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Well I guess you woiuld call me a newbie to recording. I've been playing guitar for 14 years. blah blah... Anyway I have been tring to record myself and I am having a hell of a time. The way I have things set up seems like it should work, but it doesn't. I don't have too much equipment and I not really looking for a great sound. I just want to be able to acually hear my recording without having to turn the volume up and hear mostly hissing. Okay and to the point.

I have a mac using garage band, m audio soundcasd, Behringer mixer ub2222fx pro, my guitar and my amp, and a pair of Behringer truth monitors.

For my setup... I'll start with the computer. So that goes to the sound card where I have my ins and outs. I have the outs going to a channel on the mixer so I can hear what I am playing. For the input on the sound card I have tryed everything. I have put them in the main outs, the tape outs sub outs. but still when I record I get nothing. My meter always reads low as well even with it cranked

Any help will be awsome. Thanx

Comments

RemyRAD Sat, 10/21/2006 - 08:47

It sounds like you're having a huge problem with " gain staging" and signal routing?

I am assuming you have no tone oscillator??

First, plug your stuff into the mixers inputs. Turn your faders up to their nominal gain position or 2/3rds of the way up, then press your solo button on each individual input and observe your meter reading. If the meter reading does not look correct when the solo button for each individual instrument input is depressed, adjust the gain trim at the top of your console's input strip.

Next, Turn your master output controls up the same way. Make sure you're getting adequate meter deflection from your signal sources going to your mixer.

If all looks well, take your master left and right outputs from the mixer and patch those into your "M- Audio card" 1/4" line input. If your M- audio card only has XLR inputs, for microphones, make sure the phantom power is switched off. Or, if it is one of those combo inputs features a 1/4" hole within the middle of an XLR, for line input purposes (much better), you're now ready to adjust the level within the software for the M-audio card. Doing all of this, should giveyou proper and adequate recording levels.

No onto monitoring the output of the computer problem. You may or may not be able to double back the output of the soundcard back into the mixer? Unless the mixer has a "stereo tape return" for monitoring purposes only. You may be adding the signal back to your computer out of phase which will cancel everything you are trying to record and providing you with the problem that you describe. Try taking your sound card output and monitoring it through a separate amplifier/headphone. If you must double it back into your mixer, you will need to use a secondary set of alternative inputs to route it to, otherwise you may be canceling your signal with an out of phase return to your stereo mix bus outputs?

The joys of wiring and gain staging
Ms. Remy Ann David

anonymous Sat, 10/21/2006 - 14:35

Thanks for your help but I tried all that and still I get nothing, just a faint sound of what I recorded. At one point I gave up on the monitoring all together so that wasn't in the mix, nope. I put the monitors in the stero aux returns, nope.

Should I use the tape outs, the main outs.
Should I mic my amp or can i use the line out, I have a peavy xxx head.

I even said damn it all and put the mac down on the floor and used the internal hardware and built in mic. No problem there, so why did I spend this money on this equipment for it not to work. im just getting frustrated.
Not enough to give up of course, this is my life!!

RemyRAD Sun, 10/22/2006 - 19:02

I can assure you, you're still doing something wrong. Don't blame it on the equipment, there's nothing wrong with the equipment. You do not understand signal flow or how to use your own tools properly. It takes quite some time to be able to master the intricacies of signal flow and how your equipment functions within the loop.

If you are recording a faint sound, then there is another adjustment somewhere in your operating system and/or software that is the key to your problem and you're not finding it. Try contacting the manufacturer of your sound card and ask them for specific settings recommendations.

Every which way but up
Ms. Remy Ann David

anonymous Fri, 10/27/2006 - 17:18

systmfailure -

Here is one way to connect your equipment:

I would definitely mic the amp to one of the first 8 channels of your ub2222fx pro. The recorded sound will be truer to what you hear live.

Assign your guitar channel (or whatever instrument you want to record) to "sub-out". Connect the "sub-out" to the "input" of the M-Audio. Assign the "subout" to the "main" bus (left-right).

Connect the "main output" of the M-Audio to channels 9/10. Assign the output of channels 9/10 (M-Audio device) to "main".

Connect your monitors to the "control room out" of your mixer.

Follow the level setting procedure from your Behringer manual.

Check to see that the volume control panel for your M-Audio device has the proper levels.

I don't have Garageband but you should be able to choose whether it records in mono or stereo (I prefer mono for guitar).

By-the-way, which M-Audio product are you using?

Good luck!

peace