RICHARD HUTCHINS Posted May 5, 2020 Share Posted May 5, 2020 Hi, I am recording a song with harmonies and all started well, but then the vocals seemed to become distorted. The meter is ok and not in the red. I use a Mike through a scarlett input. I tried a test track using a completely new project and all was well. So it must relate to something I've done on my song. Any clues? ( I am a novice) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaps Posted May 5, 2020 Share Posted May 5, 2020 Are you using take lanes on the distorted vocal track? Is the waveform also showing distortion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICHARD HUTCHINS Posted May 5, 2020 Author Share Posted May 5, 2020 No not take lanes. I didnt check the wave as I dont know what to look for. (Novice!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Baay Posted May 5, 2020 Share Posted May 5, 2020 (edited) Assuming individual tracks are not hitting 0dBFS when their input Gain and output Volume controls are at 'unity' (i.e. 0.0 - no gain or attentution from what was recorded in the .WAV file), check the level on the Master bus. The levels on individual tracks may be okay but sum to clipping on the Master. Cakewalk provides essentially infinite mathematical 'headroom' for summing inside the box, but the D/A converters on the soundcard/interface will be clipping if the Master bus is peaking above 0dBFS. You can pull the input gain on the Master down, but it's best to lower output Volume faders on the individual tracks. Edited May 5, 2020 by David Baay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gswitz Posted May 5, 2020 Share Posted May 5, 2020 Try another Mic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vere Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 First place I'd look is my master bus meters second the tracks VU meters. Turn up your monitors and turn down your tracks until you sort it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarsF Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 Look if any pro channels plugins have been activated that you are not aware of. I did a whole bunch of recordings where both saturator and something else was activated, no action from me. Other plugins - it's possible to have overs in one plugin but level lowered in another following - so not seeing peaks to overs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scook Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 Might be too low a buffer setting in preferences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcL Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 If you use only one microphone (mono) and your track interleave is stereo, then the doubling of the mono could cause a +3 dB increase of the input! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICHARD HUTCHINS Posted May 6, 2020 Author Share Posted May 6, 2020 Wow lots of things to look at. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helos Bonos Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 Did you try bypassing all plugins? Can you post a clip of the distorted audio? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICHARD HUTCHINS Posted May 9, 2020 Author Share Posted May 9, 2020 Hi Yes I've attached a screenshot. I have messed around with the faders to try and get the distorted bit away but nothing seems to help. I am using a scarlett focusrite as my interface. Now I look more closely, lots of tracks are a bit distorted without necessarily being red on the meters. Only when I turn the scarlett gain right down does this go, but of course then everything is too quiet. I think it is something a novice would mess up, ( me) and probably fairly obvious when you know! PS Apropos nothing above, Whilst I'm typing, does anyone know if Native Instruments Vintage Organ is a plugin that I can use in Cakewalk? Off topic I know. So many questions, so little knowledge! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helos Bonos Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 I think you are recording too hot. Wherever you see the bottom of the waveform touch the middle horizontal line, that is clipping. When I said post a clip, I meant audio clip but this is ok. I think you need to lower your input gain on the Scarlett low enough were the waveform is not touching the middle line (and you don't hear clipping) and then compensate by turning up the output of your interface and or your monitors. You also might have to lower the levels of your other tracks for everything to be more balanced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StudioNSFW Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 Yup - was going to say exactly the same. Low RMS can be correctted in post and that signal just looks way too hot to me. Aim for around -15 dB RMS tracking but don't sweat if it is lower so long as the needle is moving and you are somewhere in the neighborhood. Make an unhappy face if it ever hits anything above -5 dB when tracking. This is backwards from an analog recording system where you start to lose nuance if underpowered. Digital makes it easy! It would be really smart to take an afternoon and truck over to YouTube for as many of Creative Sauces tutorials as possible but start with this one: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helos Bonos Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 Oh, I forgot to mention. If you have a meter or a clipping light on your interface, when you are singing into the mic, make sure the meter or light does not hit red. You want to keep it just below yellow. Try to stay in the green zone (or light) and you should be good. Red means clipping. Yellow means getting close to clipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scook Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 Several audio tracks appear to be recorded on the left channel only. This happens when a mono instrument or microphone is plugged into the the odd channel on the interface and the DAW is setup to record in stereo. Mono instruments and microphones should be recording on mono tracks in the DAW. This may be corrected by bouncing the tracks using the "Split Mono" format, adjusting the pan on the good track and throwing away the track made for the right channel. The lead vox track is recorded too loud. It shows a peak level at -0.3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helos Bonos Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 @scook Couldn't he just right click on the track header and choose "Convert to Mono"? Or will that combine the two channels outputting a lower signal composite of both channels? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scook Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 If there is any noise on the right channel summing the channels may not be a good idea. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vere Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 SteveC has it figured, The OP has not set things up correctly here. You always select a mono input channel when recording with a mike. It will be obvious when you open the track input dialog. It should say Left Scarllet ASIO 1 ( or right= 2) Then as said Scarlett interfaces are hypersensitive to setting levels. I have a 6i6 and I really hate the way it distorts so easily. The pre amps are way to whimpy in my opinion. I use a Joe Meek pre amp to solve my issues. So set your levels low and just suck it up if you can't hear yourself. Best solution is to crank the monitoring up to max, You don;t mention which Scarlett you own but if it has mix control you can get your monitoring louder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StudioNSFW Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 I think you need to set the driver to show mono channels first, if you havent I wish I could apply friendly names to each side...Just cosmetic but it would be even friendlier... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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