VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Jen Gosnell

Hi you guys.

So I'm finally trying to set up a makeshift recording space in my new house. But before I worry much about how the room sounds I want to just make sure that all the equipment is configured right. The key parts that I have are a condenser mic, MicPort Pro, and MacBook Pro running OS X 10.6.8. I am using Audacity 1.3.13 beta at the moment.

I hooked it all up and have sound getting into Audacity from the mic via the M Hobo Tounge

. My problem is that the levels are too low. I have to crank the input knob to max to get up to about -12 db levels at a normal-to-loud speaking level. Of course, that brings along with it tons of room noise.

The Mac won't let me adjust the M Hobo Tounge

input levels via software (and CEntrance seems to think this should be unnecessary based on what I've read on their website so far). Via the CEntrance forum I found this link and followed the directions under Support and setup for external audio devices as best my system would allow (e.g. the option to set the M Hobo Tounge

as a default audio input device was greyed out for whatever reason - my dialog looks different than that pictured on the linked page). This didn't improve anything.

I've spent long enough tweaking and testing this that I think I am at the point of diminishing returns as far as what my own experience and knowledge plus Google can help me figure out here. Anyone know how I might be able to make this situation better, hopefully without spending $ for any more equipment at the moment?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Jen
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georgethetech · Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 11:49 pm Post subject:

First, download and test with TwistedWave.com and see if your levels issue is resolved. If so, and you don't want to buy TW, check the record input level in Audacity, which is a horizontal slider next to a microphone icon at the top part of the screen. Where is it set? If it isn't at the maximum, move it there and see how it goes...
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Jen Gosnell · Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 12:48 am Post subject:

George, thanks. I'll have to check out TW. The slider you mention in Audacity is greyed out. Everything software-driven that I can see (Mac or Audacity) related to the M Hobo Tounge

input level is greyed out or unavailable to me. Output I can tweak, but not input for some reason.

In the meantime, here's some random dry audio that I just recorded with a blanket over my head to reduce room echo, and the gain knob on the M Hobo Tounge

set to about the 2-o'clock level (about 65% or so?). I didn't process this at all.

Maybe it's not as bad as I thought, but I admit being woefully inexperienced here. Still, it seems low to me - the playback-meter level topped at about -24 in Audacity as I listened to the output, and the waveform looks really small.

I'll go download TW and see what I get.
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Jen Gosnell · Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 1:22 am Post subject:

OK, I downloaded TW and I think the input level is the same as with Audacity. I recorded the same thing as before and posted here for comparison.

Back when I still had a PC, I used this same audio input chain and didn't have a problem with my levels. This is why I am rather mystified that I have a problem now. This is my first Mac, though, which I haven't had all that long in the scheme of things, so I guess I should expect bumps in the learning curve.

I took a screen shot of the audio devices control panel on my current machine. You'll see with the M Hobo Tounge

selected as input that my options for increasing it are greyed out.

Any more thoughts?
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georgethetech · Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 1:38 am Post subject:

The Mac is simple, there's only one place to adjust the gain and that's on the M Hobo Tounge

itself. Unless you have a pad switch engaged on your mic, then there's something wrong with the M Hobo Tounge

(or the mic). You should be getting to -12 db in TW EASILY with the gain on the M Hobo Tounge

at 3 o'clock.
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Jen Gosnell · Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 1:55 am Post subject:

Yep, George, that's what I thought! It ought to be easy! (sigh)

I played around with the hardware settings on my mic tonight too, just to be sure they weren't affecting it. One is what I think they call a roll-off switch that minimizes lower-frequency noise. The other toggles between 0 dB and -10 dB. Neither one of those had any effect when I changed them - pretty much as I expected.

Ugh.

I'm waiting for approval to post to the CEntrance support forum and will see if they have any suggestions.

In the meantime, about the mic, diagnostics are new territory for me. It's been very lightly used and as far as I know hasn't had any trauma, though we did move house a few months back - and I did pack it in its original padded packing materials for that. I had figured that if it was picking up at all, then it was working OK. I don't get crackles or other weirdness in the sound. I would guess that it is appropriately sensitive, because when I disengaged the roll-off switch I could see on the Audacity monitor that it was picking up more room noises. Unfortunately, I don't have another condenser mic to compare it to. Any thoughts on other ways I can evaluate whether the mic could be the issue?

Thanks, George.
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dwpthe3rd · Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 9:48 am Post subject:

Jen Gosnell · Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 1:18 am Post subject:

Thanks for that idea, Dave. I will put that on my list to try tomorrow.

First thing I am going to try is to plug my audio chain into a borrowed Win laptop and see if the performance is any different (as it used to be with my old Win laptop). I feel like I need this sanity check based on the history.

If no better, then I'll try what you suggest. I can't assume any component is exempt from evaluation at this point. I'm just thankful I don't have too many pieces in the chain to worry about!

And, maybe, I'll consider picking up a USB mic or some more directional mic that will provide an alternative/backup input source to test and hopefully record with. Thinking that maybe in the short term, while I don't have a well-treated home space yet and I'm mostly just auditioning (and not cranking out lots of finished audio or sessions) it could be a better choice than a condenser mic anyway.

Sigh - all these steps move so much more slowly than I want them to with tiny children around the house. Oh, well... Rolls Eyes

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Jen Gosnell · Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 5:18 pm Post subject:

Okay.

Borrowed a Win laptop (Brand new, running Win 7), got the same versions Audacity beta and Lame plugin, plugged in the M Hobo Tounge

. Windows detected it, did its thing with a couple drivers. I set the Audacity input & output to the M Hobo Tounge

- made every directly-relevant setting the same as I did for my test on my Mac - and it worked perfectly. I even had to speak more softly to avoid clipping the audio.

So, what gives? Now that I've established for myself and all of you (hopefully Wink

) that I'm not crazy or incompetent, what can I try next to make this work with my Mac? I know there must be dozens of folks on this forum who use a M Hobo Tounge

with a Mac - has no one else run into a problem like this and resolved it?

Sigh - I don't really want to go buy a dedicated Win DAW right now. Though a dedicated machine would be good at some point, it's not exactly in the budget plan at the moment.

Thinking out loud here - maybe what would help is advice on how to detect and resolve possible software or maybe firmware conflicts on a Mac. Instinct tells me that has to be what's going on. But as a relative Mac noob with limited free time on my hands, the thought of going it alone with Google seems a bit depressing.

Thanks in advance for any further suggestions!

Jen
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Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 6:21 pm Post subject:

The folks in the Centrance support forum are super responsive. Try cross-posting your issue there.
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Jen Gosnell · Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 12:08 am Post subject:

Thanks, Jeff - that was my impression too from what I read there. I definitely intend to ask them, but have been waiting 3 days for them to activate my forum login. Cry

I just ferreted out an email address for them to try and prod them to let me log on and post. Ninja

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Diane Maggipinto · Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 10:46 am Post subject:

i've called centrance and gotten some satisfaction, if you're the phone type, jen Wink

(which, btw, i'm not, usually)
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Jen Gosnell · Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 12:46 am Post subject:

Ha! Diane, maybe when my kids are 5 and older I can have a coherent phone call again. Wink

In the meantime, they did respond by email today and I have been feeding them some more info, so hopefully they will see what the problem is. I would like to think I will have this fixed soon. Once I have it nailed I'll post here what the problem was. Even if it shows that I am a Big Dummy. Wink

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sirmelja · Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 5:06 pm Post subject:

Jen, I hope you get some resolution with this. I never ended up having much luck with my M Hobo Tounge

either on my old Windows laptop or my new MacBook Pro. Like you, I had to have the gain turned up to about 65-70% to get anything close to ok levels, but then the background hiss was really problematic. I returned my first M Hobo Tounge

and the second worked a bit better on the Win, but then became a nightmare when I switched to the Mac.

I followed George's advice and bought the Apogee One. Returned the 2nd M Hobo Tounge

for a refund. I have to say that despite my frustrations with the device, CEntrance's customer service was nicely responsive and very helpful.
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georgethetech · Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 6:00 pm Post subject:

I was the biggest CEntrance MicPort Pro fan there is at one time, but their QC just seems to have slipped over the last two years. Michael Goodman and company try to be helpful, but I often find myself in a circular conversation when sussing out issues like this with their product.
I love the simplicity of the device, no need for any drivers, the size, and the price. Another alternative to try if the Apogee is too much $$ is the Shure X2u, which can be found for $100.
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George Whittam
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