USB mic help

September 12, 2008 3:52 PM

My USB mic, while sucky, should not suck as much as it currently sucks. Help me to make it unsuck.

I can't get the volume or decibel or levels or whatever you call them, correct.* Everything else I hear on Mefi Music has decent, consistent volume. Relatively speaking, my recording sounds muted.

Check out an example
here.

Here's my setup/process:

Environment/Positioning
- the room is about 10 x 10. It's an office, not a recording room.
- acoustic and vocals recorded at the same time
- mic is positioned directly in front of my imac
- mic is 1.5 feet away, positioned vertically between the 12th fret and my pie hole

Mic (MXL USB .006)
- loudest setting (HI)
- yes, the upside down heart symbol is pointed toward me indicating that the mic is positioned correctly

GarageBand
- record as basic track
- track db set to 3.1
- after recorded, set track info to Basic Track > throw in some minor effects
- export one track with minor effects
- export one track naked
- drag and drop aif files from system into garageband timeline directly
- adjust filtered track down a little from 0.0 decibels
- adjust naked track up a little from 0.0 decibels
- export to itunes
- at this point the volume still sounds ok

Then I upload it and scratch my head at why the volume is so low. Any ideas?

*If it's not obvious, I'm not an audiophile. So a simple solution with an equally simple results is ok. I'm not looking for studio quality. Just something that doesn't suck with output. Although I realize you can't help if the song itself sucks - that's a topic for another thread.
posted by quadog (6 comments total)

Wow, no comments yet, eh? I was waiting for someone with a little more experience to chime in about this.

Having listened to your example a few times, I have to say that it sounds really great and that you're probably just experiencing an overall minor signal loss after conversion to mp3. I've used itunes for this in the past a couple of times, and it wasn't my favorite means.

However, it sounds really good over here, man.
posted by snsranch at 7:01 PM on September 14, 2008


I'm agreeing with snsranch—from your description, I was expecting some really problematic sound, but that seems pretty well-balanced for a one-mic recording and didn't seem particularly low-volume either.

I want to ask one of those stupid questions: if you check the far right end of the flash music player that mefi uses, is the volume widget set low? Do you have the same low-volume problems with the track if you click the download button (to the right of the flash player, in the thread) and play it locally on Media Player or whatever?

Aside from that, the two things that occur to me for tightening up the volume level and making it more consistent:

1. Record vox and guitar as separate takes. Mic each take individually a little closer up (to guitar, to mouth), to reduce the amount of room noise in the signal. This'll also let you control the dynamics on your vox by shifting your distance from the mic, without having to worry about futzing up your guitar playing as a result.

2. If you give (1) a shot, follow up by applying some gentle compression to your vocals, to even out vocal volume. This'll let you mix the two tracks together with less trouble—your volume lows won't be so lows or your highs so high, so finding a sweet spot where the vox mix in well with the guitars will be easier. Gentle compression on the guitar is an option too, though if it ain't broke, don't fix it, etc.

Again, it sounds pretty good as is, but the above is how I do it and I think it gives you more control over the output. Doing separate guitar and vox takes can be disorienting until you get used to it, so if that's new to you don't worry if it's awkward at first.
posted by cortex at 8:20 AM on September 15, 2008


Thanks for the feedback, guys. On a guess I'm going to vote for the minor signal loss after conversion to mp3. That seems to be the point at which the sound gets softer.

I'll also try the separate recordings. The irony is I struggled for years to learn to sing while playing guitar and now it's tough for me to separate the two. It throws my rhythm off - like my singing ends up sounding stilted. But yes, I can see how it would offer more fine-tuning.
posted by quadog at 11:57 PM on September 15, 2008


I don't really have any useful answers about the low signal issue -- I have a mixer in my setup, so if I need more signal I just move a slider or twiddle a knob.

As for it being difficult to separate playing from singing, here's something I've found works for me on certain songs (specifically loud songs with a lot going on). I pick up my electric guitar and play along while singing without the guitar plugged in.

Of course, this isn't so good if you're singing something very softly or have a song with a whole lot of "space" in it, as your mic can pick up the guitar strings occasionally. But often enough you only hear a little bit when the vox is soloed. If you have an electric, try that out and see if it helps.
posted by chimaera at 8:26 AM on September 16, 2008


You can also, if you're willing to buy more equipment and do a bit more setup, use two mics and get it in one natural-feeling take that way while still maintaining the ability to mix.
posted by cortex at 10:01 PM on September 16, 2008


can you do a test recording of just vox? and sing right into the mic?

see what levels you get then.

you do want to get the levels as high as possible without distortion as you're recording, especially when recording digitally. unfortunately, as this is a usb mic, you can't add a preamp to the chain.

sometimes, if i've got not other option, i use the hard limiting feature in adobe audition to get the levels up, that might be worth a shot (don't know if garageband has anything similar, but i'm pretty sure that audacity does).

does your guitar have a pickup?
posted by kimyo at 7:33 PM on September 17, 2008


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