Recording vocals....

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Member Since: Feb 09, 2004

Hi. I have a question on recording vocals. Here's what I have to record... Sounblaster Live soundcard, Cakewalk Home Studio, Shure KSM27, and Behringer UB802 mixer. I don't understand which compressors I should use on Cakewalk or what to set them to. And on my mixer I have my highs, mids, and lows set to flat. I don't know where to set the Gain and Levels. I just make sure it doesn't touch the red level on Cakewalk. And my mic is set to low frequency roll off and attenuation set to 0db. When I sing into the mic and playback it still sounds like it's muffled and the vocals don't sound crisp or clear. Am I singing to close or to far? Settings wrong on the mixer? Any tips would help.

Thanks.

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Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Feb 09, 2004 05:01 am

Don't use any compression in Cakewalk, when recording vocals it's best to have an outboard compressor and compress the signal before it enters the sound card.

Member
Since: Feb 09, 2004


Feb 09, 2004 05:18 am

Thanks. What about my settings on my mixer?

Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Feb 09, 2004 05:22 am

Personally, I leave my EQ flat most of the time and try to keep the level at whatever feels comfortable.

Contributor
Since: Dec 30, 2002


Feb 09, 2004 06:38 am

If the vocals are sounding a bit muffled, try standing back from the mic a bit more - this will reduce the "proximity effect" which should assist with the clarity by removing some "boomyness". EQ wise, try boosting arond 4-5Khz, this will add some top end air into your vocals.

jues.

I am not a crook's head
Member
Since: Mar 14, 2003


Feb 09, 2004 08:25 am

If you do use outboard compression, use a very light compression because you can't go back and undo it once it's recorded. You just want to even out any spikes in volume to make sure that your signal isn't clipping before it gets to your recording software.

Member
Since: Oct 26, 2003


Feb 09, 2004 09:08 am

YO! hey...maybe i could be of some help...just for starterts, lest talk about your voice, a male voice in the has a narrow frequency band from about 100hz to 6khz. so if you want to get your vocals fixed mess around with those frequencies, this doesnt mean your voice is only between 100 and 6, it just an average, so check it..another thing, check your frequency responce curve on your mic, the SHure KSM27, has a little bit of a rise around 3kHz, this effects your voice in the high end, so you might want to drop the highs on your mixer when you record, just a little, not to much... but hey its all just prefrence... as far as it sounding muffled, maybe your sing to close. just some ideas of what might be going...ooh so u using a comprsor? what is your threshold set up at? or your attack? try it with the comprsor then with out....se what you like better and work with that...dotn nkow if ihelped none, but hey! i tryed.

Member
Since: Jan 26, 2004


Feb 09, 2004 03:59 pm

DB - You brought up an interesting point w/ the mixer gains (low,mid,high) all being set to Zero when recording from mixer > pc - I didn't know this was a better way to record vocals as when I produce tracks, 90% of the time I have the artists go into a studio and record the vocals and I get the end result. Never had to record stuff on my own but I'm learning how to bit by bit...Is that setting a rule of thumb or just a personal preference?

Contributor
Since: Sep 09, 2002


Feb 09, 2004 04:09 pm

deeps, it gives you a wider range of options once it's in the computer.

generally the most common way to set up a channel on a mixer would be to set it's main fader to unity gain (0dB) and turn the other channels down to -infinite dB (all the way off) and then bring the preamp gain (sometimes called trim) up while "check"ing into the mic until it's peaking nicely on the meters. of course if it's not being used for vocals you'd want to play the approporaite instrument, as loud as you intend to play it

as least, that's how i do it

Member
Since: Jan 26, 2004


Feb 09, 2004 05:31 pm

Jamie - Nice. I going to play with my board and test it with some vocals using the settings you and DB mentioned! :)

Member
Since: May 25, 2002


Feb 11, 2004 07:33 am

i m not realy expert in recording but u can try to chk your input to your soundcard n ensure u plug it into line-in instead of mic-in.. it ll make your recorded voice sound muffle..i experience this b4...

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