Issues with sound quality of recording with smule on ipad with dynamic mic

[[Member sams…]]

I am new to the forum, need your help. I am an karaoke enthusiast and use smule app to record music. My setup is as follows..

I am using ipad Air 2 connected to its ligtning port using Irig pro I/O, other end of Irig Pro I/O is connected to Shure 58 dynamic mic. I use headphone jack of Irig Pro to listen to track and my voice while recording. My recording has some sort echo and some background noises which i suspect is happening because default mic of ipad is still active. How do I solve this problem and make the recording quality better. Thx.

Note : If I use headphone connected to Ipad headphone jack, and record with headphone mic then recording is very clear and sound quality is much better. I thought of using Shure mic to make recording quality even better so bought Irig Pro I/O and Shure mic but results are very disappointing.

Appreciate your help as I am really struggling with this problem for some time now and spent quite a lot of time. Hope you guys can help...

[[Member duoj…]]

Hm... do you have a sample recording for reference?

Also - as a quick and fairly crude method to test, you could start a Smule recording with all your gear plugged in. Tap on your dynamic mic and also on your internal mic to see which one picks up. At least that way you can see where the sound is coming from, then go on to troubleshoot why you're getting all the external noise.

[[Member sams…]]

Thx for your response. Yes, I have recording samples..  Both songs were recorded using Smule. Smule setting is the same for both songs.. My apology that the songs are Indian but listen to my recorded voice for both songs. Please use headphone so that you can hear the difference between the two recordings.

1. Using Irig Pro : Shure dynamic SM58 mic connected to ipad and headphone connected to Irig Pro headphone jack. The gain dial is between 4-5 but closer to 5. The LED indicator was green while recording.

    https://www.smule.com/sing-recording/2410220209_4146478236

2. Not using Irigi Pro. Using headphone connected to the ipad headphones jack and singing into the mic of headphone..  Look at the clarity of the recording especially with respect to my voice..

    https://www.smule.com/sing-recording/2410220209_4129144095

Hope this will give you some clue.. Thx.

 

[[Member duoj…]]

Hi again!

So I had a chance to listen to both recordings with headphones. You're right - the recording using just headphones does sound clearer than the recording done with the iRig.

I think this may be due to different factors. The microphone built into your earphones are mainly meant for phone conversations, so it'll pick up more high and midrange frequencies, and not as much of the low frequencies of your voice. Because low frequencies can muddy up the sound, not having as much of them will leave you with a sound that cuts through the mix better. To my ear, though I can hear it better, it sounds a tiny bit tinny.

I actually prefer the sound of the recording done with the iRig. Because the Shure SM58 has a much wider frequency response, it'll reproduce a bit more of the low end along with the middle and high ends, so to me, it sounds a bit more warm and round. May I ask how far you were from the Shure while you were singing? The SM58 is really meant to be used closer up, so I think if you are standing a foot (about .3 meters) or more away from the mic, the sound quality will diminish. It does sound like the vocal is disappearing a bit into the track, so maybe move closer, or up the volume of your voice while reviewing your recording.

As far as settings, even if you have the reverb set the same between both, because of the way the microphones differ, you will still need to adjust accordingly. For example, the reverb sounded more prominent in the iRig recording, which could have affected its clarity. I think it might help to turn down the reverb in that case. This may be causing the extra echo you talked about originally.

You also mentioned background noise - but I didn't really notice any in the iRig recording. This might be helped by perhaps singing closer to the SM58 and turning the gain down a bit. More gain = more opportunity for background noise. Especially since Smule applies effects like compression, etc.

Sorry for the long message, but I hope this helps! Remember - a whole bunch of expensive gear doesn't necessarily get you better results. Some of the best recordings I've heard have been done with someone just using their headphones. I think you have a fantastic voice - I say find a sound you like and run with it! 😄

Best of luck to you! 

[[Member sams…]]

Hi,

   Thank you for taking time to write long response. Appreciate your help. I think you were right with reverb settings in Smule. While recording with Shure & Irig Pro, I reduced both reverb settings to about 10% and then echo is significantly reduced. Is there any recommended settings for these 2 parameters. Default settings from Smule is about 50%.

    But there is one issue still remaining is low volume of recording. I kept the gain in Irig Pro to 5 and increased it to 6 but that did not help with volume of recording. It still sounds low. Please hear this recording..  https://www.smule.com/sing-recording/2410220209_4155392455 . Is there any way, I can fix this ? My Smule mic volume was about 56%... Thx again for your help.

regards, 

  

[[Member open…]]

2 hours ago, samsing said:

I kept the gain in Irig Pro to 5 and increased it to 6 but that did not help with volume of recording.

The final volume depends on two factors: the input gain (set on the iRig) and the volume set in Smule. You would usually raise the gain so far that your loudest notes don’t cause distortion (“clipping”). You don’t want your gain too high or too low. It will have a significant influence on the sound—not just the volume. I have my iRig Pro I/O on 8.5, but that will depend on the microphone and how it is used. 
Setting the volume on the review screen in Smule will only affect the final “mix” of the audio channels. So you can pick whatever volume feels right and you can do that after the recording. It doesn’t matter what volume is set during the recording. 

[[Member _Ram…]]

On 9/16/2021 at 10:00 AM, samsing said:

I am new to the forum, need your help. I am an karaoke enthusiast and use smule app to record music. My setup is as follows..

Samsing: I joined Smule in Aug 2017 with my Samsung 7 and got told off by people I sang with for being late always. At that Point of time I did not realise the problem was caused by my Android Mob Phone. It is after Joining this Valuable Sing Salon Forum I learnt a Lot from my Friend  who calls himself Open Type and bought a 6th Gen iPad, iRig Pro I/O, an Audio Technica MTH50x head phone and  a AKG Vocal D5 Dynamic Phone and have enjoyed singing since Dec 2018

So I am thinking aloud to see what your technical issue may be as iRig Pro should work well. So I am going to do a check list for you. But before you do any thing I suggest you go to my profile page _RamKrish1012 and check out the quality of Recordings ( not quality of my singings as I am an Old Frog 🙂 )

1- Does your iRig Pro run on Batteries or does it  have its own power supply.  My iRig Pro I/O has its own Power supply and my iRig Pro also automatically charges my iPad and is at 100% all the time. If you are using batteries as the battery gets used up the quality of the recording drops drastically. remember the batteries are charging your iPad too when Irig Pro is plugged to the Lightning Port

2 - Assuming you are using an iRig pro with its own power supply and your dynamic mic is connected to iRig pro with an XLR Cable Make sure the 48V switch for Condenser mic is switched off as it is only for Condenser mics

3- Your Dynamic head phones must be plugged directly into the iRig Pro I/O

4- Before Plugging the iRig to lightning ports check and turn the iPad volume to zero

5- I have set the Gain on iRig Pro permanently on 8.5 as suggested by open Type

6- the only adjustment I make is the volume control on iRig pro for my head phones to suit song uploads or invites from Smule partners

7- Each invite has different Reverb Character and Reverb amount as chosen by the singer. A simple option is to set both at 50% to get a reasonable recording as this depends on the properties of the recording room. As for my I use 75% and 65% and happy with the outcome

8 - these days there are crazy number of options for Video and audio. I find Super Studio a safe bet

9 - my iPad is used just for Smule. I use my My Samsung as Mobile phone

Hope you are able to see where the fault in your system lies and are able to fix it

Cheers

Ram

[[Member sams…]]

Thx Opentype & Ram for your help. My apology for delayed response. I was tied up during weekend so could not try out your suggestions. Few comments / Questions after trying your suggestions..

- Irig Pro has a light indicator which shows diff colors (Green, Blue, red, Orange etc) while recording.. When I kept Irig Pro gain to 8.5, the indicator was showing constant red while recording. Irig user manual says that indicator light should be green for the recording as that is supposed to be best quality recording, if the color is red then gain is set to too high. I tried going as low as 7  but it was still red with occasional green. When you guys set gain to 8.5, how do you deal with red color indicator or for you guys the indicator shows green ?

- Thx for letting me know about Smule mike volume setting. I did not know that it is used not during recording but for final mix. This definitely helps my knowledge 😀

- Currently my Irig Pro is using 2 batteries. The batteries are new. So hopefully that should not be an issue.

- What is the reason for keeping volume of ipad to zero. I did per your suggestion but curious to know technical reason behind this.

- Setting of Reverb at 50% creates echo which you could hear in my recording links in this thread. I tried Reverb character of about 18% and Reverb amt of about 25%. I thought that did a reasonable job. But not perfect yet. Is their any corelation between these 2 settings ?

- The clarity of recording has improved but still not at the level of using a headphone with mike, connected to headphone jack of ipad. What else can be done ?

Thank you again for taking time to help me. I really appreciate it. Thx.

[[Member sams…]]

BTW : I forgot to mentioned, Ram I listened to your smule recordings. Your recording clarity is very good, much better than mine..

[[Member _Ram…]]

11 hours ago, samsing said:

Thx Opentype & Ram for your help. My apology for delayed response. I was tied up during weekend so could not try out your suggestions. Few comments / Questions after trying your suggestions..

I was wondering why you had raised these questions and disappeared

- Irig Pro has a light indicator which shows diff colors (Green, Blue, red, Orange etc) while recording.. When I kept Irig Pro gain to 8.5, the indicator was showing constant red while recording. Irig user manual says that indicator light should be green for the recording as that is supposed to be best quality recording, if the color is red then gain is set to too high. I tried going as low as 7  but it was still red with occasional green. When you guys set gain to 8.5, how do you deal with red color indicator or for you guys the indicator shows green ?

Do an experiment. Set the gain at 8.5 and join an invite. Start with low volume to your head phone and slowly increase the volume to your head phone. How loud you sing is based on how loud you hear the music. If you are listening at very high volume then you will also be singing very loud. When you sing louder iRig will go orange red and when you sing softer it will go green . So what I do is, do a test the recording first to check the video is correct and sort of matches the invite by standing closer or further away etc. The next is check out the audio so the green light predominates by adjusting the head phone volume and singing suitably

You can set the gain on iRig Pro at 5 and scream your head off and you will see red  & orange still

- Thx for letting me know about Smule mike volume setting. I did not know that it is used not during recording but for final mix. This definitely helps my knowledge 😀

The Volume setting on Smule is something I adjust only after recording and listening to recording before upload making sure it is not too soft or too loud compared to your singing partner

- Currently my Irig Pro is using 2 batteries. The batteries are new. So hopefully that should not be an issue.

Well when your battery runs low you will see how it affects your recording adversely. You will also notice it will be draining the charge in iPad Battery. I bought an original Charger as supplied by OEM and it cost me just $40

- What is the reason for keeping volume of ipad to zero. I did per your suggestion but curious to know technical reason behind this.

You original message said you were plugging the Dynamic mic to iRig Pro and switching and plugging to iPad etc. If you are using head phones plugged to your iRig Pro your input and output is controlled by iRig Pro and then Ipad speakers are redundant and best turned down to zero

- Setting of Reverb at 50% creates echo which you could hear in my recording links in this thread. I tried Reverb character of about 18% and Reverb amt of about 25%. I thought that did a reasonable job. But not perfect yet. Is their any correlation between these 2 settings ?

The Reverb Character and Reverb Amount are properties of the ROOM YOU ARE DOING YOUR RECORDING. I use my study which has a Gyprock wall on one face and all other three are fully glazed above table level and the room is 3x3x3 cub meters. Most people sing in their bed rooms with mattresses that are absorptive, heavy curtains and even ward robes full of clothes with very high absorption, meaning when you sing your voice will not bounce around in the room. A friend who joined me once asked me what I though of his recording and I said you sang well but sounded as if you were singing in your bathroom and he said you are spot on. There was so much traffic noise from the street so I did sing in the bath room :-=)

- The clarity of recording has improved but still not at the level of using a headphone with mike, connected to headphone jack of i Pad. What else can be done ?

Why don't you disconnect the iRig Pro and plug the dynamic mic and head phone to your iPad using a splitter and tell me how you go ?. i Pad will recognise a Head Phone with a Built in mic, but cannot recognise an External Dynamic Mic like your Shure SM 58

Thank you again for taking time to help me. I really appreciate it. Thx.

No problem, we all learn from each other and as well as from our experiences. I am still on the Look out for a Mobile Phone Interface that is much better than iRigPro I/O but no luck so far as most are USB devices designed for Computers. I just got off a Chat with Apogee tech support telling me Apogee ONE is what I need except it wont charge my iPad like the iRig Pro

 

[[Member duoj…]]

15 hours ago, samsing said:

- Irig Pro has a light indicator which shows diff colors (Green, Blue, red, Orange etc) while recording.. When I kept Irig Pro gain to 8.5, the indicator was showing constant red while recording. Irig user manual says that indicator light should be green for the recording as that is supposed to be best quality recording, if the color is red then gain is set to too high. I tried going as low as 7  but it was still red with occasional green. When you guys set gain to 8.5, how do you deal with red color indicator or for you guys the indicator shows green ?

Hi again! Looks like you've definitely made some progress, and have gotten some great advice from opentype and _RamKrish1012! I had a few extra thoughts for you. Yes, you generally don't want your light to turn red while recording. This means the signal is too loud, and can possibly overmodulate or clip on your recording, and you can usually hear this as you're singing, or when you're reviewing - your voice may sound distorted. If the gain is up that high, you have more potential to pick up extraneous background noise. When reviewing, your waveform should have good peaks and valleys, and shouldn't look absolutely pegged.

I have an iRig Pre HD, with a similar microphone (Shure Beta58), and I generally leave my gain between 3 and 4, which sounds low, but usually works well for me, but I do project quite a bit. I also sing closer to the microphone (within .3 meters). Even when I belt or sing loudly, the light sometimes turns orange, but usually never red.

Smule will apply effects like compression on its own. This means that it will automatically try to even out the signal, so it will try to lower the volume of sounds that are loud, and boost sounds that are soft. Unfortunately, there is no way to control this. So this means that if your signal is much too loud, it will really try to clamp it down, and as a result significantly lower the volume of your voice.

15 hours ago, samsing said:

- Setting of Reverb at 50% creates echo which you could hear in my recording links in this thread. I tried Reverb character of about 18% and Reverb amt of about 25%. I thought that did a reasonable job. But not perfect yet. Is their any corelation between these 2 settings ?

As I understand it, "Reverb Character" generally refers to the characteristics of the reverb, which can mean things like how wide the reverb space is, how the sound decays. "Reverb amount" is how much of that reverb is actually applied to your voice. So yes, it does take a lot of tweaking, especially as you're experimenting with your sound. I like my reverb a bit on the drier, crisp side, so in Super Studio, I usually leave my Reverb character at about 20 - 25, and my reverb amount between 15 and 20. And like _RamKrish1012 said, it also depends on the space in which you're singing how this could change your sound.

15 hours ago, samsing said:

- The clarity of recording has improved but still not at the level of using a headphone with mike, connected to headphone jack of ipad. What else can be done ?

Shucks. I'm not sure if there's much you'll be able to do in terms of changing the characteristic of the sound. Your iRig is only capturing the raw signal captured by your microphone, and as I had mentioned earlier, the SM58 will pick up a wider frequency range than a headphone mic. Generally, the way one would change that is by having your microphone plugged into a mixer or other EQ device that will let you modify the highs, mids, and lows of the microphone. To boost clarity, one could increase the higher and midrange frequencies, and lower the low frequencies. I wouldn't really recommend that unless you already have this kind of equipment as it can be quite expensive, and may not be worth the money, time, or trouble in the long run. I listened to your latest recording, and I think it sounds great. I think you're definitely headed in the right direction! Nice work!

[[Member sams…]]

 

I was wondering why you had raised these questions and disappeared

==>  I had to drop my son to college. He is a freshman...

- Irig Pro has a light indicator which shows diff colors (Green, Blue, red, Orange etc) while recording.. When I kept Irig Pro gain to 8.5, the indicator was showing constant red while recording. Irig user manual says that indicator light should be green for the recording as that is supposed to be best quality recording, if the color is red then gain is set to too high. I tried going as low as 7  but it was still red with occasional green. When you guys set gain to 8.5, how do you deal with red color indicator or for you guys the indicator shows green ?

Do an experiment. Set the gain at 8.5 and join an invite. Start with low volume to your head phone and slowly increase the volume to your head phone. How loud you sing is based on how loud you hear the music. If you are listening at very high volume then you will also be singing very loud. When you sing louder iRig will go orange red and when you sing softer it will go green . So what I do is, do a test the recording first to check the video is correct and sort of matches the invite by standing closer or further away etc. The next is check out the audio so the green light predominates by adjusting the head phone volume and singing suitably

You can set the gain on iRig Pro at 5 and scream your head off and you will see red  & orange still

==> Ok, I will experiment moving mike closer & away at various distance, keeping gain to 8.5 and try to get green indicator. I will keep you guys posted.. 

- Currently my Irig Pro is using 2 batteries. The batteries are new. So hopefully that should not be an issue.

Well when your battery runs low you will see how it affects your recording adversely. You will also notice it will be draining the charge in iPad Battery. I bought an original Charger as supplied by OEM and it cost me just $40

==> Do you have name of the charger or link on Amazon ? Thx.

- What is the reason for keeping volume of ipad to zero. I did per your suggestion but curious to know technical reason behind this.

You original message said you were plugging the Dynamic mic to iRig Pro and switching and plugging to iPad etc. If you are using head phones plugged to your iRig Pro your input and output is controlled by iRig Pro and then Ipad speakers are redundant and best turned down to zero

==> Makes sense..

- Setting of Reverb at 50% creates echo which you could hear in my recording links in this thread. I tried Reverb character of about 18% and Reverb amt of about 25%. I thought that did a reasonable job. But not perfect yet. Is their any correlation between these 2 settings ?

The Reverb Character and Reverb Amount are properties of the ROOM YOU ARE DOING YOUR RECORDING. I use my study which has a Gyprock wall on one face and all other three are fully glazed above table level and the room is 3x3x3 cub meters. Most people sing in their bed rooms with mattresses that are absorptive, heavy curtains and even ward robes full of clothes with very high absorption, meaning when you sing your voice will not bounce around in the room. A friend who joined me once asked me what I though of his recording and I said you sang well but sounded as if you were singing in your bathroom and he said you are spot on. There was so much traffic noise from the street so I did sing in the bath room :-=)

==> I use my study just like you. It is a large room with 4 windows (2 windows has curtains), one side wall, one side glass door to enter. I will experiment with different reverb settings and let you guys know.

- The clarity of recording has improved but still not at the level of using a headphone with mike, connected to headphone jack of i Pad. What else can be done ?

Why don't you disconnect the iRig Pro and plug the dynamic mic and head phone to your iPad using a splitter and tell me how you go ?. i Pad will recognise a Head Phone with a Built in mic, but cannot recognise an External Dynamic Mic like your Shure SM 58

==> I bought splitter initially but the experience was same as Irig Pro. But now that I have gained some knowledge coutesy of you guys, I will try again with splitter, I will let you know. I need to decide soon if I should keep Irig Pro or return.  Please allow me some time to experiment. Thank you again for taking time to help me. I really appreciate it. 

BTW : How do you respond in-line like you guys have done. I could not find it. I had to copy your response and edit it to do in-line response...

[[Member sams…]]

Thx Duojet 24 for your response and compliment on my voice...I will experiment a bit with reverb settings, different distance for mike, Splitter, gain control on Irig Pro and let you know soon. Thx again for your help, appreciate it...

[[Member duoj…]]

17 minutes ago, samsing said:

BTW : How do you respond in-line like you guys have done. I could not find it. I had to copy your response and edit it to do in-line response...

There's a little button with a plus symbol in a light blue square under every post. If you hit it, it'll quote your post in a reply. You can then edit out the extraneous text that's either above or below the section you want to quote. If you want to respond to more than one question, you can always go back to the original post and click quote again, and trim it to the question.

[[Member sams…]]

Perfect. Thx...

[[Member sams…]]

I have few additional questions..

On 9/21/2021 at 11:04 AM, samsing said:

 

==> Ok, I will experiment moving mike closer & away at various distance, keeping gain to 8.5 and try to get green indicator. I will keep you guys posted.. 

- Currently my Irig Pro is using 2 batteries. The batteries are new. So hopefully that should not be an issue.

Well when your battery runs low you will see how it affects your recording adversely. You will also notice it will be draining the charge in iPad Battery. I bought an original Charger as supplied by OEM and it cost me just $40

==> Do you have name of the charger or link on Amazon ? Thx.

- Setting of Reverb at 50% creates echo which you could hear in my recording links in this thread. I tried Reverb character of about 18% and Reverb amt of about 25%. I thought that did a reasonable job. But not perfect yet. Is their any correlation between these 2 settings ?

The Reverb Character and Reverb Amount are properties of the ROOM YOU ARE DOING YOUR RECORDING. I use my study which has a Gyprock wall on one face and all other three are fully glazed above table level and the room is 3x3x3 cub meters. Most people sing in their bed rooms with mattresses that are absorptive, heavy curtains and even ward robes full of clothes with very high absorption, meaning when you sing your voice will not bounce around in the room. A friend who joined me once asked me what I though of his recording and I said you sang well but sounded as if you were singing in your bathroom and he said you are spot on. There was so much traffic noise from the street so I did sing in the bath room :-=)

==> I use my study just like you. It is a large room with 4 windows (2 windows has curtains), one side wall, one side glass door to enter. I will experiment with different reverb settings and let you guys know.

- The clarity of recording has improved but still not at the level of using a headphone with mike, connected to headphone jack of i Pad. What else can be done ?

Why don't you disconnect the iRig Pro and plug the dynamic mic and head phone to your iPad using a splitter and tell me how you go ?. i Pad will recognise a Head Phone with a Built in mic, but cannot recognise an External Dynamic Mic like your Shure SM 58

I tried different distancees from mike while singing & experimented with reverb settings. I also tried splitter.. Here are my observations and few questions..

- To get most of the green on Irig while singing with high gain such as 8 or 7, need to keep mike away while singing. If I bring it closer then most of the time indicator turns red. One thing I observed is that height of peaks in the recorded wave is higher when it is red and smaller when it is green. I thought, having higher heights  is good since I typically get higher peaks while recording with headphone (+ mike) connected to headphone jack of ipad. And that sound recording is the clearest and high quality.  Can somebody explain why red generates higher peaks and considered bad while recording with external mic ?

- While trying different settings of reverb. I found out that reverb character should be always higher than reverb amt for better recording. Is that true ? Is their any guideline ?

- I had to increase Smule mic volume to 75-85% for final mix just to get volume of the recording up. Is that normal ?

- I tried using splitter, volume of the recording was very low, I had to increase smule mic volume to 95-98% to get a descent recording. Is that normal ?

- Somewhere I read on the web that mixer is always better than Irig Pro. Mixer gives much better gain and amplifies much better than Irig. Is that true ? What mixer could be a good choice ?

Again, please respond to questions I raised here. Thank you for your help..

regards,

 

 

 

[[Member _Ram…]]

1 hour ago, samsing said:

I have few additional questions..

I tried different distances from mike while singing & experimented with reverb settings. I also tried splitter.. Here are my observations and few questions..

There is a lot of subjectivity when it comes to sound and music. One mans Music can be noise to another man. what I am saying is that you have to find out what suits you and is to your liking.

I have partners who have used Gaming head phones with a mike on a protruding arm like what receptionist use and tell you what the quality has always been awesome. Ofcourse she is using the top of the range Senheisser head phones. With these remember the mike is at a fixed distance from your mouth. With Dynamic Microphones like Shure SM 58, I prefer to hold the mike in my Hand bring it close when it is my turn to sing and move the mike away when I am not singing as you don't want the breathing noise tom be picked up. Condenser Mikes are highly sensitive and need puff filters and to be fixed on a stand and you decide on the distance between your mouth and the mike to suit the song.

- To get most of the green on Irig while singing with high gain such as 8 or 7, need to keep mike away while singing. If I bring it closer then most of the time indicator turns red. One thing I observed is that height of peaks in the recorded wave is higher when it is red and smaller when it is green. I thought, having higher heights  is good since I typically get higher peaks while recording with headphone (+ mike) connected to headphone jack of ipad. And that sound recording is the clearest and high quality.  Can somebody explain why red generates higher peaks and considered bad while recording with external mic ?

Red does not generate higher peaks. The Colour Indicators are a visual interface telling you that your recording level, meaning loudness is low when blue, green when good orange when slightly high and red meaning too high

- You Probably missed the point where I asked you to set the gain and 8.5 and lower the volume to the head phone when red shows instead of adjusting the gain all he time. ( I believe the gain setting is determined by what phone one is using and once determined can stay fixed. Like I did muck around a bit when I first bought the iRig Pro but last 2 years it has stayed put at 8.5- This is my opinion I may be wrong)

When I am singing I hold the Dynamic Mic mike about 3 inches away from the mouth and move the hand away when I am not singing

- While trying different settings of reverb. I found out that reverb character should be always higher than reverb amt for better recording. Is that true ? Is their any guideline ?

As I told you earlier these two are determined by the Properties of your recording room. room Volume and Room absorption characteristics which determines the reverberation time. Too much absorption can make a room DEAD and very hard and reflectives surfaces can make the room highly reverberrant and with too much echo. Two Parallel walls in close Proximity can create standing waves too distorting the recording. Sorry I an talking about studio acoustics)

- I had to increase Smule mic volume to 75-85% for final mix just to get volume of the recording up. Is that normal ?

the Standard setting for Smule Volume is 66%. Dont touch this until after you have recorded. When listening to your recording before uploading raise it to match your singing partners voice levels. if you raise it too much then the final result wont be good.

- I tried using splitter, volume of the recording was very low, I had to increase smule mic volume to 95-98% to get a descent recording. Is that normal ?

Don't think you have read my responses carefully. I told you that if you use a splitter and plug your head phone and dynamic mic to the splitter, your mobile phone will not recognise the external mike and the signal that get recorded is picked up your phones built in mike and that is the reason why it is soft in the first place

- Somewhere I read on the web that mixer is always better than Irig Pro. Mixer gives much better gain and amplifies much better than Irig. Is that true ? What mixer could be a good choice ?

I bought a Mixer before buying my iRig Pro a Yamaha MG06x now sitting in a box. Mob phones do not recognise external gadgets and need a special Mobile Phone interface which is what iRig Pro I/O is and not many options on the market at the moment and believe me Most of the experts of Gadgets in music shpops and online advisors do not know anything at all about Smule and will sell you anything. I have with me a Tazcam, a Roland Go Pro, a Yamaha MG06x and all sitting in a box worth $1000 

Again, please respond to questions I raised here.

Lastly if you are happy with your head phone with a built in mic then stick to it. Mate this is just fun kareoke singing. also remember not to use any blue tooth equipment for Smule as there will be a huge time lag

Thank you for your help..

regards,

PS: I am an acoustics and Noise Control Engineer by Profession

 

[[Member _Ram…]]

Power supply from OEM for iRig Pro I/O

IK Multimedia PSU 3A Power Supply Unit for iRig Stream, Stomp I/O, Pro I/O & Keys I/O 

[[Member sams…]]

Thx Ram.. Sorry for delayed response.. Got tied up with some stuff... Thx again..