RECORDING PROBLEMS!!!!
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Posted on Jul 27, 2004 07:52 am
johnstbs
Member Since: Jul 27, 2004
ive just started out on cubase sx from college doin a NC in music tech.
im at home using cubase sx and have no mixing desk so i have a normal microphone plugged in to the line in and i record guitar and then vocals.
the problem is that once i have recorded more than one thing, its out of time with what i have previosly recorded. i need to grab the file and then pull it back a second or so. this happends every time and it happends at my friends house aswell. is there some thing i should be doing! could anyone explain!!!!!
john
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Jul 27, 2004 08:03 am What you have here is latency by the sounds of things.
I dont know what soundcard you have but this is usually caused by the internal sound card that comes as stock with most PC's.
I'm not sure what gear you have but lets assume you have a stock PC i.e. non custom built. The sound cards in these PC's are usually low spec and not really intended for pro audio work i.e. recording.
Latency is the delay between you recording the sound and it reachning your speakers which causes the lag you speak off. You can keep fixing it by moving the track back a "nudge" ( I used that in Cuabse SX) but the only real way to solve the latency is to either get a new sound card and/or run your PC as tippity toppity as possible i.e. remove all uncessary resource hoggs.
I had the same probs as you and thought my timing had gone after 10 years of not playing as much as I should have. I got a Delta 44 card and woohoo my timing was back..the dreaded latency had been giving me the probs.
Good luck and welcome to HRC!
Coco.
Jul 27, 2004 08:28 am cheers mate! i never new it had any thing to do with the sound card!
another thing, do you know any thing about how i can make the vocals sound more clearer and what effects are good and what does NORMALISE do????
i am very new to this but i have got rough ideas!
john
Jul 27, 2004 08:39 am Kinda massive question that one.
You can use EQ to make your tracks clearer. Boost the frequencies you need and cut others to make the track come thru the mix. You use normalise to bring the volume up to a specified max without clipping (good for boosting something recorded too quietly).
I asked these same questions as you a while back and found some great articles on this very site which I printed and studied. Have a wee peek yerself - under the articles section and look for the stuff on mixing...its da bomb!
Aye - EQ is your first call. You can use compression as well - thats great for squeezing doon the highest parts/raising the lower parts to make volume equal..
Some much to cover!
Good luck
Coco
Jul 27, 2004 08:48 am cheers! ive had a little mess with the eq but it also depends on the microphone aswell yeah?
im using a very cheap one!
ive also found that when i record the guitar, i have to turn the volume up and the gain once recorded, and it sounds all hissy like its too load but you can just about hear the guitar.
any ideas?
john
vdalehubbardLost for words with all to say.Contributor
Since: Sep 12, 2003
Jul 27, 2004 08:54 am Sounds like you need to record it "hotter", louder in other words. Could also be your equipment.
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
Jul 27, 2004 09:00 am Microphone is definately your first spot to look for quality in recorded sound. It's the first step in the signal path, so it'd be the first spot for good quality recordings. Then, good cables, then good pre-amp. Some cards have them built in, some don't. A lot of people here use a mixer to act as a pre-amp, and as to mix the monitor playback. May not be necessary in a one-person-operation.
Jul 27, 2004 09:03 am nice knowlege there!
ill try recording it louder then for now.
cheers fellas!
look at my other topic for MIXING DESK.
john
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Jul 27, 2004 12:21 pm For your guitar, are you micing an accoustic or recording an electric. The thing is, you say you are sticking the mic directly into the soundcard. This means you don't have any pre-amplification. So, the signal is going to be quiet, which probably the same thingn happening with your guitar. To properly fix this, you will need a preamp of some sort. Most mixers come with pres, or you can buy a dedicated pre. There are definitely differences in quality depending on which route you go, but a small behringer mixer would probably do you to start ($60-$80?).
As for vocals, I think the main thing to do is go ahead compress the vocals. After that you can eq, which will help, but I think compression will make the biggest difference.
