little more expensive than the imic and mixer together new and should offer a lot cleaner recordings.

Hope that helps and/or makes sense
 
If you really are new to recording then I would start by removing the compressor from tour input chain until you know exactly how to compress a signal, and more importantly WHY!
 
Yep, remove the compressor. If you're new to recording, you don't have any reference for the correct settings on it. Next, the old Behr mixer. My limited experience with them was noisy preamps. As you mention, the power supply thing probably does not help.
 
I agree totally about removing the compressor but if you literally mean you're using a transformer to convert 110 power to the 220 volts the power supply for that mixer will want, that certainly sounds to me like it could be a source of noise. A slightly low voltage into a mixer does indeed cause noise problems for example.

Surely a transformer capable of the voltage conversion is more expensive than just buying another cheapie Behringer mixer?
 
cocalmond,

I agree with Justsomeguy's advice about really considering the IO Dock or the Focusrite iTrack. I realize that you've probably already made your purchase, but for anybody else running across this post since then, I want to offer my thoughts. I've heard both interfaces, and with both the condensers and dynamics that I heard, the Focusrite was much cleaner. The IO Dock is more robust in terms of it's inputs and outputs, but they both cover the basics really well. Personally, I went with the iTrack because of the build quality and the superior pre-amps. I recently reviewed the iTrack for the Center for Digital Storytelling here ("An Audio Interface for the iPad: The Focusrite iTrack Solo" at the Story Center Blog).
 
Ditch the mixer, compressor and iMic and get a proper recording interface. Using the wrong tools for the job will only handicap your recording process.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
Oh well, a year is nothing. And if someone else searches the question...
Click to expand...

.....Here's an approximation
60 secs in a min. * 60 mins in a hour * 24 hours in a day * 365 days in a year = 31,536,000 seconds in a year( not including leap seconds) :)
 
At the standard read rate of 3 words per second, try writing a commentary script for 31,536,000 seconds. That'll show how long a year is!
 
A year is nothing compared to the necro-posts that resurrect posts much older.
 
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