Mic preamp distortion with condenser mics

Today I have been doing a session with a singer and being suicidal I thought I would take my MPC and Laptop as I thought it would be convenient to have a controller and audio interface.....

However I wasn't expecting this....
With the MPC turned on but the software not running so using it just as a sound card.

When we were tracking vocals the microphone preamp in my unit distorts with a condenser mic. I had to pad the mic to avoid the distortion.
Note the distortion I am talking about is below where clipping the ADC occurs i.e. the mic is driving the preamp into distortion before 0Db.

The singer in question did not have a loud voice.

Has anyone else recorded a condenser mic for vocals and the listened back to the results and noticed anything similar?

Cheers
Geoff

Have you tried the mic recording in the mpc software that it comes with instead of just using it as a soundcard?

Does it happen even with Input gain set above minimum ?

It should be a setting of your soundchain, look at the input/comp rotary fader and the rotary input gain settings. I hav'nt tried to record with the ren but had same issue with a soundcard, and it was just a setting of my soundchain.

Keep space beetween the Pop filter and the mic, and the Pop filter and singer's mouth.

Some low-cost condenser Microphone are distorting if voice pressure's and proximity.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Just to clarify I am away on a session and just have a sm7 and a AT condenser mic with me so I can't try a different mic etc.

Recording wise I know what I am doing.

Was interested if anyone else had tried the inbuilt mic pre with a condenser mic?

I can check it out properly when I get home on Monday.

G

I've heard of similar issues with their Old MacDonald interface (EIEIO), but not with the Ren.

Coz wrote:I've heard of similar issues with their Old MacDonald interface (EIEIO), but not with the Ren.

The interfaces built on similar platforms and use the same problematic generic driver.

I´ve tried it this week-end, using the Phantom from the Ren. No Difference with my usual interface.
But i havent found how to route the mono to stereo ( Ren Input 1 to Ren output 1,2) ... Annoying. Should i use a Mic-Preamp with stereo out to plug in the REN ?

I just did a session on the renaissance last night where I wanted to record vocals through it. I noticed crazy distortion (I'm using a condesnser mic). THis was ALL before my preamp (gain was ALL the way down!!). I even took it a step further connecting the mic directly to the MPC and solely using the input gain on the MPC. even the lowest level comes out distorted and just gets louder when you turn the volume up. It did this for the 1st hour of the session then out the blue it cleared up. I haven't done another session to recreate it. Anybody have this problem??

I had the exact same problem..

Yeah seems a bit worrying.
I wish more people would slam a mic in and test it out so I can work out if its a fault or a bad design.
G

Do you both had same issue before you tried to record ? The Mic only on a side to ? Do you set a routing or something before hearing your Condenser Mic on the both Ren Outputs ?
Mine got no big noticeable distortion, i will try again to find the way to route my mono source to stereo. Then Ill be back to tell you more about this issue.

I am having this same problem, but with a dynamic mic. Anything but the lowest volume is completely distorted, even though I am coming no where near overloading it. In fact the waveform of the recorded vocal in the software is tiny.

Also the input meters are showing a lot of something going on all the time. Is there something that I am missing here? Something routing audio into the Ren or interfering?

Does anyone know of a fix for the distortion issue? A previous poster said it just went away after an hour which doesn't sound good.


Thanks,


Spoff

I solved the distortion issue. I had the latency set at 64 samples. Once I moved that up (just tested it at 1024) I was able to record without the distortion.

Still wondering what the audio is on the sampling audio meter. The green lights go up to about -55db with the REC knob pointing straight up on the Ren. Is this just normal? Can't really hear the noise in the recording.


Spoff

@Spoff77 Yeah you would be soft monitoring And if your computer was under stress you would get the "distortion".. ITs just the computer stressing out...(not quick/powerful enough to handle the processing)

@foge1

Try Spoff77's solution? Are you direct monitoring aswell or with effects through your daw?
You must increase the sample buffer size ..

Or is the REcording playing back distorted..(you record the vocals then play it back and it sounds distored when you play the recording back)
Or when the singer is Sings do they hear it back distorted when performing...

If the latter, then it could be that the phantom powe/ is not sending enough volts...? (so faulty?)
But could very well be the mic that needs repair?

comtox wrote:.
But i havent found how to route the mono to stereo ( Ren Input 1 to Ren output 1,2) ... Annoying.

This still can't be done. It was badly designed by akai.

peace

foge1 wrote:Thanks for the suggestions.

Just to clarify I am away on a session and just have a sm7 and a AT condenser mic with me so I can't try a different mic etc.

Recording wise I know what I am doing.

Was interested if anyone else had tried the inbuilt mic pre with a condenser mic?

I can check it out properly when I get home on Monday.

G

Not trying to question your skills or be a smartass but you know the SM7 is a dynamic, not a condenser mic right? It doesn't require phantom power but does need a helluva amount of preamp input gain, 55-60 really makes it shine. Just trying to help.