another vocals question

I've seen the same thing when I record, however I have written it off to "noise" in the connection to my computer. None of this "sound" I see on my LED's has actually been audible in my tracks. I really haven't been concerned about it since I get strange interference from a local Christian radio station over my speakers and headphones, yet none of it is ever recorded on any of my tracks.

airmeki,
You say it follows the project. Are you listening through headphones as you record? The sound could be leaking out and is being picked up by the mic. If that's the case, try turning down the volume and see if that helps.

airmecki:
This is too funny. I used to have an old Kustom bass amplifier and cabinet, the roll and pleated antique that was the only bass set up to have at the time,(my god, that was thirty years ago), and almost every time I plugged in I could hear a Christian radio station from Canada, sometimes louder than the base itself. Needless to say, I had to replace it, now I wish I had it for appearance sake in the studio, but your problem brought back a great memory, so thanks.

Geez, I hope this isn't TOO ignorant on my part, but do you by any chance have the "What-U-Hear" option enabled under your windows volume settings? That is great for mixing, but could be inadvertently adding all you recorded previously to your vocal tracks as well. Highly undesirable, since you likely want to keep vocal tracks separate from everything else.

Disable that option until you need/want to combine tracks. I'm just getting into this, but I gather that "bouncing" tracks is the preferred method to combining via "What-U-Hear" anyway.

Hope this helps.

RMc

Thanks for your inputs. Greg: Since my early days of flight simming I am actually used to shut down several programs that boot each time you start the computer. So, no, there aren't many programs running (just the essential ones I would say). Good call, though.
I tried the idea decreasing the volume of the headphones - it did indeed go down slightly, but the LEDs are still dancing well up in the "high greens". I don't think I am picking up a "ghost radio station" altough this would be too cool ... (I didn't think Canada would ever produce a religious radio station ..., but that's a different story ).
So, the only think left, for now, is what RMc suggested - the "Would you hear" feature. I'll give that a try and let you guys know what happend. Thanks again y'all for your ideas.
Heinz

I had to wonder if it was a sign, or just voices only I could hear (as if I needed more of them!). My wife always complains that I am practically deaf, but I think it is selective listening. I am always hearing things on TV and in music that she can't, but I can't hear what she wants me to. When I first started hearing the radio crossover on the speakers it was almost subliminal. You could hear it, but couldn't identify what it was or where it came from. Once I started putting on the headphones I could hear it pretty clearly. I had to crank the speakers up all the way one day to get my wife to hear it, yet I'm the deaf one!!
I keep forgetting to shut down other programs, especially the anti-virus. I need to try that from now on.

Thanks Greg. I looked at the M-Audio Software (my soundcard's) but there wasn't a "What you Hear" feature or something similar, or an equivalent. I also checked the recording mode in MC and it was set to Sound on Sound. The "Overwrite" option is unchecked. I did play around with the m-audio sofware/mixer but didn't get a different result. It still happens, when recording vocals in a new track it records all the other tracks as well. The only time it wouldn't do that is if I soloed the vocals track (or muted the rest), but then - of course - I wouldn't hear anything to sing to ...
Just another one of those little buggers, eh?
Heinz

Greek, you are so right. I always thought I have done something wrong, either a setting in the soundcard-software mixer (m-audio 2496) or a wiring error on my hardware mixer. Altough, the latter I strictly followed the instructions given by Robomusic in one of his older posts. I'll keep diggin' ...
Heinz

Robert, Greek, Greg ... and everyone of you wonderful people: Just by reading another thread that is very hot right now I stumbled over my problem: It was my on-board soundcard. I read that thread and it was mentioned (I think by you Robert) that the two soundcards could cause conflicts and tend to "fight" over the audio. Well, my on-board soundcard was still enabled, and worse - in the 'Sound and Audio Devices" everything was still set to my old on board soundcard. When I installed my new soundcard I may have thought of the old soundcard but didn't really think I'd have to change settings or something, since both soundcards are completely independent from each other ...
Man, thank you so much you guys - you rock! Long live this forum!
Heinz

Today's a new day - and it might just bring the breakthrough in this matter ... let's think positive.

I thought I would "draw" out a "diagram" and my setup for all of you helpful people out there. This will give you guys a better picture. Here I go:

Soundcard: M-Audio Audiophile 2496
Mixer: Behringer UB1002
Program: MC3
Connections:
Soundcard Out (L&R) to Tape Line In (L&R) on Mixer
Main Out (L&R) on Mixer to Soundcard In (L&R)
Control Room Out on Mixer (L&R) to Monitor Speakers
Headphones are plugged in to "Phones"
Microphone plugged in Input #1 (XLR) and Phantom Power is on.
"CD/Tape to Ctrl" is pressed
"CD/Tape to Mix" is not pressed
Fader is up at around "0"

Now to the soundcard software:

First Tab (=Monitor Mixer): everything is unmuted and unsoloed (no checkmarks anywhere). When music plays LEDs of "Master Volume" and "WavOut 1/2" are moving.
Second TAb (=Patchbay Router): H/W Out 1/2 set to "Monitor Mixer"; H/W Out S/PDIF set to WavOut S/PDIF (note: I don't use S/PDIF right now).
Third Tab (=Hardware Settings): Master Clock set to Internal Xtal, Sample Rate 44100, Multi Track Driver Devices set to "Single and IN-Sync", DMA Buffer Size to 256, Variable Signal Level Outputs set to "Consumer", Asio Options checked to disable audio app use of Monitor Mixer and Patchbay Router; Input Channel Phase +180: Nothing is checked.

Note: I don't see anything similar to "What You Hear" anywhere. I also changed the above mentioned settings around and played with them ... still no success.


Finally, the problem itself:

Project has 11 Midi Tracks, 1 existing Audio Track, and another - newly created - audio track for vocals only. Soft synths in use are Edirol, SampleTank and Sonik Synth. For all three I opened a seperate audio Track and the respective Midi Track Outputs are set to these synths.
The Input of the new vocal Track says "Stereo M-Audio Delta Asio Mixer In"; the output says "M-Audio Delta Asio Analog".
Now, after arming the vocal track and starting the project I can already see the Led in this track moving to the beat of the project. I hear the whole song in my headphones.
After hitting record, singing to the song and ending the recording I solo the track to play back the recording: Here it is: The whole song in one track plus my voice.

Conclusion:
I have a gutty feeling I am not seeing the forest because of all the trees (if you know what I mean). Something tells me, the problem is right in front of my eyes.
There's gotta be a tiny little error somewhere burried in the wiring or in the software settings, or even in MC3.
Oh, btw, the recording mode in MC3 is set to Sound on Sound (NOT Overwrite).
Something I must have missed or done wrong. Why would this new audio track record all the other tracks?

Wew, I'm gonna go celebrating once this is resolved ...

Thank you all for looking into this and helping me out here!

Heinz.

KenB123:
Not sure where all the rest of those beautiful vintage pieces went, but I know mine was taken by a wacco little girl to the nearest pawn shop and then right up her nose. She got $20 for it, and I will never see either her or it again.
Later
Albert

EXCELLENT suggestion, Beagle! I worked with a electronics professor who's mantra was, "A to B testing, boys! A to B testing! When you have a complex system, figure out a way to test only ONE thing at a time. Do "A", then change ONE thing and test for "B". Change five things at once and you've got "KPLRQZ" and you'll NEVER find the root of the problem."

Thank you, Professor Bob (Advanced Electronics, TEC)

RMc

Glad it's working. Since I have not used the 2496, and the delta 44 does not have SPDIF, I was not aware that you needed to choose the input drivers specifically for analog instead of using all three! You've taught me something new today, Heinz!

Glad I could help!
Heinz.