Want Clearer Recordings

[Faded Sole]

I have a ok home studio setup. Ive gotten a decent amount of recordings down with it. But as I progress in this hobby of mine I yern for clearer and nicer audio's. I am a part-time (hobbiest) beatboxer or vocal percussionist. The Shure SM-58 is an ideal mic for myself since it pics up bass frequencies pretty good. But now using it for vocal recording I am finding alot of the bass is being picked up. And alot of background noises and hiss is being picked up. The Shure SM58 is hooked up to my M Audio Buddy 2 Channel preamp. Then from there to my computer. I am currently using Adobe Auditions to do my filtering and adjustments. Ive tried using the filters and presets on Adobe Audition to remove some of the hiss and noise but it either removes it and leaves alot of flat bass, or just brings out the hiss and noise more.

My question is, what am I doing wrong or what can I do to make my vocal recordings sounds crisp and clear. Almost professional studio like?

 

[AlexW]

Not sure where the background noise/hiss is coming from. Where are you recording? If the hiss/noise isn't coming from your room it's most likely something in your signal chain--probably the preamp in your interface. The SM58 is a dynamic microphone prone to proximity effect, meaning if you sing right into at close proximity you'll get a lot of low end frequency content. You can try backing away from it, but if the gain you need on your preamp to get a decent signal is too noisy this may not help much. To get a better vocal sound, you may have to invest in a better microphone and mic preamp. A large or medium diaphragm condenser microphone would have a better sensitivity requiring less gain on your preamp. Check the mic forum for recommendations--there are several low budget mics of decent quality that would be an improvement over the SM58. Preamps can get expensive, but there are some budget ones (e.g. M-Audio DMP3) that again would be a fairly inexpensive step up.

 

[Faded Sole]

I was thinking that a condensor mic would do the trick. Becuase im not putting much gain on my preamp. Luckily though my preamp has phantom power so buying a condensor mic would just be what I need.

 

[matt rascal]

what sound card are you using? If its consumer-quality, its probably the cause of some amount of the background noise. Also try eq'ing a little bit.

 

[mbenny123]

what sound card are you using? If its consumer-quality, its probably the cause of some amount of the background noise. Also try eq'ing a little bit.

Ditto. Where are you plugging the Buddy into your computer?