multitrack overdubbing

[kozikowski]

Yes, we got the symptoms.

That's two posts now from elves who think your live guitar is there and just not loud enough. Sing or talk a test and try to make the Tascam overload light come on.

"Testing in a loud voice, one, two, three. TESTING IN A LOUD VOICE!!" You may need to get very close to the microphone with the volume all the way up to flash the red light.

The light is there for diagnostics and we need some diagnostics right now.

Koz

[deric23]

"Testing in a loud voice, one, two, three. TESTING IN A LOUD VOICE!!" You may need to get very close to the microphone with the volume all the way up to flash the red light.

The light is there for diagnostics and we need some diagnostics right now.

Koz

Yes the OL light comes on for XLR #1 and the volume needs to be up there. Just scratching my nail on the mic will do it, and then I can hear that in the phones but with very little volume.

[kozikowski]

Ah. We progress.

There is a fuzzy standard for recording volume in Audacity. You should regularly peak the bouncing light sound meter to about -6 and the tips of the blue waves should be at about 0.5 (50%).



Is that anything like your live performances (scratching doesn't count).

There may be a way to force what you have to work. Turn the MIX knob almost all the way to the left INPUT and turn the PHONES way up (carefully). Can you hear both now?

Koz

[deric23]

Ah. We progress.

There is a fuzzy standard for recording volume in Audacity. You should regularly peak the bouncing light sound meter to about -6 and the tips of the blue waves should be at about 0.5 (50%).



Is that anything like your live performances (scratching doesn't count).

There may be a way to force what you have to work. Turn the MIX knob almost all the way to the left INPUT and turn the PHONES way up (carefully). Can you hear both now?

Koz

The waveform you show is like my performance but it always has been. It records just fine. As for your other suggestions: the controls on the Tascam don't increase the headphone volume but what does are the controls on the Audacity screen-left side but mostly on the top for mic vol. and playback vol. I turn down the "monterey" playback with the slider and turn up the mic sensitivity/input and the record track speakers to max. However there still in not a lot of vol. from my voice to the phones but there is some and I'm wondering if when I am recording a line input from something like a direct box which eliminates room speakers and is not heard by people in the room maybe then that input in the phones might be okay? I can set the waveform to -6 like you say. Then when I playback the phones, vol. from my performance is very loud to the point of distortion. Summing up: tweaking the controls on the Audacity screen brings vol. to the headphones, just not a whole lot. (so if it's your voice hearing it in your head competing with the mic sound in the phones you hardly notice the mic.) Vol. comes on playback but that's not where I need it-it seems. Things are improving I think.

[kozikowski]

Things are improving I think.

In the sense of having conflicting conditions.

At the Tascam, we have what I'm calling "restrained volume." You have a Shure SM57, a perfectly delightful microphone widely used for percussion and in a pinch, for everything else. It does not breathe fire. When placed in front of a bass drum, it's perfectly happy to deliver good volume to a sound mixer. As I think I mentioned, almost impossible to overload (but it's perfectly happy to overload the mixer).

Scene shifts to the Tascam. Its performance agrees with me. You can only get the Tascam overload light when you physically assault the microphone (Perfectly valid. Don't worry about it). The performance at the headphone connection reflects this condition. It's very difficult to get good headphone volume of the microphone.

And yet.......

You have no trouble creating a good volume recording in Audacity.

What's wrong with this picture? Where did the magic volume boost come from?

Windows does have a feature for weak microphones called 20dB Boost or rough equivalent. Do you have that selected in Windows Control Panels (I'm not a Windows elf)?

I'm going back and read through that.

Koz

[deric23]

Things are improving I think.

In the sense of having conflicting conditions.

At the Tascam, we have what I'm calling "restrained volume." You have a Shure SM57, a perfectly delightful microphone widely used for percussion and in a pinch, for everything else. It does not breathe fire. When placed in front of a bass drum, it's perfectly happy to deliver good volume to a sound mixer. As I think I mentioned, almost impossible to overload (but it's perfectly happy to overload the mixer).

Scene shifts to the Tascam. Its performance agrees with me. You can only get the Tascam overload light when you physically assault the microphone (Perfectly valid. Don't worry about it). The performance at the headphone connection reflects this condition. It's very difficult to get good headphone volume of the microphone.

And yet.......

You have no trouble creating a good volume recording in Audacity.

What's wrong with this picture? Where did the magic volume boost come from?

Windows does have a feature for weak microphones called 20dB Boost or rough equivalent. Do you have that selected in Windows Control Panels (I'm not a Windows elf)?

I'm going back and read through that.

Koz

I have several mics-dynamic and condenser, some the equivalent of a Shure58 typical vocals type. I was just using the 57 because it was on the guitar amp. I really don't have to yell into the mic to make the OL light come on-with the mic vol. turned up on the Audacity screen. I'll look for that 20dB Boost thing. Never come across it.

[kozikowski]

Very early in the overdub setup there is a step where you make a good, straight, simple recording. As far as I can tell, you can't do that.

If you try for a simple straight recording, headphone monitoring at the Tascam fails. So that's full stop. What I called "perfect overdubbing" (manufacturers call "Zero Latency Monitoring), the ability to hear both new and old sound in your headphones is not going to work for you, although as you noted earlier, you can do simple overdubbing, without the ability to hear yourself playing live.

Through the blizzard of conflicting symptoms, I'm going to call the Tascam headphone system broken.

Koz

[deric23]

Very early in the overdub setup there is a step where you make a good, straight, simple recording. As far as I can tell, you can't do that.

If you try for a simple straight recording, headphone monitoring at the Tascam fails. So that's full stop. What I called "perfect overdubbing" (manufacturers call "Zero Latency Monitoring), the ability to hear both new and old sound in your headphones is not going to work for you, although as you noted earlier, you can do simple overdubbing, without the ability to hear yourself playing live.

Through the blizzard of conflicting symptoms, I'm going to call the Tascam headphone system broken.

Koz

I'll just keep doing what I can and see what develops. Thx for all your help.