Poor vocal sound in the background -Sound Forge - PC

Subject:Poor vocal sound in the background Posted by: procli Date:10/5/2003 7:19:32 AM Need help. I`m new to this.. am using Sonic Foundry Sound Forge 6.0 I have connected my stereo to my pc and trying to record from my LP. But when i record - the vocal is only waay in the background. I have tried different settings. But only the same result. Anyone got any tip/help for me? Thanks.
Subject:RE: Poor vocal sound in the background Reply by: Jessariah Date:10/5/2003 9:47:03 AM Check your EQ settings on your amp/tuner. If you're losing vocals (assuming the vocals are present on both channels of your hi-fi system and you have both channels coming into the computer at equal levels) then there may be some kind of mid-range dip. If you're bringing a signal into Sound Forge, your best bet is to make sure all your stereo compnents are EQ'd flat and do whatever tweaking you need/want inside SF itself. As I mentioned above, you may also want to look at the balance of your signal. If the LP has the vocals panned off center and you are only capturing the one channel, then your file will either be too heavy or too light on the vocal. You hear this sometimes on non-stereo AM stations -- many will dump music beds from one channel only, rather than mixing both channels into a single mono signal. If the music bed has panned elements in it, the result is a bed that is poorly mixed, cuz you hear some parts just fine, but others are barely audible.
Subject:RE: Poor vocal sound in the background Reply by: Chienworks Date:10/5/2003 7:17:28 PM It sounds to me like a bad 1/8" plug going into the sound card. How, physically, are you connecting the stereo to the computer? You should be going from an "aux" or "record" out on the amplifier to the Line input on the sound card. If you have a bad connection and the plug isn't all the way in the sound card then you'll get channel cancellation and the vocals or anything else that's in the center of the stereo mix will sound distant, muffled, or whispy. Check the plug and make sure it's seated all the way into the jack on the sound card. You may also want to try a different cable. If you're connecting to the Mic input on the card then don't; use the Line input instead. If you don't have a line input then you'll need some sort of adapter to combine the channels into a single signal and also to attenuate them to mic level.
Subject:RE: Poor vocal sound in the background Reply by: RichMacDonald Date:10/6/2003 9:49:48 AM Something simple first: Check that you don't have your signal crossed, i.e., one of the stereo channels has been reversed. If you do, then you will get a "hole-in-the-middle" sound. Since vocals are usually mixed in the middle (equal amounts to both left and right), they get reduced more than the other instruments. Also listen to the bass: If the bass is drastically lowered, its another indication you're "out-of-phase". Check for this by listening to the audio first, rather than checking the wiring. Add a filter to reverse one of the channels, either left or right. Then turn this filter on and off and listen for the differences. Whichever sounds louder is correct. If this occurs when the filter is turned on, then you know your problem. If this occurs when the filter is turned off, then I dunno. Note: It can be hard to hear the difference sometimes, especially if you're never done it before. If you have headphones, use them. Otherwise, place your two speakers close together and facing each other, then put your head right between them. Turn the bass up high. As you listen, turn your head to the left and right and see if you can "place" each instrument somewhere in space, or do they fade in and out as your turn your head. If the latter, they're out of phase. BTW: Turn off all EQ and loudness settings on your stereo when recording. You want the "straight" sound, because you'll be playing it back with EQ, so you don't want the EQ applied twice.

Subject:Poor vocal sound in the background

Posted by: procli

Date:10/5/2003 7:19:32 AM

Need help. I`m new to this.. am using Sonic Foundry Sound Forge 6.0

I have connected my stereo to my pc and trying to record from my LP. But when i record - the vocal is only waay in the background.

I have tried different settings. But only the same result.
Anyone got any tip/help for me?

Thanks.

Subject:RE: Poor vocal sound in the background

Reply by: Jessariah

Date:10/5/2003 9:47:03 AM

Check your EQ settings on your amp/tuner. If you're losing vocals (assuming the vocals are present on both channels of your hi-fi system and you have both channels coming into the computer at equal levels) then there may be some kind of mid-range dip. If you're bringing a signal into Sound Forge, your best bet is to make sure all your stereo compnents are EQ'd flat and do whatever tweaking you need/want inside SF itself.

As I mentioned above, you may also want to look at the balance of your signal. If the LP has the vocals panned off center and you are only capturing the one channel, then your file will either be too heavy or too light on the vocal. You hear this sometimes on non-stereo AM stations -- many will dump music beds from one channel only, rather than mixing both channels into a single mono signal. If the music bed has panned elements in it, the result is a bed that is poorly mixed, cuz you hear some parts just fine, but others are barely audible.

Subject:RE: Poor vocal sound in the background

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:10/5/2003 7:17:28 PM

It sounds to me like a bad 1/8" plug going into the sound card. How, physically, are you connecting the stereo to the computer? You should be going from an "aux" or "record" out on the amplifier to the Line input on the sound card. If you have a bad connection and the plug isn't all the way in the sound card then you'll get channel cancellation and the vocals or anything else that's in the center of the stereo mix will sound distant, muffled, or whispy. Check the plug and make sure it's seated all the way into the jack on the sound card. You may also want to try a different cable.

If you're connecting to the Mic input on the card then don't; use the Line input instead. If you don't have a line input then you'll need some sort of adapter to combine the channels into a single signal and also to attenuate them to mic level.

Subject:RE: Poor vocal sound in the background

Reply by: RichMacDonald

Date:10/6/2003 9:49:48 AM

Something simple first: Check that you don't have your signal crossed, i.e., one of the stereo channels has been reversed. If you do, then you will get a "hole-in-the-middle" sound. Since vocals are usually mixed in the middle (equal amounts to both left and right), they get reduced more than the other instruments. Also listen to the bass: If the bass is drastically lowered, its another indication you're "out-of-phase".

Check for this by listening to the audio first, rather than checking the wiring. Add a filter to reverse one of the channels, either left or right. Then turn this filter on and off and listen for the differences. Whichever sounds louder is correct. If this occurs when the filter is turned on, then you know your problem. If this occurs when the filter is turned off, then I dunno.

Note: It can be hard to hear the difference sometimes, especially if you're never done it before. If you have headphones, use them. Otherwise, place your two speakers close together and facing each other, then put your head right between them. Turn the bass up high. As you listen, turn your head to the left and right and see if you can "place" each instrument somewhere in space, or do they fade in and out as your turn your head. If the latter, they're out of phase.

BTW: Turn *off* all EQ and loudness settings on your stereo when recording. You want the "straight" sound, because you'll be playing it back with EQ, so you don't want the EQ applied twice.