Yours is louder which sounds clearer. You must have boosted it? I'm not sure if it would null if we did that however, sounds close enough to mine in regards to the phase.

I hear what it is. Its not your process, (y) I believe the mic is actually picking up your walls more ! Thus, a more obvious comb filter.

How close are the walls? They sound like 4ft? It sounds like a booth, small room? Anyone else care to guess?

On a side note, comparing the MP3 vs Wave export results on Sampliquoia is pretty awesome.

Got your 414 loaded Donny, without uploading (let me know if you want my export online with the others) but, the 414 is without doubt superior.
When the vox is captured with a more upfront sound like this, mixing everything around it is so much easier. The 414 is clear and sweet in comparison to the tube. The tube is muddy and dull, lacks harmonics and life. Its easy to make the 414 sound like a tube with one button for me. Impossible to make the Tube sound like the 414 any which way you hybrid it.

hope that helps.

Thanks, Chris.

I dunno. The room I tracked vocals in is 12' x 10' (roughly), and I was approx 5"-7" off the mic.

Walls were between 4'-6' from the mic. I was using a heavy packing blanket, 6" behind the mic (facing me as I faced the mic(s) ) and wrapped around each side of me, with each side around 3' or so feet away from the mic. I'm wondering if maybe I should track in my control room space instead - where there are three 3'x5'x4" BB absorption panels on two of the walls, and a 2'x4'x4" OC703 cloud, suspended 4" down from the ceiling...

I haven't done so previously, because one wall/window in the mixing space faces a road, so I generally track vox, amps, drums, acoustic guitars, etc., in a spare bedroom at the back of the house where noise pollution from the outside is at a minimum.

You didn't say which mic/take you used for the .wav and MP above - was it the SolidTube or the 414? (In an earlier post, you had mentioned a preference for the 414, so I'm just curious)...

Now... I have no idea where the phasing problems came in with the other tracks - because drums were VSTi, ( superior) as was piano ( Garritan Steinway), and I heard phasing issues all over those tracks too, (after I had uploaded the last version yesterday - the version that had me freaking out.)

And it's still a puzzle to me. I don't know if this is a possible bug in Samp's MP3 rendering code? Or a momentary glitch in soundcloud? The room I tracked in might explain some of the phasiness on the vocal, but it wouldn't explain the all-too-obvious phase issues on the other tracks, of which half were VSTi-sourced. And, as I mentioned several times, there were absolutely no problems when playing the original multi track project from Samplitude. It was only after it became an MP3 that those problems happened... :confused:... so I'm still at a loss as to how to explain that.

Marco mentioned that he has heard strange phase on my mixes in the past - when I would send him Samp-based MP3's to proof... so I can't help but wonder if perhaps my version of Samp has a bug somewhere in the MP3 rendering code...?...

-d.

Shop Talk Now.

The mass of my analog system is boxed for an up and coming project I am doing at my Lake home after Christmas so, I can't use my standard process ( for whatever it worth in this) but I can still play with this on my Mastering DAW.

I normalized them both and started to listen to what it is that I here in all of them, that I don't like.

Check this out:

The Tube has an over all better mid and less upper mid ugly of the two.
I'm now thinking there is something exaggerated from your converters. I cannot believe this is a character of the preamps so whats left if both have the similar hot area's around 2.8 and 6 to 8k . Pulling them down 4db is helpful. The tube is masking it all better.

I've EQ both mics and prefer the Tube still because it "hides" the upper peaks coming from something in your chain. I think its the converter. What ADC are you using again? I can't believe this is the preamp. I'm still convinced using an LA2A on the 414 would improve it with a better outcome of the two but its just a guess. What this is saying from me, I prefer a clearer capture more often because I can use my tubes or trannies to get a better outcome.

I EQ'd both mics so I could to help me pick apart the suspect problem.

[MEDIA=soundcloud]audiokid/2014-12-14-414eq
[="https://soundcloud.com/audiokid/2014-12-14-414eq"]View: https://soundcloud.com/audiokid/2014-12-14-414eq[/]="https://soundcloud…"]View: https://soundcloud…]

[MEDIA=soundcloud]audiokid/2014-12-14-tube-eq
[[url=http://="https://soundcloud…"]View: https://soundcloud…]="https://soundcloud…"]View: https://soundcloud…]

here is the suspect freq that I consistently hear in your mixes.

[MEDIA=soundcloud]audiokid/2014-12-14-suspect-freq
[[url=http://[/URL]="https://soundcloud…"]View: https://soundcloud…]="https://soundcloud…"]View: https://soundcloud…]

FWIW,
in my experience, No system is perfect. When I get a mix, my ears go directly to those problem areas. The first thing I do is notch sweep to pin down spiky freq and attack then one by one. Most mixes are consistent meaning, when you find the crud, consistent in every song and every channel that goes through your chain. VST's are exempt unless you are of course mixing OTB and adding more (consoles or bad DAAD ) to it even more. The Accumulative aliasing distortions, cross talk, "" turns worse to terrible.

...
These are are usually a consistent upper mid crud ( that sounds like headophone bleed) that is not only tracked on the original channels but also adding more bleed from headphones and reverbs.
So, we also have phase problems from overdubs out of time from latencies and whatever happens from that issue too. .
The overdubs are what create twice as much eeek and phasy swirly sound that is usually in the upper mids.
So, headphone bleed and moving heads around create bleeding in on the track. This will kill a mix faster than anything else. The spiky swirly sss. :cry::eek: Is that cymbals or headphones?

The above example might be what your headphones are adding. Make sense?

Compound this with conversion, SS pre's, and overdubs like harmonies make for a really whacked phase throughout a mix that you can never fix. All you can do is find the freqs and start pulling until its tolerable. Ending with a weak and irritating mix that you are never happy with.

I think you might be actually be hearing the natural "edge/rasp" of my voice, Chris.

It falls right around 5k-6k... it's actually a harmonic that I picked up about 10 years ago after I had nodes removed from my vocal cords. Other engineers over the years have told me they either love it, or hate it. The ones that hate it end up carving out -3db at 5k - 7k. Those that like it leave it there.

It depends on whom you ask, and what their preferences are. This is why I didn't use any EQ on my voice on those tracks. I wanted you to be able to hear them raw and flat, as I am with my natural voice.

The converters are the exact same ones that you have in your Presonus Studio/Live console. The 1818VSL audio I/O I have is nothing other than an 8ch Presonus Studio/Live console in a rack version.
Same XMax pre's, same converters.

But you've got me a little confused here, because in one post, you say you like the 414 and the transparency, yet in another post you say you prefer the tube mic... ??? ... Or am I mistaken?

audiokid, post: 422278, member: 1 wrote: All you can do is find the freqs and start pulling until its tolerable. Ending with a weak and irritating mix that you are never happy with.

Well thanks a bunch there, pal. You threw a lot of sunshine down on that one, didn't ya... LOL

DonnyThompson, post: 422279, member: 46114 wrote: But you've got me a little confused here, because in one post, you say you like the [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.akg.com/…"]414[/]="http://www.akg.com/…"]414[/] and the transparency, yet in another post you say you prefer the tube mic... ??? ... Or am I mistaken?

I've said a lot, not all consistent as I'm trouble shooting you, my process and some of what has nothing to do with your voice.

Are you using headphones and are they bleeding?

I'm curious to hear the level your phones are adding? I heard this same swirl on tracks you did with Sonar so its not the DAW. I hear your vocal texture, but its not that. Your texture wouldn't create the swirling or phasing and its not the export. I've already confirmed this on my end.
I believe you can fix this.

While you are busy and I am here, thinking along, if your voice has a tickle that you don't want, use a sidechain comp to duck the areas. Have you tried the comp in Samplitude for that? It works great.

Well, my headphones are closed, and the volume was very, very low... as I always monitor very low when using cans. I always have. I really don't believe that the headphones are the culprit here.
You mentioned the bothersome frequency, so the only thing I can do is to sculpt out that 4-6k region, ut at that point I feel as if my voice loses presence and clarity. I dunno, pal.

Maybe I need to treat the environment in which I track vocals... or, maybe it's just my hearing starting to go ... I really don't know.

I kinda like the "edge" we've discussed. I like other singers with that kind of edge, too. I think the problem pretty much comes down to me not hearing what you and Marco are hearing. And that, well... that really only leads to one conclusion.

DonnyThompson, post: 422285, member: 46114 wrote: I kinda like the "edge" we've discussed. I like other singers with that kind of edge, too. I think the problem pretty much comes down to me not hearing what you and Marco are hearing. And that, well... that really only leads to one conclusion.

No, this is a technical thing Donny, I'm sure of it. Its not your voice and, not hearing.
Maybe you are accustomed ( conditioned) to it. I wish we lived closer. I refuse to believe its either. HA! I also hear it with your friend lol!! hehe... So, what does that say? Its not the voice :) You are SAFE!

If you can, share the same settings and have someone else sing through these. This will isolate more mystery.

I was referring to my ability - or lack - to hear things critically. I still think I'm a pretty good vocalist. ;)

DonnyThompson, post: 422289, member: 46114 wrote: I was referring to my ability - or lack - to hear things critically. I still think I'm a pretty good vocalist. ;)

I know, but you were suggesting that suspect sound I am hearing ( those upper freqs) is (nodes) . I say it isn't in regards to the ugly upper freq I hear. And it is audible with "your friend". So, what does this say? It certainly has nothing to do with talent or skill.

commenting a few post up from here

DonnyThompson, post: 422284, member: 46114 wrote: Maybe I need to treat the environment in which I track vocals

I do here your walls, its not much but it is noticeable when auditioning just the vocal.