hey there guys, need some help. ive been doing a little composing on my mac, right now im just using garage abnd but im saving up for "reason" i bought a fairly nice mic, and an interface/preamp to power and connect my mic. it has two input slots and depending on wich slot its in, is the side the sound is heard and recorded. for instance, if plugged into the first slot, i can only hear it in my left ear and it only records on left side..


im very new to this so is this suppose to happen? what should i do do get the sound on both sides? please help


on another note, im having trouble making my voice sound like its accually the singer, if you get what i mean. it always sounds liek its in the background, any tips?

thanks a bunch for any help,

Just so you know, Reason is only a MIDI sequencer w/ included synths/samplers and effects; meaning, it's not a DAW that you can record your voice or physical instruments with. For that, you would nead something akin to Logic, Live, Digital Performer, Cubase, Pro Tools, etc.

As far as hearing it only in the left or right channel, it's because you're recording a mono signal to a mono track, with, presumably, the tracks panned hard left or right, depending on the channel. I don't really use Garageband, but I'm sure there's a pan pot on the track somewhere that you can pan your track to center. If you meant that you want a stereo effect, you'd have to add a delay to your original signal.

As far as your voice sounding like it's in the background, you simply need to address the mic closer and increase the mic gain (without distorting the preamp) -- you're picking up more room reverberations than direct sound. For vocal recording, I probably wouldn't recommend having it any farther than 2 feet away from you at maximum...a foot or closer should work well. Also, I'd try aiming it slightly towards your chest as opposed to right up to your mouth -- you'll get a warmer, deeper tone with less sibilance/spittyness.

Hope that helps.

Look for a 'panning' tool (or utility or function) in Garage Band. You should be able to find out about it in tutorials or user's manual.