Experiencing mic disconnection...

Cubase
1

Hi, I’m really new to recording. I’ve put a lot of effort into getting enough money to buy only the basic gears required in recording.

My devices are: U46XL USB audio interface and a Perception 120.

I’ve done a lot of surfing on the internet to get everything connected right and I’m kinda sure I have everything in the right place, but I’m exeriencing a problem: Everytime I try recording with a guitar and mixing it in a vocal track, my microphone only doesn’t seem to pick up any sound and then it suddenly catches everything. In other words, the sound seems to keep exploding. I am really frustrated and I don’t know what to do.

And also, why is it that I can only hear my reverb effects while I’m recording and not after? Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?!

Somebody, PLEASE!

2

I’m not entirely sure what you are doing here. Do you mean that you are recording a guitar first and then recording the vocal ? If you are recording the guitar, and using the reverb you must make sure that the reverb is in the direct line to the recording channel. If you send to reverb then although you may hear it in the output channel it is not going to the recording channel. A simple way would be insert reverb in input, route this to an audio channel and turn on the monitor button.

As regards the mike, if you are set up right then you should hear the sound before recording, using the monitor (don’t let the monitor sound get back to the input or there will be feedback). The level indicators in the mixer will show if the sound is reaching the right places.

If you need a more detailed answer, you will need to be more specific about what you are doing, what with and how everything is connected.

You’ve probably got something in the wrong order for the type of recording you are doing.

Sometimes I find that a simple diagram on a scrap of paper will help set things up when a complicated arrangement of connections is being made.

3

Hi, thanks for replying!

I think I understand why I couldn’t get to listen to my reverb. I finally figured out how to insert reverb into input and into my channel. I told you, this is my first time trying and everyone that I know doesn’t have a clue about this stuff. I really needed some advice and I thank you again for pointing things out to me.

Oh, and sorry if I wasn’t specific about what I am doing. To be honest, I don’t even know what I’m doing most of the time… It just feels like I’m pressing this button and that, clicking this to see if it works, and if it doesn’t, I click that.

Anyways, what I am doing is, I’m trying to record my guitar first, and then record my vocal. And for my settings, I"ve connected my audio interface with cubase and my mic is working perfectly well until I make another channel for my guitar. I’ve even tried starting with the basic Aucoustic guitar+Vocal project that Cubase7 has made to make things easier.

The problem is, I can record my guitar, but the recording of my voice keeps disconnecting and keep getting empty silence between my song. My mic works perfectly well on the first channel. But on the second channel, the vocal channel the recording somehow doesn’t seem to work. Does it have something to do with my computer’s power supply?

If this isn’t specific enough, please let me know again. I know I’m lame, But heck, I’m at “I don’t even know how to be specific” stage.

Regards.

4

HI
I would look at your interface’s settings & then cubases. I am not familiar with your audio interface but i presume you can see some sort of signal getting in to cubase.
Is cubase seeing a signal? Make sure you have the bus selected in you channel. Although it sounds like this is ok as you are getting a intermittent signal. Mmm not sure without seeing your signal flow.
Few pointers though - these have caught me out in the past.
Check all your leads
Always look at the source first for problems
Audio interfaces not always intuitive - read the manual
Lastly i doubt very much it has anything to do with your power supply

5

Rule 1: if it doesn’t work go back and eliminate all possible causes
DEVICES > DEVICE SET UP > VST Audio system- are you using the correct driver - is the latency usable, like 10 msec or less. Some generic drivers are really slow and are useless for this type of work

Are you plugging the guitar and mike into the right sockets, it’s not powered mike is it ?

Start a new project
You should have 2 audio tracks 1 for guitar and one for vocal. You don’t need anything else to start with.
The mixer should show 4 channels - Input, the 2 audios and the output.
Plug in the guitar, open mixer. Strum guitar, you should see indication of the sound on the input channel
Click on the small loudspeaker symbol in the audio track you want for the guitar, strum guitar, you should see the indication of the sound on the input, the monitored audio channel and the output channel. Now change audio channels, click on the loudspeaker symbols of both audio tracks in turn to select second and deselect first.
Strum again, the level indicators should work for the input, 2nd audio and output.

  • Disconnect the guitar and plug in the microphone - repeat the exercise - with no monitored track only levels in the input channel, with one channel selected fro monitoring then input, the channel and output show levels.

Now this time, plug in guitar, select an audio channel and play a few chords with the record button selected. back on the main screen a recorded track should have appeared.

Now check to see if this is recorded properly. Deselect monitor.In the mixer there should be levels showing when the play button is pressed, on the audio channel of the guitar and the output (it might also show on the input depending on your set-up, I have any external mixer which will feed the output back into the input)

Switch to mike, deselect channel you’ve just recorded on, select the other channel, redo the check above with the * to make sure everything is connected right.

Now try with the recorded channel playing back at the same time.

Here’s where it gets tricky: I don’t know how you are listening in. Do you hear what’s in the input channel or the output channel. If you are playing back you need to hear the recorded sound, as well as the sound being recorded
So set the system to hear the output channel and select monitor on the channel you are recording (beware of feedback loops) . Play the recorded sound, there should be no level indicator movement on the mike channel.
Play again, this time make a sound into the mike. You should see two different movements on the level meters and hear both sounds together. It is all to do with how the signals are routed on your set up. You only need to do this once.

Reading you last post again, are you recording the guitar with a mike ? If so you are probably not selecting the right channel when recording the second track.

Just go through everything slowly, one step at a time making sure you know what is happening to the sound and where it is going. Once it is properly set up, it should always work for you