What do you use for RECORDING?

[matto]

Quote:Someone suggested I try that..I am curious though it that is the situation with others who are using the mbox? That to record vocals and hear them you have to turn headphone dial almost fully to right?Different Headphones need different amounts of volume. If I remember correctly this has to do with the headphones' impedance.The mic gain needs to be adjusted to get the proper RECORDING level, to achieve a healthy signal without getting clipping. The PLAYBACK level, how loud you're hearing the stuff that's already recorded, and the MONITOR level, how loud you're hearing the voice or instrument you're presently recording, are different matters. There should be a place (probably in software, not on the Mbox itself) where you can adjust the balance balance between them. You may be able to turn up the overall output level there as well, so you won't have to turn the headphones dial up all the way.

[ernstinen]

Matto is correct. Proper microphone pre-amp level is ESSENTIAL to getting a good vocal recording, as is proper use of compression/limiting.Ern

[slimcharm]

Does anyone here use the mbox..if so do you have to turn your dial on the headphone all the way up when recording vocals? Thanks!

[slimcharm]

Hmmm I wonder if it is my headphones? They are working but it says they are low impendence. 64 (and then an upside down Q)..They allow for up to 32db of ambient noise attenuation..So I am not sure what that means..but does it mean they dont allow alot of noise in or what?

[matto]

Quote:Hmmm I wonder if it is my headphones? They are working but it says they are low impendence.You know all these questions are really questions for the place that sold you all of your equipment. They made money off of you, so they should help you with all your "getting started" questions.Since they are the ones that sold you the package they should be handling any questions concerning how the individual components work together.

[slimcharm]

You would think so wouldn't you Matto! However, I have spent some fruitless time on the phone waiting for MBOX tech support..(definitely not very good) and never got it. A lot of time on hold. I did get through once and the techie just wasn't that knowledgeable.With poor support like that I had the box packed up and ready to ship back. I only kept the MBOX because someone (I think it was you) said that presonus would likely be as hard for me to figure out..so I thought I would give the M another shot. (Plus there was the matter of having to figure out how to put in a firewire port for the presonus)I also asked the Musicians Friends people my questions. They are hit and miss there. Mostly miss. They tend to know the surface but thats about it.Fortunately a very generous person walked us through all the basics so we are up and running with the protools program. Now we are just making some tweaks to make sure that all is in order.

[53mph]

Mattos right.The people who sold you this monster should be helping you out. I often find support teams respond to email questions more than phone calls. Drop them an email with the most essential questions.Have you got the phantom power switched on. I know that my Edirol firewire card requires you to switch a button at the back to turn on the phantom power for the mic inputs. Without it you'll be gettinga very low signal input. One way to tell if this is the case. Do the wave forms on the computer screen look like big strong mountain ranges or little weak streams? If they're big strong mountain ranges then the input signal is not the problem.To eliminate another possible cause follow these instructions.On the PC go to the "Start" menu (the button that says Start at the bottom of the screen).On the drop down box select "Control Panel"In the control panel select "Sound and Audio" or whatever it's called because mine is in Italian.Check the Volume level is on max.In Audio check the playback and recording is going through your Mbox.In the playback part of "Audio" hit the "Volume" botton. A panel of audio faders will pop up. Make sure your "Wave" and "Master Volume" faders are on maxIn the "Recording" section of Audio hit the volume button and make sure the faders for line in and microphone are up high.This shouldn't be an issue as you should be able to do all this within ProTools but, as I said before, if there is a conflict with your internal soundcard (which I suspect there is because you said it was the only one that came up in the Audio properties of Pro Tool) you may need to do these things.Of course the best thing to do would be to disable the internal soundcard completely......but that's for another message.Look on the bright side of this. You've probably learned a lot about computers whilst sorting out these problems.

[nickbatzdorf]

In all fairness, it's not the manufacturer's responsibility to give anyone a rudimentary recording course. I don't mean this as an insult, but you have to bear in mind that there are thousands upon thousands of M-Box users all over the world who use the thing every day. Some of them would statistically have to be complete morons, so I don't think it's fair to rag on the person who sold you the gear for making it so totally confusing.And of course I'm not saying you're a complete moron, just that everybody who knows the basics started out not knowing them!

[slimcharm]

My suggestion as a former educator (I have a Masters degree in education)...would be to supply an easy to follow manual instead of one that is hard for the novice to understand. It does not even begin to explain the basics. If the manual explained basics it would not have been so difficult. Fortunately, for me a very kind soul who wants to collaborate with Jessica recommended the gear (or I would not have known what to buy) and also walked us through the steps.The problem was he had to go out of town for a couple days and I was on my own trying to determine if the gear was working correctly. When you dont know how to operate something and you try what you think is the right way to do it..and you have looked at the manuals and listened to the CD-ROM..it is hard when you are not sure if its working right.So I dont know that the support people or musicians friends are responsible for teaching me the basics however, they are responsible for answering simple questions regarding the equipment..ie is it normal for this or that to occur when you use the machine is a question suppport should answer..however they are pretty much unreachable (mbox support, musicians friends is better but I cant expect them to know everything about the equipment they are selling its hit or miss).Thus asking a few questions here since this is a technology thread is fine to do in my opinion and anyone who wants to pitch in and help (and I appreciate those who have!) can do so and anyone who doesnt can move on to the next thread.

[ernstinen]

I agree that most manufacturers think that you SHOULD know everything that they already know, just by osmosis! Although I'm a recording engineer, it's taken me a LONG time to know what I know, and most of that is in the analog realm. I'm pretty slow learning digital technology. Maybe that's because I'm a full-time composer and don't have a "commercial" studio anymore.My biggest pet peeve is no written manual for learning software. Sure, there's a manual somewhere on your hard drive, but it doesn't make sense to go back and forth from a "soft" manual to the program you're trying to learn. I guess they expect you to print it out yourself if you want a written manual! Ern