Can't Record Voice

[Claire]

Koz,

I have the ART 127. The phantom power is not pressed down. I get the red light for a split second when I first plug in the Power 9VAC cable. When I shout into the mike the green light turns a very mild orange color.

I read the "read first" material when I first bought this equipment, but that was a long time ago and I certainly didn't remember this admonition: "power to the TUBE MP should be off when plugging and unplugging audio connections to prevent any damage to the TMP or other equipment." In this current time of experimentation and frustration, I know that at least once I unconnected and reconnected the line-in plug to my sound card while the power was still on. I remember this time from my Windows Explorer going woozy before restabilizing.

Hm. I wonder, too, if it makes a difference that I have always kept the 9VAC cable plugged into the surge protecter and then only plugged it into the TUBE for recording. Would that be a no-no as well?

If I've ruined my TMP, would I still be able to use the microphone If I connected it directly to my sound card? I bought all this equipment -- without understanding then or now how it really works -- to get the best quality possible for a DVD I was producing. I don't need that kind of quality for my present project and may never need it again.

Thanks so much for your research on this.

Claire

[steve]

A Shure Brothers SM-58 is a very nice "dynamic" microphone,
good for voice and very difficult to damage......

koz beat me to it

I think we're in trouble. The Tube MP comes in many flavors

Don't be alarmed - I think koz just had a "Oh No" moment when he saw that there is a USB version.

I have the ART 127. The phantom power is not pressed down. I get the red light for a split second when I first plug in the Power 9VAC cable. When I shout into the mike the green light turns a very mild orange color.

That's good - it appears that your mic and pre-amp are working. (If you shouted louder it would probably go red, but the colour change to orange is sufficient to indicate that the T MP is registering a signal from the microphone.

I certainly didn't remember this admonition: "power to the TUBE MP should be off when plugging and unplugging audio connections to prevent any damage to the TMP or other equipment."

With your microphone and pre-amp it is very unlikely that you have caused any damage. When using condenser microphones with phantom power, more care needs to be taken, but as you are not using phantom power and have a dynamic mic, there should be no problem.

The "best practice" method of connecting and powering up any audio equipment is to turn down the volume levels, then connect the equipment, then power up, starting with the audio source and working along the chain from source to amp/speakers.
Disconnecting is by turning down volume levels, then powering down from amp/speakers through the other equipment and ending with the signal source, then finally disconnecting.

Turning down the volume and making/breaking connections while the power off is a sensible precaution to avoid loud pops bangs and buzzes from your speakers.

So far everything seems fine, so let's continue from where we left off (which was at the beginning).
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Turn down the input and output levels on the Tube MP and make sure that everything is switched off - computer off, Tube MP off.
(OK, if you are reading this on the same computer, you may need to keep your computer switched on, but make sure that there are no programs open apart from your web browser)
Disconnect your microphone from the Tube MP, and disconnect the Tube MP from the computer.
(this is just so that we are both starting at the same place.)

Connect the microphone to the Tube MP input socket.

Connect the output socket of the Tube MP to the "Line In" socket of your computer (as koz explained previously "not the Mic-In. If it's not labeled in English, It's the fan icon with the arrow pointing in rather than out")

Press the "20dB gain" button so that it is in the "in" (depressed) position
Press the "P-Pwr +48v" button so that it is in the "out" (off) position.
Press the "Phase Reversal" button so that it in the "out" (off) position.

Power up the Tube MP and boot up your computer.
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That's the first part done - everything OK so far?
If not OK, stop at this point and ask, but I assume there's no problem so we shall continue.
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I see you have a SoundBlaster Audigy - this is inside your computer (not a box connected by a USB cable to your computer)?

If it is the USB version, some of the next steps will be wrong, but I'll assume that it is the "normal" Audigy card (not USB).

Click on the "Start" button and open the Windows Control Panel. In here you should be able to find "Sounds and Audio devices" (If you do not use "Classic View", look under "Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices" and you should find it there).

Select the "Audio" tab and you should see your sound card listed in both the "Sound Playback Default Device" and "Sound Recording Default Device" boxes.

Immediately below where the recording device is listed, there should be a button marked "Volume" - click on this.
This will bring up the Windows Recording Mixer.

In the Recording Mixer, you must select "Line". If there is not an option for "Line" then you may need to click on the "Options" so as to make it visible. Also adjust the level so that it is at about 80% up.

No other inputs should be selected.

Click OK to everything and return to the Desktop
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That's the second part done (probably the hardest part - everything OK so far?
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Now start Audacity.
Go to "Edit > Preferences > Audio I/O"
In the Playback and Record Device settings, select "Microsoft Sound Mapper".
Close Audacity and restart it.

You have not said if you use headphones or loudspeakers - if you use loudspeakers, make sure that they are switched off at this stage - we don't want to get screaming feedback when we enable the microphone.
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That's step 3 done - Still OK?
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Audacity is currently open, and you should see 2 "meter bars" - if you hold the mouse over the right hand one it should say "Input Level Meter - click to monitor input".
RIGHT Click on this meter and select "start monitoring".
(If you Right Click again, you will see that this has changed to "Stop Monitoring", but we want monitoring enabled, so don't select that).

Now gradually turn up the input and output levels on your Tube MP, and as you talk you should see the meters begin to flicker.

If you are still OK at this stage, I think you can manage the rest.
Hope this works for you

[Claire]

Steve,

Thanks for the reassurance in your last post and the clarity of your instructions.

<That's the first part done - everything OK so far?>

I need to check on two possible problems in my understanding of this: "Connect the output socket of the Tube MP to the "Line IN" socket of your computer."

1) The cable that goes from the Tube to the computer only fits into a socket that is labeled on the Tube as "Input"

2) Re: the Line In socket on the computer, you say "It's the fan icon with the arrow pointing in rather than out." Even with a flashlight and a magnifying glass, it's very hard to see arrows pointing anywhere, but the blue colored socket (where I've been connected most recently) has OR at the top and -- having finally managed to find my SoundBlaster literature -- that is the only socket on their diagram that has several labels of "line-in." The reason I want to check this with you is that this socket on the diagram is also is labeled "mic-in" and I think I see a mic icon on the computer.

Claire

[steve]

1) The cable that goes from the Tube to the computer only fits into a socket that is labeled on the Tube as "Input"

Are you sure?
There should be 2 input sockets (a "XLR" socket and a 1/4" Jack socket) AND 2 output sockets (again one of each type).

An XLR socket is a large socket (about 12 mm diameter) with 3 pins (or holes)

A 1/4" jack socket is a single hole that is quarter of an inch (6mm) diameter.

The 2 input sockets are connected inside the unit and are provided to suit the 2 most common type of audio lead.
The 2 output sockets are likewise joined inside the unit and are there for the same reason.

The output sockets are probably the pair closest to the power supply socket, but it should be clearly marked on the unit which are inputs and which are outputs as in this picture:

2) Re: the Line In socket on the computer, you say "It's the fan icon with the arrow pointing in rather than out." Even with a flashlight and a magnifying glass, it's very hard to see arrows pointing anywhere, but the blue colored socket (where I've been connected most recently) has OR at the top and -- having finally managed to find my SoundBlaster literature -- that is the only socket on their diagram that has several labels of "line-in." The reason I want to check this with you is that this socket on the diagram is also is labeled "mic-in" and I think I see a mic icon on the computer.

If they are colour coded, blue is the line in. (pink = microphone in, green = headphone/front speaker/line out)

[Claire]

Steve,

Re: The cable connection between the computer and Tube, this only fits into the left side of the Tube where you see the word (in your picture) Input. In your first post you said it would go into Output, so that's why I wanted to check.

Since the blue color code was right, I went ahead without a problem to complete all the other steps. Without a problem, that is, until I tried to record. At which point . . . I couldn't.

The only thing that wasn't quite in line with your instructions was when I right clicked on Input Level Meter. Instead of "Start Monitoring" (or "Stop Monitoring" afterwards), the selection was only "Monitor Input" and I never saw it go to Start or Stop. Nor was there any flickering activity there when I tried to record.

Oh, one other thing. When I got Recorder Mixer by going through Sounds and Audio Devices (instead of Programs/Accessores etc.), the *only* selection available was the line in. Do the settings on Playback Control have any impact here, as I've been fiddling with them a lot lately.

Edit: It's odd that you say mic in is pink as in the diagram for my card it really shows mic in at the same blue socket.

Yesterday, I did download the most recent Audacity 1.2.6, so that's not the problem. Are we at the end of what's possible to figure out now?

[steve]

The Microphone must plug into the T-MP Input.
and
The T-MP output must plug into the "Line In" of your computer.

Audio signals come out of "output sockets" and go into "input sockets" - that is the way that it has worked since before the days of A.G.Bell.

This is a 1/4" jack plug


This is an XLR plug. Note that it has 3 pins in it - this is known as a "male" XLR plug.


Your microphone lead will have either a 1/4" jack plug, or an XLR plug on the end that goes into the input of the T-MP.



This is a 1/4" Jack socket - your T-MP has 2 of these - the hexagonal nut on the end of each socket can be seen sticking out a little in the T-MP picture that I posted earlier. The one on the top left of the picture is marked "Input" and the one on the top right is marked "output"



This is a "female" XLR plug. Note that it has 3 holes and not three pins,


The lead that connects the output from the T-MP to your computer will have either a female XLR plug, or a 1/4" Jack plug.

If you are using adapters on the leads, is it possible that you have got them on the wrong leads?

Instead of "Start Monitoring" (or "Stop Monitoring" afterwards), the selection was only "Monitor Input" and I never saw it go to Start or Stop

Sorry, that's my fault - I got the wording from a later version of Audacity and the wording has obviously changed,

Edit: It's odd that you say mic in is pink as in the diagram for my card it really shows mic in at the same blue socket.

These are the standard colours for sound cards, and as far as I'm aware Creatve (SoundBlaster) sound cards use the standard colours (or they use cryptic hardly visible symbols such as the "fan and arrow" that koz described).

If you still have the manual, then it will tell you exactly which socket is which. If you know the exact model number, then we can look it up with the help of Google, but in the absence of either of those it is our safest bet that blue is the colour for the line input.

(just a thought, and I hope that you don't mind me asking, but you don't have any kind of colour blindness do you?)

Another thought - where, precisely, on your computer are the audio sockets that you are using? are they on the front of the computer or on the back? Are they in a line horizontally on the back, or in a cluster to one side?

Can you also confirm that your soundcard is in the computer and not an external USB soundcard.

[Claire]

Steve,

I'm sorry to have tried your patience on this. My apologies. There is a reason why I thought my jack plug could go only into one socket on the Tube, but it wasn't a good reason and I won't bore you with the explanation. The jack plug is now plugged into the jack socket on the Output area of the tube.

<(just a thought, and I hope that you don't mind me asking, but you don't have any kind of colour blindness do you?)>

No. There is almost nothing I'm sure about here, but the socket marked as line-in and also mic in my soundblaster black-and-white literature, is definitely baby-blue on my computer.

<Another thought - where, precisely, on your computer are the audio sockets that you are using? are they on the front of the computer or on the back? Are they in a line horizontally on the back, or in a cluster to one side?

The sound card is in the computer and the sockets which are in the back of the computer lie on a horizontal, the blue one being furthest right (as I face the back of the computer).

I tried again to record without success, but at this point, I no longer trust in my having followed all your directions properly, so I'm going to wait for my son to visit tonight and ask him to go through the drill. He's not familiar with audio equipment, but he is good with computers, and I don't want to impose on your time again until I'm sure what I've set up is what you've recommended.

Thanks.

Claire

[Claire]

Steve,

My son confirmed that my setup was per your instructions, but still the recording wasn't working. So he started experimenting and when he used "Microphone" in the What U Hear box, then I could record! I understand this isn't the way it should be, given that I'm using Tube MP, but it is in fact the setting I had in the past, all the time I recorded for my DVD. I'm thinking maybe this irregularity is connected to the other thing that seems to be unusual in my case -- which is that the blue socket (my son agrees it's blue) is labeled in the literature diagram both as serving Line In and Microphone.

My sound card is a Sound Blaster X-Fi and the the Creative Model Number is 70SB057000000.

I'm very happy to be able to record again, and this time I am keeping notes on all the settings. These settings seem to be for recording purposes only, so am I right in assuming they will not interfere with the use of Audacity for completely different purposes -- such as editing existing music files?

Thanks again for your help . . . and your patience!

Claire

[steve]

Yippee
The important thing is that you now have it working.

It is indeed possible that your soundcard has a combined Line in / Mic in socket.

It's a little curious regarding the sound card as the description and model number do not match -
The "Creative - 70SB057000000" is a "Sound Blaster (SB0570) Audigy SE" not an "X-fi"

On the Audigy SE, the "Line in" and "Mic in" are indeed combined (and blue).

If you are interested in having the full manual (it is in a "help file" format, and includes some colour illustrations), it is available from the Creative site.

Unfortunately they have been rather unhelpful and have prevented direct links from working, so you would need to go to: http://support.creative.com/Products/pr ... nd+Blaster#
Then select "Audigy"
Then scroll down to "Audigy SE" and select it
Then click on "Next"
Then click on "Quick Start User Guide" (next to the picture at the top of the page)
Then click on "Audigy SE Users Guide English "
Then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on "Agree"
And finally the download should start.

(well I guess they could have asked for your Grandmothers brothers wife's maiden name)

It sounds like you've got it all in hand now.
Remember that there is a lot of help for Audacity (Tutorials, tips and tricks, FAQ and so on) available from the main Audacity web site: See http://audacityteam.org/help/ and http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... _Home_Page
(but if you get stuck, you can of course ask here on the forum at any time.

Have fun with your recording,
Steve

[Claire]

Steve,

<It's a little curious regarding the sound card as the description and model number do not match -
The "Creative - 70SB057000000" is a "Sound Blaster (SB0570) Audigy SE" not an "X-fi">

Ahh. I remember now that Dell originally sent me a card that wouldn't fit in my computer and I had to send it back for a smaller one. It must have been the X-fi that went back, and guess I kept some of my notes on that original order.

I've downloaded the manual and am very happy to have it. Thanks so much.

Claire