Exuma
New Member
Posts: 26
|
Post by Exuma on Nov 26, 2017 22:18:40 GMT -7
I'm playing from my bedroom only, I have a SM57 which connects to a Scarlett 2i2, which connects via a USB-B to USB-C cable (direct cable, no adapter) to my Mac. I'm micing it 1 inch away from the amp, just right of dead center. Phantom power is on, Gain is at roughly 1'oclock.
I got this so I could record my playing, for practicing, and make videos etc, although the sound just sounds VERY flat, anemic, and crappy. It sounds like I used a $20 mic basically.
For playback I'm listening through Mac computer speakers, which in themselves are really good for computer speakers (but obviously pale in comparison to actual monitors).
When I use the DAC as the output device, and play my computer output through the amp, it works perfectly (so I know it's not the quality of the actual data).
Is there something special I need to do with the software (Adobe Audition) to make my recordings "computer friendly" so they work on 90% of computer speakers rather than really high end recording monitors and headphones?
The only thing I could think of is maybe the amp produces magical highs and lows that computer speakers just cant capture, so it only plays the middle 30% of the sound or something... and maybe i have to "compress" the entire sound into a range that computer speakers could play. That is 100% a guess though, and I'd love any extra insight into steps required to make a GOOD legit sound.
Thanks guys
|
|
|
Post by purpletele on Nov 26, 2017 22:53:57 GMT -7
I'm playing from my bedroom only, I have a SM57 which connects to a Scarlett 2i2, which connects via a USB-B to USB-C cable (direct cable, no adapter) to my Mac. I'm micing it 1 inch away from the amp, just right of dead center. Phantom power is on, Gain is at roughly 1'oclock. I got this so I could record my playing, for practicing, and make videos etc, although the sound just sounds VERY flat, anemic, and crappy. It sounds like I used a $20 mic basically. For playback I'm listening through Mac computer speakers, which in themselves are really good for computer speakers (but obviously pale in comparison to actual monitors). When I use the DAC as the output device, and play my computer output through the amp, it works perfectly (so I know it's not the quality of the actual data). Is there something special I need to do with the software (Adobe Audition) to make my recordings "computer friendly" so they work on 90% of computer speakers rather than really high end recording monitors and headphones? The only thing I could think of is maybe the amp produces magical highs and lows that computer speakers just cant capture, so it only plays the middle 30% of the sound or something... and maybe i have to "compress" the entire sound into a range that computer speakers could play. That is 100% a guess though, and I'd love any extra insight into steps required to make a GOOD legit sound. Thanks guys exuma, I would try recording something through Garage Band with that set up. I will be curious to see what you determine. I just saw the Adobe Audition Suite and I am curious about its capabilities. Garage Band has been fairly simple to learn.
|
|
|
Post by mudman on Nov 28, 2017 12:28:50 GMT -7
Not sure why you have phantom power on, don’t need it with the sm57. What is your gain like on the mic pre? Are you monitoring with headphones at all while setting up the mic? Running any post eq or reverb? Any compression? Lots of tweaking goes into recording properly, and a mic’d amp doesn’t necessarily sound like an amp in the room without massaging it.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2017 12:47:22 GMT -7
The speakers on your Mac aren't gonna give you a good idea at what you are putting down. If you can't hook some monitors up to the Scarlett you should at least be listening through some decent headphones plugged into the Scarlett.
As stated above, the levels will make a big change on how things sound. You do not need phantom power with the 57.
The mic will be brighter towards the center of the speaker and darker towards the edge of the speaker.
If you get the mic more than 3 inches away from the grill the low end will roll off.
If you turn the mic "off axis" (no pointed directly at the speaker) that can also change the sound, sometimes for the better.t
|
|
Exuma
New Member
Posts: 26
|
Post by Exuma on Nov 28, 2017 12:56:06 GMT -7
Thanks for the help guys
1. I disabled phantom power
2. The gain on the 2i2 for the mic input is roughly 1'oclock
3. I'm not monitoring with headphones or anything else, just my computer speakers.
Here is my full setup:
guitar --> amp * * * SM57 --(xlr)> 2i2 --(usb)> mac
I suppose what you mentioned about massaging is exactly what im wondering. I can go pick up a pair of headphones to listen, lets pretend its sounds great in there.... how do I 'massage' what I record so it sounds good on post people's computer speakers. Is there some kind of generic effect/filter I can run which will adjust levels to "fit" within lower-quality speakers so people on youtube can enjoy it etc.
I know its possible because I listen to some videos with absolutely insanely good sound on my (apparently ****) speakers... like these
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2017 13:04:14 GMT -7
You need to be able to monitor what you are doing with something besides the mac's internal speakers. You need some headphones.
There's no real generic magic plugin to put on there. After doing a good job recording compression and EQ will be the 2 main things you'll want to learn about to bring out the best in what you have recorded.
|
|
|
Post by mudman on Nov 29, 2017 7:11:38 GMT -7
So with your gain at 1:00, what does the signal look like? Are you close to peaking? I usually try to get within -1 db of 0 for a good signal to work with.
|
|
|
Post by mudman on Nov 29, 2017 7:12:05 GMT -7
And you definitely need some headphones for monitoring
|
|
|
Post by bgkyt1 on Dec 28, 2017 8:28:21 GMT -7
and, make sure your software is actually using the mic pre as its input source, and not your computer's built-in mic.
|
|
|
Post by pcns on Dec 28, 2017 22:45:39 GMT -7
Once you get a means of monitoring what you are recording you can play around with the mic placement to get a tone you will be happy with. The rest will be mixing with your software.
|
|
Exuma
New Member
Posts: 26
|
Post by Exuma on Dec 29, 2017 0:32:35 GMT -7
Once you get a means of monitoring what you are recording you can play around with the mic placement to get a tone you will be happy with. The rest will be mixing with your software. Can you give me a 5 minute primer on 'what' to actually mix to make it sound better? Yes I realize its all subjective but I've tried googling in the past and its all kind of indirect/round-about info. I'd really love just an objective 'do these 5 things to improve your sound quality above average'
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2017 5:50:38 GMT -7
I am no recording genius or engineer but I would certainly agree with what has been said here. I will add that you don't really need to spend a fortune. I do radio ads and I used to use cheaper headphones....they were OK for all I was doing. Then I bought a pair of powered Mackie monitors for $125 (Canadian) and man, even those made a HUGE difference. I can hear a lot of things I couldn't before. Start with headphones and go from there...you'll hear an improvement. My recording setup is simply a mic > Presonus Audiobox iTwo > PC via USB and I use Adobe Audition CC for editing and mixing the recordings. I do have the Presonus Studio One which came with the interface. I haven't taken the time to really get into it though. I am so used to Audition that it's my go to.
|
|
|
Post by sharkboy on Dec 30, 2017 22:08:56 GMT -7
By all means, use some usable headphones. A lot of great recordings have been made with just a close mic’d 57.
Mic placement: Roscoe’s advice is very sound. The biggest controllable variable is how to get a good sound into the recording. Also understand that the distance between mic and speaker can make a large difference. FYI, your ear isn’t at the grill when you’re playing. Don’t be afraid to tweak your amp settings to make the guitar sound more on the recording like it does in free air when you’re playing normally.
I would advise against recording the signal too hot. If you’re using 16-bit @ 44.1k, you do need to at least never go over 0. With greater resolution, most of us try to max out substantially lower.
The next thing is amp volume. Some of what you may enjoy about your sound is an artifact of the Fletcher Munson curve, which adds bass and high treble to perceived signal. When played back at a different volume, it will suffer cojones reduction. When also played through a half ince pair of speakers that are challenged below 300 Hz, that’s going to change your ability to evaluate the quality of your improvements.
The last thing I would mention is the room’s participation in the sound. If the mic is picking up wall splatter, try turning the amp, moving the mic closer, movig stuff around, blankets, etc.
|
|
|
Post by benttop (Steve) on Jan 7, 2018 8:20:40 GMT -7
With all of the comments, you may have missed Eric's comment about compression. Audition has quite a number of canned compression effects that will get you a lot closer to what you're hearing on commercial posts on YouTube. You can apply these in several ways for different reasons. You probably want to take a short course in it as the concepts are initially somewhat abstract - yet critically important! Audition has a multi-band compression effect that I've found very useful the last couple of years, but it also has a tube style compressor that works pretty sweet for guitar. Learn how to operate it and be amazed.
|
|
Exuma
New Member
Posts: 26
|
Post by Exuma on Jan 7, 2018 10:32:08 GMT -7
With all of the comments, you may have missed Eric's comment about compression. Audition has quite a number of canned compression effects that will get you a lot closer to what you're hearing on commercial posts on YouTube. You can apply these in several ways for different reasons. You probably want to take a short course in it as the concepts are initially somewhat abstract - yet critically important! Audition has a multi-band compression effect that I've found very useful the last couple of years, but it also has a tube style compressor that works pretty sweet for guitar. Learn how to operate it and be amazed. Awesome, thanks for pointing that out. I'm moving now and am getting my gear set back up this week and I'll give it a shot
|
|