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Are the portable sound proofing things worth the money to help sound quality of vocals? I'm worried because I know my voice will bounce off my walls and mess with the sound of the recording.

Also wondering any good videos or advice on comping vocals and how to do it in Pro Tools LE 8.

AND, when I've recorded before, as I'm recording there is a distinct delay from the mic to my headphones... Not sure how to fix this. I messed with the levels on my Mbox Mini to make that delay go away but then I couldn't hear the music in the headphones? Strange to me. If this sounds familiar than any info on this would be awesome. Thanks!

Side note, I know specifications for Pro Tools but what are good things to look for in a computer that will run it smoothly? I'm looking at something simple right now. 4GB of RAM with a decent processor.

Comments

triviul Tue, 09/13/2011 - 23:20

kb7, post: 376210 wrote: Are the portable sound proofing things worth the money to help sound quality of vocals? I'm worried because I know my voice will bounce off my walls and mess with the sound of the recording.

Most people who use those things typically haven't made the best of simpler solutions first. In the first instance, just try using a cardioid mic and then hanging a thick quilt behind you while you're singing. It's room reflections that go into the sensitive side of the mic that are the main problem, hence the reason for putting the duvet behind you. Here's a general-purpose article on the subject that discusses this: [="http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar04/articles/computervocals.htm"]Recording Vocals In The Computer Studio[/]="http://www.soundons…"]Recording Vocals In The Computer Studio[/]

kb7, post: 376210 wrote: when I've recorded before, as I'm recording there is a distinct delay from the mic to my headphones... Not sure how to fix this. I messed with the levels on my Mbox Mini to make that delay go away but then I couldn't hear the music in the headphones? Strange to me. If this sounds familiar than any info on this would be awesome. Thanks!

This is a latency issue, and this is something all computer users have to deal with. There are a number of ways of handling it, and here's a good overview article on the subject that explains them pretty clearly: [[url=http://="http://www.soundons…"]Living With Latency[/]="http://www.soundons…"]Living With Latency[/]

bouldersound Wed, 09/14/2011 - 12:49

triviul, post: 376219 wrote: This is a latency issue, and this is something all computer users have to deal with.

Which is why you don't monitor through the computer. Many small interfaces, probably including the OP's, have analog input monitoring that has no latency regardless of what the computer is doing. Other small interfaces have computer controlled DSP hardware monitoring with very low latency that also bypasses the computer. Bigger systems built around analog mixers also bypass the computer for true zero latency monitoring.

That's an okay article but its description of analog monitoring as "drastic" is ridiculous. It's a routine solution and built into the OP's interface.

BobRogers Wed, 09/14/2011 - 17:55

"Protable soundproofing things" is too broad a term. Bass traps (rigid fiberglass or foam that you put in the corners of a room) will (1) make your vocal recordings better (2) make you room more pleasant to practice music in (3) make you home theater sound better. (It will not "soundproof" a room in the sense of isolating the sound to the room where the sound is being made.) The stuff you add after corner traps add less and less improvement (though you may learn to notice it more).

[Note: All universal statements like this are wrong. (Knowingly self referential.)]

kb7 Sun, 09/18/2011 - 11:52

Sorry for the general statement. I meant something like this:

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.sweetwat…"]Primacoustic VoxGuard | Sweetwater.com[/]="http://www.sweetwat…"]Primacoustic VoxGuard | Sweetwater.com[/]

Thanks for the info so far. Still curious about comping vocals and videos/articles on that for Pro Tools. Last time I recorded with a buddy we did that and it made things 10 times easier/faster.