Audio Recording Nightmare - Knowledgable help greatly appreciated! -Sound Forge - PC

Subject:Audio Recording Nightmare - Knowledgable help greatly appreciated! Posted by: jg Date:11/19/2001 1:19:32 AM Here's the dilemma. I'm recording a personal demo tape for a talk radio show I'm developing. I'm trying to produce the open, which is a mix of voice over and music. The music sounds full, rich and vibrant, but the voice over lacks the resonance that you typically associate with radio announcers. It sounds hollow and tinny. I do have tv production experience, but I'm a real novice when it comes to audio. A friend of mine suggested that my problem could be that I was using a cheap microphone. (He's right, I was. Audio Technica ATR-35R Lapel mic. $30 bucks at Best Buy.) Another friend said that even with a good mic, I'll never achieve FM DJ type sound, recording straight into my mini DV cam. (Sony TRV-10) He said I needed some type of pre-amp with phantom power. So, I managed to scrounge up a pretty decent cardoid mic. (I'm not exactly sure of the brand, but it has a capital T logo and it sounds tons better than the cheap AT I was using) and a Mackie 1202-VLZ Pro Mixer with phantom power.) My problem now is that while my voice over sounds great over the monitor headphones plugged into the mixing panel, (and the levels look great there) when I try to record into either my camera or sound card, I am absolutely pummeled by buzz and distortion. The guy who loaned me the gear is too slammed to help me troubleshoot and I've spent hours on line surfing websites for audio recording tips. Can anyone out there direct me? I've been working on this 2-minute piece for nearly three weeks now and it's freaking driving me crazy! Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have! JG
Subject:RE: Audio Recording Nightmare - Knowledgable help greatly appreciated! Reply by: BrentA Date:11/19/2001 3:03:15 PM >> when I try to record into either my camera or sound card, I am absolutely pummeled by buzz and distortion Sounds like you are overloading the input on your camera and soundcard. Are you trying to run line-level output from your Mackie into mic input of the camera? If so, that's definitely a no-no...the line-out is a much hotter signal than the mic input can likely handle. Same thing with your soundcard...verify that the jack you are running into is a "line-in" jack and not a "mic" input. Many consumer soundcards have seperate jacks for "mic" and "line in" that look very similar. Best of luck!
Subject:RE: Audio Recording Nightmare - Knowledgable help greatly appreciated! Reply by: Cinematographer Date:11/20/2001 8:58:53 AM Don't forget to space out your speakers AND ESPECIALLY your video gear away from your audio equipment. Low level hums and distortion have been known to totally hose up a good sweetening session or two of mine. Monitors (even if most pro models are shielded) can create some noise as well. One more thing (talking from experience of frustration!), don't forget to check and if worse comes to worse, switch to new XLR/etc. cables out. I've wrestled with problems before where it just boiled down to spending some good money on some solid cables. (like Comprehensive, etc.) Hope this helps a little bit...good luck!

Subject:Audio Recording Nightmare - Knowledgable help greatly appreciated!

Posted by: jg

Date:11/19/2001 1:19:32 AM

Here's the dilemma.

I'm recording a personal demo tape for a talk radio show I'm developing. I'm trying to produce the open, which is a mix of voice over and music.

The music sounds full, rich and vibrant, but the voice over lacks the resonance that you typically associate with radio announcers. It sounds hollow and tinny.

I do have tv production experience, but I'm a real novice when it comes to audio.

A friend of mine suggested that my problem could be that I was using a cheap microphone. (He's right, I was. Audio Technica ATR-35R Lapel mic. $30 bucks at Best Buy.)

Another friend said that even with a good mic, I'll never achieve FM DJ type sound, recording straight into my mini DV cam. (Sony TRV-10) He said I needed some type of pre-amp with phantom power.

So, I managed to scrounge up a pretty decent cardoid mic. (I'm not exactly sure of the brand, but it has a capital T logo and it sounds tons better than the cheap AT I was using) and a Mackie 1202-VLZ Pro Mixer with phantom power.)

My problem now is that while my voice over sounds great over the monitor headphones plugged into the mixing panel, (and the levels look great there) when I try to record into either my camera or sound card, I am absolutely pummeled by buzz and distortion. The guy who loaned me the gear is too slammed to help me troubleshoot and I've spent hours on line surfing websites for audio recording tips.

Can anyone out there direct me? I've been working on this 2-minute piece for nearly three weeks now and it's freaking driving me crazy!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have!

JG

Subject:RE: Audio Recording Nightmare - Knowledgable help greatly appreciated!

Reply by: BrentA

Date:11/19/2001 3:03:15 PM

>> when I try to record into either my camera or sound card, I am absolutely pummeled by buzz and distortion

Sounds like you are overloading the input on your camera and soundcard. Are you trying to run line-level output from your Mackie into mic input of the camera? If so, that's definitely a no-no...the line-out is a much hotter signal than the mic input can likely handle. Same thing with your soundcard...verify that the jack you are running into is a "line-in" jack and not a "mic" input. Many consumer soundcards have seperate jacks for "mic" and "line in" that look very similar. Best of luck!

Subject:RE: Audio Recording Nightmare - Knowledgable help greatly appreciated!

Reply by: Cinematographer

Date:11/20/2001 8:58:53 AM

Don't forget to space out your speakers AND ESPECIALLY your video gear away from your audio equipment. Low level hums and distortion have been known to totally hose up a good sweetening session or two of mine. Monitors (even if most pro models are shielded) can create some noise as well. One more thing (talking from experience of frustration!), don't forget to check and if worse comes to worse, switch to new XLR/etc. cables out. I've wrestled with problems before where it just boiled down to spending some good money on some solid cables. (like Comprehensive, etc.) Hope this helps a little bit...good luck!