Business Sound Recording Help

Leitchy

Leitchy

Leitchy

Associate
Joined
17 May 2004
Posts
119
Hello,

I work for a company that produce Interactive language software that is fully sound enabled. At the moment, we are having problems with our recordings where they can sometimes sound tinny and low quality, compared to recordings done by other company's in a professional studio.

We are using one of the Soundblaster Audigy X-Fi soundcards so I take it that won't be a factor in it all, and using the headset that came with it. The question I have is, if we buy an actual freestanding microphone (Such as the M-Audio Solaris) will this improve the sound quality compared to the standard headset?

If the answer to the above is yes, then could someone possibly help me spec some options, and everything I would need to set a small studio up with the minimal of costs.

Thankyou
 
It does sound to me like the mic is the culprit here. The X-Fi arent amazing recorders, but are more than capable of vocal work in general. Just sounds like your mic isnt very capable of picking up lower frequencies, to give a more rounded sounded.

Perhaps look at getting hold of a Shure SM58/57 (look into them before you decide which) and a cheap mixing desk, then the appropriate cables to connect it all, and then from the mixer to the PC.
If you want really clear vocals, perhaps look at cheaper condensor mic, like the Rode NT-1, rather than a dynamic one, as they're generally capable of much more sensitive, detailed vocals, but are easier to damage, especially cheaper ones. If you do chose a condensor mic though, you need to make sure the mixing desk is capable of providing phantom power. As you dont want anything amazing, perhaps look at a Behringer mixing desk. They're not amazing, but they are pretty cheap.

Dolphinmusic may have what you need, they usually seem to have a decent enough range for someone just looking for basics. Im presuming you have software for recording, but if yours is very basic, perhaps look at a cubase package - its not incredibly expensive and would be more than suitable for basic equalisation etc in combination with a small mixing desk for vocal work.
 
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Yes the mic and on-board pre-amplifier are inadequate. The mic pre on my Audigy 2 is shockingly bad tbh, I suspect the X-Fi is similar (since thier main requirement is just low quality voice transmission such as on msn). The line in should offer perfectly acceptable quality however.

You might consider a stand-alone mic pre such as the M-Audio Audiobuddy; these lack the EQ, busses, sends etc of mixers so all your money goes towards decent amps. Alternatively bypass the soundcard altogether and go with something like the Tapco Link USB.

A condenser mic should produce the clearest results but you'd need a quiet room and a pop-shield.
 
If you are trying to elimiate noise and low quality from your recordings then forget about including anything with a Behringer or M-Audio lable on it, there are far better solutions available for a little bit extra money.

Firstly, buy a Digidesign M-Box Mini, they can be had for around £180, this will give you one reasonable quality mic pre-amp and also allow you to use ProTools LE which is far superior than Cubase.

As for a mic, any reasonably good quality large diaphragm condenser would suffice, you could look at budget options such as Rode's NT1 and Audo Technica AT2020/3030, just make sure that you get one with a suspension cradle and also invest in a decent stand and pop sheild.

The environment you record in is also going to have a big influence on the end results, try to find a room with the lowest level of background noise as possible (consider recording later at night if traffic noise is a problem for you) and also find somewhere that is reasonably acoustically dead, i.e. the less hard reflective surfaces the better.

Well thats my two pennys worth, although to be honest if you are recording this for a commercial product where inteligability and quality are a high priority then surely just spending a few hundred pounds and getting a professional studio with an engineer for a day would give you the best results in the shortest ammount of time and probably for the least hassle. If you let me know where you are in the UK I could probably recomend a few places for you to contact.
 
Definately seems excessive for spoken word recordings. You can make a perfectly decent voice recording for far less. Your current setup is flawed but you can improve it drastically (and to a point that is perfectly acceptable) without spending a huge amount. Here is a recording; it'll seem pretty bizarre on it's own but anyhow :p :

http://download.yousendit.com/5E7BA4AA004EA1B4

You can try to guess what it's recorded with :)
 
Right, I've opted to go for the "Rode NT1-A Condenser Including Shockmount" which has a few good reviews for vocal recording. The next bit id need is the mixing desk. I looked at wij's suggestion of getting a M-Box Mini though it seemed pricy compared to some of the other products I seen that would give me the basics (I know you pay for quality, but does it need to be that much for vocal recording?).

If you have any suggestions for the mixing desk that would be great, weighing in cost vs quality factor.
 
Yamaha MG10/2 Mixer - seems to be a bit basic, (only 2 channel input) but has phantom power, and can be had for about £60. Should meet your needs, as you're only recording vocals :) Quality wise, i found a review for its slightly larger brother, and it seemed to think the thing was quite nice for its price, and Im sure the same would extend to its smaller brother. Not amazing, but more than capable for Vocal work. It also has some EQ, but personally I'd recommend EQ'ing on a computer, so you still have the 'pure' recording.

http://www.imuso.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?StockCode=PA00242
was the cheapest I saw on a quick look.

One small point - make sure you buy any needed cables, and also a stand/pop-shield for the mic if it doesnt come with either! :)
 
As it happens that is the mixer I have (and used in the previously posted recording). Bit hissy on highest gains but with any reasonably sensitive mic and moderately close vocal work it should be fine :)
 
Hello again,

I baught the new equipment and now suffer from another problem. I think it is inteference, and have attached a picture below.

audio.gif


Basicly there is no background noise, though fear something electronic is now affecting this.
 
That looks like a slight DC Offset, normally caused by a soundcard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_offset

I know that Soundforge has a function that can correct/compensate for this, though I don't know about other programs. Having said that, if you can't hear it and your vocal levels are good, I wouldn't worry about it unless you start compressing the tracks to hell and back.
 
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