help with distortion

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Member Since: Nov 16, 2006

I have the emu 0404 and read the tutorial and set everthing up like it said using cubase. My levels seemed fine in fact I had them up as high as I could go without hitting the red zone. When I listened to what I recorded it was very weak and distorted, can anyone help me? I'm new to this. (Just wanna be a rock star)

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Answer:On a good day, lipstick.
Member
Since: Jun 24, 2004

Nov 16, 2006 09:15 pm

Yup. The card is a little "hot." Take the main mix level down just a tad (it's probably defaulting somewhere around -10dB. Back it off to around -15db), and possibly shave some off the output channel an all should be well.

Welcome to HRC, and good luck on the rock star thing.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Nov 17, 2006 07:59 pm

How and what exactly are you getting signal into the Emu unit. Gain staging is especially important with units like those as they are not exactly meant for pro level recording even though they advertise them as such. They are basicly a glorified Sound Blaster card with hardware interface boxes and such.

But as TallChap suggested you may be feeding the input to much signal and not getting a good signal into your recording software. Which as well, what software are you recording into? That will help us figure out the problem as well.

Member
Since: Nov 16, 2006

Nov 18, 2006 12:56 pm

I'm using the emu 0404 soundcard which comes with an internal mixer called patchmix and cubase. I have fixed the sound problem although it still sounds a little weak. I have an AKG precision 1000 which I am using to record vocal and guitar.
Someone mentioned the emu was not that great. What is the best one I can get for a decent price.
Or should I forget trying to set it up myself and go to Saved by technology here in Torono and have them set me up. Also my mike is picking up my cpu fan on my desktop. Should I switch to a laptop and which one should I get a mac or an IBM?

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Nov 18, 2006 02:12 pm

A couple thoughts here. I don't think the 0404 has phantom power so you must be using a the 9 volt battery in the mic, I'll assume. You might try a new battery in it as it could be weak. The problem with these types of mic's are they need a good strong battery to function properly.

As for the weak sound once it is recorded, you have two choices. You can manually raise the volume in the track itself with the track fader, or you can normalize the track which should be in the standard tool section of Cubase. Either way will work fine for getting the track level up to an acceptable level.

As for the card itself, well it is an OK card with decent connections. There are several here who do use it. I suggest experimenting a little while with it before looking into other cards. There are several good two channel cards on the market that will do much better then the Emu, but if you already have that card I would see how far you can go. The bottom line is how serious you want to get with your sound, pro quality or just having some fun and learning. Expansion and upgrading can always be done later if you find you are getting serious abot recording.

Member
Since: Nov 16, 2006

Nov 18, 2006 02:47 pm

I am using a behringer mixer which has phantom power. The fader is up full but I will try normalizing the channel and see what happens. Thanks

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Nov 18, 2006 03:41 pm

OK that helps a little bit Ed. You may find that a little gain staging is necessary to get it into the PC at a good level. Although I honestly don't record everything as hot as it can get, that can sometimes cause issues as well.

What you will want to do is start at the Behringer mixer. With your gain pot turned down set your channel and main or sub output fader's to unity gain or 0 dB. If your mixer has a PFL button push it in and watch your output meters on the mixer. Start turning the gain knob up while singing or testing the mic at a level you will be recording at. Stop turning it up once your meters on the mixer are peaking near the unity gain. Slight overs are OK if they are only momentary. Next go into the Emu mixer and go to the input page. Using the same procedure set the input faders on the Emu mixer to reach that same type of level. You may want to make sure that if the Emu has a selection for consumer or Pro that you use the Pro setting. Next stop is in Cubase itself. Arm a track for recording, and follow the same procedure again. This should get you the best signal possible into Cubase.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Noize

Member
Since: Nov 16, 2006

Nov 19, 2006 07:35 pm

Thanks for the help. I could not find the normalize track button though in cubase. However I was able to record a much better take today. Now my problem is in order to get a decent recording level I am getting too much background noise.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Nov 19, 2006 08:07 pm

Well with a condenser mic you are going to pick up much more signal. There are several ways to quiet it down if the PC fan is what is getting picked up. You can record with the mic in another room, or temporarily cover the PC up to deaden the fan noise.

If I might ask, what type of room are you recording in? People here, including myself have been known to record vocals in closets and bathrooms to get less background noise. If using a bathroom, I do suggest having some towels draped to deaden the reverb that will be there. Although I do have a bathroom here that is killer for that nice small reverb type sound.

As for the normalize feature in Cubase, it might be found in the tools menu at the top of the screen to the right of the files, edit and other tabs for dropdown menu's.

Member
Since: Nov 16, 2006

Nov 23, 2006 06:41 pm

Thanks so much for you help. I am recording in my office which is upstairs in my home. One small area carpet, harwood floors, bare walls. I'm planning to move it to a small carpeted room in the basement. Should be quieter there, more dead too. Do you know where I could get info. on how to tune a room. I saw someone post info. about acoustic tiles but they didn't say how many to use per sq. foot etc. Still can't find that normalize feature, maybe becasue I just have cubase lite which came with my 0404 disc.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Nov 23, 2006 10:04 pm

For the tools to figure out how sound proofing to use go here. www.auralex.com They have several tools and such to help you figure things out. And a rather large selection of foam, matting and other goodies to help with that stuff.

AS for the normalize thing. Cubase lite, I honestly cant say as I have never had a look at their lite version. I know there are several Cubase users here that might be a bit more enlighted then I on that. But I would assume that even a lite version should have something along that line.

Member
Since: Nov 16, 2006

Nov 26, 2006 08:44 pm

I also have the new version of band in a box and power tracks pro. Would it be better to record with that than cubase?

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Nov 26, 2006 09:19 pm

You may actually find the PowerTracks Pro does have more features that will be available to use for you. I cant say as I have never tried Cubase Lite before so I don't really know what is in there.

Band in a Box is kind of a jam along program if I remember correctly. That will give you some cool stuff to use as well.

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