Need Help Bad!

[ayogage]

Hey sup AF! K I have a huge problem. I am running Adobe Audition 3 on Windows Vista with a Stearling Audio ST55 Condenser Microphone, M-Audio Fast Track mic recording interface, phantom power, and Alesis M1Active 320 Monitor speakers.

Here is the problem, I GET NO SOUND, well my vocals...nothing is picking up! Except a distortion sound when I record. (I added the sound as a attachment MP3). Now I believe I have everything setup the right way. In Audition in the Audio Hardware Setup menu it is set on: M-Audio USB ASIO (in the Driver section) The M-Audio driver says connected and working. The device is on and running and is set to Mono (Guitar Center said thats what it should be on!) I tried to set it on stereo and still nothing.

Phantom Power is on too and working :( and on the mic there is two small switches one being either 0db or -10db?!? and the other being ___. and .___ something like that (wish i had a pic) But yea I spent alot of money on this stuff and I am now lost. Can't seem to find any help. Could anybody give a guy a break? Thanks - Gage

[oretez]

There may be variations of the M-Audio FastTrack but the basic unit (or original variation of the original basic unit) does not supply phantom power. It was designed to work with dynamic mics, not condensers

As this covers the symptoms you describe that would be the first think I'd double check

If by chance there is a variation of the Fast Track that supplies Phantom I would suggest you not operate it from 'bus' power but from 'mains'

In any case the first step of the diagnostic (if phantom is provided) is to plug the headphones into the FastTrack and see if you have hear anything from the mic. If you don't then what ever other problems you might have you simply are not providing any source to the audio app in the computer

If the signal light on Fast Track lights (appropriately) and you hear a signal then make sure your track in AA is armed ('R' box to the left of track in multi track view) (and from a mono source (i.e. one mic, one voice) you don't need to track stereo) If you have a play back device (e.g. Portable music player, portable CD, etc.,) and cables that terminate on one end with RCA connectors you can plug that into Fast Track and double check the rest of the system connections

If issue is phantom power you can either migrate to a dynamic mic or pick up something like this (http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--ARTPHANII) (standard caveat presented solely as specific example, not recommending it and have no connection to vendor)

Good luck

(Oh your two '___' would be to toggle between a flat response and filter that rolls off 12 dB/octave below 75 Hz)

[ayogage]

No i have phantom power hooked into the M-Audio. The M-Audio does not have phantom power so I had to buy a phantom power to hook up to it. Now I was playing around and now I get sound but its out one side (the left) and is VERY low. I did not try the whole changing the bus to mains. let me try

[ayogage]

all i see is add bus?!? Where is mains?

[robertruetz]

Are you trying to record in stereo? Because that won't work with a mic signal. Microphones (most sources for that matter) are mono. Record your mic signal in Mono, or get a stereo mic setup.

Rob
:cool:

[oretez]

all i see is add bus?!? Where is mains?
what I was talking about here was how the Audio interface was powered

bus powered = derived power from computer via usb cable

mains powered = derived power from local electric grid, wall socket etc.

while USB spec permits up to 6 amps on the bus and maximum phantom powered draw permitted (by official protocol) is 10mA (Earthwork mics), practically I have found that powering some condenser mics can be problematic via UBS . . . while I would anticipate lower sensitivity, lower signal to noise, lower threshold for distortion (rather then just or principally lower volume) due to inadequate voltage (or amperage) lack of correct volts/amps can be a contributing factor for your symptoms

A cursory search yielded no tech specs on Sterling (while they might be included with the mic there was nothing but marketing hype @ the sterling site.)

but this was just a potential variable if I was wrong about the FastTrack not supplying phantom power . . . but you have that covered with an external device unfortunately there is no standardization with mics as to what power is required 10-48 volts 1-10mA. There are two separate specs defined for phantom power one @ 12 volts which is used by a lot of remote, video, portable broadcast gear etc. and 48 v. typically required by upscale studio condensers, throwing that in (not because I think it is a likely cause of your continuing difficulty but merely because you don't specific what you phantom power device is)

did you try plugging a non mic source into your audio card and see what results you got in your recording software? If you get the same low levels then you can more or less (for the moment) stop worrying about things that are specific to microphone, level of mic signal, etc.

Adobe asserts no direct control over your recording levels. It simply accepts the signal supplied by the audio card via Windows sound device. If the signal you are recording is more or less OK except for volume (and Sterling being a mono mic it will supply only a single wave, no need to record it via stereo track) then look at settings of Windows Sound Device (typically accessed via speaker icon in lower right corner of computer screen, or via Windows Control panel, or Start>All programs>accessories>entertainment>volume) under properties select recording, the appropriate input device (fasttrack) and make sure volume (input) control is not set too low.

Variously Fast Track might have a 'console' that installs with the drivers from which these levels can be set

good luck