Turn down the mic pre. You are overloading the interface's input. In a modern DAW with 32 bit float, you cannot overload the DAW.

Thanks for feedback , Yes I have turned down the preamp only to have very small wavs that once I expand to compensate for the volume being to low it then becomes a vocal that sounds just like you would turn up music too loud and it becomes distorted and noisy again . What gets me is the cans if I choose to monitor out of Nuendo Pre fader ffrom the very channel I want to recored to the vocal sound is superb. This is where I just do not get it. The output tells me one thing while recording the results are not what I hear while recording...
My EMU 1820M only has a green light to show on its mic pre enough signal at minus 12 when it lights and if I choose to keep it green even if not steady it breaks up........and my DAW shows well below 0db or clipping area. If I do not let this green light guide me and lower my preamp the above is what I get just lower distorted levels is all . I tried this very evening to instead use my ART TUBE MP as my first pre amp and use as the way into PC the EMU input 1's pot set pretty low and even a few times at the bottom and yes things do get better but I still have the issues just not as horrible as above but there the same. I have read allot of the threads here but no one I have seen yet has the issue using Nuendo and EMU and I have been trying all ideas hence tonights trial . I am still stuck....I have a Berringer XENYX 2442 FX Board and a DBX 266XL Compressor Limiter and when I add these to the task at hand I can do no better than just clean it a tad but as they say Garbage in Garbage out. Yet my Acoustic guitars and even a Mandolin I have no problem recording them in any of my mics or ways I set mic up......Is this all making sense here ???

Can you post a screenshot of the wave form in Nuendo after you record a track? A screen shot of the "mixer" settings in Nuendo would also be helpful.

the recording PC is not on internet and We have all windows programs or services turned off so power is only used on the Recording software. I will however see if I can take a photo with my Digital camera and see if that can be seen. I do not know how to get this photo on this site though if I can get it work this way for you. I will see if that is possible here. I will say every spot where the wav increases in size you here this nastiness.....and that is no matter if wav is a quarter inch in overall size or larger or smaller you will see the increases in size and nastiness I complain of right on the wav. Where wav stays around its same size you either here the room and noise or compressors and gates if I use them .... and if I get all quiet and wav is small and nice you see and here these clips still. Driving me nuts. even had the mother board replaced and hard drive because of someones advice that it was hardware. It was not ..... somewhere between leaving the EMU and getting on its track something happens digitally for sure. ALmost like it is summing something but the wav and signals are not showing the summing......I hope this helps...

where I say HERE I mean HEAR !!!!! I type to fast sometimes.......

You mean you type too fast not to fast. If you type to fast that means you're not eating anything when you are typing. LOL

Here's your basic problem. We call it gain staging. First, if your audio interface has a switch called " pad " you turn it on first. Then you scream your loudest level and make sure you get no overload. It's fine if you get tiny little waveforms especially if you're recording at 32 bit float, 24-bit, etc.. From there, in software, you then compress and/or limit the dynamic range of your vocal. If your vocals are really quite wide-ranging from a whisper to a scream, that's when the dynamic range compression and/or limiting will keep it at a consistent level where you can place it and make it sit properly within your recording/mix. This is what professionals do. It has nothing to do with dynamic range of the overall recording. The human voice has a greater dynamic range than most other instruments are capable of producing and that's why you're having no problems with your other recorded instruments. I don't even need to see a picture of your waveforms to know what your problems are. This is simple knowledge and experience that you don't yet possess. So that's the solution to your problem. And I don't think that you want to be utilizing a condenser microphone but instead, that SM57/58 at least a single fist distance from the microphone when you record your vocal. You don't want to be closer and you don't want to be much further away than that. I don't care how many different audio interfaces or crappy preamps you have utilized. It all has to do with proper gain structure. Plugging one preamp into another audio interface that already has an XLR input is not going to solve your problem. It doesn't matter how many different audio interfaces you have utilized, it's all gain structure. Gain staging. As long as the waveform is not distorted. If the small waveforms are distorted, you have a gain staging issue that has not been addressed properly. Not all preamps have a pad switch because the design concept behind those doesn't require a pad switch. That's because those types of preamps have a fixed 20 DB gain microphone preamp and a trim control feeds a secondary buffer input stage. Those are said to be goof proof. The other issue you may be dealing with is that none of your microphones that you are utilizing either don't have a bass roll off switch or you are suffering from too much low frequency energy from proximity effect. And that will cause you that kind of distortion. That's why you need to have those little waveforms for which you can then utilize in software a low-frequency roll off/cut off, followed by some dynamic range compression and/or limiting and your problem will be solved, magically.

It's easy, really.
Mx. Remy Ann David

The Sterling Audio ST 79 mic has the roll off switch as well as a -10 db switch and is multi patterned and I use cardiod. I had tried those setting prior with some better but not nearly perfect results and my EMU interface does not have a pad , just a trim level input only for the XLR channels, I have inputs in the EMU rear that are all phono jacks with no trim or volume adjust at that stage and possibly I should use them to input the vocals ? The EMU however has in its software mixer where I can choose + 4 or -10 on its input settings and on the EMU input channel mixer in the software a way to increase gain or lower it without using that inputs fader to do so since its fader is used to monitor what I hear before it goes into Nuendo or any other software I have .
Yes for vocals I am a beginner to this type of system of recording but I have been getting so called pro info from the so called helpful gurus who designed my system for me from one of those chains that sell you everything and has obviously been lacking in regards to my vocal problems which was why I joined here to get good advice because even all the periodicals and books I have purchased and how to videos do not address any of this at this level nor does Nuendo Manual discuss these issues and if you follow dead on how its Manual instructs you to use their software all of the above goes wrong with vocals and fast. All I have read or even took a course on Vocal recording in the PC realm make things sound very easy and of course store always took advantage of me. Every time I went in it has been you need this now .then this ... till I finally realized that was not issue but I needed to find the correct paths and signals that the system I had built by the store either lacked or as I am being told now I needed to be very specific as you are saying in gain staging and not let the meters guide me as I had, nor wav sizes that everyone has insisted to me need to be a certain size. I did do the screaming part you mentioned and nothing shows even a tad yellow let alone red on any of the meters or clip lights either in EMU Soundcard or its software mixer nor Nuendos Input bus nor channel I record to ......the fader channel level meter on its Nuendo input bus and then the acutual channel I want to record to stay well below 0 db as well whether I choose pre or post outputs. Again with all that the actual signal records distorted or noisy and as I described on my first posts. I will try all you suggest and the SM57/58 mics as well and see if I can get this gain staging under control. Does the +4 or -10 settings on the EMU card settings matter ? and same Questions for Mic should I engage the -10 switch here also or just forget the Condenser for vocals ?? Thank You (y)

Yeah, sales guys are just there to sell you stuff. Some of them are knowledgeable. Most of them are not.

Your questions regarding all of your equipment is actually getting me confused. It seems like you have plenty and I'm not sure what you are actually referring to? Stringing together different pieces of equipment require a thorough understanding of what its output is. Knowing that, will indicate to you what the next piece of equipment's input sensitivity should be set to. So this is where you're really having the most problems. This is why I fully believe in the KISS principle and that LESS IS MORE principle. I think you are so frustrated by what has happened to you that you are lost in a jumble and gaggle of gear. If all of your acoustic instruments are recorded fine, play back fine and you are happy with the sound thereof, you are close to being right at recording your vocal. Then again, some of this could be due in part to the gain settings between the output of your audio interface and the input to your monitors? If you are not looking at flat topped clipped waveforms on your vocal, in your software waveform displays, you are most likely talking about a monitoring issue?

There can also be other factors at work here. Your gear may be outputting a 24-bit depth signal while you are trying to record it as 32-bit float? Your equipment might be outputting a 32-bit signal where you are trying to record a 24-bit. So switch everything to 16 bit 44.1 kHz. I don't care if you think there is a difference in quality. There ain't. Not if you get your levels right to begin with. And this is a good starting point to try and get everything to sound harmonious. High resolution is mostly marketing hype and stuff the rich guys get to play. I'm still perfectly happy and working in 16 bit 44.1 kHz uncompressed .wav file format. That's what CDs are, that's what most MP3 files are, that's what most people listen to on iPods. So it's 100% adequate. Then there is the issue of standard USB protocol and specialized drivers for enhanced resolution and higher bit depths and faster sample rates that standard USB protocol doesn't follow. So if certain types of equipment one must select the enhanced USB driver in the software to obtain proper results otherwise you end up getting exactly what you are complaining about. The problem may not be as evident with other instrumentation? But like I said, vocals can be tricky to record well if all of the other settings are not perfectly uniform. There is also some software that cannot tolerate different bit depths and sample rates that vary from track to track. So you can't have everything at 16-bit, 44.1 kHz while trying to record a vocal at 24-bit, 96 kHz, etc.. And believe me, people have tried that. There was another guy here trying to utilize his USB enabled Behringer mixer and was having similar problems because he was using the standard USB driver and not the specialized USB driver that he had to select in the software. And he was at his wits end. Kind of like where you are right now in fact exactly where you are right now. So this may be nothing more than a software selection mistake? It's hard to tell through your frustrations? You don't have to forget the condenser microphone. You do have to switch on the proximity effect filter a.k.a. bass cut and most likely engage the -10 DB switch on that microphone. Many instructions, manuals and their video tutorials can still be extremely confusing. That's because everybody creating those knows what they're doing with their own equipment that they are demonstrating. You have a myriad of different types of equipment all of which should be working well. Your results simply indicate a simple operator error. So the better help you, I think we should start with a single piece of equipment and nothing more. We simply want to get a good vocal sound first and foremost. So, tell me what you want to start with? Which piece of equipment?

I'll wait for your response
Mx. Remy Ann David

Oh missed the line about the bit rate changing from one track to another. No I do not do this. What ever project bit rate is the bit rate stays the same on that project. I should point out some files I work with come from another studio so I can add guitars and vocals. All projects are done with Nuendo software and same type of PCS. We had 3 built together so we can work outside of studio. But only I do vocals . And I have the issues on files started by me here and ones no one but myself is on and again the vocal issue is the same while all else seems just fine. Hope this just not just confuse matters

somehow my reply got lost. I will use my Creative Audio EMU 1820m firewire interface direct to PC. Only thing I need to add hardware wise is the ART Tube MP for phanthom power only and I will keep all its setting either off or very low. This is all I will use with Condenser Mic directly into ART Tube MP into EMU direct to PC. There is NO USB . I will use the 57 and the 58 without the ART for I need no power for them. I will set up condenser as per your suggestion for its setting of switches. The projects are 24 bit now and I will try this first then if still a problem I will try the 16 bit setting on both project and interface. All are set at 44.1 now. I will try this all Thursday and let you know. However if I have something wrong here reply and let me know Sorry to be so confusing and yes you are correct my frustrations have led me on the wrong paths and over buying. I will not use my out board gear at all no board no DBX compressor. Just ART when needed for power and the EMU set at 24 bit matching the project 24 bit . I have no latency issues at all and all the music sounds fine through the monitor speakers. Only vocals stink .......not so bad in cans until I raise can levels then the vocals sound just as bad. Low volume settings everything mostly sounds great. Bring up to normal volumes and music is fine but vocals sound bad. I am sorry to confuse.

I don't think you realize this but your Creative Audio EMU 1820m has phantom power. It is indicated right on their website. You don't even have to go to the specifications tab to see that. Unless there is something wrong with your Creative Audio EMU 1820m? What could be the other reason why your audio is turning out crappy? You may also be feeding line level output to a microphone input which will screw your audio every time, without fail. So, yeah, just plug your dynamic microphone into your Creative Audio EMU 1820m and try that all by itself. If that gives you better results, then switch on the Phantom power and try your condenser microphone into the same Creative Audio EMU 1820m. This is not the greatest audio interface even though they tout that it is 24-bit, 192 kHz capable. That's just a crappy chip doing that. That doesn't mean it sounds good because you still have to rely upon its front end analog audio electronics. And there is nothing wrong with a separate outboard USB audio interface. In fact that might be a better option? So even an inexpensive USB microphone might yield better results for you. Those Creative Audio EMU 1820m are not thought of terribly highly. And neither is your ART Tube MP because it's fake. All the tube is for is to distort the audio. It's not really the amplification device. Chips and transistors do the amplification. The tube is there to provide the soft fuzzy overload only. With all of the other crap you have purchased, you could've gotten yourself one decent USB audio device that would outperform everything else you have. But how were you to know? Advertising hype and lousy sales guys cause people to waste a lot of money on crap. It's unfortunate at best.

Your indication that your vocal doesn't sound all that horrible until you turn up your headphones would indicate a monitoring problem from the headphone amplifier. So maybe you want to get yourself one of those outboard dedicated headphone amplifiers. A lot of headphone amplifiers in these audio devices crap out before you get to listening levels you deem adequate. So there is that possibility that your recording is not as awful as you think. Your vocal will sound awful in relationship to well recorded music because the vocal does need dynamic range limiting. Now, limiting and compression are similar. Limiting simply is there to prevent overload. Compression is there to smooth the overall dynamic range which is not limiting, it's compression. Compression can be used with limiting. All radio stations compress and limit. The compression raises the lower volume levels and squashes down the higher volume levels. The limiting prevents overloading the transmitter. FM stations even utilize something that is known as composite clipping. Clipping is generally undesirable but in very small quantities can be quite effective while not being too objectionable. So it allows the station to appear slightly louder than their competitors at the cost of slightly greater distortion levels that when adjusted properly are not objectionable. But composite clipping is a little bit different than clipping an analog signal in general. It still clipping but it's working on a different principle of clipping. It's not something most FM stations should be proud of. That type of clipping is no longer necessary in the land of digital broadcasting.

So it actually sounds to me that you are in the ballpark already. And most of your problem is coming from monitoring vocal tracks that do not have proper dynamic range compression. And that's when you're headphone amplifier vomits in your ears. Isn't that a pleasant thought?

Add one third Pepto-Bismol to two thirds volume level.
Mx. Remy Ann David

I Know the EMU has phathom power but it does not work and they do not repair.......

as i mentioned prior I have tried and returned numerous sound cards from Focusrite to Presonus and even Tascam and both USB and Firewire types and all with multiple inputs and midi ( did I mentiion Midi records well? ) and with everyone of them I had the same vocal issues, so I am not sure the EMU , although yes the phanthom power is messed up on it everything records OK with the ART instrument wise. my buds other studio has same EMU , same PC and same programs for the most part and his vocals sound great, even when I sing by him I sound fine . But he uses a bunch of outboard gear I did not think I needed and Rode and Nueman mics ( remember I borrowed the Nueman and got same bad vocal resutls ) . As far a cans and monitors it all sounds the same, just in cans I can lower volume and things sound well , Could I be having my output levels from EMU which controls the over all volume level to the monitors too hot on playback ???, but I use other recorded and mastered material to judge my overall volume and of course my ears to make sure it is not blarring or so it seems to not be blarring.
Tonight I was able to try condenser since was set up . I used the -10 db roll off and I rolled off the low end as you suggested. I lowered the ART to -1 input and -15 output and barely got a signal into the EMU where I brought up level only to hear it..I got a small wav recorded and once I added compressor and some EQ things got better than where I have been but still not golden. I will forge ahead with 57 and 58 mics and see. I also have a new Focusrite Scarlet 18i 6 USB interface I purchased for my laptop where there I have a Cakewalk Recording software I just got and have yet to get going for I want to figure this all out before moving into more territory . Would you suggest I load this Focusrite one on the PC with Nuendo as the 2nd sound card and see if results are better. I believe a 2nd sound card should not mess things up. I just have to reset the VST stuff and asio and choose this card Yes???? But again I have changed sound cards before with the same results so maybe a waste for the moment. Let me see where 57 n 58 lead me and I am looking into that mic you suggested on my Mic Question Thread . I also have on of those sound barrier boards that make the mic a little vocal booth that I tired.. same results. I keep saying somewhere I am breaking up the mics but I am told I cannot do that ....

By your description, with, as you say the Phantom power is messed up, I'm starting to think that your Creative Audio EMU 1820m device is actually screwed. This may require that you actually pull the soundcard out of your computer motherboard. Yes, if you have a Scarlett, I suggest you try it on your desktop machine with that Creative Audio EMU 1820m pulled out entirely. Your desktop machine wants to keep defaulting to the internal Creative Audio EMU 1820m unit for its clocking, etc.. So if you tried everything on that machine and even the Scarlet doesn't work properly, that Creative Audio EMU 1820m may be causing the problems. So now you have something more to be mad at. It's Taiwanese crap. It's about as reliable as the Challenger space shuttle was. Equipment does fail. Nothing much you can do about that. Even the expensive professional stuff fails. I've got a dead 1176 sitting here which is a simple limiter that alone costs $1500 used. So if this thing can not record a microphone worth a crap, it has crapped out. End of story.

It's fun to take devices like this and blow them up with firecrackers. Not in your bedroom of course. Your sister's bedroom instead.
Mx. Remy Ann David

ok I under stand your thinking the EMU could be messed up , but even though I had issues with other sound cards as I described with vocals and the same issues as I have now you feel my best option is to try another sound card yet again ? This failed me in the past every time and did not alleviate my vocal problems. The emu records everything else fine and shows no problems other than this Phanthom power does not work well . This will take me some time to uninstall the emu , take card out and daughter card that goes along with it and install the Scarlet in...My Berringer board has a USB interface built in. Should I try this too ?? There is no clock source on the Berringer just an basic in and out USB interface and if you agree to try that one too do I still need to uninstall the EMU ? I am thinking yes because you want to make sure the EMU is not the culprit here. But I have done so many card changes prior I am gun shy here with messing with PC internals . Can the EMU record and play back all other items and just fail to record proper vocals due to gain and or A/D conversion ? I May have to wait till after weekend now to do all this so after you answer these last concerns before I attempt give me some time before I reply again. Thanks again. One thing so far is I am glad it is not me and equipment related. Not happy about the lost dollars but everything involving PC's is always a money burner due to exactly what you pointed out between ads and sales and no one really knowing till the issues arise. Even my Laptop a Sony Vaio has keyboard issues from day one and they do not admit to it. Say it is a software issue. Their very own blogs show many had issues and Sony never did do a fix. I use an external wireless keyboard now and all works great. Quality and reputation mean nothing in todays world. Pay me and see ya.

Tried the SM57 direct into EMU. Much Better..... More control and great wavs. Now I am gonna give ears a rest and check later to see if I hear same pleasing results. Could still use a better mic as you suggested and If this solves my issues I will be forever grateful. Time will tell. Gonna also try 58 too. Condenser mics for vocal may just be too hard for me and my set up. Room has very little reflections and I have set up great velvet heavy curtains to calm the little it did have and have plenty of diffusion going on. At least with the 57 what I heard in cans is very close to what is on the recorded track. This was huge for me. I will continue on with your suggestions and I still may remove EMU to make sure it is truly OK. Step at a time now that you have put me on the correct path. Thank You again. Anyone who reads this should know how patient and helpful you have been for me. And I spent no extra money ... The mic will be a buy to make things better and I will sell this Sterling Audio mic since for me it did not match my vocal style. My MXL mic does more than fine for acoustic guitars and mandolin so the Sterling will be something to dispose of to differ cost of the new mic you suggested. I will let you know how things progress if you do not mind. Very pleased with the help I received here to date. I should have did this long ago and saved my hair........firecrackers are sold here legally I just may take the idea you had about them and the useless equipment I have that is not needed . HA diddlydoo

Does compressor added after tracking to control and level volume do anything to the recorded eq's and should I wait to eq till after compressor is set up ???

That's great that your 57 seems to be sending good. The 58 is no different. Unscrew the metal ball and you have a 57. Use the 58 and stick on an extra foam pop filter and you will glean much better results over the 57 or the 58 without the foam pop filter. It's the microphone many of us very much recommend even for vocal recording. The SM7B costs three times what a 57/58 costs and the only advantages there is that you have a bass cut switch and a switch to take out the presence rise back to flat. When recording vocals, most everybody leaves the presence switch on. And the capsule is still yet further down that long extended foam pop filter. That's why everybody thinks it sounds so different it really isn't. So both the 58 & 7 are great vocal microphones for recording purposes. If you want then brighter condensers sound, then a condenser would be the way to go. It's not always the way to go. If you have a squeaky voice, you definitely DON'T want a condenser. That's where you might want to invest in a low-cost ribbon microphone by companies like Cascades that can be had for slightly more than a 58 and less than most condenser microphones. They have a very smooth, rich, mellow quality that work great on thin, squeaky vocalists. A ribbon also sounds exquisitely beautiful on acoustic guitar, electric guitars, even drum overheads. I don't necessarily even recommend active ribbon microphones since they have a more condenser like quality.

Regarding EQ before and/or after compression is frequently done both before & after compression. And that's easy to accomplish in software. So you could record your microphone, high Pass filter (roll off the low frequencies) add some additional EQ, then compress, then add some additional EQ. You just have to make sure that you do not over modulate the track so as to cause overload. And that just comes with adjusting output level on the compressor plug-in. You'll be amazed at what you can attain. Should you want that soft overload from a tube, you could take your dry vocal track, feed it out from your computer audio interface, into the tube preamp, level trimmed back all the way on the tube. Take the output of the tube and feed it back directly into your computer audio interface. Then you assign that to another track and record that. Then you can compare it to your dry track and see what you think. If that should work out well, you could then try plugging your microphone directly into your tube preamp and record another track. But this is where gain staging becomes very critical otherwise you end up with horrific distortion. I don't deal much with tubes anymore. Especially when they are not the actual straight ahead tube preamp that doesn't utilize transistors & chips to do the actual amplification. Which is what your tube preamp actually does. So it's a fake tube preamp.

BTW you're welcome. I am sure everybody is happy that you're attaining better results now. Remember, your headphone amplifier may be a limiting factor. Many headphones have different efficiency levels, different impedances and not all play well with headphone amplifiers. It varies widely. You may even consider a change in headphones? Not all headphones are 8 ohms. Some are 300, 600, 2000 ohms and some are 8 ohms. This will also determine on how your headphone amplifier responds to your headphones. So you might be able to get away without an additional headphone amplifier just by changing out your headphones to a different brand, a different impedance, a different efficiency level. Sennheiser 280's are very popular. And those are available in 2 different impedances. Both will have different efficiency levels depending upon the headphone amplifier.

The Sterling is quite fine on many different sources. I think they have a better reputation than the MXL's? But if it is not your cup of tea, sell the sucker.

You are on your way to much better recording now
Mx. Remy Ann David

LIKE THE CASCADE FAT HEAD ll IS THAT A GOOD ONE ???

You bet. It's a great bang for the buck. If you want it to sound even better, you might want to opt the extra $100 for the high quality transformer. So then it will run you around $260. Worth every penny. You will want to use a pop filter on that as if you blow into it, you can damage the ribbon. It will give you a sound almost like old-time radio. It's dark, it's smooth, it's great on percussion, great female vocalists and will make you sound huge. Its output is significantly lower than that of other microphones which will require you to increase your trim/gain. Some people feel that ribbon microphones are noisy when the sound source is too far from them and your gain is turned up balls to the wall. But you shouldn't find that necessary when working the microphone fairly closely. Then noise and its lower output level won't be much of a factor. It sounds the total opposite of what a condenser microphone sounds like. It will become one of the most unique microphones in your collection. While it is actually made in China, it's quality level is quite good. And virtually every microphone manufacturer today is turning out new ribbon microphones and all costs significantly more than that.

Can't wait to hear what you think.
Mx. Remy Ann David

Where can I find it at that price ? I looked and it is much more that what you gave. Also I cannot seem to find the Shure SM7 B you spoke of either can you tell me where to find this one also ?? Thanks again for the advice...

Your local Guitar Center store can generally acquire most anything you want. You could also go to the Cascades website. I was also speaking of the original Fat Head, which a few years ago was just $159 US. With the optional Lundhal transformer being an additional $100. The SHURE SM 7B is one of the most popular radio station announcer microphones on the planet. And I know GC has it available. I've actually seen them at my local GC in Northern Virginia. They've got those along with all of the high-priced Neumann microphones which they do have on display. You can also go online to Musicians Friend which is the online version of GC which is the retail outlet. You might also want to look into GC Pro which most definitely carries them, the SM 7B. Now I've read that the original SM 7 is no different from the SM 7B, except for some structural differences. Though I haven't tested it, I believe the SM 7B may actually also employ the more powerful neodymium magnets like the Beta 57/58's, have? But I haven't contacted SHURE about that. That would actually make sense for them to do that. But who knows? Maybe that's the perceptual difference that people do hear between the original and the B version? And since I have an original SM 7 and also enjoy and utilize SM57/58's more so than I enjoy their Beta 57/58's, I'm quite content with my original. It gives me precisely and exactly what I want.

Companies are always making incremental improvements in their products
Mx. Remy Ann David

Something interesting I did here tonight . I borrowed a friends little 8 track all in one recorder which had a basic phono mic input and records 24 bit so it says and I sang along to a song already on it with every mic I had here. This machine I used was unique in that when it gets clipped it hic ups and if really a hot clip it stops recording, period, which was cool. See where I am heading ? You guessed it, I am and have been just too hot on all the mics with my input gain in my chain . My gain has been too hot obviously in and out of Nuendo and this test showed me also that more of what I am hearing back, causing me to over sing at times, was too hot to begin with even if music sounded OK things have just been set too loud..... and yes if too hot going in I will distort soon as I get above a specific DB> yes and the mix out of my Nuendo is then giving me false information here too . I have to figure out this now within my Program and see now how this goes. Too hot signal coming out makes me sing louder and of course try to record using same hot levels.. You pointed this all out as well as one other about gain but I thought where I was it was OK obviously because my output being set to hot lured me into a false sense. and what I did here tonight was to prove or disprove some of these issues. In this case it shows the gain in and out being a big huge problem , and I sang through my SM58 the SM57, An Audio Tech Beta type 58 and a Audio Tech MB 4K Condenser with its own Battery Phanthom Power ( this one was odd but really not bad ) and yes the Sterling Audio Condenser too......While the Sterling was the worst to nail the rest all fell in line once I got the gain on the Friends Recorder set and worked each mic as needed as far as how far I had to adjust my distance as I got hot and then Hotter... it recorded me fine for the most part on the same song over and over . Just needs some EQ and Compression but with out any adjustments I was already pleased with results and see my path more defined now.... Thanks I will keep going. ..
I will dial in and dial in and dial in. I am still gonna move this Sterling and go after your other mic suggestions too for I am not pleased with it for my voice. The AUDIO TECH BETA like SM58 type so far under tonight's conditions I liked the best but the others were all close and not at all unpleasing at all, exception was the Sterling ...just too bright and too sensitive although on my
Taylor acoustic it sounds great..........howdy

I went further and installed in my laptop Sonar Producer Recording program and used my Focusrite Scarlett 18i6 as the soundcard. Everything recorded great , even the Sterling Audio. So the problem lies in the other PC or EMU ( you pointed to this) or the Program itself. I will now see if I can get the Sonar in the other PC and see if it records better first. Then procede to soundcard change again and finally the PC itself ....Somewhere something is NG> Reason I do not think the EMU is because I changed so many soundcards prior and I got the same results of bad vocals. I am now thinking the program somewhere is summing the signals as my first thought....if the PC I will sell it...go to windows 7 with a new desktop and use Sonar program . Thanks again I would still be trying instead of searching elsewhere and finding a path to zoom in on if it was not for the information you gave me that put me in a different way of thinking. I am happy it was not me, my mics or my voice but a hardware/software issue on that PC that will be found out sooner than later.