Call to Arms: Desperate help with Pod Farm 2

[Mr.AudioProblems]

Hey guys,

 

Having massive quality issues, and I was hoping you lovely folks may be able to help. I’ve asked around for help on various websites, but I couldn’t ever get down to the source of my issues. I was hoping the people on this forum may be able to give me guide lines on improving the audio.

 

I write and read out my stories on YouTube and require pleasant audio, which isn’t overly boomy or muddy. I have personally tried to fix my issues for about 5 months now just playing around with the settings. Sometimes I feel the audio is good but on another take it sounds bad. I noticed the audio can change if I speak loud when I hit recording. If I speak quietly when I hit recording, the audio can sound super processed and have this horrible filter over it. I personally speak soft but if the story requires it, I may need to get loud. The audio also needs to be on level, where before it was all over the place. However, this again changed between recordings (no settings changed, no microphone positon changed).

 

My setup: XLR Microphone (sE 2200aIIC – not even a year old), Line 6 UX2 audio interface and Pod Farm 2.

 

I don’t believe the audio interface is damaged because I had a hardware compressor and audio mixer before and the same issues happened. I don’t believe the microphone is damaged, but I was thinking about getting the ‘Audio-Technica AT2020’ to test if the sE2220aiic was hard to use a compressor with.

 

I asked somebody on Twitch who had the exact same set up as me for their Pod Farm settings. I understand we have different voices, but the quality difference between us both is alarming and confusing to me.

 

The gain is set to the second-to-last major notch. I tried lowering the compression, adjusting the settings on the American classic preamp and moving the microphone itself.

 

I asked for various other settings from people who have Pod Farm and they all sound poor on my end. This leads me to believe something is damaged. I bought new cables and the same thing happens.

 

If you guys can’t help then I think I am a lost cause because I cannot get it to sound good no matter the settings.

 

Is there any suggestions? Can anyone walk me through this?

 

I’d be forever in your debt. Cheers for reading!!!

[1001gear]

Clue #1) My computer uses something like two 1" full range hi resolution drivers.

 

Lately I've taken to using my Sony phones instead and needless to say, my Realtek HD audio is FOS. I did though, find a rudimentary graphic (included in the software) that after a week or so of judicious tweaking, yields some credible results. Bass is full, speech is sibilance free and articulate if somewhat exaggerated for fullness. Music sounds better as well. There's no way to fix the highs so they get rolled off early; I'll say natural sounding lol.

[Mr.AudioProblems]

Clue #1) My computer uses something like two 1" full range hi resolution drivers.

 

Lately I've taken to using my Sony phones instead and needless to say, my Realtek HD audio is FOS. I did though, find a rudimentary graphic (included in the software) that after a week or so of judicious tweaking, yields some credible results. Bass is full, speech is sibilance free and articulate if somewhat exaggerated for fullness. Music sounds better as well. There's no way to fix the highs so they get rolled off early; I'll say natural sounding lol.

 

 

Thanks for responding!!

 

I suspected something was odd because a lot of people say the audio was actually good. This confused me because the sample I was posted was boomy, muddy and had this horrible filter over it. The audio when I plug my headphones into the audio interface doesn't sound that bad at all but when I listen to it on the computer, it wasn't good. However, I double checked on my phone and another computer to see if this continued over onto other machines, and it did.

 

These are my Realtek HD settings. If you know anything on the computer that might alter the audio, then please let me know :]

 

My settings: http://imgur.com/a/6uAzn

[1001gear]

I can't help with your sound but I'm mostly saying you have no control over the actual user end output.

 

Here's how I listen anyway:

 

First attempt:

 

 

 

 

Cut some bass:

 

 

 

 

 

Put some bass back:

 

 

 

 

 

The above sounded fine but dropped the overall level too far so this current setting attempts to raise all the bands uniformly:

 

 

 

There are several more incarnations that more or less interpolate these four settings. I imagine most people listen with no graphic interference but I can't imagine finding a sweet spot for streaming other than flat and "pleasant " as possible. WRGKMC might have some specific doozs to offer. He seems to know anything on the subject. You can also try Mike Rivers in the Anderton forum and Phil O'keefe in his studio forum for help on your recording issues.

 

[Mr.AudioProblems]

I can't help with your sound but I'm mostly saying you have no control over the actual user end output.

 

There are several more incarnations that more or less interpolate these four settings. I imagine most people listen with no graphic interference but I can't imagine finding a sweet spot for streaming other than flat and "pleasant " as possible. WRGKMC might have some specific doozs to offer. He seems to know anything on the subject. You can also try Mike Rivers in the Anderton forum and Phil O'keefe in his studio forum for help on your recording issues.

 

I see. How would I get in contact with 'WRGKMC' should I sent my post to him in private message? I don't want to be rude. Thanks for the pointers of where to ask :]

 

[1001gear]

He usually pops in and may take up your question. He's often giving advice here or in the recording and guitar forums as well. You can PM him if you like he thrives on technical questions and like it or not will give detailed answers. lol

[Mr.AudioProblems]

He usually pops in and may take up your question. He's often giving advice here or in the recording and guitar forums as well. You can PM him if you like he thrives on technical questions and like it or not will give detailed answers. lol

 

That's brilliant. I'll send him a PM about this post and then we will see what happens :] Thank you very much for your time and help! Much appreciated.