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funke · Location: USA Posts: 2

Hi,

I'm a complete newbie to computer recording or any musical recording, for that matter. I have been lurking around this forum for two weeks now and I've learned some rather neat and interesting things regarding this musical recording adventure (for myself, that is). Please, bear with my very basic knowledge about this subject.

I have been doing some karaoke recordings (i.e. I'd take a track of music and mix in my vocal track). I started out with this hobby as just for pure fun after I played around with CEP's effects. After a few days, I went and bought a pretty primitive dynamic mic to record my singing and added to the karaoke tracks. After I tweak with the effects in CEP for my vocal track, the sound turned out pleasantly good. For a long time, I was very happy with my new hobby. :D

Now as I'm starting to enjoy this a lot more, I want to improve the sound quality a bit. After reading some of the threads on this forum, I went out and bought myself a AKG C1000s condenser mic and an Audio Buddy preamp. To my somewhat disappointment, the sound quality of my vocal has not improved all that much (from the primitive dynamic mic). As far as my ears can tell, the improvement is barely noticeable. What I want to ask is: Do I need to buy a new audio card for my computer, such as the ones most popular here like the Echo Mia and Audiophille? I only play around with karaoke recordings and will never mess around with any instrumental recordings, so I figured I didn't need a new audio card with all those extra inputs. Am I wrong in thinking this? I have a fairly new computer (P4 2.5gig, 512 ram) with a decent sound card (sound blaster live 5.1). If the audio card is not my problem, then what could be my problems (can't be just my singing, I recorded for a few of my friends too Big Grin

)? Should I spend my money on a more expensive mic along with a better preamp? My budget is somewhere at around $700. Thank you for your time.

Cheers

motorhead6 · Posts: 193

Well if you arent happy with the sound quality then maybe you do. It is possible without buying one but you allready knew that. Maybe the playback device could be the problem.

ozpeter · Location: Australia Posts: 3200

Motorhead6 puts his finger on it - you've mentioned all the input side, but not what you are finally listening on. If the monitoring side isn't up to much, you won't get much payback from improving the recording side.

I might be in a majority of one here, but I suspect the difference you'd hear by upgrading the soundcard would be less than the difference I would have expected from you mic/preamp upgrade. Don't rush to the shop just yet!

- Ozpeter

motorhead6 · Posts: 193

Ditto. But if you decide to go with a new soundcard $700 can probably do it. I paid almost $600.00 for my MOTU 24i. Of course its a 44.1Kbs or 48kbs samples per second bitrate and they have ones that are 96kbs now. It is 24 bit bit depth though.

djwayne · Location: USA Posts: 583

You're not saying what exactly it is you're not happy with. Too much noise, Hum, Hiss, on the recording ??, What type of amp are you using ?? Speakers?? Headphones ?? Everything plays a part in how it sounds, and you're not gonna get a BMW for the price of a bicycle.

I've gotten very good results using the C-1000 on vocals and guitar. Would I change the sound card ?? Yep. Upgrade the amp & speakers ? Yep yep, already did. It all makes a difference. Do you run things thru an EQ or any other effect ?? I use an EQ and Sonic Maximizer, and love it. How about a sub-woofer for the low end, are you using one ?? It all adds up. Your problem may not be just one thing.

funke · Location: USA Posts: 2

djwayne, motorhead6, ozpeter: Thank you for your replies.

motorhead6 & ozpeter: How I listen to the sound from my computer is: I basically ran the audio output from my sound card to my stereo system. Then I'd plug in a headphone to the stereo or I would just listen through its speakers. The sound is how it is suppose to sound, I guess. For example, if I play a CD on my stereo and then play that same CD on my computer, the sound quality would be exactly the same.

djwayne: There's really not that much noise, hiss, etc., it's just the signal I get is rather weak. If I turn the amp up, then the mic would pick up all kind of background noise and hiss. Once I get a good signal and record my voice, the sound quality isn't all that much difference from the ones I'd get by recording with my dynamic mic (the crappy one). I thought if I'd get a better audio card, the signal from my preamp to the audio card would make the difference. Would an EQ and a Noisegate be the difference in how I can maximize my mic?

djwayne · Location: USA Posts: 583

If you're happy with your speakers and amp, I'd suggest getting a recording grade sound card. I bought the Audiophile 2496, and am very pleased with it's performance, signal strength, and signal to noise ratio. You may have to take some time to fiddle with your levels to find the right recording levels on your current card, but a new card would give you a cleaner sound in my opinion and with my experience. You can find them for between $100-200 for just a stereo input.

motorhead6 · Posts: 193

BBE Sonic Maximizer is cool. In your case its not the first thing you probably need. If you have a good mic and soundcard and board and everything that little BBE is probably the biggest improvement you can add to your sound for the least money in my opinion. I love them especially for live sound.