:?
could anybody put some light on this situation i find myself in. when i practice i play along with the song and try and match the sounds of the guitars as close as possible. I've been working on recording some stuff from metallica's St Anger, i was using the DVD included with the CD as it's " off the floor " and i you can basically match the sound they have.
All sounds great when playing along with it but when recording it sounds a little off. The def in the notes seem to have gone out the window and it just sounds messy. i'm using just a normal mic infront of my amp about 3-5 inch away.. maybe closer actually..
the songs are all downtuned aswell.When i switch the dvd off and just listen to my playing it sounds fine to my ear but that's not represented when i record :(
What could be wrong here ? i'm also not using affect pedals or anything like that, the sound is coming from the amp only.
Thanks
Minus Human
And all the things you said to me
I need your arms to welcome me
But a cold stone's all I see
Let my heart go
What kind of mic are you using?
aka Izabella
First thing to check is your recording level - it may be too high and causing clipping.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
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That too. Move the mic away from the speaker a bit (a foot or two) if its a cheap mic (like a computer mic).
aka Izabella
Not sure what brand but i bought a singing mic from the music shop i payed about R300 for it (about 50US ) Clipping ?? is this clicking/static in the recording? i haven't noticed that.
Minus Human
And all the things you said to me
I need your arms to welcome me
But a cold stone's all I see
Let my heart go
Clipping is what guitarists call distortion or overdrive. A normal soundwave is a sine wave - nicely rounded at both the top and bottom of the wave. Clipping is just that, the top and bottom are "clipped" - flattened, misshaped. Overdrive is when the wave still has a rounded end, but it is no longer a true sine wave, it's flattened (I'm trying not to use the word "distorted"). When the sine wave becomes so misshapen the the top and bottom of the wave are flat, it's called "distortion" by guitarists.
If your input is so loud that it exceeds the limits of your sound card, the excess will be clipped off by the card, causing distortion in the input signal.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN
OK understand that now thanks. i'll have to go check all that out when i get back home. Could the Mic also be causing this or should it be OK
Minus Human
And all the things you said to me
I need your arms to welcome me
But a cold stone's all I see
Let my heart go
If the mic is too close to the speaker, it can easily be overdriven by the output from the amp, causing distortion
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN
You can get clipping at any point in the recording chain, but watch especially at any point where you have solid state components or digital conversion, because this clipping just sounds BAD.
The microphone will distort, but have some forgiveness because the membrane will compress the sound as it heads into distortion. Go too loud and that forgiveness is gone.
Your sound card will not compress the signal in the same way, it will hit a point where it is incapable of discerning the actual frequency of the incoming sound and will produce noise (a very non-musical noise) instead. Computer soundcards have a notoriously low overhead for clipping.
Record into digital at very low volumes. It is best to stay out of the yellow and NEVER enter the red. This is the reverse of what you want to do when recording to tape, so it takes some retraining.
Ok i tried but it still seems to sound a little off. i've been using cool edit pro2 . i'll get media encoder and see how that goes. any other good ones i could try ?
Thanks
Minus Human
And all the things you said to me
I need your arms to welcome me
But a cold stone's all I see
Let my heart go
Isn't Cool Edit now called Adobe Audition?
There is a view "Show Level Meters" - toggled with Alt-7. This will show you the input and out put levels - they should not go into yellow and certainly not red.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN
Apparently it is, just looked it up on google - you learn a new thing everyday. :D
There is a view "Show Level Meters" - toggled with Alt-7. This will show you the input and out put levels - they should not go into yellow and certainly not red.
i didn't know that, will check that out before i try other recording software. i have a feeling that might just do it.
Minus Human
And all the things you said to me
I need your arms to welcome me
But a cold stone's all I see
Let my heart go
Are you going through a mixer? That can help you get proper line levels, then you can go into the computer through the line-in instead of the Mic-in.
Nah i'm not going through a mixer it's just the mic plugged into my PC.
i was playing with the settings last night it's better but still not quite what i was looking for. if i compare the sound arjen had in that "muse" recording he did it doesn't compare.
Minus Human
And all the things you said to me
I need your arms to welcome me
But a cold stone's all I see
Let my heart go
If your mic has been exposed to any kind of moistere, it could deaden the sound. Even from a humid environment lijke say near a washing machine. You can fix that by putting your mic in a bag with some of those little silica bead packets you find in elctronics boxes when they ship. Leve it in the bag for a day or so. Also I can't help but think you would benefit from a small mixer.
