So, I just got a couple of nice recording stuff for the holidays because Ive always wanted to get my musical ideas down on my computer, problem is, I
m struggling with this whole process.
Here is a detailed list of what I have, and what I`ve tried:
-Shure SM57
-Alesis io2 express (connects to computer via USB)
-Monster XLR cabe (I guess for the mic into the mixer)
Here is how it went. I took the 3 things mentioned and hooked them all up. Mic to mixer via XLR cable, and mixer to laptop via the USB chord that came with it. Unfortunately, I could not get the mic to pick up sound with this setup. So I looked around and dug up a VERY SHORT cable that had a headphone sized plug on both ends. I then took one end and snapped on a piece that made it larger and stuck that into the mixer into a port called “insert.” Then I took the other side and plugged that into the mic port on my laptop. It was actually picking up the Mic now through “realtech high definition audio,” and I started recording. However, I must be doing it completely wrong because the quality is pretty damn bad, it sounds compressed, muddy and the volume level takes crazy drop offs during notes held for a long time.
With the equipment I have so far, can anyone tell me what else I need to do proper recordings? And if I have everything I need right now, would anyone know how to set these things up properly? Thanks.