Wierd Sound with Microphone..

[Godwinlee]

Hey all

I've been having trouble with my recordings recently, ever since I got my new mic. Whenever I try to record acoustic guitar with the mic (Apex 530 Condenser Mic) it makes weird sound I can't really explain. I need to let you listen. http://download1098.mediafire.com/r1nab ... dsound.mp3
My friend has told me that it is because the plates in the mic dont vibrate the same as the strings on my guitar but I just need to make sure with the experts here, and how I can fix the problem.

My mic is an Apex 530 Condenser Mic (as i've said above) connected to my mixer (Behringer XENYX 502) with an XLR cable, my mixer is then connected to the microphone jack to my laptop. My soundcard is SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio. I'm running on Windows XP on an IBM T60 Thinkpad.

[Trebor]

weirdsound.mp3

(204.8 KiB) Downloaded 631 times

The abrupt decay and distortion sound like "echo cancellation" artifacts.
Switch off "echo cancellation" if you have it on. It's probably in "microphone properties", or some Skype-type VOIP program.

[Godwinlee]

Do you know where I can find microphone properties?

[Trebor]

Do you know where I can find microphone properties?

I don't have XP myself, but here are the directions ... http://www.tinyeye.com/avsetup/soundsetup_xp.html

I suspect "echo cancellation" will be found in the "advanced" "sound recording" properties ...

xp-audio-soundresording-.png (18.51 KiB) Viewed 6116 times

[/url]
http://www.tinyeye.com/avsetup/soundsetup_xp.html

[Godwinlee]

I can't click the advanced button on there..
Echo Cancellation is not in my Recording Control Properties either..

[Trebor]

I can't click the advanced button on there..

You may have to enable the "advanced" option here ...


(I don't use XP, I'm not sure )

Alternatively there may be "echo cancellation" controls on the sound card control software, rather than the XP controls.

I just Googled "SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio" "echo cancellation" , it looks like that sound card does have echo cancellation.

[Godwinlee]

When I check it the only "Advanced" option it gives me is Microphone Boost

[Trebor]

Then the control to switch the “echo cancellation” off should be in the software to control your sound card. Have a look in “all programs” for something with the same name as your soundcard.

BTW I’m 100% certain the weirdness is due to echo cancellation, it’s partially correctable with extreme dynamic range compression …

[Godwinlee]

Ohh it sounds better!
Where would you find extreme dynamc range compression?

[Trebor]

Ohh it sounds better!
Where would you find extreme dynamc range compression?

It's not a fix: compression won't fix the distorted bits, it just makes the quiet bits louder.

You need to switch that dammed "echo cancellation" off.
My soundcard controls can be accessed by clicking on this Sigmatel thing in “hardware and sound” …

My Sigmatel soundcard in Windows Vista 'hardware and sound'.png (18.97 KiB) Viewed 6118 times

Your sound card has a different name. If you see anything in “hardware and sound” with "soundMAX" click on it and hopefully it will then give you an option to switch echo cancellation off.

e.g. ...

xp-controlpanel-soundselect2-.jpg (34.59 KiB) Viewed 6115 times

[/url]
http://www.tinyeye.com/avsetup/images/x ... elect2.gif