Audio Question: Scarlett 2i2 vs. Sound Card

[jmbtexas4]

Hi,

When I record my vocals using Scarlett 2i2 with Audacity and then listen to the recording through Scarlett 2i2, it sounds great, but when I listen to it through my computer sound card, the bass in my voice is overpowering.

I have listened to my vocals on multiple computers with both Windows Media Player and VLC (with and without headphones), and the same thing happens every time.

Why is this happening, and what can I do to fix it? I am going to be sending vocal tracks to people who don't have Scarlett 2i2, and I am concerned the vocals are going to sound bad with the heavy bass in my voice.

Thanks,

J

[kozikowski]

The 2i2 is just an interface. Describe the rest of the system. Microphone? Headphones? Which numbered version of Audacity?

It does bother me that only the celebrity monitor system seems to sound OK and everything else is terrible.

Koz

[jmbtexas4]

Mic is Shure SM-57, Seenheiser headphones, Cyber Acoustic speakers, and I just downloaded the latest version of Audacity for the official site. Thanks!

[steve]

the latest version of Audacity for the official site

People often say that and then it turns out not to be the case. Please quote the exact 3 part version number from "Help menu > About Audacity".

[DVDdoug]

When I record my vocals using Scarlett 2i2 with Audacity and then listen to the recording through Scarlett 2i2, it sounds great, but when I listen to it through my computer sound card, the bass in my voice is overpowering.

Your soundcard may have some sort of "sound enhancement" utility associated with it. There can be an equalizer (which can add bass) or various surround-sound features, etc. Check your computer to see if you have something like that.

For playback, you shouldn't hear any difference in sound quality unless your soundcard is noisy. (Or, unless there is a software difference.)

For recording it's a different story - A regular soundcard has the wrong interface for any good stage/studio mic and the preamp built into a soundcard is usually low-quality.

Seenheiser headphones, Cyber Acoustic speakers...

And, I assume you've tried the headphones on the Scarlett and on the soundcard, and also tried the speakers with both?

Mic is Shure SM-57,

The SM57 is a directional mic, and like all directional mics it has the proximity effect that boosts low frequencies when close to the sound-source.

[kozikowski]

That and the Windows version comes from here:

http://www.audacityteam.org/download/windows/

Nothing like troubleshooting across multiple timezones and it turns out the participants are really using different or worse bogus software.

Post a segment sample of the work. Ten seconds stereo, twenty seconds mono. WAV (Microsoft) Do not send MP3.

Scroll down from a forum Text window > Upload attchment > Browse.

If you need more detailed handholding:

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 49&t=72887

Koz

[kozikowski]

it has the proximity effect that boosts low frequencies when close to the sound-source.

All perfectly true, but the symptoms are the opposite of what you'd expect. Inside the 2i2 environment, the recordings apparently sound just fine. It's when you wander outside that strict environment the performance turns to mud.

Given, nobody is throwing any Academy Awards at the average soundcard, but a sudden boost in muddy, syrupy bass is not the review we're expecting. More like screechy, peaky, piercing. Those are the normal words.

On top of all that, we only have a non-engineer opinion on what's wrong with the sound as heard on what could turn out to be a very limited number of samples.

Piece of cake.

Koz

[kozikowski]

We don't much like metaphors and assumptions.

The forum has examples of bitter complaints of destructive sound damage that somehow manage to escape listening by forum elves across nine timezones, and it turned out a little local help in one case revels a poster that has trouble with hearing.

So while a certain number of assumptions are valid, we're always sensitive to places where the conversations can go off the rails. We have no choice.

Koz