Finally Did My First Live Show-Need Production Help and Feedback

[Lmarrie]

Yesterday I finally did my first live show! It was GREAT and it felt good to have done it all on my own station as opposed to Blog Talk Radio.

 

With that being said as a newbie I did have some audio issues and I have questions that I hope you guys can help with before my next show.

 

1. Skype- Callers came in loud and clear in fact TOO loud. One caller has a very loud voice (when she calls on the phone I have to turn my handset volume down) and over Skype it was almost unbearable in the recording. I really couldn't tell talking live just how loud she was, but there is distortaion in the recording and it was wayyyyy too loud.

 

I assume all I needed to do was turn down the Skype channel on my mixer? Was afraid to touch anything for fear of turning something off. However, how do I correct this for the next show?

 

2. Humming- There is a humming and some power line type of static in the recording which I didn't hear during the test recordings. What could be the cause and how do I correct it? (I will come back and post an audio snippet)

 

I usually have some type of noise in the house but tonight being home alone I notice there is an ambient hum in this room which could be the culprit but once again never heard it in the test recording.

 

* Listened to the snippet and it's definitely not ambient noise*

 

3. Soundbyte-Using Soundbyte to cue up and play music, SFX etc. but it had some skipping and stuttering. Any ideas why and how to fix? Or do you have any ideas for a similar program I might like better?

 

4. Equipment- Compressor/Limiter/Gate- This somewhat goes back to the Skype question. On my C/L/G there was no peaking, however, I am using BUTT to stream and it does show peaking so I adjust the audio according to BUTT. It seems that adjusting to BUTT is the way to go because when I listened to a playback going by the C/L/G the music was too loud and distorted, but when I adjusted so BUTT didn't peak it sounded perfect.

 

Does this mean my C/L/G is useless?

 

As I said I will come back and post a short audio sample so you can hear the hum. Until then please help with any other suggestions. As always, thanks in advance!

Hum snippet.wav

[Lmarrie]

Figured most of t out. Sounds much better.

[JamboUK]

That sounds like interference from your mobile phone!

[Lmarrie]

That sounds like interference from your mobile phone!

 

Mobile phone was no where near but thanks for a reply LOL glad to see someone finally respond. I found most of it was a bad cable connection to the mixer.

[Ashworth]

hi lmarrie. we exchanged emails about this last week

 

a lot of the tutorials that explain how to take calls fail to mention that you can't connect a soundcard to the input of a mixer unless your're using the soundcards line-out.

 

speaker-out to line-in causes an impedeance mismatch. you'll get all sorts of humming and clipped levels. you can use a dubbing cable or attenuating cable to mitigate noise... somewhat.

 

the best solution i've found: behringer UCA222 usb line-in/line-out audio interfaces. besides being cheap and easy to work with, they have the proper levels by default. and you can add a bunch of these audio interfaces to use with all sorts of stuff.

 

if your mixer has a aux-send, you can use that to get your studio-mic into skype through the line-in on the uca222. easy-peasey

[ChrisCarringtonRadio]

As Ashworth has mentioned, the UCS222 is definitely a viable option. I hosted an internet radio show for somewhere around 4 years, and over time the Behringer USB unit I had similar to the UCA222 got pretty noisy. Seems that most of the Behringer gear I've had over the years broke down after a while with continued use.

 

I suggest, if you can spend a little bit of money, you get yourself a real USB I/O. Something like a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (which is the one I have now.) They do have other options, so do some research and find what fits your needs. Something like that will open up your options, allowing you to use your soundcard to create your Skype mix-minus from from the Aux send on your board without having to split the USB input. A little more involved than the Ashworth's suggestion, but to me, a little more work is worth it in the long run.

[Lmarrie]

Hi guys thanks for your input. Inetersting you mention the Behringer's being noisy because I am using a Behringer mixer...hmmm. Anyway I have managed to cut down on the noise significantly and it sounds nowhere near the way it sounded on the sample I provided. Been running some tests this adternoon and so far so good. Still not perfect though so I will be looking further at your suggestions.

[ChrisCarringtonRadio]

Yeah, between the Behringer USB unit becoming noisy, and I had a Behringer desk mixer just break down and do all kinds of funky stuff. Since then I tend to stray away from Behringer equipment, as I'm looking for longevity, vs. cheap and quick solutions. Putting that plan into motion, I'm replacing my VX2000 with a PreSonus Eureka vocal strip, and will soon be phasing out the MDX2200 compressor in my setup with something from either DBX or Aphex.

 

Let me know if you ever have any questions about your setup. I'd be glad to try to help best I can =)

[Lmarrie]

Finally found the sources of the hum! 1. External sound card too close to the mixer- moving it killed some of the hum but still did not get rid of it 2. (Just found this tonight) all of my cables were mono and there was 1 cable going from mixer to the compressor that was stereo. Switched it to a mono cable and voila! hum GONE!

 

Now if the police helicopter could just find a new place to land...

[Brutish Sailor]

I wish I had seen all of this earlier.

 

1) Grounding your mixer if you dont have this done allready helps...

 

 

On# 3- Free up your processor. If you can do skype by another computer running into your computer, and use 2 mics( one crappy one for skype, thats small and $20 next to a good one, its all the better.) I have that similar setup, but I have a tablet, run the audio from it to the mixer, and the onboard mic of the tablet only sends the audio to the caller. then when you speak into the mic, while the tablet is receiving your voice, and sending it to the caller? Problem solved.

 

One reason its might be too loud to the mixer? Your looping audio. somewhere your running stereo mix more than likely. Just kill the stereo mix concept, its outdated and over-rated. Especially if your using a mixer.

 

NOTE: I just listened to your broadcast. Its sounds like your phone might be part of the issue. I actually had the same issue, until I started started plugging in my phone to an independent power source when in use, and moved it about 1 1/2 feet away from the mixer by taking a phone holder designed for a car, and attached it to the boone.

[Brutish Sailor]

Your in LA? You should come down sometime! Gadi and I meet up all the time with new things for our stations (he runs KOL Cali ( https://www.facebook.com/kolcalifornia ) , and Im doing my dubstep thing. We were kicking around the idea of throwing a caster Con down here, but if we sunk all the money into it, were not sure if enough broadcasters would come.

[Lmarrie]

Hi Brutish, that would be amazing! A few years ago before I went on extended hiatus, I was working on putting an event like that together and there were a lot of broadcasters interested the hard part was trying to find corporate sponsors to finance it since I'm not rich yet LOL.

[Brutish Sailor]

We really dont need cooperate sponsors. Im not trying to throw something for big internet broadcasting companys. Thats what RAIN is for. Gady Amore is one of those realities/property owner types that have a lot of friends who owe favors. I got some ideas to cut back. Because of the small ammount of people locally, most of the coorperate reps would be presented through a video stream on a projector (we are the streaming community, and we do know THE MAN of SCVI.net, Im sure hes got some ideas on this.), and we have part of it as an online expo. Basiclly an IP, with a chat to log into for questions from people that cant be here. We dont need a lot of the bigwig companys, more just companys that cater to our needs. Webhost, BW, Maybe some JLA's. Streamlicensing, Loudcity, and 365 (if they can find it in their heart to make time LOL) and Automation software companys like WHMSonic, Centova, Shout! Radio Automation, AIRtime PRO, and Radionomy. Also maybe some Q & A with live broadcast developers like SAM, and Station Playlist, as well as the independents like NextCast, Lunarcaster. HELL, maybe even Thinkthink with his new SC DSP, a SHOUTcast2 rep? Speaking of which, this wouldnt be complete without Representation from ICECast.org to ask a Xiph rep (Karl Heyes?) to talk about the future of Icecast streaming servers and Lossless codecs?

 

Hows that for a line-up. Sounds interesting. I almost am worried what would happen if we put Radionomy and the JLA's on the floor, just so JLA's can ask them WTF their thinking, if they are going to cause the next SWcast incident, and documentation.

 

Im starting to really like this idea. I think Im going to work on flyers, and kick the idea around with Gadi tonight.

[Lmarrie]

Sounds like you have already put a lot of thought into this LOL. Great ideas!

[Lmarrie]

Hi guys would this work? I might be able to get my hands on this today if I get your response quickly enough. Thanks!

[h=1]Tascam US-122L USB 2.0 [/h]

[Lmarrie]

Got the Behringer interface and everythings gravy! Thanks guys!

[Ashworth]

Excellent