cychan7570
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Cracking Sound when hitting high notes on vocal
I am new to music production and Sonar. After I record my vocal into my roland condenser mic (DR-80c) - (which also have a pop filter settings between my mouth and the mic), when hitting high notes, it sounds like there is some sort of crack... This is bcoz I stand quite near the mic. However, this cracking sound doesn't appear when I am hitting lower notes. Any solutions for the cracking sound when hitting the high notes? Thanks.
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garrigus
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Re:Cracking Sound when hitting high notes on vocal
2011/07/28 21:48:43
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One reason could be that you are overloading the mic input on your soundcard. You need to make sure to set the input level so that the loudest notes you'll be singing won't go over 0dB and cause clipping. It's best to record with a 24-bit depth settings, which provides a lot more headroom than 16-bit and allows you to send the input level lower without added noise. Scott -- Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com * Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks * Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor * Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq * Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview
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JClosed
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Re:Cracking Sound when hitting high notes on vocal
2011/07/29 02:35:28
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I am with Scott on this one..
I you are recording very hot, you probably are on the border of distortion. The DR-80C has a nice relatively flat response, but still has a slightly bit higher output level around 6~7k. Certainly if you switched the roll-off button on while setting up the record level you can have undistorted sound at lower frequencies. However you can have a bit overload on the higher (not used at set-up time) frequencies. As said - if you are on the border of clipping this can lead to funny things..
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cychan7570
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Re:Cracking Sound when hitting high notes on vocal
2011/07/29 03:11:16
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garrigus... May I know how do I set the input of the mic to below 0db? Do you mean that I adjust it with Automation > Volume, where there is a green line to control the volume according to that line?
JClosed... in my DR-80C there is a button called Pad where I can choose between 0dB and -10dB. Do you mean that I should switch it to -10dB to eliminate the clipping sound?
Thanks.
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FastBikerBoy
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Re:Cracking Sound when hitting high notes on vocal
2011/07/29 03:35:33
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You are hearing the result of 'clipping' i.e. peaking above 0dB.
You can control your peak input via your interface/soundcard either with a physical gain control or software control (depending on your soundcard). You cannot control that from within Sonar.
You should turn the input down until the meter in Sonar (on the track you are recording on) no longer lights the red 'clip' light at the top of the meter. When you set this up work at the loudest you are likely to sing at.
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jessepeng
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Re:Cracking Sound when hitting high notes on vocal
2011/07/29 04:40:56
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cychan7570
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Re:Cracking Sound when hitting high notes on vocal
2011/07/29 08:34:18
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FastBikerBoy... Thank you... you fixed my problem. That clipping sound has been fixed by adjusting the input knob on my audio interface. BTW, garrigus... I have bought your latest book on Sonar X1 Power the comprehensive guide... it is a great book.
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FastBikerBoy
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Re:Cracking Sound when hitting high notes on vocal
2011/07/29 10:09:56
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cychan7570
FastBikerBoy... Thank you... you fixed my problem. That clipping sound has been fixed by adjusting the input knob on my audio interface.
BTW, garrigus... I have bought your latest book on Sonar X1 Power the comprehensive guide... it is a great book.
No problem. If you are new to recording I'm sure you'll have plenty more questions as you learn. We all start somewhere and there are lots of users far more knowledgeable than me here to help............... amongst all the cat fighting that is. 
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Jim Roseberry
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Re:Cracking Sound when hitting high notes on vocal
2011/07/29 11:12:12
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I am new to music production and Sonar. After I record my vocal into my roland condenser mic (DR-80c) - (which also have a pop filter settings between my mouth and the mic), when hitting high notes, it sounds like there is some sort of crack... This is bcoz I stand quite near the mic. However, this cracking sound doesn't appear when I am hitting lower notes. Any solutions for the cracking sound when hitting the high notes? Thanks. You're overloading the mic preamp or your audio interface's A/D converter. High notes require more energy (thus natually louder than lower notes) As was mentioned, you need to leave enough headroom to prevent overloading the mic preamp... or the A/D. When summing multiple audio tracks (especially those with peaks close to 0dB), you'll have to reduce the gain anyway... so don't be affraid to leave enough headroom (when recording) to prevent clipping/overloading.
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garrigus
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Re:Cracking Sound when hitting high notes on vocal
2011/07/29 11:18:44
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