distortion in vocal recordings

Hi.

Is the distortion in the audio file itself?

What's confusing to me here is that when I play back the recording without plugins sometimes I hear the distortion and sometimes I don't. I have managed to manipulate the channel eq and eliminate some of the distortion but often at the expense of the sound of the recording.

Or do you

just hear distortion only when the plugins are
active? There is a big difference in those two types
of distortion.

If the distortion is in the audio file,the INPUT
hardware is being overloaded.Turn it down,or use a
pad after the mic but before the mic preamp.The
distortion CAN occur BEFORE it gets into Logic,and
may or may not show up as digital clipping.Check your
mic levels,and how loudly you sing into the mic.

If the distortion is NOT recorded in the audio
file,then you have to adjust your plugin settings so
the plugins do not distort.Or adjust the master
output of your mix output 1+2 as it may get
distorted with too many tracks.

At the moment the song in question only has four tracks so I doubt if this is the problem.

Cheers

With the "Male Ballad Vocal" preset in Logic Express the last plugin in the chain is the limiter. Is it possible this is receiving an already-clipped signal and reducing it so it doesn't appear clipped in the processing or meters?

Thanks

What's confusing to me here is that when I play

back

the recording without plugins sometimes I hear

the

distortion and sometimes I don't. I have

managed

to manipulate the channel eq and eliminate some of
the distortion but often at the expense of the

sound

of the recording.

In this case,you ARE overloading something BEFORE it
gets to Logic.Please re-check your levels.I am
confused by the underlined above text.Please specify
WHEN you hear the distortion...is it in the SAME spot
every time? Or in different spots each time you play
back?? This is important to note.

Hi,

I spent most of the weekend trouble shooting this problem from every angle I could think of. To begin with the distortion is happening no matter what level I record at. I have 2 microphones, a shure sm57 and an AKG C535 EB. Both distort. The distortion is not the kind of distortion that one normally hears with clipping. It more subtle than that, a bit like what happens if you convert a file from 24 bit to 8 bit but not as uniform. The place where it happens most frequently is in phrases that begin with or have a glottal stop but there are also instances were distortion comes in when there is no glottal stop or "P" sound. I am using a wind screen. Yesterday, for the first time, I noticed unwanted distortion in a clean guitar part. All of this is leading me to suspect a problem with my Edirol FA-66. I went back a listened to the vocals with the first song I ever recorded with Express 7. They were perfectly clean. Since then, without changing the settings, I get this distortion. And it is definitely getting worse. When I started this inquiry I might have got distortion about 1/3 of the time. Now it's pretty much all the time. Anyway I've sent a message to Roland, we'll see what they say.

Greg

At the moment the song in question only has four
tracks so I doubt if this is the problem.

I agree,but check your OUTPUT channel 1+2,to make
sure the distortion you "sometimes" hear is not the
master output being overloaded.This is also important
to note.

With the "Male Ballad Vocal" preset in Logic

Express

the last plugin in the chain is the limiter. Is

it

possible this is receiving an already-clipped

signal

and reducing it so it doesn't appear clipped in

the

processing or meters?

YES,this is a distinct possibility.Again,please check
your input into Logic to make SURE it is not
distorting.

Please LOOK at the audio waveform to see if you see
hard distortion at the maximum portion of the
waveform.If you see a flat,horizontal line parallel
to the center,but either at the top or bottom of the
sample editor window,THAT is the distortion.

Also,please check your OUTPUT chanel,and make SURE it
is not clipping.

Cheers