drums clipping when recording?

Nick G.

Senior Member
so i have 4 mics over my kit constantly cos i just find it nicer to play with a sweet sounding miced kit :p

but through my mixer (m-audio projectmix) all my drum channels are clipping even if the gain is turned completely down.
when recorded they sound fine but the visual of the audio is showing it clipping


i know its not exactly a drum related thing but i know theres loads of genius recording guys on this forum so throught id ask

Cheers,
Nick
 
This may be one of those "you get what you pay for" moments. I don't know about what you have, but usually the electronic circuitry has to be built to a certain standard to be able to control such harsh incoming signals like drum sounds. Perhaps you could get a small Mackie mixer (like the 1202VLZ) which will take your mic inputs, then you can take your channel inserts from that into your computer interface.
 
This may be one of those "you get what you pay for" moments. I don't know about what you have, but usually the electronic circuitry has to be built to a certain standard to be able to control such harsh incoming signals like drum sounds. Perhaps you could get a small Mackie mixer (like the 1202VLZ) which will take your mic inputs, then you can take your channel inserts from that into your computer interface.

its a m-audio projectmix :S
just googled it and its around £900 worth of equipment
i have an sm57, d112 and se1a's - so its not sub standard mics either :(

i bought it off an old teacher of mine a while back and it was fine
its just recently happened (about a month it started happening)
 
its a m-audio projectmix :S
just googled it and its around £900 worth of equipment
i have an sm57, d112 and se1a's - so its not sub standard mics either :(

i bought it off an old teacher of mine a while back and it was fine
its just recently happened (about a month it started happening)

Hmm. Can't say I know what the issue is then. It's entirely possible something in the projectmix could be broken and maybe it should be looked at by a competent technician. I'm sure you wanted to hear that, considering the going rates for repair jobs these days.
 
Which channels LEDS are indicating clipping and what microphones do you have plugged into them? There is always an inherent headroom factor or I call it "fudge factor", so what you see as clipping, may just be below that of actual input distortion. This way you won't hear any of the clipping that the LEDs are warning you about. Another way of getting around this if there is actually just too much gain is to use "H" pads to lower the signal getting into the unit. Another less expensive way is to slightly move your microphones away from the source of clipping.

Dennis
 
its a m-audio projectmix :S
just googled it and its around £900 worth of equipment
i have an sm57, d112 and se1a's - so its not sub standard mics either :(

i bought it off an old teacher of mine a while back and it was fine
its just recently happened (about a month it started happening)

I'm by no means a pro, but sounds like an circuit issue or the pre-amp is going out. Is it a tube pre-amp inside there? Research and see if you can find a wiring diagram. If it's a tube pre-amp, that "should" be an easy fix (provided it's easy to open the unit up).

If not tube pres: Recommendation is get a schematic and multi-tester and check the capacitors, could be one or two blow which could cause clipping. Heck, test everything in there for continuity and load. You should be able to pin it down with some tedious hours of work.
 
when recorded they sound fine but the visual of the audio is showing it clipping

1. Are the GAIN knobs on the hardware all the way down?
2. Are the FADERS all the way down?
3. Is the mic/line switch set to mic?

Other than that, I don't know. If all of those factors are taken care of, you shouldn't be getting such a large audio wave on your screen. Must be a faulty piece of hardware, if that's the case...
 
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