- Maybe in the input output settings for your computer (system preferences on Mac) you could turn the volume input up. I had the issue the output was going to my studio monitors and but it was recording thru the computer mic, I changed these settings and now it works.
- Hi all, just trying to get started (I am new to FL studio) and I have feedback/echo coming through. I was first trying to get the microphone going through edison to record vocals and it was feeding back so I turned the enable FX off on the mixer which stopped the feedback going into the red but I still hear feedback in the form of echo coming through when I talk into the mic.
When you are starting out, there are a lot of things to learn. Like how to record with a mic in FL Studio.
Feb 15, 2010 Hey, i just tried to record some vocals on a track, but i can still hear the mic after being done. If i mute the mic in the mixer, i mute the whole track, so thats not an option. I cant find any mic settings anywhere either, but is it possible to somehow cut out background noise, or just noises that are quieter than a certain volume?
When you are new to the process it can seem overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to feel intimidating or overwhelming.
In this post I’ll cover the basics about how to set up and record, from a microphone in FL Studio.
It may seem complicated at first.
But I promise once you have done it a couple of times, it’ll feel like second nature.
Let’s get to it.
IF you want to see how I produce songs in FL Studio, check this FREE course out!
Basic Steps to setup your mic and interface
We’ll cover the components you need, how to set everything up the first time, and how to start recording.
I’m going to give you two options you can use for recording.
You can pick which method works best for your workflow.
Here are the pieces of audio gear you are going to need to follow along with this post:
- A Microphone
- An Audio Interface
- A Microphone cable
- A purchased copy of FL Studio Producer or Signature Edition.
- Laptop or Computer
- A pair of headphones
*Note if you are using a USB Microphone to record, the process is a little bit different.
Let’s get back to this example.
We’re going to do a couple of things to make recording happen:
- Setup the gear we need
- Open FL Studio
- Save the project
- Configure the audio interface
- ASIO Device
- Buffer Size
- Set the location to record audio to
- Setup the mixer track
- Set up the transport controls
- Record audio
- Option to record from playlist
- Option to record with Edison
- Advanced options
- Loop recording
- Headphone mix
STEP 1 – Setup the Gear
Plug the audio interface into the computer.
Audio interfaces come in a variety of connections.
So plug into the correct port (USB, Firewire, or Thunderbolt).
Now plug the microphone cable into the mic.
Make sure that the Phantom power button is not on on your audio interface.
And then plug the other end into your audio interface.
If the microphone needs phantom power (+48V), then push the +48V button.
Generally, condenser mics need phantom power. Dynamic mics do not.
Having phantom power on when you plug the mic into the audio interface can cause damage to your microphone.
So we want to keep that microphone working well for a long time.
Open up FL Studio
Now let’s open up FL Studio.
I’m currently running version 20 of FL Studio. Which as of 2019, is the latest version.
It looks this when you open it up …
Save the Project
First thing I like to do is to save the project.
It may seem a little weird to save a song before we’ve started.
But it’s just to help prepare where we are going to record things.
FL Studio calls the files you save projects, but really it’s a song.
Hit CTRL + S on your keyboard.
This will bring up a dialog window that lets you choose where you want to save the project.
So name the song what you want to. And then choose where you want to save it on your computer.
And finally press the save button.
Setting up the Audio Interface
Let’s get everything setup to record from our mic.
To get to the settings window in FL Studio, press F10 on your keyboard.
This will bring up a dialog box that has a couple tabs across the top like Midi, Audio, General and File.
This is the settings window in FL Studio.
You’re going to click on the Audio tab.
And you should see a section called input/output.
So underneath is the device drop down menu.
You want to look for your device (audio interface).
There should be some options at the top that are called direct sound devices.
And underneath of that there should be some called ASIO devices.
We want to look at the drop down menu of ASIO devices.
ASIO Settings
So from the ASIO devices menu select the driver for your audio interface.
The name of the driver might not be exactly the name of your audio interface.
I am working off of a Presonus AudioBox iTwo audio interface in this example.
And in my case the ASIO device is called AudioBox ASIO Driver.
So I select that as my ASIO Device.
And then we need to set up the buffer.
Buffer Settings
Below the device drop down menu you’ll see another box that says buffer length.
I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about this.
But for recording, you want the buffer setting as low as you can get it, without it starting to clip, crackle, or pop.
This will prevent you from hearing a delay when you go to record your audio. It will also make sure that you get a clean sound from your interface.
In my case I’m selecting a buffer length of about 6-8 milliseconds. For me, if I try to go lower than that I start to get some crackle in my recordings.
You will be able to hear pops and crackles in your recording if you have it set too low.
You can see in this menu if you have had underruns.
So now we have the audio interface setup.
Now FL Studio can receive the input from the audio interface.
So let’s choose where we are going to save our recorded files.
Choose where to save the audio files
While we still have the Setting Window open let’s do one more thing.
We’re going to go over to the Project tab.
You should see a box beneath that that says data folder.
This lets you pick the folder on your computer that you want to save the recorded audio to.
Click on the folder icon and select where you want the data to be stored.
And now we’ll move on to setting up the mixer track.
Setting up the mixer track
This is where we set up the microphone input from the mixer track.
This will get the input from the microphone and the audio interface into a mixer track in FL Studio.
The first thing that we’re going to need to do is set up your microphone in a mixer Channel.
Press F9 on your keyboard and that will bring up the mixer window.
You should see a whole bunch of vertical bars, They will be titled Insert 1, Insert 2, and so on.
These are all mixer tracks for the project that you’re working on.
Let’s pick Insert 4 for this example.
When you click on it you’ll see a green box around it. And the fader will turn green at the bottom.
If you go to the right side of the mixer window you’ll see another box. In that box you’ll see Slot 1, Slot 2, and so on.
These are your effects slots that you can put on an individual mixer Channel.
But we’re going to be paying attention to the drop-down menu that’s at the top. It has an arrow pointing into a box. That is where you are going to select the input that you connected your to.
When you look at the drop-down menu you should see options that have your audio interface name and then stereo and mono track options.
Since we’re recording one microphone I’m going to assume that it’s a mono source. Because most mics are mono sources unless you have a stereo microphone.
So I select mic input one. Because that’s where I plugged in my microphone.
As you talk into the microphone you should see the bars on the insert for channel moving up and down. This means that you’re getting signal into the insert Channel.
Which means that you set it up right. Woohoo!
Now onto the transport controls.
Setting up transport controls
Up at the top of the FL Studio program you’ll see some transport controls.
These are the play button, the stop button and record button.
Right click on the record button and you should see some options.
It should have a box that says recording filter. And underneath of that with options to check automation, notes, audio, and clips.
Since we are recording audio we want to make sure that the audio option is checked by right-clicking.
Next to the play button there is a button that says pat on the top and song on the bottom.
Make sure that the song button is highlighted. Because that will allow us to record directly to the playlist. If it’s not selected, press the song button now.
Now you should see a green arrow show up in your playlist window and the song button should be highlighted in green.
I also like to set up a count in before it starts recording.
This option gives you a four count click before the recording starts. Which is helpful.
Press CTRL + P to turn this option on.
Alright, you’ve finished all the setup.
Now it’s time to do some recording.
Record Audio
What I like about FL Studio is that there are several different ways of doing everything.
So there are a couple different options for recording audio:
- Recording directly into the playlist
- Recording through Edison
Before you start recording, make sure to plug in your headphones.
You don’t want the audio from the song to be bleeding into your mic.
You’ll get some weird sounds and feedback from doing that.
We’ll cover recording into the playlist first, since that is the most common.
Recording in the playlist in FL Studio
Open up the Mixer window by pressing F9.
Go to Insert 4 where we set up the mic.
At the bottom of the fader there is a track arm button.
Press that so it turns red.
You can also right click on the arm track button to bring up a window.
You could save the audio file to a different location if you want. And you can give the file whatever name you choose.
Open up the playlist window by pressing F5.
Click a spot on the playlist where you would want to start your recording.
I like to choose a spot a little before so it give me more time.
Now click on the record button in the transport bar, and wait for the count in.
Then start recording audio.
Once you are finished. Press Stop in the transport controls, or press the Space bar.
And that’s it. You’ve learned how to record a mic in FL Studio.
But I’ll show you another way to do it as well.
Recording a mic in Edison in FL Studio
Let’s get back to the mixer window.
Press F9.
Then go to Insert 4.
Go to the right side where the Slots are.
Click on the down arrow in Slot 1.
A window will come up that you will show you all the available plugins.
Look for the miscellaneous section and you should see Edison.
Pick Edison and a window should pop up.
To the right of the record button is a drop down menu.
Select On Play. And then press the record button.
Nothing will happen at this point, so don’t freak out.
This option just arms Edison to record.
Then go to your playlist window.
Click where in the song you want to start recording.
I like to move the marker to a little bit before that.
It gives you a little extra time before it starts the part you want to record.
When you are ready hit the play button.
This will start the recording in Edison.
When you are done, press the Stop on Edison.
And then you can Press stop on the Transport Controls in the Playlist.
There’s a button in the top right side of Edison.
Click that and then drag what you recorded into the playlist where you set your marker to start.
Everything will be lined up.
And that’s all you have to do to record audio in Edison.
BONUS TIPS – ADVANCED RECORDING OPTIONS
Now we’re getting into the extra credit section. You don’t have to do this.
But this is a way to take your mic recording skills to the next level.
Multiple Takes
One of the reasons that I like using Edison to record is the multiple takes option.
So as I’m putting together a song, I can highlight a certain section I want to record.
Let’s take the chorus for instance.
I can go the Playlist window by pressing F5.
I right click and drag around the section of the song I want to record.
Open up Edison on the Mixer Track, with the On Play option selected.
Arm Edison to record by pressing the record button.
Now when I press Play on the transport controls it will record.
It will keep recording as many takes of that section as you want.
I could do 3-5 takes on that one part.
Stop Edison when you are done. And stop the song in the transport controls.
Now in Edison you should see multiple takes.
I can select one of those takes by double-clicking on the orange marker at the front.
Then I can drag that take into the playlist. Using the drag to playlist option on Edison. (The button that’s highlighted in blue below)
I could drag all of them in individually if wanted.
Then I could create vocal comps of the best of those takes. But that’s a different subject.
Separate Mix
Another option you can try is to set up a headphone mix for your vocalist.
Each track in the mixer window is routed by default to the Master Fader.
You can see this when you click on any of the Insert tracks. It’s the neon green line that goes to the Master Fader.
You can change the default routing of a track if you want, though.
So let’s go back to Insert 4, where we set up our mic.
Now right click on the arrow at the bottom of Insert 5. You’ll see an option box come up.
It looks like this.
Now we’ll select the option that says route to this track only.
This is going to send the audio from Insert 4 to Insert 5 only.
So we’ve set up a new signal path for Insert 4.
It used to be that Insert 4 went directly to the Master Fader.
Now Insert 4 goes to Insert 5, and then to the Master Fader.
So we’re going to set up effects on Insert 5. And that will go into the Master Fader.
So that’s what you’ll hear in the headphones.
But, we will record on Insert 4, where there will be no effects.
So we’ll have a dry signal that we can edit and add effects to later.
So click on Insert 5.
Now go the Slots on the right side of the Mixer Window.
In Slot 1, let’s pick Fruity Delay 2.
In Slot 2, let’s pick Fruity Reeverb 2.
So if you sing into the mic. You’ll hear the effects.
But, if you record the vocals from Insert 4, there won’t be any effects.
This gives you the opportunity to edit and add different effects later in your mix.
So there you have it.
You’ve learned how to record with a mic in FL Studio. And I’ve given you some bonus tips on how to record multiple takes. And even set up a separate headphone mix for a vocalist.
Learn how to produce full songs in FL Studio with this FREE class
I hope you enjoyed it.
I’m going to show you how to set up a microphone in FL Studio.
This can all seem a little confusing when you are starting out. For this example, I am going to be using the following pieces of equipment:
- A condenser microphone
- A mic stand
- A microphone cable
- An audio interface
- FL Studio – Producer Edition
These are a few of the basic components that I recommend you have for your home studio. This is the process you go through when you first set up your microphone and get it working in FL Studio.
After you have done some of these steps, you won’t have to do them every time.
PUTTING TOGETHER THE PIECES
So let’s start with the basic mechanical stuff.
MIC STAND
We need to set up the mic stand. We’re going to screw in the mic basket. This is usually a unit that comes with the condenser mic to attach to the end of the mic stand.
You need to screw this in so that it’s seated all the way and tightened down.
Once that is tight, you can set the microphone into the basket on the stand. Also make sure that the screw that holds the microphone up is tightened down all the way, otherwise the microphone basket will drop, and could potentially fall out.
That’s not something you want to have happen with a mic you’ve spent a couple hundred dollars on.
POSITIONING THE MIC FOR SINGING
Next you want to get the stand set at a comfortable height and position for you to sing in.
I like to adjust the boom arm on the mic stand so that it has a little bit of an angle. This way I don’t have to worry about kicking the bottom of the stand while I am singing.
I like to set the height of the mic where it makes me slightly tilt my head upward. I heard a while back from a producer that when you do this, it forces the singer to open up a little more when they sing.
They end up projecting more. So I’ve always tried to set the height so that I tilt my head a little bit.
POP FILTER
Next I get the pop filter on the stand. I screw it onto the skinny part of the boom arm of the mic stand. Don’t put it up too close to where the mic basket is, otherwise it’s hard to get the pop filter into a position that works.
You have to let the pop filter stretch a little bit. I like to have about 1-2 inches away from the capsule of the microphone that you sing into.
And then I stand so that my mouth is somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-8 inches away from the pop filter. This is just a rule of thumb. You can try different distances to see what you think works best for you. Each song will call for a different approach.
The closer you stand to the mic when you sing, the more bassy the vocal will sound (for the nerds out there, this is called proximity effect). The farther away you stand the more thin it will sound. And you will hear more of the room.
Plug in and turn phantom power on
So now that the microphone is positioned well for singing, let’s move into getting it plugged in and powered up.
Take the male end of the microphone cable that you have, and plug that into the microphone.
Now take your audio interface, that is plugged into your computer. Make sure that the phantom power is turned off.
If you have phantom power turned on when you first plug in a microphone, you can actually damage it. So don’t do that.
On my audio interface, there is a blue light and button that tells you if phantom power is on. Look for the button that says +48v or phantom power.
Plug the female end of the microphone cable into one of the channels that have phantom power available. Make sure to turn the gain down on the channel you are going to plug it into.
Once all the cables are seated in firmly both on the microphone and the audio interface, then turn the phantom power on.
Now nothing magical is going to happen at this point, because we have to get the program (DAW) set up to recognize your interface.
Making sure the audio interface is setup in FL studio
Setting up the interface can be a little bit of trial and error process. Especially when it comes to getting the buffer size correct for larger projects.
The larger a project gets, the more it taxes the memory and CPU of your machine. And when that starts happening, you can start getting glitches and pops in the audio.
So to keep it from popping and sounding bad let’s work on getting the settings correct.
SETTINGS
So open FL Studio. Press F10 to open up the settings window, and then navigate to the audio tab. You’ll see a couple of sections.
The first section is where you want to pick the audio driver. We will look for something that looks like the name of the interface that you have, but that is the ASIO driver.
I have a Presonus AudioBox iTwo interface, and the driver for my interface is called the AudioBox ASIO Driver.
After I have selected the driver, then I need to look at setting the sample size/buffer size. This is what will keep my computer from creating glitches and pops when I am recording.
When I click to change the buffer size for my interface, a separate window pops up from the manufacturer of the audio interface.
The window looks like this for my Presonus interface:
BUFFER SIZE
A rule of thumb here is to set the sample size as low as you can get it, without it causing problems in your audio.
I had my buffer size set to 256 samples for a while, but I noticed that when my projects started getting bigger, with more files, I was starting to get pops when I would record. So I ended up bumping up the sample size to 512 samples, and that solved the problem.
So you might be thinking to yourself, well if you set the number larger and it helps, why not set it to the highest number? Good question.
The buffer size you set also affects how you hear the sound in your headphones. So the higher you set the number, the more delay you hear. So if you set it really high and are recording your voice, you will hear a delay.
So while you are singing a new line, you might still be hearing a line that you just finished singing. That can really throw you off when you are recording.
So the balance is to find the lowest number you can go without creating pops, and not so high that you start hearing weird delays in what you are recording.
So try out either 256 or 512 samples first and see how that works for you.
Now you can exit out of the settings window by pressing F10 again.
Setup channel in FL Studio to record from
So now we have the mic, stand, and cable all connected. We’ve set up the audio interface so that we can record. Now all that’s left is to set up a channel to record in FL Studio.
Do set up this channel, we are going to work in the Mixer window. To open up the mixer, press F9. And you are going to see a window that looks something like this:
SETTING THE MIXER VIEW
If it doesn’t look exactly like this, that’s okay. It may just mean that your view is a little different than mine. If you want it to look the same, then select the VIEW drop down menu, and pick EXTRA wide, this will give you the same look that you see above.
The reason I like this view is because you can see all the effects that you have stacked on a channel at a glance. And you can click on those to quickly bring up the effect that you want to mess with. That can save a lot of time when you get into the mixing phase.
So now that we have the mixer windows looking the same, let’s click on one of the empty insert channels. For this example I am going to click on INSERT 5. There is no magic to this number, I’m just randomly selecting one.
MIXER CHANNEL INPUT
On the right side of the window you should see some options that say IN, then a bunch of empty slots, and the OUT. This is where you select the INPUT you want to use from your audio interface. And it’s where you can put the effects that you want to use on this channel if you want to.
So for this example, I plugged my mic into input 2 on my audio interface.
So when I click on the drop down menu for input, I should see a window that looks like this:
I want to make sure that I pick the MONO channel, since I am using a mono source, the microphone. If I had a stereo source, like a keyboard, that was plugged into Input 1 and input 2 on my interface, then I could select the stereo input.
But since the microphone is a single source, I select mono.
When I do that, you will see a few things happen on the insert channel.
The first thing is that you should see some green bars appear. This means that the channel is now getting a signal from your microphone. As you talk into the mic, you should see the bars go up and down.
ADJUSTING THE AUDIO INTERFACE GAIN
So what you want to do now is adjust the gain on your audio interface channel to that the peaks of the green bars are hitting between -16 and -12 on the Insert Channel. This is just setting the signal level for the source you are recording.
I’m just giving you a rule of thumb when you are starting out. Getting the audio level in that range will allow you to have good audio to work with, without all the crazy noise that can happen if you set it too low.
This is another Goldilocks kind of principle in audio recording. You want to set the audio loud enough that you can manipulate it without getting a lot of bad noise in the background, but you don’t want to set it too high, so that you can’t adjust it, or you get clipping.
So when you are setting your levels you want to get something in the middle.
FILENAME AND LOCATION OF RECORDING
The second thing that happens when you select the INPUT from the drop down menu is the Record Arm button lights up RED on the Insert Channel. This means that the channel is armed for recording.
Sounds dangerous, right?
If you right click on the red button, you will open up a window. That window will let you name the file what you want, and tell the program where you want to store the recorded file.
I like to name my audio clips with word that will help jog my memory about what the clip is about. For example, if I am singing a section of the song, I might name the file something like vox-verse1. That way once the clip is in the playlist, I can easily see what the content is.
NAME AND COLOR THE MIXER CHANNEL
Something else that I like to do to keep myself more organized in my projects is to color code the mixer channels that I am working on. This color coding transfers to the clips you record as well.
All the organization nerds just clapped their hands and cheered.
So select the mixer channel that you just set up your mic on. Press F2. This will bring up a dialog box that lets you name and color code the channel. So for my vocal, I would call it VOX, and I typically color the channel with a dark blue.
And I do this on all my projects. So when I open up a project and I see dark blue audio files in the playlist, I know that these are all vocal clips. I do the same thing with other instrument groups like drums, bass, synths, strings, etc.
I’m a very visual person, so it helps me see at a quick glance what all I have in a project, and I can quickly narrow down to what I am looking for.
I suggest that you develop your own color coding and naming system to help keep your projects organized. This will save you a lot of trouble in the long run.
CLICK TRACK
One thing that I want to give you a suggestion about, is that before you start recording vocals, I would put together your foundational elements of your track.
I like to set a metronome up and get the basic drum beat, and at least a scratch guitar track down set to the metronome, so that I know the timing of the song is going to be steady. That way when I go to record vocals, I don’t have to have the metronome in my ears.
This can be distracting, and it can also bleed into the recording it you have your volume up in your headphones.
So lay down some foundational elements, then record your vocals without the click track.
This will save you a lot of heartache of trying to clean up vocals that have a click in the background.
CONCLUSION
So now you know how to set up a mic in FL Studio.
I also go into detail on the recording process in another article on the site. So if you need some more of the nitty gritty details on the settings to use and some different methods of recording, then you can check that out.
That wasn’t so bad, was it?
Nope.
So what’s next? Well, I think that setting up a mic is a great part of the basics that you need in order to feel effective in using FL Studio as your DAW. I also have a resource that will walk you through the rest of the basics, like recording settings, working with midi , setting up drums, organizing your projects.
It’s a FREE course that will get you up to speed quickly and easily.
I’ll show you step-by-step a way to get familiar with FL Studio, and set you on your way to creating loads of music.
You can check out more information about the basics course here.
Well, that’s all I have for you.
I hope this was helpful.
Turn Off Mac Mic In Fl Studio 20 Producer Edition
Talk to you soon,
Turn Off Mac Mic In Fl Studio 20 Torrent
Jeremy