Two suggestions. A) have someone sighted next to you while on the phone with m-audio support, or b) call m-audio and see if they will remote into your system and set it up for you. Also they don't need to be a computer wiz to follow the steps laid out in the manual. On Nov 13, 2012, at 9:57 PM, "Christopher-Mark Gilland" <clgillan...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The issue is I don't know how to enable direct monitoring on the C400. I > think you gotta do it through the M-Audio control panel, which isn't > accessible in the least, and I lamentably don't have anyone sighted who knows > anything at all about what they're doing that could help me go in there and > turn that on. Anyway, again, I'm probably "rambling" so I'll shut up. > > Thank you kindly, > > Christopher-Mark Gilland. > Founder of CLG Productions > > Blog: > http://www.clgproductions.org > > Podcast: > http://clgproductions.podhoster.com > > E-mail: > ch...@clgproductions.com > > IMessage/Facetime: > theblindmusic...@att.net > > Windows Live Messenger: > ch...@blindperspectives.net > > Twitter: > @gilland_chris > > Facebook: > http://www.facebook.com/christopher.gilland > > Skype: > twinklesfriend2007 > > Send me a fax from any standard fax machine: > 704-697-2069 > > Google Voice: (Please use sparingly): > 980-272-8570 > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: TheOreoMonster > To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com > Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 9:47 PM > Subject: Re: Question about monitoring vocals > > actually since we are recording in digital and at 24 bits there is no reason > to record as loud as you can with out clipping anymore. That was what you had > to do in the analog days to make sure the audio was up over the noise floor > of tape or you would hear the tape hiss during what you were recording. > You record at lower levels you have more room to bring tracks up in the mix > before they clip and more flexibility with compression and other dynamics > effects. > > As for the original question. stop trying to monitor what is in the DAW and > listen to the direct monitoring from the interface. you should have enough > level there without having to crank everything up. Unless you have a reverb > or something else on the track that you want to monitor yourself through > while recording, there is really no benefit to using the input monitor in > your DAW over the direct monitor of the interface. But if you insist on > monitoring through the DAW, then try putting a gain plug in in one of the > insert slots. > > On Nov 13, 2012, at 9:09 PM, Chris Norman <chris.norm...@googlemail.com> > wrote: > >> OK, no offense, but I got bored of reading half way through the message, but >> here it is: >> >> I'm not a pro, but I always thought you got the original signal as loud as >> possible without clipping. Personally, I head for as close to 0db on that >> gain indicator as possible, usually stopping level testing at about -3db, to >> account for the fact that people usually sing louder with the backing in >> their ears. No clue how you get anything done at -10db, but maybe I'm >> completely wrong. >> >> If that's still not loud enough, turn the fader right up, no one cares of >> that fuzzes, then, if you still don't have enough, once you've got your >> initial level set, compress away, use the fatten or brick wall presets, and >> you should be fine. >> >> Anyways, sorry if I missed your point, but all the extra jabber you put in >> your messages means about 50 paragraphs of "whatever whatever, this is >> completely by the point", and I'm bored out of my mind, but I think >> paragraph 3 said it all. >> >> HTH, >> >> Take care, >> >> Chris Norman. >> <chris.norm...@googlemail.com> >> >> >> >> >> On 14 Nov 2012, at 02:01, "Christopher-Mark Gilland" <clgillan...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> OK, this may seem like quite an elementary question, and a lot of you >>> probably are gonna look at me and think I'm nuts for asking, but here's my >>> situation. >>> >>> I have a pare of head phones which I've been using for a while now. I'm >>> not gonna sit here and lie to you guies. They're IFrogs. They're not >>> studio-grade by any theory of the spectrom. I do have a pare that is >>> studio grade, that probably in the days costed roughly 3 or 400 bucks, but >>> those things literally speaking are about 20 years old, and have gone >>> through so much wear and tare that the headband is becoming loose, and the >>> left ear piece is drooping down off my ear, no matter how many times I >>> readjust it's hinge. Anyway, that's totally aside the point... >>> >>> Basically, here's the deal. The IFrogs I have are sort of noise >>> cancelling, but not really. You'd think this would be a good thing in some >>> cases, but it actually's not helping matters. The thing is, even with them >>> on, my voice, whether singing, or talking is not hardly canceled/muffled at >>> all. Because of this, I've honestly just learned to get used to the problem >>> I'm facing, and play devils advocate, and just say whatever, I'll deal with >>> it. >>> >>> Basically, the thing is, I always process my vocals *after!* I have them >>> recorded. Never during. I find that if I try to do it in realtime, for >>> one, I can't always until the vocal track is totally laid down determine >>> what things need to be tweeked. The problem however is, when I was tought >>> initially by Kevin, as well as others about recording vocals, I was told >>> you always always always! want to record at a low level, then use gain >>> compensation like a limiter, or say, a compressor etc. to bring the level >>> up to adiquit range. With this said, my technique personally, is I always >>> try keeping my vocals on the input level somewhere in the neighborhood of >>> -12 to -10 at the most, DB. I'm talking about the level that I see just >>> immediately one vo+right arrow to the right of the volume up down slider on >>> each track. I try not to let it peek above -10 at the absolutely most, and >>> really, that's for me even a bit overkill. Normally, I shoot for around >>> -12 if I can get within several decimal ranges from there, like 12-3, or >>> 12.5, somewhere around there. Obviously, this is before I apply any >>> dynamics, or e queueing or the like. The issue is, once I hit shift+R to >>> arm my track for recording, obviously, at that level of -12DB, I'm hardly >>> gonna hear anything through my monitors. I know I could turn up the >>> headphone monitor dial on my interface, but even doing that, I'm having to >>> run it darned near wide open to hear anything. Yeah, I can run the output >>> volume slider on the track in PT up to a higher level, but even with it as >>> high as it'll go at +12DB, it's barely audible until I run vocal >>> compression. Basically I use the compresser/limiter dyns3 plugin, and I >>> change none of the parameters, but I use the vocal leveler preset, which is >>> under the librarian menu inside the vocals sub menu. Even doing that >>> though, I'm having to run my level almost to +12DB on the slider on the >>> track strip within PT. Not that that is a problem, as I can run the music >>> way down, to meet that of the vocal, then just pop a master fader and bring >>> everything back up in the final mix, but the problem is with my monitorring >>> through the headphones. Being that without processing anything, I hardly >>> can hear my vocals at all, and if I make it loud enough that I can, then I >>> clip like the holy virgin Mary! Parden the pun for you religious folks... >>> LOL! I just don't exactly know how would be best to work around this. >>> >>> I'm using a Blue Bluebird microphone without the shockmount, as my stand >>> won't support it, plus the windscreen that came with the mike. Then >>> I'm using phantom power through the mono xlr input on my interface, which >>> is an M-Audio Fast Track C400. ProTools 10.0 standard, on Snow Leopard >>> 10.6.8, interfacing via USB, with the correct M-Audio drivers installed, >>> and a white stocked 13 inch macbook mid 2010. Any help is greatly >>> appreciated. I just need to know how we can get my mike on the monitor, >>> without clipping ramped up to a level where it can be audible, as I don't >>> wanna just go by well, it's armed, I know it's recording, I can hear myself >>> through the ear muffs. No... I wanna literally hear exactly what's going >>> into the DAW. >>> >>> Thank you kindly, >>> >>> Christopher-Mark Gilland. >>> Founder of CLG Productions >>> >>> Blog: >>> http://www.clgproductions.org >>> >>> Podcast: >>> http://clgproductions.podhoster.com >>> >>> E-mail: >>> ch...@clgproductions.com >>> >>> IMessage/Facetime: >>> theblindmusic...@att.net >>> >>> Windows Live Messenger: >>> ch...@blindperspectives.net >>> >>> Twitter: >>> @gilland_chris >>> >>> Facebook: >>> http://www.facebook.com/christopher.gilland >>> >>> Skype: >>> twinklesfriend2007 >>> >>> Send me a fax from any standard fax machine: >>> 704-697-2069 >>> >>> Google Voice: (Please use sparingly): >>> 980-272-8570
