Subject:general information

Posted by: equinoxx

Date:11/8/2002 12:18:47 AM

I am upgrading to Acid 4.0 soon, but I still have questions about what kinds
of external devices or audio plug-ins to buy to enhance vocal recording for
Acid products. I have keyboards, guitars and other instruments that I plug
in and they record fine, but when it comes to using a microphone and
recording vocals directly into my pc, I don't have a clear and crisp sound like
I want. I mix the sounds as well as I can, but I still feel that even if I
upgrade to the Acid 4.0 and keep Soundforge and all other Sonic products, I
will eventually need to buy an external recording device for vocals. Does anyone
have any recommendations?

Give me some feedback,

Aaron

Subject:RE: general information

Reply by: equinoxx

Date:11/8/2002 12:21:28 AM

Or, how may users just use their pc as their complete studio? What upgrades have you had to make to your pc? How's the vocal output and the overall sound results?

Subject:RE: general information

Reply by: MoreK

Date:11/8/2002 12:44:59 AM

The whole chain might be:
mic-->pre-amp-->mix board-->soundcard-->Acid-->effects/processors-->mastering

IMO microphone & sound card are the most important parts of the chain. They create the raw material for your master piece. With a proper mic/soundcard you have much less to work and worry in the later steps.

I don't use any mic pre-amp, but if did more vocal and other acoustic recording I certainly would purchase one. However you get somewhat similar results processing the vocal track with dynamics and amp plug-ins.

Mastering the whole track WILL add clearness and crispiness to your song. It affects all elements in your track: vocals, instruments, drums.... I use iZotope Ozone for that purposes. It contains six different modules in one: multi-band dynamics, EQ, exciter, loudness, reverb and stereo image processors. For example exciter emphasises harmonics in higher frequences --> it's better than EQ in a way that it makes high frequencies to "sing" or "sparkle".

- MoreK -

Subject:RE: general information

Reply by: JAB

Date:11/8/2002 11:12:32 AM

BBE sonic maximizer is a great little tool for added clarity. It is available in plugin form or hardware.

Subject:RE: general information

Reply by: glyptic

Date:11/8/2002 3:45:29 PM

Definately the Mic and Soundcard and most important. But if you have to pick one or the other, I would say Mic first then sound card. If you have a great sound card and a lousy mic, it will still sound lousy. Even a cheap condensor mic will improve sound over many stage/performance mics. You don't need an expensive mic to make something sound good.

Subject:RE: general information

Reply by: groovewerx

Date:11/8/2002 4:24:33 PM

he shoulndt have to pick one or the other...its gonna take both so why put it off?

Subject:RE: general information

Reply by: DjXSoundz

Date:11/8/2002 7:33:17 PM

When i started, i used Beta58's stage mics to a TASCAM 4-track for a mic pre and then went to my sound card. Eventually you will find that a cheap BEHRINGER mixer with mice preamps will sound great if you buy a simple effects machine. the answer is really a little reverb and some eq. ACID does have reverb, but i dont recomend it. Now i have a Shure KSM27 Studio Condenser mic (sounds great only $300!) to a Beringher MXB1002 (FX chain - Lexicon Alex Reverb) and then my ECHO MIA card. I guess you can get away for a while with sage mics and soundblasters but, the mic preamp and reverb is that important.

btw, i'd use iZototype, but it costs $230.

DJ XSOUNDZ

Subject:RE: general information

Reply by: equinoxx

Date:11/11/2002 2:02:32 PM

Thanks for the information

Subject:More info

Reply by: equinoxx

Date:11/11/2002 3:12:53 PM

What I'm hearing is that I need to make sure I have a good microphone and soundcard to get good vocal output when recording into acid 3.0/4.0; does anyone recommend any upgrades for the following: Sure SM58 microphone and soundblaster pci512 soundcard? I'm new at this. I'm used to recording in a friends studio, but I felt it was time to do things on my own. help me out.

Subject:RE: More info

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:11/12/2002 1:22:58 PM

That's a pretty good mic to start with. You should have a good mic preamp and preferably a good soundcard to match it all up. Sound Blaster cards are historically noisy.

For example, you can run the Shure mic into a mixer and then output the mixer to the soundcard. You could also consider something such as M-Audio's USB Duo, which not only acts as a mic preamp but also can also act as an external soundcard or as a standalone A/D converter. (Edirol makes one too.)

HTH,
Iacobus

Subject:RE: More info

Reply by: FilthyK

Date:11/12/2002 5:28:17 PM

I have a similiar question . . . what apps are you all using to monitor fx added to external inputs in real time? I found a Xlutop Chainer that will play VSTi's and chain fx into the vocal chain, but is there anything else out there?

BTW, put real-time fx monitoring of external inputs on my Acid 5.0 Wishlist . . .

Layyyter . . .