rounding a bend

I had a breakthrough moment yesterday. I was determined to give myself more options in terms of recording and I felt bad that my equipment from 15 years ago lay there useless. Don't get me wrong, the Audio Technica AT2020 is great and I have been using it but when I managed to hook up the studio monitors, I felt like the rest of the equipment that it came with deserved another look. I take such good care of my things that I could not accept that the microphone and interface were going to be relics left in their box, never again to see the light of day. So I have to thank this person who managed to locate drivers for Windows 10/11 so that my old Mbox2 could function. The fact that he shares this publicly is the greatest gift, after digidesign left us in the lurch. Gio La Scala, I don't know you, but thank you. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv1zscKG6Ig

My Mbox is not the same as the one that Gio featured in his video but after I uploaded the driver and installed it, I switched out the settings on Tracktion Waveform to use it, connected the M-Audio Nova to one channel via an XLR cable and said a silent prayer. With the Mbox hooked up to the laptop, I pressed the phantom power button, turned the knobs to get volume up and I heard... my voice. Now the part that really makes me nervous... because when I previously hooked it all up, my determination was that one channel was completely dead and using some very dated audio software, I tried to test record. The result was the outer space transmission that had all the crackling and static. 

I analyzed that experience repeatedly, even reset the computer and reinstalled the OS. My conclusion was that it was less likely the result of a malfunctioning microphone and more likely a problem in the communication between an old interface that didn't have a proper driver and audio software that was not compatible. Having said that, I still checked every part I could think of that could be improved. Instead of just locking the mic straight on to the ring adapter on the mic stand, I got a shock mount appropriately-sized for the Nova, and a new pop filter that took a little creativity to set up but works well. These items were all from Amazon, no name brands shipped next day. I'm still waiting on the music stand, which is really a desktop book stand. I am quite excited about it but for some reason, that one will take a couple of weeks to get here. Another $30 investment in total, but really nothing compared to what I would have spent had I decided to bench all this old equipment and buy a new interface and microphone. The last thing was really the cable, which unless I could hook it up to something else that I knew worked, there was no way for me to tell if it was a problem. So, I just carefully hooked it up, wiping all the contacts of everything. Nothing is corroded or dusty or had moisture. I pulled the microphone away enough from the equipment so that cables aren't touching each other and nothing is bent at a strange angle... I mean, seriously, I checked every single possible detail that I thought could compromise the result before I hit record. So when the playback turned up a less than remarkable result, I was just over the moon. OMG, it's alive. It works. IT WORKS!!!

I'm not going to get a Grammy just because I managed to hook up the equipment properly and get a clean enough recording but my mind is now racing with the things that I could try. Now I have two mics that could give me different results. I can continue to record the guide tracks, playing and singing at the same time and now I can try re-recording vocal and instrument tracks separately with the other mic. They sound different enough. So many more things just opened up and it made my day feel very positive. We have turned a corner and it's lovely. Fall is my favorite season, even if I'm not into pumpkin spice anything. Just check out the colors. Each one is a note. Each picture is music and it is very, very beautiful.

Playlist Recommendation: Hallelujah, Jeff Buckley