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Helix LT, recording, and mics advice


tonypenguin
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Hi,

 

Newbie when it comes to connecting devices here, so please bear with me if this is a silly question!

 

Used to use a PODx3 live but upgraded to Helix LT recently. Am interested in primarily home recording, nothing professional nor live.

 

I use the following for recording:

- Helix LT connected to PC via USB

- Reaper DAW

- Headphones for monitoring

Which works a treat.

 

When I bought the LT I accepted it didn't have a mic input, however I also have

- Shure dynamic mic (no phantom power required - think it's SM58)

that I'd like to use to record my (very poor) vocals - again this is just for fun.

 

I had thought to buy a relatively cheap audio interface to hook the mic up to the PC, and accept that I'd be disconnecting/reconnecting the audio interface/Helix as required, which is my current default thought. But I'm wondering if there is a better way that avoids regular disconnect/reconnects?

 

Tony

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2 hours ago, Schmalle said:

A simple XLR Female to straight mono jack 6.3 mm will do.

Put it in input L or R, lower the IN-Z to 10K-Ohm in the Input Main L/R block and use a Studio Tube Pre preamp block with pretty high Gain and Level.

 

Thank you sir. I’ll give that a crack.

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If you plan on using an sm 58, or any passive mic, then yes an adapter will work.  If your mic needs phantom power, you can buy a little mixer.  I recorded vocals and other instruments with the LT running the mic through a mixer with great results.  It's just easier to be able to tweak the volume on the fly as opposed to on the Helix.  If not, you can use the preset volume settings to boost your levels as high as needed, before it clips. 

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On 5/29/2021 at 7:23 PM, Schmalle said:

A simple XLR Female to straight mono jack 6.3 mm will do.

Put it in input L or R, lower the IN-Z to 10K-Ohm in the Input Main L/R block and use a Studio Tube Pre preamp block with pretty high Gain and Level.

 

Hi - follow up question if I may?

 

So, I have such a cable so I plugged it in to the Return 2 on the LT with the preamp block as suggested. It seems to work, thank you. However, when I select the Return 2 as the main input block I don't seem to have the control available in the software to change the IN-Z setting (that seems to only be there for the guitar input?). Is this likely to be a problem?

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1 hour ago, tonypenguin said:

Hi - follow up question if I may?

 

So, I have such a cable so I plugged it in to the Return 2 on the LT with the preamp block as suggested. It seems to work, thank you. However, when I select the Return 2 as the main input block I don't seem to have the control available in the software to change the IN-Z setting (that seems to only be there for the guitar input?). Is this likely to be a problem?

The IN-Z parameter only applies to guitar inputs and relates to how it interacts with pedals.  If the mic is working that's all you need to worry about.

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1 hour ago, tonypenguin said:

Hi - follow up question if I may?

 

So, I have such a cable so I plugged it in to the Return 2 on the LT with the preamp block as suggested. It seems to work, thank you. However, when I select the Return 2 as the main input block I don't seem to have the control available in the software to change the IN-Z setting (that seems to only be there for the guitar input?). Is this likely to be a problem?

Use it with Global Settings -> Ins/Outs -> Send/Return set to Line. That switches the Return input impedance to 10kOhm.

 

A dynamic mic has an output impedance of about 0.3kOhm while a standard pickup has 6 to 12kOhm.  A good damping factor (rule of thumb) is 10 to 100.

Dynamic mic: 10kOhm / 0.3kOhm = 33 

Electric guitar: 1MOhm / 10kOhm = 100

 

I get some weird 'touching noise' when I use a mic with 1MOhm and touch the HX.

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