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Vocals peaking headphones - crackling

tothemax

tothemax

Nov 1, 2013
1,463
1,701
Annapolis Area
#1
I've moved over to practicing with headphones, either by myself or with two or three of my bandmates. My practice setup is pretty basic with a Behringer X2222 mixer with a 4 port headphone amp connected to the phone jack on the mixer. Instruments are coming through crystal clear, vocals not so much - if they are clean the volume is low.

I've got a small assortment of mics and started out today using my SM58 stage mic and it did not sound very good. When I got a good sound out of it, if I raised my voice it peaked and crackled in the phones. I switched over to an SE X1A condenser with a pop guard and that was much better.

As a newbie it sounds like I've got something mismatched. I've got a few sets of headphones, but mostly use my K240's - they've got the best sound. I know the Behringer Pre's are not the best, but I should be able to get a clear sound through the board. I've used this board live before with the SM58 and it seemed to work OK.

Open for any input or articles on getting levels set for a headphone mix.

Cheers
 
#3
Been reading a number of articles on cracking and popping, need to isolate and check every part of the chain including the channel on the board (thanks DD). I tend to be an if it's not broken don't mess with it type, and my pro sound knowledge is pretty basic.

I've been very pleased with the headphone practices, just need to get around this hiccup. Luckily it happened when I was working alone with a drum machine.
 
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#4
Try messing with the gain and compressor settings at the top of the channel strip - you should be able to balance the comp and gain to smooth out the peaks without losing too much quality. Don't be afraid of lighting up the LED next to the compressor knob - it will flash when doing it's job. You should then be able to push the channel slider without lighting up the 'clip' light at the bottom of the strip.
 
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#7
Did some playing around today, started off going direct into the board with my headphones. Was not bad, but then went back and reset the gain and pre's. I think part of the issue was in the connections to the headphone amp. Once I had the channel dialed in nicely and reconnected the headphone amp everything sounded pretty good. Did a test vocal direct from the mixer line out to a Tascam DR-05, the vocals came out pretty clean. The recording is really close to the headphone mix sound quality. I apologize, I'm getting older so my ears like the highs pushed a bit.

Overall I think it was combination of things, the headphone amp had been connected for quite some time and the channel settings were off. I'll do another test with the SM58 as that's what I'll be using for practices. for recording I really like the SE condenser. The crackle was gone, appreciate the feedback.

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#8
tothemax said:
Did some playing around today, started off going direct into the board with my headphones. Was not bad, but then went back and reset the gain and pre's. I think part of the issue was in the connections to the headphone amp. Once I had the channel dialed in nicely and reconnected the headphone amp everything sounded pretty good. Did a test vocal direct from the mixer line out to a Tascam DR-05, the vocals came out pretty clean. The recording is really close to the headphone mix sound quality. I apologize, I'm getting older so my ears like the highs pushed a bit.

Overall I think it was combination of things, the headphone amp had been connected for quite some time and the channel settings were off. I'll do another test with the SM58 as that's what I'll be using for practices. for recording I really like the SE condenser. The crackle was gone, appreciate the feedback.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]​


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Click to expand...

What make/model is your headphone amp?
 
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#9
I use a Behringer HA-400 to support 4 sets of headphones and a MA400 for our drummer so he can run his mic through and control his own mix. He doesn't sing but it's nice to be able to communicate when we are practicing. Both units are hard to beat at the $29.00 price point. They are easy to use and work well enough. Not sure if I would want to use the MA-400 for vocals, but for our use it's perfect. This setup supports max capacity for my home practice / studio - more than 4 it gets pretty tight.

HA-400

MA-400 ​
 
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