Wonderful tonight... (testing my new microphone)

sounding great Mililea :)

Since I had some difficulties with the Rode and wanted a microphone also for live singing, I switched to a Shure SM58... this also required an interface. I decided on a Focusrite Scarlett Solo. So far so good. In theory, everything was great.

Forgive me if you already know all this, just starting from the basics. Even though both mics you are using are dynamic mics I am pretty sure the Rode requires phantom power, on your Scarlet Solo, there should be a button to turn this on. This will power the mic and you should now be able to use it. Don't do this for the SM58 though as it doesn't require any power.

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p to that point, I had been recording in Adobe Audition normally. But I still haven't managed to get a sound out or in via Audition. So I looked at the free programmes that came with the Focusrite and downloaded Ableton Live Lite. So again watched some videos on how to use it. Once you get the hang of it, it's actually quite a good program. But I still feel a bit shaky with it. It still needs some practice.

Using Audition or Ableton, shouldn't make any difference as to getting your sound in, they both do the same thing, it's really just a matter of choice. If you haven't already, in Audition you'll need to set your input and output to your new Scarlett interface. In the example below I don't have a interface plugged in as its my work laptop, but if you click the little arrow on the right of default input and default output a list will come up, and you should select your scarlett interface.


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I don't have Ableton and have never used it, so I'm afraid I can't really advise you there, I use Logic Pro X, but it's Mac only.

As far as vocal recording goes, I would add some compression and eq on the main channel in and use a AUX/send bus for your reverb and effects so you can mix them in. Although having said that a lot of plugin these days have a mix knob on them so you can do the same thing on the insert effect rather than using a aux/send/bus. In the example below, there are wet and dry faders on the Audition reverb
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Because you are using a dynamic mic (whether its the rode or the Sure) because they are much less sensitive than condensor mics your room shouldn't affect it as much, but I would say, for better sounding vocals, try not to record in a high reflective room and stay away from hard surfaces. As silly as it sounds, you can hang a blanket in front of you and sing into that direction, which will give you less reflection and you can add your reverb and FX in post.

I hope all this makes sense, I am happy to clarify if you you have any other questions.
 
Another thing I forgot to mention, and something my students miss is the input monitoring. If you are getting sound when you play the track but not when you are recording, you will need to enable this. I'm not sure of the specifics with Ableton, but with Audition, you need to click the R and L buttons on the track to be able to hear what you are recording. Again apologies if you already know this, not sure what you have tried already.

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Be aware, that if you use phantom power on a mice, that do not need it, you can get an electric shock, a smal one but it is unpleasent...
So look at the spec. of the mice before turning on the phantom power.
 
Just caught this thread and that was a very beautiful rendition of Wonderful Tonight! I love that song and your voice and music was just what I needed to hear this morning. Thank you and I too, look forward to hearing you do Lean on Me.
 
Oh, I totally forgot about it but I'm glad you didn't. Maybe another suggestion will be more in line with what we do here on the forum. Being friends to each other.


I've been thinking about insecurity these days even if one is good at something. But this obstacle is, IMO, the only way to reach state of creation without constant feeling that we're not good at it. Observing, recognizing and changing or switching program that forces us to feel or think in certain way.
What do you feel and think when you sing?
Hello dear @Anamarija , I have been singing it for a long time, but I was always not satisfied with the version... something was missing and at some point I came up with what it is.... I wasn't in a position at that time for someone to lean on ME. I don't know if you can hear that in the song. I hesitated for a very long time to post it here, but it's still a matter of my heart that your wish is granted. Maybe there will be a new version when I come out of my currently very difficult emotional situation strengthened again. So here for you and all...
 

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